ESRI User Conference 2008 - Plenary Part III - Explorer 600

ArcGIS-Explorer-Team — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:30:00 GMT

The afternoon plenary "look ahead" at ArcGIS 9.4 and Explorer was hosted by 9.4 development lead Euan Cameron. Euan noted that Explorer has a rapidly paced release schedule, and that Explorer 600 will leverage some of the new capabilities being developed for ArcGIS 9.4, but will be released sooner.

Andy MacDonald delivered the preview of what the Explorer team has been hard at work on. Here's the new user interface which is based on the Microsoft Office ribbon. Andy showed how Explorer's tools and functions can be organized so they can be easily found. The new user experience, of which Andy is a key architect, will reveal only the tools that you need when you need them, simplifying thing for users and making for an uncluttered look and feel.

Andy also demonstrated how symbols are being organized, showing the new symbol gallery which allows you to choose from many different kinds of symbols that suit many different kinds of data and industries.

Andy mentioned that a continuing development focus is on presentation, and that the team has been working to improve these capabilities by providing tools that allow you to step though your map content much like you step through a slide deck, but an interactive slide show where you can pause and explore further, and include Web-based content.

Andy also showed how Explorer 600 will work with basemaps in different ways. He showed some of the new basemap choices, and how they can be used to layer directly underneath your own data. The basemaps can be easily swapped out, allowing you to visualize your information in different contexts. The basemap gallery allows you to choice from a variety of ESRI basemaps and basemaps of your own choosing.

Andy showed local data draped over terrain, and the controls in the ribbon which allow you to experiment with how your map looks. You don't have to open property pages to view your options, everything is right at your mouse tips.

Finally Andy showed how you can toggle from 3D mode to 2D mode on-the-fly, demonstrating how you can work with your content in either mode.

ArcGIS Explorer 600 - A Sneak Peek

ArcGIS-Explorer-Team — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:34:00 GMT

The next release of ArcGIS Explorer - Build 480 - is coming up quickly, with some important new features and enhancements. But at the recent ESRI Developer Summit plenary session we took a longer look ahead, beyond Explorer 480, and showed the first public demonstration of ArcGIS Explorer 600 and its new user interface.

The goal of ArcGIS Explorer 600 is to build on the foundation of previous Explorer releases while improving usability and making it more accessible to non-GIS users through the adoption of a new Microsoft Office-style ribbon-based UI.

Using the new ribbon user interface will make the functions of the application easier to find and experiment with. The ribbon also makes it possible to display only the functions that are applicable to what you are doing and hides controls that are not relevant. Other key aspects of the new user experience include:

Better map content management
Easier access to ArcGIS Online basemaps
Improved window management

Like Explorer 480, Explorer 600 will also include some new key functions. One of the big changes coming up in Explorer 600 is the ability to view your map in both 2D as well as 3D. You'll be able to easily toggle the view between both modes to visualize your geographic information in different ways.

Stay tuned for more on the upcoming Explorer 480 and 600 releases...

ArcGIS Explorer Blog : Explorer 600

ESRI User Conference 2008 - Plenary Part III - Explorer 600

ArcGIS Explorer 600 - A Sneak Peek