ArcGIS is a comprehensive platform for delivering geospatial information composed of vast amounts of geographic knowledge-data,models, analytic tools, maps, workflows, and metadata describing our world. This knowledge, created and maintained primarily by GIS professionals, is increasingly being made available to everyday Web users and is playing a pivotal role in the decision-making process.
The GeoWeb makes geographic knowledge more available to people who don’t use geospatial technology on a daily basis but can benefit from it. ArcGIS, through the GeoWeb, allows everyone to leverage the billions of dollars already invested by governments and private organizations in developing basemaps, thematic datasets, and imagery. And, with ArcGIS, creators of geographic knowledge can maintain control over their authoritative data.
The ArcGIS platform is designed to effectively leverage the Web 2.0 environment and adheres to all Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc., and Web standards. ArcGIS features that support the GeoWeb include developer tools for rich Internet applications: The ArcGIS Web mapping APIs for Flex, JavaScript, and Microsoft Silverlight allow developers to incorporate maps and geoprocessing tasks into custom Web applications. These APIs are free for internal and noncommercial use.
Capability to share and find geographic knowledge: Layer packages are a new way to easily share map data via e-mail, file servers, or the Web. Also, ArcGIS services can be discovered by search engines if exposed by the user and can be mashed up with other Web services to support new applications.
Online content: ArcGIS Online provides access to many resources including basemaps, GIS services content, and user-generated GIS content and enables the sharing of these resources.
Fast Web mapping: ArcGIS Server supports fast and high-quality mapping, globe services, and powerful geoprocessing services.
2D/3D geobrowser: ArcGIS Explorer is a powerful, free GIS viewer that implements many new functions attractive to Web 2.0 users and developers.
For more information please visit www.esri.com/geoweb.
