Java Advanced Imaging In Action -- ESRI, Inc

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Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) is a leader in the rapidly expanding field of geographic information systems (GIS). Its ArcIMS and ArcExplorer GIS software applications are developed on the Java platform. These applications help government agencies organize, visualize and analyze geographic information in unique and powerful ways. For example, the State of Illinois is using ESRI's software to combine and analyze geographically-related law enforcement statistics such as drug-related arrests with mapping technology to create a CD-ROM based crime analysis tool for police officers. ESRI has been enhancing its software capabilities to allow customers - including retailers, utilities and shipping companies - to make sophisticated geographic and mapping data and analysis available via intranets within agencies, as well as to the general public via the Internet.

ESRI developed ArcIMS and ArcExplorer on the Java platform in part because it needed a flexible, platform independent technology, and with an eye to its long term goal of deploying its CD-ROM based information via the Internet. ESRI uses the imaging technologies within the Java 2D and Java Advanced Imaging APIs to view and manipulate geographic reference image sources within a Java technology-based GIS data viewer. ESRI chose the Java imaging technologies because they provided crucial imaging functionality that ESRI could build into ArcIMS and ArcExplorer without having to develop the technology - and write the imaging-related code -- in-house. The Java APIs functionality allowed ESRI to reduce both the time it took the company to bring its products to market and the cost of developing them.

" Both ArcIMS and ArcExplorer are powerful tools for combining data and geographical images in a way that is meaningful and helpful for users. Using Java technology allows us to work across platforms, which is critical as we move into the Internet phase of our deployment. And the Java Advanced Imaging API provided mission-critical imaging technology that allowed us to build additional functionality into our software without having to develop the code ourselves. The Java Advanced Imaging API technology was critical to meeting our performance needs and helped us to bring the software to market quickly and cost-effectively. "

Mike Tait
ERSI Internet Technologies Manager
ESRI

ESRI
380 New York Street
Redlands, CA 92373
(909) 793-2853