Seagull 2.0, released July 16th 2009!
Freshly hatched:
2 days old:
Needless to say, we are smitten.
Archive for July, 2009
Meet the new Latitude chick
July 23rd, 2009 by Stephanie Blazey2009 ESRI International User Conference Recap
July 21st, 2009 by DarinOur team just got back from the 2009 ESRI International User Conference in San Diego – what a week! The sheer size of the conference (rivalling that of any major software vendor) always surprises me, but, given the crowds, its never been hard to find a friendly client, partner or conference goer eager to talk about mapping.
Our booth was well positioned this year, and we had some steady traffic. Its interesting to note that fewer people each year seem to wonder what Geocortex is – our multi-million dollar marketing campaign must be working. 
All kidding aside, I think the steady delivery of compelling software and services to organizations worldwide continues to propel our brand.
The Geocortex Picnic set a high water mark of around 300 people – between the shaded location bayside and the ongoing struggle to find lunch in the Gaslamp district, many clients chose to join us for our annual hosted BBQ lunch. And our caterer, with mobile smokehouse and slow cooked BBQ in tow, makes for a good draw too.
Our latest work with the ArcGIS Server REST, Javascript, Flex and Silverlight APIs, showcased in the Geocortex Resource Center, seemed well received. The buzz on the exhibit hall floor seemed to suggest many organizations see significant value leveraging REST based development paradigms. I also noticed a number of demonstrations of Geocortex Optimizer happening, and early peeks at our mobile asset tracking solution for ArcGIS Server, Geocortex Fleet Tracker.
Seagull 2.0, coming soon!
July 13th, 2009 by S WoodsOne of the great things about our Technical Support office is the open view over Market Square and beyond.
Most of the year that means a great rooftop skyline, landing seaplanes, and lots of great light (this photo doesn’t really do it justice).
But now we have even more to entertain us – three nesting gulls sitting on eggs!
At first we thought this one might just be practicing – she kept getting up and wandering off.
But after a few days, three little brown eggs appeared and she and her mate hunkered down to the serious business of incubating.
The other two seem pretty dedicated as well, so we’re looking forward to a handful of fuzzy grey chicks sometime soon.
Registration now open for fall regional training
July 7th, 2009 by Darin
Registration is now open for our regional training courses offered this fall. We have dates set for Texas, California, Colorado, Toronto and Vancouver. Spring 2010 dates for training in Minnesota, Charlotte and Washington State will be announced shortly.
Visit our training page for course information and to register.
Performance Evaluation Tools
July 7th, 2009 by Stephanie BlazeyWhen considering layer performance, our usual goal is to have a layer render in under 2 seconds, and simple layers can often render in under 1 second. When setting up an MXD in ArcMap, the user can get a rough idea of how long layers take to render by turning them on and off to see how long they take to render on the desktop. Any complex layers (parcels, local streets, detailed coastlines) should be limited to a closer zoom, and any general layers (county boundary, highways, large polygons) can be available at full extent.
If you are using ArcGIS 9.3.1, there is a performance analysis tool available on the “Map Service Publishing Toolbar”. Right-click the main menu in ArcMap to access the Map Service Publishing toolbar. This is helpful for overall map service performance, and can also give feedback on layers that should be limited to a larger scale. More info and instructions on how to use the Map Service Publishing Toolbar from ESRI here.
If you are using ArcGIS 9.2 or 9.3, there is a great script available called MXDPERFSTAT. The script is a free download from ESRI ArcScripts and it works with 9.2, 9.3, and 9.3.1.
MXDPERFSTAT is fairly straightforward to run, you launch it from a command prompt and it will give you feedback on your MXD performance for ArcGIS Server. It analyses your MXD at different scales and locations, which you can set yourself or accept the defaults. It goes through and turns on each layer of your MXD one by one and assesses it for performance. When complete, it outputs an XML file which shows the refresh time in seconds at each scale for the whole map, and then more detailed information for each layer at each scale, including warnings, recommendations to improve performance, number of features and vertices drawn, and layer spatial reference, to name a few. I found it took approximately 15 minutes to run the script on a site with 50 layers. The more complex layers (parcels, streets) took noticeably longer to process than the simple layers.
2009 Geocortex Picnic at the ESRI International User Conference
July 2nd, 2009 by DarinWe’re coming up on another ESRI International User Conference in San Diego (but a week away!), which means its time to talk about our BBQ Picnic again…
Join us for sun, games and southwest BBQ at the 4th Annual Geocortex Picnic, Wedenesday July 15 from 12 – 2PM. Prior years have brought us a great seaside gastro-experience with Latitude staff, clients, partners and select prospective clients. Throw in some lunchtime relaxation and games (a welcome respite after two busy days of sessions) amongst the tree dotted enclave that is Embarcadero Marina Park South, and you’ve got the makings for a great lunch!
Registration is open and we’re looking forward to seeing you there.
