ArcGIS 9.3 JavaScript, REST APIs

The ArcGIS Server Team has posted some information on the new JavaScript and REST API’s coming in ArcGIS 9.3. I know they have been working hard on getting things sorted for the ArcGIS 9.3 release which is really good to see.

We have kept this ArcGIS JavaScript API very simple; to make sure that everyone could take advantage of it without being a hardcore programmer. But at the same time, you’ll quickly learn that this API will let you go beyond mapping and incorporate advanced GIS functionality into your applications. You’ll have access to a complete online SDK with many samples for getting started and using this API. The example above goes beyond your simple "Hello World" mapping application and includes interactive charting of feature attributes using the Google Chart API.

For those of you who are familiar with REST, at 9.3 you’ll be able to REST-enable your GIS services. Once you enable REST on your GIS services, you’ll be able to access them with any scripting language such as Python, PHP, Ruby and why not, with JavaScript. In fact, the ArcGIS JavaScript API is a collection of JavaScript libraries that use ArcGIS REST resources. We built it for you so you can get the most common tasks, accessing map, geoprocessing, and geolocator services, done with minimum effort. For those who want to go the extra mile or use REST directly we are fully documenting the REST API as well.

The ArcGIS JavaScript API is very simple to use so even those without extensive programming knowledge can make use of it. ESRI will be showcasing these and all the other ArcGIS 9.3 features at the ESRI Developer Summit in Palm Springs in a few weeks!

Here is a quick example that has been built using the ArcGIS JavaScript API. Check it out here: http://serverx.esri.com/ArcGISJavaScriptAPI/SuperTuesday.html.

Looking at some of the JavaScript, you can see how easy it is to use:

Creating a new map control and initialising the graphic handlers:

var startExtent = new esri.geometry.Extent(-126.46, 13.10, -66.78, 57.04, new esri.SpatialReference({wkid:4326}));
map = new esri.Map("mapDiv", {displayGraphicsOnPan:false,extent:startExtent,nav:false});
dojo.connect(map, "onLoad", initGraphicsHandlers);

Adding a new layer to the map:

var layer = new esri.layers.ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer("http://server.arcgisonline.com/server");
map.addLayer(layer);

You can have a look at the rest of the JavaScript by just viewing the source. There is some pretty cool stuff coming soon! The original post can be found here: http://blogs.esri.com/dev/…