ArcGIS Server 9.2 includes the following as parts of a Web GIS:
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Manager
Manager is the application you use to publish information on your GIS server. From Manager, you can add and remove services, edit service properties, and organize services in folders. Manager comes with an easy-to-use wizard for creating a Web mapping application. It also includes mechanisms for publishing ArcGIS Explorer maps and KML network links on your server. Finally, Manager allows you to configure the machines and directories in your server system, and troubleshoot the server using its logs.
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Application Developer Frameworks (ADFs)
ArcGIS Server comes with a Web Application Developer Framework (ADF) that contains tools for building GIS Web applications. You can drag and drop the Web ADF's controls onto a Web form to quickly create an application that does mapping, editing, geocoding, geoprocessing, and more. For advanced GIS applications, you can use the Web ADF's developer libraries to leverage the power of ArcObjects. The Web ADF also contains the ability to integrate multiple service types—such as ArcIMS and ArcWeb Services—into one map, and provides entry points for programming with these service types using .NET or Java. When you install the Web ADF, it is automatically integrated into your development environment, so that you can begin using it the next time you use Visual Studio, Eclipse, or Creator.
Additionally, ArcGIS Server for the Microsoft .NET Framework includes a Mobile ADF, for creating applications that can run on mobile devices such as Pocket PCs and Smartphones.
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ArcGIS Explorer
ArcGIS Explorer is a free geospatial information viewer that comes with ArcGIS Server. ArcGIS Explorer can view many types of map services—including those published with ArcGIS Server—as well as data from your local file system. Using ArcGIS Explorer, you can configure and share tasks, which provide user-intuitive interfaces to geoprocessing models that run on the server.
ArcGIS Explorer is highly customizable and can be deployed as a client for ArcGIS Server projects. You can find the ArcGIS Explorer install CD in your ArcGIS Server product box, or download it for free from the ESRI Web site. While you will use ArcGIS Explorer to author maps, you will use ArcGIS Server Manager to publish those maps on your GIS server.
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ArcSDE
ArcGIS Server comes with ArcSDE, which is the software that allows you to manage your GIS data in one of the following commercial database management systems: IBM DB2, IBM Informix, Microsoft SQL Server, or Oracle. ArcSDE allows you to store your data in a central database and support the concurrent multi-user editing necessary for most geodata management workflows.
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Help
ArcGIS Server offers three kinds of help:
ArcGIS Server Help is your principal source of information for working with the GIS Server. Here you'll find help for publishing services, creating and managing applications, and administering the server. Although this help is installed with the product, you can also access an updated version online at http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisserver/9.2/.
Developer Help contains information about the developer libraries included with the Web and Mobile ADFs. Developer Help includes conceptual information about programming with ArcGIS Server, samples that give you a chance to examine a working application, scenarios that walk you through the process of writing code to accomplish a certain objective, and object model diagrams that allow you to visualize the relationships between the programming components. In Developer Help, you'll also find all of the topics from the ArcGIS Server Help. Developer Help is installed with the product, and available online at the ESRI Developer Network .
ArcGIS Explorer Help is a help system that is included with ArcGIS Explorer deployments. It explains how to navigate and configure properties within ArcGIS Explorer. It also explains how to use ArcGIS Explorer to view data and services. You can access this help from within ArcGIS Explorer, or view it online.
ArcGIS Server Extensions
ArcGIS Server's optional extensions allow you to add capabilities to your system and create applications leveraging advanced features. These extensions include the following:
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3D Extension
The ArcGIS Server 3D extension includes a set of 3D GIS functions to create and analyze surfaces. These functions include slope, aspect, hillshade analysis, and more.
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Data Interoperability Extension
The ArcGIS Server Data Interoperability extension enables you to easily use and distribute data in many formats.
You can use the Data Interoperability extension to directly read more than 70 spatial data formats and export to more than 50 spatial data formats. ArcGIS Server complements the Data Interoperability Extension by allowing you to author maps and geoprocessing tasks that support non-native data sources on your desktop and publish them to ArcGIS Server. You can publish maps that contain non-native data sources using Data Interoperability's direct read capabilities and Interoperability Connections. You can also publish Geoprocessing tasks that contain conversion functions such as Quick Import, Quick Export, and the Spatial ETL tool.
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Network Extension
The ArcGIS Server Network extension provides network-based spatial analysis capabilities including routing, travel directions, closest facility, and service area analysis. Developers can use it to build and deploy custom network applications.
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Spatial Extension
The ArcGIS Server Spatial extension provides a powerful set of functions that allows you to create, query, and analyze cell-based raster data.
You can use the Spatial extension to derive information about your data, identify spatial relationships, find suitable locations, calculate travel cost surfaces, and perform a wide range of additional raster geoprocessing operations.
ArcGIS Online
ArcGIS Online from ESRI provides a new set of free, high performance Web services that were launched in conjunction with the 9.2 release. They provide you with a rich set of ready-to-use geographic data, including high resolution imagery, up-to-date street maps, cartographic base maps, and 3D globes. All services are based on the most current commercially available data, and are served over the Internet using ArcGIS Server.
ArcGIS Online Beta 1 is open to all ArcGIS users at no cost. Certain restrictions related to volume and commercial repurposing may apply, but in general, most users will be able to access, use and republish their data in conjunction with these basemaps. Additional specialized content and services requiring a subscription are planned for a release following 9.2.
Visit ArcGIS Online to learn more about accessing the services and what is available.
The ArcGIS family of products
ArcGIS Server is just one of an integrated family of GIS software products for building a complete GIS. ArcGIS consists of four key parts:
- ArcGIS Desktop—an integrated suite of advanced GIS applications.
- ArcGIS Engine—embeddable GIS component libraries for building custom applications using multiple application programming interfaces (APIs).
- ArcGIS Server—a platform for building GIS applications in enterprise and web computing frameworks. Used for building web applications, web services, and mobile applications that provide mapping, analysis, data creation, data management, and data interoperability functionality. ArcGIS Server also includes a rich set of clients for working with these applications and services.
- ArcIMS®—GIS server for publishing maps, data, and metadata through open Internet protocols.
Each of these GIS frameworks also includes the ArcSDE® gateway, an interface for managing geodatabases in numerous relational database management systems (RDBMSs).
Like ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Engine, ArcGIS Server is built on a common library of shared GIS software components called ArcObjects. ArcObjects components are software objects that have multiple developer APIs. These include Component Object Model (COM), .NET, Java, and C++. Developers can use these APIs to build applications that make use of ArcObjects functionality. ArcObjects is at the core of all the ArcGIS products: ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine, and ArcGIS Server, with ArcGIS Server providing the framework for running ArcObjects in a server environment.
