Developing a Web-based GIS Viewer using MapObjects Java to Reduce Operating Costs Cheryl Spencer – Marion County ISA Lola Akinmade – Woolpert Outline Introduction Why the need? Alternatives Our Solution Challenges Application Functionality Introduction ISA serves 16 Agencies, 5 Departments Over 500 ArcView 3.x licenses deployed A large majority are casual users who: • • • • • View data Add local data Print Find addresses Save projects Upgraded to 175 ArcView 8.x licenses Further refined to 31 single use and 48 floating licenses as IDV was developed Why the Need? License maintenance costs For a majority of our users, ArcView was too robust. What are the alternatives to ArcView (2003)? Cost – Licensing ArcGIS Engine 9 ArcGIS Server 9 ArcExplorer Java 4.0.1 ArcIMS Java Viewer 4.0.1 (??) + License (??) Additional license (??) Deployment MO Java (?) (++) Alternatives ArcGIS Engine 9 ArcGIS Server 9 ArcExplorer Java 4.0.1 ArcIMS Java Viewer 4.0.1 Beta (-) Beta (-) (+) (++) Existing Programming Skills VB,.NET, (++) VB,.NET, ++ Java (-) ASP, JSP, (+) Long range viability .NET (++) .NET (++) (+) (+) Stability (--) (--) (+) (+) Delivery Date for Apps (--) (--) (+) (+) Existing Code/Sample (-) (-) AEJ Base Code? (+) Former vendor (+) Existing Competence Alternatives continued… ArcGIS Engine 9 ArcGIS Server 9 ArcExplorer Java 4.0.1 ArcIMS Java Viewer 4.0.1 Ultimate functionality (+) (+) (-) (-) Access Local Data (++) (-) (++) (+)? Access Network Data (+) (+) (++) (++) Rendering (++) (++) (+) (+) Ease of installation (+) (++) (+) (++) Ease of upgrades (++) (++) (-?) (++) How easy to program functionality (++) (++) (-) (+) How easy to program GUI (++) (++) (+/-) (+/-) Our Initial Solution Initial solution was to use ArcIMS Java Custom Viewer Limitations encountered during development • • • • • • Very limited object model Not very flexible Is based on MapObjects Java 1.0 Limitations in selection capabilities. Couldn’t view attribute table No printing capabilities Our Second Try Discovered that ArcIMS Custom Java Viewer applets were built on MapObjects Java…therefore we decided to build our own applets on MapObjects Java Switched to MapObjects Java 2.0+ • Access to more base objects • Much more flexibility Challenges Silent installation – 3 different vendors to work with (ESRI, Sun, Microsoft) Rewriting/reinventing the wheel Encountering intrinsic bugs due to the scale of this project Benefits Reduce license costs!!! No desktop installations All installations are silent behind the scenes over the Intranet All ArcIMS Java Custom Viewer limitations were overcome The wheel is now our own wheel to fix and extend Interface Key IDV functionality Adding Data • Favorites folder • Geography Network • Preview data More Functionality Attributes Dialog Functionality… Summarize Attributes Functionality… Single geocoding Batch geocoding: Functionality… Manual Label/Annotation Functionality… Custom Printing Functionality… View Metadata Functionality Context Sensitive Help Tutorials FAQ Known Bugs List Questions? Presentation and paper on-line This presentation and the paper that accompanies it are available on-line on the IndyGIS web site at: http://www.indygov.org/eGov/County/ ISA/Services/GIS/About/Papers/
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