With the new version of ArcGIS coming out soon (9.4, now 10, tomorrow maybe X), it is nice to revisit the things I would love to see change in the geoprocessor. This is by no means a study on what is missing or what ESRI is doing wrong, but rather what I would like to see in the future. If you have any suggestions, please do write a comment and I will gladly add them to the post (and attribute the addition to you).
Oct 23
Oct 06
There is been some discussion over the internet about ESRI’s decision to drop Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) support after the ArcGIS version 9.4 release. There are blog entries about why this shouldn’t happen, so I decided it is time to introduce an entry on why it should go, and what you can do about it. Continue reading »
Sep 26
Paolo Corti has a very fascinating article I just stumbled upon on how to use PostGIS geometries with ArcSDE in 9.3. Head over to his website for the fascinating article detailing 4 different methods of using PostGIS with ArcGIS.
Feb 19
As James Fee mentions in his post, ESRI made available a new Answer Tree (beta version) to help users solve problems in getting ESRI products to install properly (licensing and registration). James seems to disagree with the use of technology:
“Flash has no business being involved with support sites. It is hard enough to link to ESRI support documents. Granted fighting through the flash interface you can get to a document link, but I have to ask why they bothered with flash in the first place.”
This is a valid point by James, of course, that seems to somewhat disagree with Jithen Singh’s comment of:
“I like the fact that it’s built in flash! Something different from most of the other ESRI sites.”
While I can see the point made by James Fee, Jithen Singh has a valid point. This is a different technology being introduced. While it has severe limitations (cannot link to specific page), the purpose of it is to guide you to the proper page within the ESRI documentation nightmare. It is a navigational aid in the form of a wizard. If ESRI decided to maintain ONLY such an interface to their vast documentation online, this will be a horrible move in my opinion. But by providing such an option, users no longer need to be experts at the ESRI specific support site, but can rather use a wizard like the aforementioned one to find information.
According to my own, unscientific opinion, the following apply to the new Flash Wizardry:
Disavdantages:
- No hard linking to specific pages
- Requiring another layer of technology, even though it is wide-spread
Advantages:
- Wizard-like interface to vast and complex documentation that is hard to find now
- Not forced as the ONLY interface to documentation (yet) and ESRI is asking for feedback
What do other people think of this, and how they communicate this information to ESRI would and should decide how widespread the use of this technology will be within ESRI.
