The Applications Prototype Team has built a sample web application using the Silverlight PivotViewer control to browse a large imagery collection of New Zealand. The Silverlight PivotViewer makes it easier to interact with massive amounts of data on the web in ways that are powerful, informative, and valuable and the team has been able to leverage these capabilities in this excellent demonstration.

The Silverlight PivotViewer control allows rapid image filtering and smooth zooming down to a full resolution of the imagery.

The lab integrated the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF into the application. Images that have focus will display a hyperlink labeled “View Map”. When the “View Map” hyperlink is clicked, a child window will appear containing ArcGIS.com’s topographic basemap and the source image service.

Imagery can be sorted and filtered in many different ways allowing you to quickly find the image you are after. Once found you can view the metadata for the image or the image overlaid on a map.

This demonstration can be viewed here: http://maps.esri.com/sldemos/… and a video walkthough can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=…

As Richie mentions:

Using the PivotViewer demonstrates one approach for rapid discovery of content. However viewing an image in isolation is of limited use. Spatially enabling content with Esri’s Web Mapping API’s allows users to perform analysis.

This is a great example of how users can interact with a large amount of content in a quick, powerful and valuable manor using the power of Silverlight and the ArcGIS API’s. The next step would be to utilise some of the geoprocessing and analysis capabilities of ArcGIS Server 10 and allow users to download the image they have found via a clip, zip and ship task.

Richie has posted about this demonstration here: http://blogs.esri.com/dev/…

We’re proud to announce that the initial beta for version 2.1 of the ArcGIS API for Windows Phone is now available for download on the resource center.  The API is built on the Silverlight framework of the Windows Phone Application Platform which includes existing Microsoft tools and technologies such as Visual Studio and Expression Blend. Developers already familiar with those tools and technologies will be able to create new applications for Windows Phone without a steep learning curve.

The ArcGIS API for Windows Phone and the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF share the same architecture so you can reuse knowledge and application logic when building applications for Windows Phone.

There are some pivotal differences in platform and device capabilities.  Currently these differences do limit the functionality included in the initial beta release of the ArcGIS API for Windows Phone.  For example, the toolkit controls or map behaviors and actions libraries are not included, maptips on graphics layers are not supported (yet), and only a limited subset of toolkit data sources (OpenStreetMap and WMS) are provided.  In addition, the availability of mobile devices running the Window Phone 7 platform is limited, so the UI experence for most applications will involve the use of emulation software.  Granted, the use of a touch-enabled device with the emulator can provide a interactive experience similar to a phone.  Currently the ArcGIS API includes functionality in the Map and Draw objects to support a common touch and gesture experience on touch-enabled devices.

The ArcGIS for Windows Phone Resource Centre has been updated with concepts and samples. This can be found here: http://help.arcgis.com/en/… The samples section provides a nice in-device view allow you to browse through the many samples which mimic those available for the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF.

All of the samples can be found here: http://help.arcgis.com/en/…

This is a great opportunity to test drive and have a play with this new API. The forums are the place to ask questions and interact with other users. You can find this here: http://forums.arcgis.com/forums/… Rex has posted information on how to get started with using the ArcGIS API for Phone as well as more information on this release here: http://blogs.esri.com/dev/…

It’s great to see this version has been made available early on while the devices are yet to hit the market. This allows developers to really get a head start!

With this new platform, Microsoft offers a fresh approach to phone software, distinguished by smart design and truly integrated experiences that bring to the surface the content people care about from the Web and applications. For the first time ever, Microsoft will bring together Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience on a mobile phone, exclusively on Windows Phone 7 Series.

For developers, Microsoft Silverlight is the platform for Windows Phone development and as such the ArcGIS API for Windows Phone is coming soon!

The API is built on the Windows Phone 7 Application Platform which includes existing Microsoft tools and technologies such as Visual Studio, Expression Blend, Silverlight, and the XNA Framework.

Using the ArcGIS API for Windows Phone, you can develop focused applications for Windows Phone devices that can be deployed within your enterprise or to the public via the Windows Marketplace.

If you have been working with the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF then the learning curve shouldn’t be too steep as the tools and concepts should be the same.

Since the development platform for Windows Phone applications is based on Silverlight, the ArcGIS API will match core (ESRI.ArcGIS.Client.dll) and Bing (ESRI.ArcGIS.Client.Bing.dll) library support present in the Silverlight/WPF API.

Built on the API will be an OOTB application. ArcGIS for Windows Phone will be an available from the Windows Marketplace in the near future.

From a functionality perspective, this should be similar to ArcGIS for iOS which is now available from the AppStore.

The ArcGIS API for Windows Phone Resource Centre will provide all the information required for you to get started. As we grow closer to the release, this resource centre will contain information on the API as well as concepts, samples and library reference information.

The public beta version of ArcGIS for Windows Phone will be released mid-August 2010.

While there is no confirmed release date for Windows Phone at this stage, rumours estimate ~ October 2010.  With the public beta of the ArcGIS API for Windows Phone coming ~ August 2010, you will be able to get a heads up on the simulator before the devices hit the market.

Stay tuned to the ArcGIS API for Windows Phone Resource Centre for more information. The ArcGIS API for Windows Phone is an exciting addition to the stack of API’s provided by ESRI. I am really looking forward to this. It should allow us to extend the great work we have been doing with the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF through to Windows Phone.

Rex has more information about these upcoming releases here: http://blogs.esri.com/dev/…

The new features and functionality in 2.0 that leverage ArcGIS Server 10 have been well received and discussions at the User Conference highlighted many of these benefits.

There were a few questions around migration of Silverlight/WPF applications from 1.0 to 2.0 and what’s required. Rex has answered some of this here: http://blogs.esri.com/dev/…

The ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF 2.1 will be available soon. This will bring a number of enhancements which include:

• Support for disconnected scenarios where the API will generate, manage, and use a local cache of image tiles and features

The support for disconnected scenarios will provide a great addition. I’ll be interested to see how this will be implemented. Local caches can grow rapidly dependant on the number of the levels but having the ability to localise an application with a cache will be beneficial.

• Integrate touch and gestures functionality for a consistent interactive surface experience across multiple devices

With touch devices devices growing heavily, touch and gesture functionality would be good.

• Support for legend metadata provided by ArcGIS 10 Service Pack 1 map services. A legend or TOC control may be added to the toolkit,

Looks like ArcGIS 10 Service Pack 1 will introduce legend metadata. This might include legend swatches via the REST API. A number of users have been asking/talking about this one. Looking forward to this addition.

• Use ArcGIS.com web map documents to configure a map or application.

At this stage the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF 2.1 is scheduled to be released ~ November 2010! Something to look out for! Rex has more information here: http://blogs.esri.com/dev/…

ESRI® announces the ArcGIS Server 10.0 REST API Server Info Resource Patch for the Microsoft .NET Framework. This patch addresses an issue in the REST API Server Info resource. We recommend this patch to any secured ArcGIS Server for the Microsoft .NET Framework installations that use a token based security.

Note that this is for those using secured services on ArcGIS Server for the .NET Framework and it’s recommended that this patch be applied to ensure all clients connecting to your secured services are able to programmatically generate tokens as well as use tokens for authentication.

More information and download for this patch can be found here: http://resources.arcgis.com/content/…

The template gallery provides a number of templates which you can peruse, view and download for use in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and Microsoft Expression Blend 4.

Seven initial templates have been provided.

The templates are really easy to use. Simply download the .zip file, extract the files and open them in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 or Microsoft Expression Blend 4. You might need to repair references and rebuild the solution. Once rebuilt, you can work on customising the template to suit your needs.

Each of the templates can be viewed live and downloaded here: http://help.arcgis.com/en/…

If you are looking for a template to start with, the template gallery should provide exactly this. A fast way of getting up and running with the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF 2.0.

When a service instance sits idle, it can be difficult for a server administrator to determine if connections to the source data are being successfully maintained. ArcGIS Server has built-in mechanisms to check for invalid connections to ArcSDE geodatabases. These checks prevent your service from appearing unresponsive after a connection to ArcSDE is dropped or interrupted.

By checking the checkbox, ArcGIS Server will automatically run data connection validity checks at the specified interval. This can be very useful if you have firewalls between your ArcGIS Server and ArcSDE or backend database server. Some firewalls tend to close connections when there are idle connections after a certain period of time and this can disrupt your ArcGIS Server services.

ArcGIS Server already performs checks on busy services to validate and repair data connections. After every 5 minutes, the next request received by a service results in a check. You can change the interval or disable this behavior by adding the ConnectionCheckInterval tag to the <Properties> section of the service configuration file.

While ArcGIS Server already performs checks on busy services, ConnectionCheckInterval cannot validate data connections on idle services so this new option is very useful.

Using ArcGIS.com you can create your own maps and view them in ArcGIS for iOS, however there are several reasons where you might not want to host your maps on ArcGIS.com and for these cases, ArcGIS for iOS has the ability to consume maps directly from your ArcGIS Server instance.

Now this works differently to the way ArcGIS Mobile works for consuming maps. Maps to be used on ArcGIS for iOS need to configured before they can be consumed using a REST interface.

When you install ArcGIS Server (.NET or Java Edition) on your web server, the install includes an on-premise “content server” that serves as a repository for the maps you can create and open on an iOS device as well as ArcGIS Mobile
projects.

The default location of the rest endpoint can be found at http://server-name/arcgis-instance/mobile/content. You will see two sources for content storage at that rest endpoint – “MobileWeb” and “WindowsMobile”.

WindowsMobile is used by ArcGIS Mobile 10 while MobileWeb is used by ArcGIS for iOS.

Inside MobileWeb there is a Map folder. This the default folder with the option to create your own folders allowing you to categorise your maps.

Inside a folder you have the ability to Add Items. Items are maps that will be accessible for use on ArcGIS for iOS. ArcGIS for iOS uses JSON to format to the content of the map so we have to use something like notepad to define a few services.

The structure is as follows:

{
   "version":"1.1",
   "operationalLayers":[
      {
         "url":"http://events.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Gulf_Coast_ESI/MapServer",
         "visibility":true,
         "opacity":0.75,
         "title":"Environmental Sensitivity"
      },
      {
         "url":"http://events.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Gulf_Coast_Oil_Spill_Forecast/
MapServer",
         "visibility":true,
         "opacity":1,
         "title":"Oil Spill Forecast"
      }
   ],
   "baseMap":{
      "baseMapLayers":[
         {
            "url":"http://services.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/World_Topo_Map/MapServer"
         }
      ],
      "title":"Topography"
   }
}

Using the Add Item, you can define you map to be published with the text being the JSON defining the services to be used when the map is consumed.

A success message will be displayed if everything has been correctly entered.

The added item can now be seen in the Maps folder.

Using ArcGIS for iOS you can now connect the ArcGIS Server where your map has been published to and consume this.

The format of connecting to your ArcGIS Server should be: //mobile”>http://<server-name>/<arcgis-instance>/mobile.

With many users of ArcGIS for iOS asking how they can publish their own maps to ArcGIS Server 10 for use, a document outlining this process has been made available here: http://help.arcgis.com/en/…. This document provides extra detail around some of the input operations and format required when publishing maps for use.

This project contains the source code and libraries for the ESRI ArcGIS Silverlight Toolkit SDK. The library is an extension of the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight™/WPF™.

This library is only an extension of the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight™/WPF™, so in order to build a complete web mapping application, you will also need the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight™/WPF™

The toolkit includes a number of controls, widgets and tools that you can use to enhance your web applications. This opens the door for developers to create their own mapping tools as well extend the existing ones.

The samples site on the resource centre contains a number of examples from controls, widgets and tools that are included within the toolkit. You can have a look at these here: http://help.arcgis.com/en/…

A new addition to the toolkit is the inclusion of ESRI.ArcGIS.Client.Toolkit.Datasources.dll. This assembly allows developers to utilise a number of alternative datasources. These include the likes of OpenStreetMap, WMS. Examples of these can be found on the link above.

Reference documentation on the toolkit can be found here: http://help.arcgis.com/en/…

Downloads for the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF 2.0 Toolkit can be found CodePlex here: http://esrisilverlight.codeplex.com/documentation

The ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF 2.0 introduces a number of new features when working with ArcGIS Server 10 as well as a number of bug fixes and enhancements for those working against ArcGIS Server 9.3.1. A detailed list of what’s new can be found here: http://help.arcgis.com/en/…

For those that have been using the public beta and the release candidate versions, there have been a couple of updates to the final version and information of this can be found on the what’s new link above.

The download for the ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF 2.0 can be found here: http://resources.arcgis.com/content/…

With the ArcGIS API for Flex 2.0 and ArcGIS API for JavaScript 2.0 released last week, all of the ArcGIS API’s for ArcGIS Server are now available. Information on these releases can be found here: http://geo.geek.nz/esri/…