Welcome Shobana!

Shobana has joined the ArcPad team this week and is warmly welcomed.

Her extensive technical experience in all phases of the software development life cycle, including C++ programming for the phone and mobile environments, will be a great enhancement to our development group .

ArcPad @ 2011 Esri Devsummit

The ArcPad team is looking forward to meeting you and sharing the latest developments with ArcPad 10.

Two principal sessions in the

Demonstration Theater 2 , Oasis 1 have been planned:

Tuesday March 8th @ 1:00pm

Developing for Rapid Data capture with ArcPad 10

Presenter: Elvin Slavik

Description: This session will demonstrate new and enhanced capabilities in ArcPad 10, which accelerate deployment of project focused apps for rapid data capture including:

• The QuickCapture toolbar
• Building customized project templates
• Form improvements including repeating attribute values

Wednesday March 9th @ 1:00pm

New Capabilities in Arcpad 10 for Advanced Developers

Presenter: Elvin Slavik

Description: ArcPad 10 introduces new capabilities for developers to easily build advanced solutions. This demonstration will present and work through some of these capabilities including:

• New Forms capabilities for Related Tables
• User Interface tweaks, such as configuring the Map Navigator
• Working with ArcGIS Online Caches

Please remember, these sessions will not be recorded so it is very important that you attend in person to get the latest from the ArcPad team.

New White Paper - What's New in ArcPad 8

This white paper helps users become familiar with what's new in ArcPad 8 so you can get up and running quickly. It provides information for accessing the improved GPS user interface and tutorials to publish ArcPad data using the new ArcGIS Server ArcPad extension.

http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/whats-new-arcpad8.pdf

US Census 2010 Address Canvassing Project

From the ESRI UC 2009 Plenary Session.

US Census Chief Geographer- Mr. Timothy Trainor - announced the successful completion of the US Census 2010 Address Canvassing Project - "by far the largest deployment of mobile GIS in the World ".

View Video here

The Address Canvassing project utilised over 140,000 enumerators and canvassed 145 million addresses in every street of the U.S.A. - HUGE numbers!

As a testament to the strength of the project planning and execution , which included ArcPad and the ArcPad team over many years, Mr Trainor announced that the very tight schedule of 11 weeks had been not only met but better by 7 days.

ArcPad at ESRI Homeland Security GIS Summit

ArcPad is being featured at the ESRI Homeland Security GIS Summit because of it deployment during the devastating February bushfires that swept throught 220,000 hectares of Victoria, Australia .

A short sharp overview will be available:

5 Minute Lightning Talk

Monday, July 13, 04:30pm - 06:30pm

SDCC, Room 6A (across from Sail Area)

Presented by Sgt. Greg Barras, Victoria Police

Stg. Barras was Situation Unit Leader , tasked with overseeing the GIS field data collection following "Black Saturday". As well as the initial Missing Persons searches, GIS and Arcpad in particular were used for the coronial searches of 5,781 properties.

In depth sessions which will feature Sgt. Greg Barras, Steve Forbes, ACT Emergency Services Agency (Part of the MAPS team) and ESRI's Wildland Fire Specialist Tom Patterson include:

Wildland Fire Special Interest Group meeting

Tuesday, July 14, 12:00pm - 01:00pm

SDCC Room 17B

Demo Theater

Tuesday, July 14, 04:30pm - 05:00pm

Public Safety Showcase

Demo Theater

Wednesday, July 15, 05:00 - 06:00pm

Public Safety Showcase

Law Enforcement Special Interest Group meeting

Thursday, July 16, 12:00 - 01:00pm

SDCC Room 17B

The ArcPad User Group Meeting returns in 2009

After an absence from the annual ESRI User Conference in San Diego for the last couple of years, the ArcPad User Groups Meeting is back for this year's conference and will be held on Wednesday, July 15th 12:00PM - 1:00PM in room 10 at the San Diego Convention Centre.

Come and meet up with other users as well as the ArcPad team members and to share expriences.

So add it to your UC agenda and we look forward to seeing you there.

http://events.esri.com/uc/2009/infoWeb/OnlineAgenda/?fa=ofg_details_form&ScheduleID=1960

ArcPad at EMEA & OZRI Conferences

Look out for the ArcPad team at next week's EMEA 2008 , London, UK and OZRI 2008 , Canberra, Australia.


As well as local ESRI UK ArcPad team members , Elvin Slavik (pictured) and Damian Spangurd will be attending the EMEA 2008 User Conference.


As well as the local ESRI Australia ArcPad team members, Stuart Cassin will be attending the OZRI 2008 User Conference.

Look out for Elvin and Stuart , go up and say 'Hi!' and get first hand information of the latest releases of ArcPad.

Arcpad 7.1.1 highlights:

• Streetmap Desktop Data Extractor,
• Performance Improvements with StreetMap
• Enhanced Relational Database Support
• Satellite Objects Added
  

ArcPad 7.2 highlights (currently in beta) :

• New User Interface ‘Look and Feel’
• Improved GPS User Interface
• Improved ArcPad Data Manager Extension
• Introduction of ArcGIS Server for synchronizing edits
• New search method in StreetMap

ESRI UC2008 ArcPad Sessions

It's another year and another ESRI User Conference, and we've got plenty of ArcPad content lined up for you.

ArcPad Team members will on hand presenting the sessions and manning the Mobile GIS Island in the exhibit hall.

In addition to covering the existing ArcPad 7.1 release, we will also be previewing the forthcoming ArcPad 7.2 release. You will get to see some of the very exciting enhancements we've been working on, including an upgraded user interface and direct data synchronization with ArcGIS Server.

Below you can find a summary of the ArcPad sessions.

We look forward to seeing you.

Preconference Seminars	Date	Time	Room
Using ArcPad 7.1 for Mobile GIS	Sat, Aug 2	8:30am - 5:00pm	29 C
Deploying ArcPad 7.1 Field Solutions	Sun, Aug 3	8:30am - 5:00pm	29 C
Conference Technical Workshops	Date	Time	Room
ESRI Mobile GIS Solutions Overview	Tue, Aug 5	8:30am - 9:45am	10
	Wed, Aug 6	1:30pm - 2:45pm	10
ArcPad 7.1 - An Introduction	Tue, Aug 5	1:30pm - 2:45pm	10
	Thu, Aug 7	8:30am - 9:45am	10
ArcPad 7.1 Customization	Tue, Aug 5	3:15pm - 4:30pm	10
	Thu, Aug 7	10:15am - 11:30am	10
ArcPad 7.1 - Advanced Customization	Wed, Aug 6	8:30am - 9:45am	10
	Thu, Aug 7	1:30pm - 2:45pm	10
GeoCollector - Field Data Collection Techniques	Thu, Aug 7	8:30am - 9:45am	15 A
GeoCollector - Field-to-Office Workflows and Analysis	Thu, Aug 7	10:15am - 11:30am	15 A
Moderated Paper Sessions	Date	Time	Room
Mobile Solutions for Forest Land Management	Tue, Aug 5	8:30am - 9:45am	30 D
Special Interest Meetings	Date	Time	Room
ArcPad and ArcGIS Mobile User Group Meeting	Tue, Aug 5	12:00pm - 1:00pm	9
Laser Offsets 101: Map More. Move Less	Wed, Aug 6	12:00pm - 1:00pm	30 D
Mobile GIS Software Showcase Island Demo Theater (Exhibit Hall C)	Date	Time
Introducing ArcPad 7.1	Tue, Aug 5	10:00am - 11:00am
	Wed, Aug 6	11:00am - 12:00am
Editing related tables in ArcPad 7.1	Tue, Aug 5	11:00am - 12:00pm
	Wed, Aug 6	12:00pm - 1:00pm
	Thu, Aug 7	12:00pm - 1:00pm
What’s new in ArcPad 7.2?	Tue, Aug 5	2:00pm - 3:00pm
	Thu, Aug 7	10:00am - 11:00am
ArcPad Data Manager Extension for ArcGIS	Tue, Aug 5	3:00pm - 4:00pm
	Wed, Aug 6	1:00pm - 2:00pm
Using the GeoCollector Solution	Tue, Aug 5	12:00pm - 1:00pm

Welcome Varuna to ArcPad Team

Varuna has joined the ArcPad Team.

Varuna's technical writing skills will be a great asset in documenting the new and exciting changes coming to ArcPad in future releases.

Welcome to the team Varuna!

Rapid Disaster Assessment with ArcPad on Marco Island, FL

"On Marco Island, stress, so it seems is banned by law", but in the case of a disaster, the CERT (Citizen Emergency Response Team) volunteers of this Florida city are trained to use ArcPad to perform a damage assesment within six hours of the emergency.

Read more about the "ArcPad Disaster Assessment" application and the "ArcPad Damage Team" that created it in an article on Marco Eagle marconews.com.

http://marconews.com/news/2008/may/08/cert-week-two-arcpad-allows-immediate-assessment/

ArcPad in Snowshoes

The June/July 2008 issue of Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine has a nice article, titled "Surveyors, Snowshoes, and a Rugged PDA!", about ArcPad running on Archer Field PCs being used to perform environmental surveys on Utah's Monroe Mountain.

Speaker Series Podcast: What's New in ArcPad 7.1

Jian Lange, the ArcPad product manager, and myself talk about the latest ArcPad release, version 7.1

Listen or download from ESRI Podcast Feeds : MP3 [19:16 8.85 MB]

http://www.esri.com/news/podcasts/audio/speaker/staff_slavik.mp3

2008 ESRI Developer Summit ArcPad Video Online

If you missed coming to the 2008 ESRI Developer Summit, or just want to relive those precious moments there, the video of the "Programming & Design Patterns for ArcPad" session can now be viewed online on the ESRI Developer Network :

http://edn.esri.com/index.cfm?fa=media.detail&media=122

2008 ESRI BPC and Developer Summit Slides

Thank you to all of you who attended and caught up with members of the ArcPad team at the 2008 ESRI Business Partners Conference and/or the ESRI Developer Summit held in Palm Springs.

We always enjoy the opportunity to meet up with you in person and discuss your ArcPad mobile GIS applications, requirements and (on of course very rare occasions) gripes :)

Craig and I presented a session on customising ArcPad at the Developer Summit. We were very pleased with your responses and questions, especially regarding the new capabilities introduced in ArcPad 7.1, that you are now adopting in your own applications. In particular new features in ArcPad 7.1, such as the new AXF database capabilties, which we like to describe as a "lightweight geodatabase", and QueryForms are being very well received.

The slides for this presentation are now available online :

http://downloads2.esri.com/EDN/downloads/other_/programming_and_design_patterns_for_arcpad.pdf

Finally, some of you may be interested in how Craig and I prepare for a presentation. Below is a behind the scenes photo mosaic, moments before the presentation room is filled with people. Craig likes to pretend he's a band member of Aerosmith to clear is vocal chords. I'm out of shot, playing the air guitar of course.

ArcPad @ the ESRI Inernational User Conference

Of course we'll be there! (Did you ever really doubt it ?!).

With the ArcPad 7.1 release coming soon, this years ESRI UC will be bursting with ArcPad.

There are:

• * Two Preconference Seminars (one on using ArcPad, and one on customising ArcPad)
• * Seven Technical Workshops (all them are offered twice)
• * Two Moderated Paper Sessions (real users showing how they use ArcPad)
• * Mobile GIS Special Interest Group (share your thoughts with other Mobile GIS enthusiast's - you may even win a prize...)
• * Eleven scheduled demos at the Mobile GIS Island (you can also come and ask questions and chat to the ArcPad team at the Island)

Tip: When searching the conference schedule, make sure you search the keywords: 'ArcPad', Mobile GIS' and 'GeoCollector' to get ALL of the ArcPad related sessions.

All sessions will discuss ArcPad 7.1 at different levels of detail. The key features of this release are:

• * out-of-the-box related tables support
• * QuickProject
• * advanced default query tab and support for custom query forms
• * StreetMap now included with ArcPad

ArcPad on Ultra-Mobile PCs (UMPC)

Last year Microsoft released the Ultra-Mobile PC family (UMPC). For those of you that haven’t already heard of these, they are a range of devices that are smaller and lighter than a notebook PC, have a pen input display and run the Tablet PC version of Windows.

So is an UMPC a good device choice for ArcPad?

Any of you that have been researching potential devices or have experience in deploying ArcPad in the field know that a perfect field device choice is near impossible! On the ArcPad team we have had the opportunity to work with many devices over the years. Although we come across many devices that are very good and near for perfect for some applications, we have yet to encounter a device that is perfect for every ArcPad mobile application.

So the answer is “It depends”... on you

So let’s briefly look at some of the features of the UMPC which might make it a contender for your ArcPad application. We prefer not to promote any specific manufacturer’s devices, preferring you to make choices based on your own criteria. However I thought it useful to describe the UMPC based on my own experience with a specific device, the ASUS R2H.

• Display: Typically a UMPC has a 7” display at 800x480 resolution. The R2H is no different. I love having a 7” display for maps, especially when making use of ArcPad’s symbology capabilities. Indoors the screen is clear and bright. Outdoors it is useable but not great. A device’s screen quality in the target environment is often a critical factor. I have to suggest you see a UMPC in outdoor conditions to see for yourself what you think.


• Input: UMPCs have pen operated displays. Like on a Pocket PC you can use the pen just like a mouse, use a popup keyboard or try the handwriting recognition support in Table PC Windows. I’m not the biggest fan of handwriting recognition on Pocket PC’s, but I have to say on the UMPC is not bad and with a bit more patience it can work well for you. UMPCs also support voice input, but I have to say my experience in applying it to ArcPad is limited so far.


• Performance: You’ll love the speed of ArcPad on a UMPC especially you’re a long time Pocket PC user of ArcPad. Most UMPC’s have a 900+Mhz CPU. This is by no means fast compared to the most PCs these days and would not be your choice to run ArcMap, but for ArcPad it’s great. ArcPad has always been designed to run on slower Pocket PC CPUs with little memory. So when you put ArcPad on an UMPC it really flies. You’ll probably love it if you use large raster layers and vector drawing speed is great.


• Storage: My model of the R2H has a 60GB hard drive, typical for an UMPC is a 40gb to 60gb drive. After the operating system and ArcPad are installed there is still plenty of space for your data. The R2H also has a SD card slot making it very easy to exchange data with Pocket PC users, just put in the card and access it directly from ArcPad just like on a Pocket PC. You can also use a USB drive for very durable low cost solid state storage.


• Ruggedness: The R2H is 'reasonably' durable but not rugged in the sense of harsher environments with heat, dust and water. It's small enough to encase and not make it too large however this could have some effect on its cooling. I find the R2H gets quite warm in use, so in ruggedizing it I would have to take care so that the cooling remains effective.

• Battery life: Not a strong point. It’s more like a notebook getting around 2hours on the standard battery. I have ordered a double capacity battery for mine to extend it to nearly 4hours. The good thing is that the batteries don’t seem too expensive and are easily changed in the field alllowing you can carry multiple and extend the in field time.




• Peripherals: Like most UMPCs, the R2H has 3 USB ports making it easy to plug in a DVD drive to install software, a keyboard, mouse and other USB peripherals. This makes it easy to setup and work with when at a desk. The R2H also has a built in camera.



• Connectivity: Built in wireless LAN, Bluetooth and Ethernet port allows easy connections in almost any network environment. As it is a PC you don’t use ActiveSync, so file transfer is just a matter of copying files as you would with any other PC. It can be accessed via a network or you can transfer using SD card or USB drives.



• GPS: The R2H has a built in GPS, something not yet common on other UMPCs. Connecting up a GPS is often a hassle for users, but devices having a GPS built in makes it a breeze ellimenating cable and battery issues. On the R2H you do have to run a little program to enable the GPS, but this can be made part of your start up to keep it simple. The built in GPS uses the SiRF chip and delivers acceptable performance as compared with other similar consumer style GPS devices. If you want precision you can attach a higher quality GPS via bluetooth or USB.



• Security: The R2H has a fingerprint reader. This allows you to configure the device so you just swipe your finger to logon. This is great for multiple users with different settings and it adds a level of data protection if used wisely.

Some ArcPad vendors are starting to offer the UMPC, for example ESRI China (Hong Kong) has an ArcPad bundle based on the Samsung Q1 UMPC.

http://www.esrichina-hk.com/products/software/news/ESRI%20and%20Samsung%20Bundle%202007.htm

In conclusion there is no substitute in choosing a device than for you to try one out for yourself, in your target ArcPad environment and in the hands of the intended user. The UMPC adds dimension to the range of mobile devices suitable for ArcPad and the ASUS R2H is a worthy unit to evaluate.