ArcGIS Earth Wish List for Version 2.0

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02-04-2016 01:31 PM
LanceCase
Occasional Contributor

ArcGIS Earth is pretty awesome.  Out of the gate it reads projected shapefiles (in addition of KML and KMZ), measuring distance and area is A LOT easier, and you can switch basemaps.  Then for those that use it, you can add your ArcGIS Online map services to ArcGIS Earth!  This is great!

However, if you're going to call something version 1, you have to expect there will be bugs corrected and features added to version 2.  So to help that process along, here are some corrections/features I would like to see in version 2.

  1. The ability to save drawn features as KML, KMZ, SHP, etc.  Seems kinda basic.
  2. The ability to rename layers.
  3. Support for GPX files.
  4. Support for geo-referenced JPG, PNG, and TIF image files.

Also, it would be great if the URL for APFO ArcGIS Server NAIP imagery worked (http://gis.apfo.usda.gov/arcgis/services ).

Any other low hanging fruit I missed?

16 Replies
DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

Lance

Interesting ideas.  My only wish is that esri not blurr the boundaries of what each piece of software does.

The overlap in functional requests between arcmap, arcgis online, collector and now Earth is beginning to grow.

It would be nice to see the vision for what the software will do in the future...I am sure that that plan must exist somewhere.  Or at some stage, people are going to wonder why they can't do shortest path routing in Earth like in google maps.

So my request would be ... what makes ArcGIS Earth unique, and how it will remain so

Addendum... Getting to know ArcGIS Earth 1.0 | ArcGIS Blog  recent blog post comes close to providing the context and direction...albeit a bit open-ended on functionality futures

LanceCase
Occasional Contributor

Hi Dan, I agree to a point.  I'm primarily an ArcGIS Desktop user and haven't had much use for ArcReader (b/c it requires ArcPublisher), Explorer for ArcGIS or ArcGIS Explorer for Desktop.  I recently had a client give up his ArcMap license, so had a need for a free viewer app.  It just so happens that I've been leveraging ArcGIS Online A LOT, so I can offer the user more than just KML, KMZ, or SHP files.  Due to the spatial extent I'm working at and the level of resolution detail, geoPDF or simple graphics don't cut it.  ArcGIS Earth fits our needs.  I've also got several of our staff using ArcGIS Collector.  The ArcGIS and ArcGIS Navigator apps aren't very useful to us.  In terms of "app blur", I'm glad there are options more tailored to user needs.  It seems somewhat like the shotgun approach to see what users want and will actually use.  Is ESRI indecisive or flexible?  I'm tending to the later.  😃

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by Anonymous User
Not applicable

Lance,

This is great information to read about and pretty close to exactly how we are hoping Earth will be used... as an installable product that can provide a consistent experience for viewing a range of map data served out of the platform.

Esri has always (I used to be a developer and business partner in the Esri community) taken the platform capability approach.  This sometimes can cause our desire to be flexible to cause some blur between products.  Having been at other large companies, I can say that product developers always have pressure from users to allow them to do more of their job within fewer products, which leads to this blur.  That said, we do have a ways to go with Earth before it's 'fully formed.'

Chris

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JeffJacobson
Occasional Contributor III

I would like to see support for viewing data from SQL Server / SDE.

by Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi Jeff,


This is a good request that we can certainly consider. 

One of the issues that we have is that we are trying to build more tailored apps for different user communities and, for Earth, we've been pressured to be both functional and to have a small footprint.  GDB support, even File GDB support, means either bringing along a very large chunk of code many times larger than Earth, rewriting GDB access wholesale, or substituting with some kind of partial access library that doesn't provide consistent functionality with other products. 

The best I can say is that Earth is a 1.0 product with a dedicated, but long distance dev effort in front of it.  We will do our best to respond to user needs that are consistent with the product and platform direction.


Chris

JaimeNeira
New Contributor II

Wondering if there are plans to allow adding web maps too (I know useful for ArcGIS Online and Portal users). It would be an improved shared option for ArcGIS Earth, over current screenshots, and an alternative read-only viewer for ArcGIS Online and Portal. If the web map editing gets added later on...even better!

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by Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi Jaime,


We have the concept of web maps for 2D and web scenes for 3D.  We are, in fact, considering the ability to enable a user to publish and load web scenes from Earth.  That will likely be a little further down the road, but it's definitely something we want to enable.

For a variety of reasons, we have so far stayed away from automatically converting from web maps to web scenes across the Platform, though you can experiment with this in ArcGIS Pro.  The experience can cause results that some users find unpredictable or inconsistent.

Thanks for the comment,

Chris

by Anonymous User
Not applicable

Ability to read file geodatabases would be great, as well as tile packages (tpk).

Understand of course the concern around app bloat.

Would love to use Arcgis Earth as a viewer for clients, but would prefer to send them native ESRI files (e.g. fgb and tpk's!). Could improvise by converting to shape files or kml although that seems a step backwards.

Cheers,

-Paul

JasmineDu
Esri Contributor

Hi Paul,

The information is very helpful. Native files are definitely among the top list. Currently, the team is working on .tpk and .spk support for V1.2 release around UC. The flexibility between .shp and .kml are something we would like to add in the long run as well.

Thanks for the comment,

Jasmine