Software News from the Esri UC Plenary

Software demonstrations, one of the highlights of the Plenary Session, gave users a first look at newly developed products and new releases of products. This year, attendees learned more about ArcGIS Online Services, ArcGIS Explorer, and Cadastral Editor in ArcGIS Survey Analyst 9.2.

Access Reference Layers from ArcGIS Online Services Using ArcGIS Explorer

GIS technology expert Bernard Szukalski introduced ArcGIS Online Services, a collection of 2D and 3D basemaps and reference layers that are hosted by Esri. Created as a foundation for GIS work, these maps are available at no cost for ArcGIS Desktop software customers. ArcGIS Online Services, tightly integrated with ArcGIS, can be used in a project to save time by supplying cartographically designed online basemaps that can be used with local data. These maps are authored using ArcGIS Desktop and served using ArcGIS Server. Users can also author and serve their own content.

Szukalski also demonstrated ArcGIS Explorer, a free lightweight client for ArcGIS Server. ArcGIS Explorer was recently released publicly and can be downloaded from the Esri Web site. Watch a video clip [11:30] of this presentation.

New Cadastral Workflow and Data Model

ArcGIS Survey Analyst 9.2 introduces a dataset called Cadastral Fabric and a workflow called Cadastral Editor as a new solution for managing parcel data. Cadastral Editor allows land managers to spatially integrate survey data from multiple survey records and to standardize workflows. Using Cadastral Editor, individual parcels and subdivisions are entered using COGO-based plan entry. The collection of survey and COGO measurements captured during plan entry are used in least-squares adjustment calculations to "sew" the individual parcels and subdivisions into an integrated, continuous fabric. The continuous fabric is incrementally updated as each new survey plan is entered. In addition, related feature classes that overlay the cadastre (such as the boundaries of building footprints and utility features) can be adjusted using displacement vectors derived from the least-squares adjustment calculations.

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