ArcExplorer

Promoted during the plenary session at the recent ESRI International User Conference, ArcGIS Explorer on the surface looks like ESRI’s answer to Google Earth. As explained by Mark Bockenhauer and Bern Szukalski during a technical session at the User Conference, what takes ArcGIS Explorer beyond the mapping capabilities offered by other such applications is the ability to offer tasks in the form of geoprocessing tools and models. ArcGIS Explorer was first offered with ArcGIS 9.2 in November of 2006. The lightweight desktop application has been through four subsequent releases and was recently made available to the public for downloading. ArcGIS Explorer is an integrated part of the ArcGIS suite of GIS software and is a way to publish ArcGIS capabilities to users through tasks.

ArcGIS Explorer supports both 2D and 3D (Globe) services and can integrate with multiple services: “Explorer can also be used with a variety of other GIS services such as those published using ArcIMS , ArcWeb Services , Web Map Services (WMS), and other Web services. In addition, ArcGIS Explorer can use local data such as shapefiles, file geodatabases, KML, JPEG 2000, GeoTIFF, MrSID, IMG, and other image formats.” The default settings connect to ESRI servers to pull over a variety of basemap options. These cartographically designed basemaps include shaded relief, historical and political world choices.

ArcGIS Explorer stores its information in an XML based file with a .nmf extension. These files can be easily shared if the services they call are publicly accessible. The .nmf files store access to layers, tasks, and results for ArcGIS Explorer.

ArcGIS Explorer Resources

• ArcGIS Explorer Resources
  Visit the ArcGIS Explorer resource site where you can see the basemap choices, post questions to the forum or read their blog.
• ArcGIS Explorer Demos
  Check out the ArcGIS Explorer demos (in Flash and Windows Media formats) which are nicely done and provide a good sense of ArcGIS Explorer.
• Podcast: ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Explorer
  Podcast of the plenary session presentation by Bern Szukalski.
• Schema File Description – .nmf
  Documentation for the schema file for ArcGIS Explorer .nmf files.
• ArcGIS Explorer – the review
  Ogle Earth’s Stefan Geens reviews ArcGIS Explorer in a post from December 28, 2006.