New Jersey Geospatial Users Group

ESRI recently unveiled MapMPG, a demostration site using BusinessMap and ArcGIS Server with a Flex front end. It allows you to choose a point and visualize the range two different car makes could travel on one gallon of gas. It’s fun to compare your car to a gas-guzzler like a Hummer or Bentley, or to a dainty sipper like the smart fortwo or the Honda Insight.

The application should be beefed up with additional information on the technology behind it. I assume that if you’re reading this blog, you have an understanding of how the various components come together to give you the map and gallon ranges. The average person, however, doesn’t understand how much more involved this application is compared to something mapped using Google’s My Maps. ESRI needs to capitalize on the fact that they’ve got an attractive - and more importantly, relevant - example of the importance of GIS in daily life.

ESRI’s ArcGIS 9.3 has now been released and should be arriving soon if you’ve kept your tithing maintenance up to date.

Post your hopes and expectations of 9.3 in the comments below.

ESRI has released a new GIS data format, called AXF, for use with ArcPad 7.1. The AXF brings the geodatabase to ArcPad.

From ESRI’s announcement:

“AXF is not actually a new file format but rather it is built on top of existing proven database technology. In this case, AXF is built on top of Microsoft’s SQL Server Compact Edition (SQLCE).”

The semantics scholars have not yet handed down their verdict on whether this is, technically, a new file format. I think it is, and that adding a new GIS acronym only complicates things further; ESRI’s Elvin Slavik disagrees.

I would like to hear from mobile GIS users. Is mobile GIS ready for prime time? If not, what are some major obstacles? What applications (other than ArcPad) do people use?