Archive for the ‘API’ Category

Geocortex Essentials Client APIs 1.1 Released

January 22nd, 2010 by Kevin Rintoul

We are pleased to announce that we have released version 1.1 of the  Geocortex Essentials Client APIs. This release complements the recent release of Geocortex Essentials version 2.2.  We have also updated the Geocortex Resource Center with a lot of great new content for this release. Below is an example of the new Print Template with Markup feature that many of you have been asking for.

We are excited about this release and look forward to hearing about your implementations. For those that wish to use this release right away, we would encourage you to check out the expanded samples section in the Client APIs Resource Center.

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Posted in API, Flex, Geocortex Essentials, JavaScript | No Comments »

Web ADF vs. RESTful APIs? Not as black and white as some might like…

August 31st, 2009 by Steven Myhill-Jones

People frequently ask us about our take on ESRI’s RESTful APIs in the context of Web ADF. Basically, the RESTful APIs are an important and needed technology. They also aren’t a cure-all, and sometimes Web ADF is the right path (despite its flaws, there are lots of organizations satisfied and successful with Web ADF). We consider REST and Web ADF to be complementary technologies that we envision many folks will choose to run in parallel.

I like the following analogy:

I have five deliveries for you to make. Which of the following two vehicles is better?

apis_vs_adf

Folks that don’t suffer the unfortunate predilection to gravitate permanently to a black and white answer might observe that it depends. If the deliveries consist of envelopes within a ten block radius, the small delivery van is the right choice. On the other hand, if there is two hundred miles between deliveries of heavy crates, then you’re going to want the rig. Which vehicle is better for deliveries? It depends.

Prior to the final release of Geocortex Essentials 2.0 (which ships with REST, JavaScript, Flex, and Silverlight APIs), we were reticent to be too vocal in our situational defense of Web ADF lest anyone accuse us of being biased out of self-interest. However, with Geocortex Essentials 2.0 out the door we now support both platforms; every Geocortex Essentials license includes both our REST Elements and our Web ADF Elements.

Now we can be more vocal about this topic. It isn’t about categorically picking one or the other. ESRI’s RESTful APIs and Web ADF both have their place. The right choice depends on the nature of your app and likely evolution of that app.

Posted in API, ArcGIS Server, Geocortex Essentials, Web ADF | 1 Comment »

Geocortex & Silverlight at PUG 2009

March 11th, 2009 by Rob Lenarcic

A couple weeks ago during the plenary session at the Petroleum User Group Conference (PUG) in Houston, the ESRI Energy Team presented an ArcLogistics solution that included mobile and AVL (automatic vehicle location) viewer components.

At the invitation of ESRI, Latitude created the AVL viewer component using ESRI’s new Silverlight API. Although our team is slammed right now, helping build the demo tied in nicely with the work we’re doing with Geocortex Essentials 2.0. I was in the audience, and I thought the ESRI team did a great job in presenting a complete workflow from start to end (we also appreciated them acknowledging our contribution on stage).

The purpose of the demonstration was to illustrate the power of ArcLogistics to optimize the processing of oil field production maintenance orders. The scenario is built using maintenance orders with the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center field data in Wyoming. Maintenance orders are taken from SAP, loaded to ArcLogistics and optimized between a small fleet of contractor vehicles. Diagnostics indicate the expected savings in time and mileage. The routes for each truck are dispatched by wireless to a simulated in-car station that informs the driver of his schedule for the day and provides an advised route generated by ArcLogistics. Through a lightweight mobile app, the contractor indicates that he has completed a job, posts it back to the dispatch desk, and then continues to his next job. Using a Geocortex tracking viewer (via ESRI’s Silverlight API), we then simulated the dispatch center’s view; real-time tracking of multiple fleet vehicles on an interactive map.

I expect that ESRI’s ArcLogistics tied in with a mobile solution has a bright future (and not just in the petroleum industry).

Posted in .NET, API, ArcGIS Server, GPS, Geocortex Essentials, User Conference | 3 Comments »

Geocortex & Silverlight at PUG 2009

March 11th, 2009 by Rob Lenarcic

A couple weeks ago during the plenary session at the Petroleum User Group Conference (PUG) in Houston, the ESRI Energy Team presented an ArcLogistics solution that included mobile and AVL (automatic vehicle location) viewer components.

At the invitation of ESRI, Latitude created the AVL viewer component using ESRI’s new Silverlight API. Although our team is slammed right now, helping build the demo tied in nicely with the work we’re doing with Geocortex Essentials 2.0. I was in the audience, and I thought the ESRI team did a great job in presenting a complete workflow from start to end (we also appreciated them acknowledging our contribution on stage).

The purpose of the demonstration was to illustrate the power of ArcLogistics to optimize the processing of oil field production maintenance orders. The scenario is built using maintenance orders with the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center field data in Wyoming. Maintenance orders are taken from SAP, loaded to ArcLogistics and optimized between a small fleet of contractor vehicles. Diagnostics indicate the expected savings in time and mileage. The routes for each truck are dispatched by wireless to a simulated in-car station that informs the driver of his schedule for the day and provides an advised route generated by ArcLogistics. Through a lightweight mobile app, the contractor indicates that he has completed a job, posts it back to the dispatch desk, and then continues to his next job. Using a Geocortex tracking viewer (via ESRI’s Silverlight API), we then simulated the dispatch center’s view; real-time tracking of multiple fleet vehicles on an interactive map.

I expect that ESRI’s ArcLogistics tied in with a mobile solution has a bright future (and not just in the petroleum industry).

Posted in .NET, API, ArcGIS Server, GPS, Geocortex Essentials, User Conference | 4 Comments »

Geocortex Essentials 2.0 and ESRI’s Developer APIs

October 16th, 2008 by David Stevenson

UPDATE: This message was originally posted for our customers on the Geocortex Support Center on October 6, 2008 and is posted here for folks who don’t have access to the Geocortex Support Center. Also, here’s the link to the Geocortex Essentials: The Road Ahead webinar.

I’m posting to provide some insight into current and upcoming Geocortex Essentials development, as it relates to ESRI’s new and emerging developer APIs.

It is clear to us that these APIs will have an integral role to play (alongside Web ADF) for many customers in the years to come and so we are actively engineering Geocortex Essentials 2.0 to encompass these developer technologies.

Agnostic support and integration for various ESRI developer technologies (as they come into existence) has always been part of the long-term vision for Geocortex Essentials and so our work has always been designed to be exposed in an agnostic way at some point in the future. With the intense demand for Web ADF features and the absence of other APIs, Geocortex Essentials development has been focused on the Web ADF realm for the 1.x product generation, while ensuring we we could make the core elements generic once warranted. And that’s what we’re doing right now.

We’re currently working on a Geocortex Essentials REST API to initially expose search, reporting, data linking and printing via a RESTful interface. This functionality can then be leveraged by either Javascript or Flex API applications—or any other application that connects RESTfully to our API. We decided to expose these particular core elements because they’re needed at the heart of many real-world ArcGIS Server implementations. Let us know if other features are a priority to your organization.

Before long, we’ll also get behind one or more lightweight viewer APIs by developing software to streamline and enhance the development and management of applications built on them. While we’re working with each and may provide sample Javascript and Flex API template applications on which to base development, we have yet to “pick a pony” regarding technological emphasis on the lightweight viewer/application development side. We don’t think all the information is available yet to ensure the correct decision, and we’re confident our customers won’t want us to risk going down the wrong path by making a premature choice.

We’re anticipating a Q1 2009 release of version 2.0. Finally, because Geocortex Essentials is about success with ArcGIS Server, everything we’re talking about here will be delivered to you as part of regular product updates.

Posted in API, ArcGIS Server, ESRI, Flex, Geocortex Essentials, JavaScript | No Comments »