LECTURE 3: STRUCTURE OF ARCINFO 8

1. EVOLUTION OF ESRI GIS PRODUCTS

2. ARC GIS

3. VERTICAL MARKETS

ARC/INFO

early 1980s
standalone system

$250,000 investment
proprietary operating system, then Unix
resource management organization
center of department
user-unfriendly
industrial-strength workhorse

1989
user-friendly Windows
viewing ARC/INFO databases
platform of choice for analysis

1993
big database applications
adding spatial functions to databases

data retrieval
find all customers named Smith
find all customers named Smith within 1/4 mile of x

spatial data blades

Oracle, Informix

support for Web servers
Carbon County, UT example

ESRI directory

Intergraph
MapInfo

An industrial-strength GIS

ArcInfo 9.0

ArcMap = the mapping and analysis engine

the map as central concept

ArcCatalog = the data management engine

the database as central concept

data resources
metadata
Internet access

ArcToolbox = substantial geoprocessing tools

coverage (field view; from classic ArcInfo)
shapefile (discrete object view; from ArcView)
geodatabase (object-oriented; new in ArcInfo 8)

icons

 

green: shapefile
yellow: coverage
grey: geodatabase

Integrated Web access

transparent integration with ArcIMS servers
the Geography Network

ArcMap

add data from Geography Network

Integration of the three modules

drag and drop
ArcCatalog to ArcMap

ARC/INFO

one size fits all

specialized environments

ArcView
ArcExplorer

specialized software

ArcLogistics

core data elements of any application

ArcFM

an area of application of GIS
with its own core data elements
specialized data models