new jersey geographer

ArcGIS on the iPhone

ESRI has released ArcGIS for iPhone. It’s now available through the App Store. It’s an iPad/iPhone app, so it should work well on both. I just tried it out on my iPhone, and it’s pretty snappy. The data loads quickly and the interface is clean. There are many layers already available through the app, such as OpenStreetMap.

I like the support for ArcGIS Server, as we will be able to provide our local data to iPhone users. I hope that a later revision will also support WMS, as there are many more free and useful WMS-based services out there than ArcGIS services. Greater support for GPS would be useful. ArcGIS for iPhone can locate you using the embedded GPS, but I don’t believe you can use the GPS to record features. I believe these features will come. James Fee points out that ESRI’s response to the UC FAQ regarding iOS support is positive, claiming that updates will feature editing and geoprocessing. As much as I prefer to edit on a big, widescreen monitor, it would be nice to update my data on the go.

If you have an iPhone or iPad, download it for free from the App Store and check it out.

AppleInsider has a tip that the upcoming version of Mac OS X, dubbed “Snow Leopard” will incorporate the GPS and location-based services library from the iPhone into the laptop/desktop version of the operating service.

They postulate that “CoreLocation will utilize a Mac’s existing networking hardware to triangulate the system’s location in a manner similar to the way the original iPhone was able to use the technology to emulate a true global positioning signal.” Is the inclusion of GPS into future Apple laptops too foreign a concept? I’m holding out for the GPS-enabled Macbook Mini, a netbook running OS X smaller than the current offerings. With more and more location-based applications (BrightKite, Google Latitude) for mobile phones being released each day, why wouldn’t Apple start looking into including GPS into its computers?

via SlashGeo