00:01So I'm Deane Kensok. I'm the program manager for ArcGIS Online, and I'm here with Christophe Charpentier...

00:05...who's the product manager for ArcGIS content.

00:08And we're here today to talk about our online Community Maps initiative.

00:12Hopefully some of you were able to attend the plenary on Monday and got an introduction to some of the community maps...

00:18...through some of the demonstrations that we had or maybe had a chance to visit us in the Online Island and learn a...

00:23...little bit about it.

00:25What we wanted to do today was give you an overview of the Community Maps initiative that we have...

00:30...provide a fairly detailed overview of the community basemaps that we're actively maintaining with our users.

00:37And then talk about how you can participate in the Community Maps Program if you'd like to.

00:41And there's some things you can do this week while you're at the UC to get started if you would like...

00:46...and we'll talk about some of those options.

00:49And then, Internet willing, we'll do a demonstration of the maps.

00:54So the purpose of the community basemaps really is to enrich the quality and detail of the online maps that Esri has...

01:02...been providing to our user community.

01:04As many of you know, Esri has been providing access to a set of online maps for the past few years through ArcGIS Online.

01:11It includes maps like imagery and streets and topography.

01:15And the feedback we've gotten from many users in the past two or three years was, in some cases, they have better data locally...

01:22...that they would like to see online and included in those maps than what we were providing perhaps from...

01:27...our national or commercial sources. So we created a program.

01:31Initially, it was focused on imagery, but it allowed us to have a process through which we could integrate user content...

01:38...or partner content into the online maps that we're making available.

01:42So the purpose of this program really is to support that initiative.

01:46So, one, we're trying to provide useful and authoritative basemaps for your interest areas...

01:52...your communities, that you can access.

01:54We want to build that with the best available authoritative data that's coming, in many cases, from our GIS user community.

02:01In many cases, the best source data is coming from the local GIS agency...

02:06...that's responsible for compiling that information and maintaining that information.

02:10We want to make sure our maps reflect as much of that as we can.

02:13And then we also wanted to provide a high quality of cartography...

02:17...that could be used to support a variety of mapping applications.

02:20So our basemaps reflect some of the best practices that we have for generating high-quality cartography using ArcGIS...

02:26...and we've tried to encapsulate that cartographic design into templates that we can share with our users...

02:32...and then they can use that to apply to their own data.

02:35And then the results of that can be used internally or then shared back with us to publish in our online maps.

02:42We set up a program to support this work. The program really is just a means to an end.

02:47It's a method that we can use to improve the community maps that Esri hosts and then provides back freely to our community.

02:54As I mentioned, when we started the program a couple years ago, the initial focus was on imagery.

02:59We had a number of organizations, states and counties, who said they'd acquired some imagery for their community...

03:06...that in some cases was more current than what we had available through ArcGIS Online...

03:11...and they were interested in seeing that imagery online in place of what was available.

03:15So we set up a mechanism where they could make that imagery available to Esri and then we would blend that into our map.

03:21Since then, we've expanded the program to cover two additional basemaps beyond imagery...

03:26...our World Topographic Map and our World Street Map...

03:30...which are the three most popular maps that we host through ArcGIS Online.

03:34And the primary goal of the program is really to extend the coverage, add coverage to the maps...

03:39...where we don't have high detailed content...

03:42...or to add additional detail to areas where we do have something but we'd like to go to larger scales.

03:48So for imagery, we'll talk about what content we have.

03:51In many cases, that means adding coverage of high-resolution imagery where we only have...

03:55...say, 15-meter resolution imagery now.

03:57For street maps, it might be going down to larger scales down to 1 to 10,000-scale street map data...

04:03...rather than 1 to 100,000-scale data where it might only be available now.

04:10In terms of the benefits of participation.

04:11As we've talked to a number of organizations and they've kind of explained to us what their interests are...

04:16...what their motivations are for working with us, kind of summarized some of...

04:20...the key benefits that we see that might pertain to, you know, what you would be thinking about...

04:24...and why you might want to participate.

04:26The first is, most organizations are interested in having a detailed basemap available for their community that's online.

04:34They'd like it to have high-quality cartography that reflects their data.

04:38So some of our users have very good data...

04:40...but they don't have the cartographers in their organization to invest significantly in the presentation of their data.

04:47They like the quality of cartography they see in the online maps, and they'd like to apply that to their own data.

04:52And that's been a positive outcome of many of the collaborations that we've done.

04:56Some users are looking for higher performance or higher availability on their maps.

05:00They're looking to have maybe a public-facing web application that publishes their data online...

05:06...but they don't have the infrastructure to deliver the level of service or performance that they'd like to deliver.

05:12And they're happy with what they've seen through online, so they'd like to...

05:14...contribute their data online so they could receive those capabilities without having to invest in them.

05:20And then related to that are the hosting costs.

05:22Many of our organizations that we're working with are cities and counties, some states...

05:28...that have a GIS team that's responsible for building and maintaining the data, but they don't have the infrastructure...

05:33...or sometimes the resources to invest in the kind of server environment that might be needed to support a reliable online service.

05:40And so with the online basemap that we host, there's no hosting costs or other...

05:45...infrastructure support required from the contributor.

05:49Another benefit is the basemap is freely available to any ArcGIS user or even web users for their noncommercial use.

05:57So if you do participate in the basemap, if you want to use that throughout your organization, you can do so freely.

06:03You can share that basemap outside your organization to your local community.

06:06Even casual users via the web can use that content freely; there's no cost for any noncommercial use.

06:13And then, lastly, some of the organizations that we've talked to have wanted to build web applications...

06:19...that feature their community.

06:21Last year, New York City did what they called a Big Apps competition...

06:23...where they encouraged local developers to build some interesting applications for the New York community.

06:29And they had a competition for the best apps.

06:32And part of that was providing online maps that could be used to support those apps.

06:36Other cities were inspired by that, or similar initiatives, and were interested in doing that type of thing...

06:41...encouraging their local community to build interesting applications that could be used...

06:45...in web browsers, on iPhones, that type of thing.

06:48And the online community basemap provides a nice foundation layer to do that type of thing.

06:52Maybe it's finding, you know, doing economic development applications or finding points of interest within the community.

06:59The basemap's a nice foundation layer for that type of thing.

07:01So there's a developer API from ArcGIS, our JavaScript, Flex, Silverlight APIs...

07:07...in addition to the REST and SOAP APIs, that are freely available to use for development purposes.

07:14So now let's transition and talk about some details on the community basemaps.

07:17So as I mentioned, these are the three primary basemaps that we're supporting currently...

07:21...and I'd like to kind of give you a status of what we have currently in the system.

07:25So the World Imagery Map is the most popular online basemap that Esri hosts currently.

07:31We're serving over 300 million maps a month.

07:34Probably 40 percent of those are image map requests that we get. So it's very popular in terms of our online maps.

07:41The current status of the imagery map is that we have worldwide coverage down to 15-meter resolution.

07:47For the United States, we have a nationwide mosaic of imagery that goes coast to coast.

07:52That's a blend of imagery from a number of sources; I've listed some of them here.

07:57In terms of the community map, a lot of the imagery in the U.S. coverage is coming from organizations...

08:02...such as the USDA Farm Services Agency, the USDA FSA, that maintains the NAIP program.

08:08We have a relationship with USDA where they make available the imagery to us...

08:13...and we do the processing of that imagery and we publish it online, along with the other sources of imagery for the U.S.

08:19We also have data from the USGS. Their cities program has been blended into our mosaic.

08:24And then different states and counties, such as the State of Utah, County of San Bernardino...

08:29...are participating, and they've made available imagery for their communities that have been blended into the map.

08:34And then, in addition to this, we've also blended in recently commercial imagery into this map...

08:40...that Esri has licensed the right to include.

08:42If you attended the ArcGIS Online session, we talked about that.

08:45That was an enhancement we made to the World Imagery Map a few months ago...

08:49...where imagery that was formerly available only by subscription is now part of the free World Imagery Map.

08:53And I'd encourage you to take advantage.

08:55So when we did that, a lot of really recent high-resolution, submeter resolution, imagery...

09:00...was added into our free World Imagery Map that greatly improved upon the quality that we have in the U.S.

09:07Internationally, we have content for over...we added content for over 2,000 cities and towns around the world last year...

09:14...before the User Conference, and then this year, we've added content for a number of nations.

09:20I've listed several of them here that have been added for nationwide coverage.

09:23And this imagery was made available to us through our Community Maps initiative.

09:27In this case, it was interestingly provided by a commercial organization that was willing to provide some of their...

09:33...imagery to us to use through the Community Maps Program and make it part of this free image map.

09:37So that's kind of a current status of the world imagery.

09:41Our World Street Map, our second basemap...

09:43...is a multiscale street map for the world that goes down to about 1 to 150,000 scale worldwide.

09:50And then, in selected areas, we go down to larger scales, 10,000 scale or larger in some metropolitan areas.

09:57We do that for North America, U.S. and Canada; Europe, most of Western Europe and central Europe is covered...

10:05...at that scale level.

10:07And then beyond those areas, we've been working through our Community Maps initiative...

10:10...to expand coverage elsewhere internationally.

10:13And I've listed a few countries for which we've recently added coverage.

10:17And these are, in many cases, datasets that have been added through our international distributor network.

10:23ESRI Japan, for example, worked with our local national mapping agency with their local national mapping agency...

10:29...and compiled data, authored it using our template, and then blended that into our online street map.

10:37Lastly, with our World Topographic Map, I want to talk about this in a little bit more detail.

10:41So this is our newest basemap.

10:43Last year at the User Conference, when we met we had just started the development and deployment of this online map...

10:50...and it was kind of in its infancy then.

10:52And we were encouraging some users to look at the map, think about whether they'd like to participate...

10:57...and we've been very encouraged by the level of interest that we've had since then...

11:01...and the map has been growing pretty rapidly.

11:04This basemap is one, you might also refer to it...have us refer to as our community basemap.

11:09And this was featured heavily during the Plenary Session.

11:12This is a map that's intended for use as a general purpose basemap to support a variety of applications.

11:19So it's designed with pretty neutral background colors; we're not using bright reds or dark black colors that would...

11:26...that would make it difficult to overlay other information.

11:28It's got a neutral background with muted colors that allows you to overlay other information effectively on the map.

11:34We designed a cartographic template for this map that we've been refining a little bit as we work with users.

11:41And then we've compiled a number of datasets from best available sources that are blended into this map...

11:46...and that's what we'll talk about here today, the process of doing that.

11:49So this is really a collaborative effort with the ArcGIS community.

11:52And we're trying to work with our community to extend the map to add coverage and detail...

11:57...and I'll show you some examples of what we've been able to achieve.

12:00So when we met here a year ago, the status of the map was that we had global coverage down to about 1 to a million...

12:06...and we had U.S. coverage down to 1 to 20,000.

12:09And we had, I think, two cities that went down to larger scales.

12:12So it was really kind of a demonstration of what could be done, but it wasn't the full realization of what we intended to do.

12:18This year we've made tremendous progress in moving that map forward.

12:21So we now have global coverage down to 1 to 150,000 scale like we do with our other street basemap.

12:27So we have a very good global foundation layer built.

12:31We've extended the 1 to 20,000-scale national coverage from the United States to now also include Canada.

12:36We worked with ESRI Canada who worked with their local national mapping agencies...

12:41...Natural Resources Canada, for example, and blended that data into our map template and then into our map.

12:47And then more recently we've added 1 to 20,000-scale coverage for all of Western Europe...

12:53...and large parts of central Europe as well.

12:55So for North America and Europe, we now have down to 1 to 20,000-scale map coverage...

13:00...in the World Topographic community basemap.

13:03And then we've been working in particular quite a bit with more local organizations, cities, counties, regional organizations...

13:11...to extend the map to these even larger scales, down to as large as 1 to 1,000 scale for selected areas.

13:18And you can see a list of some areas; many of them are cities, for which we've added that level of detail.

13:25We've been doing monthly updates to the World Topographic Map for the past several months...

13:30...going back to the beginning of the year, and we intend to be doing monthly updates for the remainder of 2010.

13:35There's a significant number of maps that are currently in development from our user community...

13:40...and those are rolling in to Esri weekly, and we're doing some work to blend those into our maps.

13:46So you can expect to see additions, additional updates throughout the remainder of the year along the lines of what's here.

13:52So I've listed some of the updated areas that have come online here just in the last few months.

13:59And this kind of gives you a little bit of a schematic illustration of the map...

14:03...just to kind of give you a mental framework for thinking about it.

14:05So what we tried to do with the community basemap is kind of build a foundation to start, so we've built...

14:12Esri has compiled with some public source data from USGS and NASA and the United Nations FAO and other organizations...

14:21...some commercial organizations, a global basemap that now, as I mentioned, goes down to about 1 to 150,000 scale.

14:27So we have that as kind of a foundation.

14:29There's some of these medium scales that we could certainly improve upon still, working with local national mapping agencies...

14:35...and there's enhancements that can be made to the quality, the detail of the data.

14:39But we have a good solid foundation, we think, to build on.

14:42And then beyond that, we've added more detailed coverage, as I mentioned...

14:45...for the United States, Canada, and Europe down to the 1 to 20,000 scale.

14:49And a big focal point for us in the next year or two is going to be to extend at those larger scales...

14:55...to other parts of the world, Latin America, Asia, Australia.

15:00And there's some efforts we have ongoing now that will extend us in Latin America and Asia and...I'm sorry.

15:06...Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand, in particular, at those scale levels.

15:10And then lastly, at the kind of the top of this pyramid, we have some illustrations of different areas that have been added.

15:16So as I mentioned, we've been adding coverage for a number of cities and counties recently...

15:21...and we'd like to extend in those areas.

15:22So that's really where a lot of the effort is invested right now, at these large scales...

15:27...national coverage and regional coverage going down to as large as 1 to a thousand.

15:35So at this point, I'm going to check and see if the Internet is cooperating.

15:38I'm not sure... It does not look promising.

15:39I'm not sure the Internet is back because the [unintelligible] is not back.

15:42It kind of came back and then went away again, and so I...

15:46Well, I'm not sure. That'll be unfortunate if we can't. Yeah, it looks like we're not going to have it right now.

15:52I think what we should do is proceed on and then... Apologize for that. Hopefully it will come back.

15:57It was working fine in the last session, so...

16:00What I was going to demonstrate for you; I'll just describe it briefly and then hopefully we'll have a chance to show it at the end.

16:05But there is a tour of ArcGIS Online community basemaps that we've authored that was built using ArcGIS Explorer Online...

16:14...and it's a map that you can actually discover at ArcGIS.com. I was going to show you that at the end of the tour.

16:20But you can search for community basemaps and you'll find a map that's been authored.

16:23And if you run that in presentation mode, it gives you a tour of the community basemap...

16:27...and shows you some of the areas that we've talked about here.

16:30So hopefully we'll have a chance to come back to that later.

16:32If not, then we can come down to the island and I can show you in the Online Island later on this week.

16:39Okay. With that, I'm going to hand it over to Christophe, and he'll talk more about the how-tos...

16:42...how to participate in the Community Maps initiative.

16:49Hello. Can you hear me? Yes.

16:51So first, I can't resist to wish you a very happy Bastille Day for the 14th of July.

16:58What is always surprising to me, I've been living in the U.S. for the past three years, is that I don't understand why...

17:05...you want to be very nice to us, but you shoot the fireworks on the 4th of July; that's 10 days in advance.

17:10Sorry, I just don't get it. Before we start...

17:15So how can you participate to building that map?

17:17Well, there is many ways, and we're going to try to go through those different ways...

17:22...because the process is a bit different whether we're talking about the World Topo Map...

17:27...or talking about the World Imagery or the World Street Map.

17:30So first, the goals, is that you can blend your data. And we want to leverage on, you know, the...

17:37The producers of any kind of authoritative GIS data in the world are GIS users, and it's you who are attending that conference.

17:46So we want to provide a way so that you can serve your content, the one that you have been working for years...

17:54...into one seamless basemap of the world and so that it can improve the quality of the map.

18:01And the main benefit is because people know that it has been produced by an authoritative source...

18:08...someone they trust, a peer, so that they will be willing to use that map.

18:12And you will feel, yourself, very comfortable in using someone else's data because you know it has been produced by...

18:18...people who care about the quality of the data and have been producing good quality data.

18:23So the workflow, the first thing is, of course, to identify what kind of data you are...

18:28...you could be contributing to the community.

18:30It could be imagery, because maybe you have some imagery for your region, or it could be a topo map.

18:36And it might be because you own all the layers for one specific region...

18:41...or just because you own, you've been producing a layer, for example, of vegetation all across Europe for the past 10 years...

18:47...and you would like to blend that into the World Topo Map.

18:50Or it could be the World Street Map.

18:52So to get started, there is multiple entry points. And there is one, for example, which is on the Esri web site.

19:00So you go to esri.com/communitymaps. You'll find a wealth of description of the program.

19:08You'll find also a participation form that you can fill.

19:12It goes to an alias, so the entire team, the content team, receives that notification.

19:17So we'll come back to you within days, and then we'll engage with you...

19:21...in figuring out the best way to support you in being able to contribute that content.

19:27Maybe something that I'd like to ask, I know we did that last time, last time yesterday when we did the presentation...

19:32...is to understand if in the audience we have in the room, Who's from...who's a domestic U.S. user? Okay.

19:42So I guess the rest is international. Okay, good. Interesting.

19:49So a bit more, we'll say two-thirds/one-third. In the first session, it was like 80/20 more like.

19:57So we do have a great interest in expanding as Deane introduced, into providing more content for the U.S....

20:03...but also expanding and making more content available for the entire world.

20:06So please feel free either ping us through the participation form, go on the web site, and you...

20:14...I'll mention at the end of the presentation some events, additional events that we have today, and you can join...

20:21...to enter and join the program.

20:24So the first basemap you may want to consider supporting is the World Imagery Map.

20:30As Deane mentioned, we have a worldwide coverage at 15-meter resolution.

20:34And you can see on the left-hand side of the slide the coverage and what we have at 1 meter or greater resolution in the world.

20:43So, for example, if you just look at North America, if you're in Canada...

20:47...if you're from Canada and you have imagery for Canada...

20:50...we'd be more than happy to serve that imagery out and work with that...

20:55...with you on finding ways to support the rest of the user community.

21:00One thing that is important to us also is to provide accurate accreditation...

21:04...attribution of who has been providing the content.

21:07So if you were going to the Resource Center, and you would look at the different maps that we have there...

21:14...you will see that we have an Attribution button, an Identify button, and you can find the details...

21:19...on, first, what we have and the fact that we provide attribution.

21:23That could be also for your first step, because you may have some imagery...

21:26...and you can't figure out whether your imagery is more recent than the one that we already have.

21:32That could be the easiest way, because here you'll find the exact date for that, any kind of area in the world...

21:37...and you'll see the resolution that we have and who has contributed, and the date from which that imagery has been captured.

21:43So feel free to go to those pages. You'll find plenty of details on the coverage.

21:48It's also a good way for you, while the coverage evolves, it's a good way for you to get an update situation.

21:56So how can you...how can you participate?

22:01Well, basically, we tried to organize this into a three steps process.

22:07Once you've identified, you've been to that web site, you've seen that you have something that could be of interest...

22:15...and there could be a better than what we already have, then let's get together...

22:22...and you deliver us the imagery as a GeoTIFF format.

22:26We'd like to start with the original format rather than already a compressed format because we'd like to minimize the file.

22:34If it's a compressed format that you deliver to us and when we convert that into a cache...

22:38...then there is a risk that the quality is going to be lower than if we get the GeoTIFF images.

22:45So you can make that available to us through an FTP or through shipping an odd hard drive.

22:52Please provide us also with metadata on the imagery, first on, you know, who has been contributing...

22:57...but also, you know, the more detailed metadata you can, the better it's going to be in the future.

23:03Because this way, other users will be able to check...

23:05...on where the data comes from, the description of the data, but also, ultimately...

23:11If you have been in the Plenary Session, you've heard about that notion of mosaic of mosaics...

23:17...and what we're working on is making sure that, by exposing as much metadata there...

23:22...metadata, sorry, as possible, when we come to the point that we serve out a mosaic of mosaics, which would be...

23:29...that will be the Esri mosaic, and then there will be the Bing mosaic, and then there will be someone else mosaic.

23:36Then we could serve out the service that could be the best imagery of the world.

23:41So by checking on the date, by checking on the cloud cover, then we can serve out to the user and pool...

23:47...the tiles from the different services and secure the file, it's going to be the best image at that time.

23:55From there, if you provide us with the imagery, then we'll generate the cache.

23:59We'll generate the cache following what became kind of an industry standard, which is the Bing/Google tiling scheme.

24:08And that allows an easy mashup if someone is building a web API application.

24:14And then, if you want, we would be more than happy to share that cache back with you.

24:19Maybe, you know, for your internal purpose, you don't know how to or you don't have the resources to build the cache...

24:26...but you would be interested to serve that cache back to your internal users. It could be of interest for you.

24:32Well, just let us know, and we could send you back the cache with your hard drive, for example...

24:37...and this way you have a, you know, direct benefit of serving your imagery to the rest of the community.

24:44And then we'll publish the map on ArcGIS Online.

24:46We’ll blend the existing cache for your area...

24:50...within the different layers and caches that we already have and then we'll serve it out.

24:55We're on a, you know... We're on a semiannual base for our madness; we usually update in June and December.

25:03So it's not going to...you know, if you send us the imagery in July, it's not going to be live in September.

25:09You'll see it, the live [unintelligible] probably in December.

25:12And if you send that imagery to us in late October, there is a very limited chance that we could get it live by December.

25:21So it might more likely be that the next, the following June, that it will be serving your imagery out so...

25:28...the earliest, the earliest, you send us the imagery, the better, always.

25:34Now, speaking of World Street Map, it's a kind of different approach.

25:39If we look at the map right away, you see that we have much more coverage.

25:43We currently have all of North America at different level of details, and we're expanding that coverage...

25:50...in terms of the zoom levels, especially Canada and Mexico.

25:54We'll also, in December of this year, we'll have a complete coverage of all of South America or Latin America.

26:02Currently, we only have Colombia, but we'll expand to get the entire continent.

26:07We have detailed coverage for eastern and western Europe, and by December we'll have Australia and New Zealand.

26:14And we'll have an updated version of southern Africa, so South Africa and kind of the region in southern Africa.

26:21So as Deane mentioned, we're very interested in getting contributions.

26:26If you own data either internationally or even domestic and could supplement what we have...

26:32...or in Canada, then we'd be very, very interested.

26:36The workflow is not exactly the same as you could imagine. Our recommendation is that...

26:41...when we build such a map, we are always using a map template.

26:46So we always build a map template for the purpose of our production but also to be able to share that template with you...

26:52...so that you can use it, and even internally you could use it, to build your own cache.

26:57So our recommendation is that you would go, still on the Resource Center where you'll find all of those map templates.

27:05You'll find a map template for small scales, medium scales, and large scales.

27:09And you can download that packet, let's say, because it's not only an MXD...

27:15...it's also a Word document that describes those different features and...

27:20...and the different values that we've used in the...in the MXD.

27:23So that you can easily figure out what we're trying to map and then match that to your database.

27:29Because most likely, you're not using the same data model than the one we've been using to build that map template.

27:34So that's why we're providing that detailed description...

27:37...so that it's easy for you to get it and to adopt the template. Yes, ma'am.

27:43[Audience question] Do you have database templates available for the [inaudible]?

27:47That is a very good question. So the question is, Do you have database template available.

27:51Not yet, but this is something we're working on for the future release, the next release of our template generation...

27:58...so that you can have a geodatabase design that you could use and then preorganize your data in that template...

28:05...and then apply the template on top of it, which is going to be straightforward from there.

28:10The only thing I'd add to that is we do have a database template of sorts for the topographic map so the...

28:16We have a local government data model, and when we produce the topographic basemap, that's one of the workflows that we recommend...

28:24...is adding your data to the local government data model.

28:27And then from there, we have a map template that references that data model and makes it very easy to symbolize the map.

28:32So what we're looking to do is generate something very similar from a street map perspective...

28:37...where we have more of a street map data model that's generic enough that we can pour other datasets into it. Thanks.

28:45So and after that, then it's kind of fairly straightforward and easy to cache once you have applied the template.

28:52And we could also support you in doing this if you have resources issues in terms of accessing the server...

28:58...the resources to generate the cache.

29:01And once we get the cache, then... Once you get a cache, make...

29:04Depending on the size of your area, it might make sense, if you have...if you're matching a very large area like a country...

29:10...you may want to just generate the cache on a portion of that area and then set up a service...

29:16...so you can share that service with us, and we can kind of like review what has been done...

29:21...and kind of try to guide you if we detect some issues that, you know, some other users went through...

29:26...and we can help you address those issues.

29:29Once we get the entire cache from you, then we can publish the cache.

29:34You'll ship the cache to us and we'll...same thing; we'll blend it into the existing caches.

29:39One thing is, one of the challenges here, which is not as much of a challenge with the imagery...

29:46...but it is much more of a challenge with the street map and the topo, is the borders.

29:51You know, you have...whatever the size of your jurisdiction, there is always a border to your jurisdiction, so...

29:57...and of course, the tiles are not going to stop at the exact edge of your jurisdiction.

30:02So I think this requires a bit of coordination, so that's why we early on will be engaging with you.

30:10And we want to engage with you once you have done that sample caching so we can work out the details with you and how...

30:18...and which borders we should use and which borders you should use, and we could jointly use...

30:23...so that when we're going to blend your cache into the overall cache, it's going to work fine.

30:31So the third basemap is the World Topographic Map, so in that case, our purpose is about expanding the coverage...

30:40...expanding the coverage and getting broader coverage but also deeper coverage.

30:46We'd like to, as much as we can, provide detailed mapping down to 1 to 1,000 for the entire topo map.

30:55Of course, we cannot just do it on our own because when you go to that type of scale, it's usually it's local government datasets...

31:02...so that's why we want to work with you and serve that, that content out.

31:09It could be that you own, you know, you might be a federal agency in the U.S., you might be a...

31:16...you might be a country agency elsewhere...

31:19...and then you may own just one layer amongst those different layers that we are publishing.

31:25It could...that example I talk about, I gave about the environmental layer...

31:29...someone who would like to have a land classification, for example...

31:32...would be a great contributor to some of the medium or small scales of a country.

31:37So please let us know if you have this, because we'd like to also add this to those small and medium scale layers.

31:47This is an example of the different key layers that we are using in the World Topo Map.

31:53So it goes from the admin boundaries to cities and roads to hydrography, rail wood...

31:58...railroads, parks, neighborhoods, contours. So we do use many, many different layers so...

32:06And also, one thing we wanted to highlight here is that if you're a local government or local city map, for example...

32:14...that you want to cache from the 1 to 20,000 down to 1 to 1,000.

32:18And let's assume you looked at that slide and say, oh, yeah. Great presentation, Christophe, but we don't have...

32:24...we don't have the building footprints or we don't have the contours, so we're not going to be able to make that map.

32:28Well, that's fine. You know, it's not...

32:31We're trying to...to get as close as possible to what we could [contribute]...

32:35...the richest map we could provide, but we do understand that not everyone has everything that would go...

32:42...that would fit into a world topo map.

32:45So, in that case, I don't see that as a showstopper. You know, I...don't kind of refrain from participation...

32:52...because you don't have the building footprints or because you don't have the contours or because you don't have the elevation.

32:57First thing we could do is also working with you on this.

33:01There is data layers that we've been compiling, either licensing or getting from the public domain...

33:07...and we could share with you for the purpose of building that map.

33:10We've done that before; the streets is a good example.

33:13We've had that situation with some local governments that had all of the layers except a good street layer.

33:21And they said, well, how can we do?

33:23Well, our agreement with the commercial data vendors that we are using for the streets allows us to share the content with you...

33:30...so that you can cache for your area of interest and then send it back to us.

33:35So that is...there is always a solution and it's a guide that we're using for all of those layers.

33:43But I don't see [unintelligible] the comprehensive list as being something that is mandatory...

33:49...to be a participant into that program.

33:54So the steps are, in that case, very similar to what I've described for the World Street Map.

33:59I download the templates the same way. There are...these are specific templates.

34:02The difference is that there is a geodatabase model attached to the templates so it gives us a kind of a...

34:08The World Topographic Map is...might be...we could even...

34:12...consider this as kind of a version 2 of our generation of building the Community Map initiative already.

34:19Once you are done with the authoring, we'll cache...you'll cache it...

34:23...you'll share that cache with us and then we'll serve that cache.

34:27We have an update frequency for the World Topo that is a bit more than twice a year because we want to...

34:35...we know that there's a lot of initiatives and so we want to, you know, to show the momentum there is.

34:42So probably at least through the ending of the year, we'll have a monthly update of that World Topographic Map.

34:53Something that I've mentioned. You have a Community Map Resource Center, a dedicated resource center.

34:58So if you go to resources.arcgis.com...

35:02For those of you, you get used to go to the Resource Center, it is no longer resources.esri.com; it's resources.arcgis.com.

35:11This is where you'll find a lot of details, a lot of material that you'll need to build a map.

35:17Also you'll see on the main page what we call the dashboard.

35:21That shows who has engaged into the program and what is the status.

35:27And it's funny because, you know, with Deane, that presentation with Deane about a week ago...

35:33...and I...this map is already...this screen shot is already fairly no longer updated.

35:40Because we have our contributions for international countries in Europe, in Asia, in Africa so...

35:48...I encourage you to go online and check on the map. It's very interesting.

35:52Great, great momentum on the program.

35:57So we know that usually...

35:59We've been lucky because even before asking for questions, we got some questions today.

36:02So usually my pitch on this one is long, because the first question is usually hard to get.

36:08So we've proposed a few questions that we wanted to make sure we would review.

36:13So the first one is, Can a provider build web apps using online maps?

36:19Yeah. Well, any user could build a map...an app using the map that we serve on ArcGIS Online...

36:26...including the community map.

36:29But for the community map, especially the World Topographic Map...

36:31...we're very cautious about the fact that it's going to be a noncommercial use.

36:36Some of you, some of your peers who have been sharing content with us have said...

36:43...Well, we are okay in sharing our content, but it cannot be into any kind of commercial use.

36:49So we've set up the service so that...

36:52...and we've defined the default would be a noncommercial use of the World Topographic Map.

36:58And so, Is Esri generating any kind of revenue using our data? And the answer is very simple; it's no.

37:05The map is freely available to all ArcGIS users for noncommercial use...

37:10...and with that community map, we don't allow any kind of revenue generation.

37:14And we don't want to generate any kind of revenue.

37:19And so, Will the map be updated to maintain its currency? And the answer is yes. Yes.

37:24And we want to...we also want to... We've designed the program also to manage that workflow...

37:30...to make sure that we'll be able and you'll be able to maintain the map.

37:34And that's also why we wanted to define those templates so that it's not a one-off operation.

37:39That's why we want to define those data models and those geodatabase so you can manage your dataset in an easy way...

37:46...and you don't have to reproduce everything.

37:49So there will be multiple updates a year...

37:54...and we'll be publishing all those updates as soon as we make progress.

38:01Then who owns the data that is contributed through the Community Map Program?

38:05Well, unless...unlike some other initiatives, we don't want to own the data. The data is yours; it remains yours.

38:13And you just provide us permission to serve the map out using your data.

38:19So first, two things. What we serve is a cache.

38:23So I know that some of you have been very sensitive about...

38:26...ooh, does that mean that my vector dataset is going to be out there?

38:31No. It's a representation of your dataset. So if you want to share your vector dataset, you can still do it.

38:37If you want to produce a layer package and upload it onto ArcGIS.com, in the sharing portion of it...

38:42...yeah, you can do it.

38:43But what we serve as an online basemap is a representation of your dataset.

38:47So you still have control on your vector dataset, and most importantly, you still own the dataset.

38:53We don't want to take ownership of it.

38:54We're just providing a platform so that your data is usable by others...

39:00...in a standardized way with a standardized and unified cartography, but it's still yours and you still...

39:07...you only give us permission to serve it out.

39:10Kind of related to that point is, equally important for us, is to make sure that the end user knows where the data's coming from.

39:16So there's a couple things we do to enable that.

39:18If you go to ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS.com, and you search for our World Topo Map...

39:22...there's a link to a list of World Topographic Map contributors that has a page that's updated.

39:26Every time we change the map, we change that page, and we list region by region who the contributors are...

39:31...and we provide links back to those organizations' web sites where the data came from.

39:35And then built into the map is a citations layer, which is a polygonal footprint layer.

39:41So if you were to zoom in on the map, there's an ability to do an identify on the map...

39:45...and get information on who the contributor is at that location.

39:48And ArcGIS.com has a web mapping application that's registered, which is a citations app...

39:54...that has some intelligence built into it where if you zoom in to 1 to 10,000 scale in San Diego, for example...

40:00...and you click on the map, it'll do a query and do an identify and then report what data's visible at that scale for that location...

40:06...and give you a list of organizations who've contributed to it.

40:09So it's very important to us that it be known who the actual owners and contributors are of the data.

40:14That it's not an Esri map; this is a community map, and it's being built from a number of organizations.

40:19There's literally dozens of organizations who are already participating in the map and cited.

40:25And so that's something we'll continue doing going forward.

40:28Thanks, Deane. So it's really your map.

40:30We're just providing a platform and the framework to serve your map out to other users.

40:36So will the service be reliable? Yes. Our hosting environment is a very high-end hosting environment.

40:44We have a 99.9 service level. It's operational 7 by 24.

40:51And that is also maybe one of the main reasons why you want to use our infrastructure to serve your data out.

40:57You may have a kind of a mandate that you have to share your data, but that certainly becomes a burden for you...

41:02...because you may...you would or may have to pay for your hosting environment on your own.

41:07You don't have the people to maintain that environment; you don't have the resources to maintain that hosting facility.

41:13Well, that's what we do basically with ArcGIS Online. That's the environment that we provide.

41:17And you probably also in some situations could not even justify spending the taxpayer money...

41:24...into serving data outside of your jurisdiction.

41:27And it could be millions of users who could be interested.

41:31Our system, in the current...if we look at the current trends, we're serving out roughly 8 million tiles a day.

41:39And last year, we had over 1 billion transactions, 1 billion requests to our servers to get a map.

41:47So yes. It's a very robust environment, and so that's also something you can rely on. And that is...

41:55...if you look at the different elements, I think we have something nice, because the rest of the user community knows that it...

42:02...the quality of the data is very reliable, unlike some other open initiatives of sharing data.

42:09Well, it's where everybody owns the data, which basically means nobody owns the data.

42:14So it has been created at some point, but you don't know, if you have an issue, don't know if someone is going to be in charge...

42:20...you don't know if somebody's going to take care of fixing the map.

42:24And here, you know, the users know who's in charge, you know. They know that it's...

42:29...and they can see the name of the organization who's maintaining those data layers.

42:34So that's a great point. At the same time, we do provide the platform that is highly reliable so...

42:40We've already had some feedbacks of public organizations using that map as a reference map...

42:46...because they know that even in a public safety context, they can use the map.

42:51Because they know the quality of the map is great and the availability of the service is there.

42:55So they're starting using the map for that purpose.

43:00And though you... Before we turn the questions to you, wanted to kind of reiterate how to get started.

43:10So one way is to go to Esri.com/communitymaps, and you'll have all the details of the program.

43:16If you want shoot us an e-mail direct, you can always shoot an e-mail to online_content@esri.com.

43:24That goes to the overall team.

43:27In terms of more kind of a U.S., U.S.-oriented questions and contributions, usually it goes up into the operational level.

43:38So you can get in touch with Deane, Deane Kensok, who's copresenting, and Colin Stokes...

43:44...who I don't know if Colin's in the room today.

43:47And if you're from international, please, you can engage with me...

43:52...and Paul Yoshitomi who's a colleague of ours.

43:56We're dedicating our time to international because we know there is more, you know, more complexity in doing this.

44:03There is some language issues; there is some...

44:05So before we go into the operational layer, I've...there is usually more topics to review with the contributors...

44:11...or with our distributors.

44:14And I think it's now the last slide before we go to questions, it's kind of a...

44:19...you know, we've done that presentation.

44:21Keep in mind that I on Friday, if you want to go into more details, kind of a...

44:26...it's not exactly a hands-on; you're not going to be sitting behind a computer.

44:30But if you go into the details, we have an all-day seminar starting at 8:30 in the morning.

44:34So I know it's after the Esri party, so it might be a bit early, but 8:30 to 5:00 on Friday...

44:41...the technical team will go through the different steps, will present you the templates, go into the details...

44:47...what are the values and what are the different steps, you know, down to generating the cache and publishing the cache.

44:53So that's a great event. Another one is you can go to the ArcGIS Online Island on the exhibit area.

45:01We have some colleagues over there full-time if you want to sign up for the program, if you want to kind of...

45:06...give us a kind of heads-up - yeah, yes. I don't know the details yet, but yes, we're definitely interested in participating.

45:12Please go there, and you'll also get there some nice presents.

45:15So saying that I'm a member, I've got that on my tie. I'm a member of the community map.

45:22I'm a proud member of the community map.

45:24And then if you want to meet the team, right after today's presentation, in room 28E, which is on...

45:29...going to give us kind of a good 10, 15 minutes' walk because of the other end of the convention center...

45:36...we'll have a Special Interest Group meeting.

45:38So if you want to suggest evolutions, things you'd like to get in the community maps...

45:43...in the different community maps, good time to engage.

45:47And we'll have also a social tonight starting at 5:30, and it's in room...it's in...

45:54...on the terrace, on the West Terrace.

45:59We'll have a, you know, whoever has already contributed, whoever has signed up for the program...

46:03...we're going to get all together, kind of exchange experience and getting to know each other.

46:07You know, it's not only about a one-to-one relationship between Esri and you; it's about also building the community.

46:14So sharing experiences and...

46:17...so if you want to participate, if you're ready to go, there is some people over there who have already done it.

46:22So if you want to get some feedback from those guys, that's a great time to do it.

46:27Great. Now if they have any questions?

46:29Yeah. We should open it up to questions. Yes, ma'am.

46:33[Audience question] What if you just have, like, one data layer, like for the topographic map or street map?

46:38Can you get that repurposed to actually populate, like, the whole template?

46:41Or let's say you had an elevation model or contours for an area?

46:46So...

46:47[Audience question continued] Would you be interested in collecting [inaudible]?

46:48So the question is... And the reason I am repeating the question is because we record all those presentations...

46:53...but obviously, the microphone cannot hear your questions.

46:56So the question is, If I only have one data layer, I, you know, can I still participate, can I still contribute?

47:02And the answer is yes. If you look at the medium-scale maps that we have, and we do have in the same layer...

47:11If we had Internet connection, it would be so much easier. Oh, yeah!

47:14We might.

47:16So I think we'll be able to show that to you. But the answer is yes, because we do have elevation from some contributors...

47:21...and then we have vegetation, and then we have roads from somebody else...

47:25...and then we some physiographic features, and then we have landmarks from somebody else.

47:29So definitely yes. Whether... You could be on a very small territory, you could be nationwide, you could be international.

47:35The answer is yes. Yes, sir.

47:39[Audience question] Is there any concern about liability?

47:42When you put all these maps out and they have varying levels of authoritativeness, or how...how do you cope with that?

47:48Well, we provide... The question is if we have concerns about liability when we're dealing with various sources of information.

47:54And that is one that was a concern of ours in terms of how do we deal with it.

47:59One thing that was important from an end-user perspective is that we not overcomplicate things for them.

48:04So we wanted to have kind of one standard set of rules that applied to the map.

48:08So we provide our map under a Creative Commons, noncommercial attribution, share-alike agreement.

48:15If you're familiar with Creative Commons, they're kind of a public organization that does standard licensing...

48:22...for content that's available on the web.

48:23And many public organizations are now licensing their things through one of the many Creative Commons license agreements.

48:29It basically defines the ground rules for participation, for liability concerns and warranty.

48:35And it's fairly standard terminology.

48:37When somebody requests to participate in the map, we work with them to determine whether the...

48:42...permissions that they will give us fit comfortably within the license agreement that we have.

48:47In many cases with local governments, they'll say, Well, yeah, we have our data; it's online...

48:51...we have some online terms of use that are available.

48:54And we'll look at those, and we'll evaluate whether the terms that they have for their data fit within what we're expecting to have...

49:00...and what our end-user agreement has.

49:02And in most cases, they do, and we're okay to participate.

49:05If there's something in their terms that are more restrictive than what we have, then we'll address that.

49:10In most cases, we're able to resolve that.

49:13It could potentially be an issue that would prevent us from putting something in the map...

49:16...so we don't have to change the ground rules for the overall map.

49:19But in general, you know, the map is provided as is.

49:23We don't guarantee, you know, there's no warranties, expressed or implied.

49:26All the standard legal terms that are typically provided by our contributors are reflected in our map.

49:31What we are providing is an online map, built from a variety of best-available sources...

49:36...and we're providing some assurances that we'll be available.

49:38But we're not, you know, making specific guarantees on individual features, and we're...

49:42...advising users to exercise caution in using the map.

49:45You know, the standard terminology.

49:47You know, if from that licensing perspective...

49:52...if your organization is very familiar with the question of licensing data...

49:56...you could go into getting your own licenses, because you have the experience.

50:00You know, your legal group probably is very familiar with all the variations about what licensing data means.

50:06If you're not such an organization, I would look into the Creative Commons as a reference license really for whatever you do.

50:13Because great thing about Creative Commons, it's a kind of a public organization; they do maintain the license.

50:21They review the license, they do evolve the license. They are experts in licensing.

50:26So, and those guys are providing a, you know, great public resources for licensing.

50:32So if you're not very comfortable with the question of licensing for your data, look into this...

50:38...because probably your legal group will feel very comfortable with it.

50:42So the Internet did come back. If you'd like, I can do a very quick whirlwind tour, or we can just continue with questions.

50:47How many people would like to see the tour now? All right. More than three, so I'm going to go ahead and do that.

50:54I was hoping for three.

50:55Okay, so...watch out. You just don't want to... Here. Don't break the Internet.

51:00Okay, so as I mentioned, this is a map that you can go to and, if you saw, I popped it up on ArcGIS.com...

51:05...I searched for community basemap, and this map showed up.

51:08I'm running it in presentation mode, but this is something you could run from...

51:11...your laptop here or when you get back to your office.

51:15So that ArcGIS Online provides access to a variety of basemaps coming from Esri and the community.

51:20We build them using best available sources.

51:22And these are all, as we talked about, multiscale, global maps with increasing level of details as you zoom in.

51:29It includes our World Imagery Map, so you can see an example of our world imagery here in the downtown San Diego area...

51:36...as well as our World Street Map; you can see an example here of the street map for the same area of interest.

51:41And our World Topographic Map. And there's some layers that you could, you might have noticed...

51:45...that are similar between them, like the streets, for example, exist in both the street map and the topographic map.

51:49And there's even an overlay for the imagery layer.

51:52One question we got yesterday is if I contributed my street data, would it be used, could it be used in multiple maps.

51:58And the answer to that is, Sure.

52:00If you give it to us and give us permission to use it in our topo map and our street map...

52:04...we're more than happy to do that if we can.

52:09We talked about the World Imagery being a mosaic of sources in the United States.

52:14We do have content from a number of sources including federal agencies, such as the USDA.

52:19So you can see here examples of some NAIP imagery that's been provided to us by the USDA FSA, and it's been blended in.

52:26The NAIP is a very active imagery acquisition program...

52:29...and we're working closely with USDA to update our image mosaic based on latest available data.

52:35We also are compiling data from other organizations such as state agencies.

52:39The State of Utah, for example, has made available high-resolution imagery for much of the state...

52:44...that's been blended into our image mosaic.

52:46And also at the county level, organizations like San Bernardino County, California...

52:51...have provided access to high-resolution imagery.

52:54This is an example of imagery in Redlands, California, my hometown, and this is the Esri campus in Redlands.

53:00This is the building that we recently built, our new headquarters building.

53:03If you've been to Redlands and to our campus, you'll notice it.

53:06That was built last year, so this imagery is quite fresh.

53:09It's from within a year ago, and it accurately reflects the composition of our current campus.

53:16As I mentioned, this imagery is a mosaic from both public and commercial sources now.

53:20So we do have high-resolution imagery in metropolitan areas.

53:25And then outside the United States, we've collected imagery from a number of other sources.

53:29And we have imagery for areas such as Portugal...

53:32...that's coming from the local national mapping agency, and it's been blended into the map and is accessible.

53:39And then also in other areas, we've also worked with commercial sources.

53:42So here's an example in Brussels, I believe, where...

53:45...we're looking at imagery that's come from one of our commercial providers.

53:50The street map is built largely, as Christophe described, from commercial sources...

53:54...for areas such as North America and Europe where we have data down to 1 to 10,000 scale or better.

54:03In other regions, we're working through our distributors in most cases to compile data from local source providers...

54:09...in many cases, national mapping agencies.

54:11So for example, in Japan, ESRI Japan has worked with their local national mapping agency to collect their data.

54:17They've used our map templates to author a multiscale street map for Japan, and that's been blended into our map.

54:22Similar things have been done for Thailand and Colombia working with local source providers.

54:28With the World Topographic Map, or our community-based map...

54:31...as I mentioned, this is our newest map and one that we're focusing on actively.

54:36The map is designed to be used as a neutral basemap, so it's really intended to be used for mashups...

54:41...which is a key pattern that we see and we want to encourage our users to follow.

54:46So in this kind of cartoonish example, I've just overlaid some points, symbolizing them and...

54:51...and the symbology of the map is designed such that the points, you know, pop off the map; the brighter colors...

54:56...the bright reds, the bright yellows, are reserved for your overlay layers, not for the basemap itself.

55:01It's meant to be a multiscale map that would work well at small global scales down to national scales to very...

55:08...you know, to regional scales, state or province, down to local levels of detail, 1 to 10...100,000 or larger scales.

55:17And then, in some areas, down to even larger scales still.

55:20So here I've zoomed in to Denver, and you can see in the downtown area that we've got a very detailed basemap.

55:26And in parts of the map, we've featured some special features, so this is the...the state capitol...

55:32...and there's even larger levels of detail available here.

55:38Users who contribute, we've talked about this a little bit.

55:40Users who contribute can determine what level they want to participate, what map you want to participate in...

55:44...but also what levels are appropriate for your data.

55:46So if you're a city or a county, then you might want to participate at these larger scales...

55:51...if your data works at, you know, 1 to 10,000 scale or larger.

55:54Maybe if you're a state or national agency, it would be more appropriate to participate at the smaller scales...

55:59...you know, 100,000 scale or smaller perhaps.

56:04The data that we include in the community basemap does come from quite a variety of sources...

56:09...at multiple levels of government and nongovernment organizations.

56:12So, for example, globally we have data coming to us from the United Nations FAO...

56:18...who've made available for us canopy data that's been blended into the map at small scales.

56:22In the United States, we've got data from a number of national mapping agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey.

56:29From them we've used elevation data that they provide, their National Elevation Data at 30- and 10-meter resolution.

56:35You can see here, we're in the Appalachians, I believe...

56:38...and the interesting topography here is revealed nicely through that elevation data.

56:42And then also in this map you can see some labels, mountain ranges, ridges, and so forth.

56:49Those are coming from physiographic place-names that are compiled by the USGS.

56:54And Esri has worked to bring those into vector form and blend those into our map...

56:59...and we have features like that outside the U.S. as well.

57:02And other agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...

57:05...that partners with USGS to deliver a national hydro dataset; that's been blended.

57:09So you can see here in the New Orleans area the swamplands and...and river basins that exist.

57:16And then lastly, the National Park Service has some really rich data for many of our national parks...

57:21...and we've blended some of that into our map.

57:23The first one we did was for Yosemite National Park in California. And so you can see an example of some of that data.

57:30And if you zoom in, you can get down to very large scales looking into Yosemite Village or Half Dome or El Capitan.

57:38We've also recently added coverage for Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park using data from the park service.

57:44And then we also have data from other state-level organizations.

57:47This is an example from the state of Arkansas; their Geographic Information Office made some data available.

57:52And then from the city and county, here's an example from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina...

57:57...City of Charlotte, North Carolina, that have made data available.

58:00So we have coverage for all of the county from data that they made available, and then in Charlotte, some additional levels of detail.

58:08And then that's been enhanced to some extent with some other added cartography.

58:13So for the football stadium, the American football stadium...

58:17...we have some additional levels of detail down to the yard markers on the stadium floor.

58:23So as we talked about, this is a very active program. We're adding content frequently.

58:28During this period of active development, we're doing monthly updates to the map, adding a few new areas.

58:33So I'm just going to quickly show you a few examples.

58:36Washington, D.C., was one of our first contributors who did the cartography all on their own...

58:41...and worked with our templates and made a very nice map, I believe, of our nation's capital.

58:45So for the District, there's a very nice basemap available that shows a lot of the rich data that they've compiled over the years...

58:52...and have rendered using a version of our template.

58:55We have something similar for New York City that we've assembled.

58:59The New York City government has a number of agencies that provide different data layers.

59:04We assembled a lot of those layers and built a detailed basemap for the city that goes down to 1 to a thousand scale as well.

59:11Similarly, for San Francisco they have a data clearinghouse that provides access to a lot of information...

59:18...and we used that to build a nice basemap.

59:21And then in areas like the Golden Gate Park area we've done some expanded cartography...

59:25...to show some of the rich features there that are of particular interest to visitors.

59:31Seattle, Washington, is one of our more recent contributors.

59:33They added content here just in the last month that's been blended into the basemap.

59:38A very nice example of a city basemap using the template.

59:42Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, were also added here just in the last month.

59:46And in Cambridge, we went a little bit farther with the...

59:51This is Jack's alma mater, Harvard University, went to landscape architecture school so...

59:56...and they have some beautiful data at the university that we were able to work with, so that's been added into our template.

1:00:02So they have a very nice, now, campus map that hopefully they would help us maintain.

1:00:07And then Redlands, California, my hometown. Redlands is a small city; it's about 70,000 people in Redlands.

1:00:15We do have a GIS department in Redlands, and they've built a number of datasets...

1:00:18...so they've made those datasets available and we've built those into our map.

1:00:22And Redlands being the hometown of Esri, we couldn't resist doing something a little bit special with our campus.

1:00:28So this is the Esri campus. You can recall the building that we saw in the imagery; these are the same buildings.

1:00:34Jack, when he was at Harvard, he went to landscape architecture school, so he's got a very personal interest.

1:00:39You can't trim a tree at Esri with Jack signing...without Jack signing off on it.

1:00:43And he personally places every boulder that's scattered around the campus and makes sure they're done properly.

1:00:49That's not a joke. That's not a joke.

1:00:51Yeah. The cranes'll come in and Jack's like, you know, "Two inches to the left."

1:00:56And then outside the U.S., we have a few examples that are coming online now.

1:00:59This is a great one from Toronto, Canada.

1:01:02ESRI Canada, as I mentioned, built a nationwide basemap for Canada.

1:01:05They then, when they finished that, they didn't...they rested for a week, I think, and then they moved on to local governments...

1:01:10...and have started working with local governments in Canada.

1:01:14And Toronto was the first of them that they've come online with...

1:01:17...a really nice basemap with some detailed buildings and elevation and lidar data.

1:01:23And then, lastly, Hong Kong is also...they had participated first in our street map.

1:01:29They were very interested in having a very large-scale basemap for their community.

1:01:33Hong Kong is one of the more dense cities in the world, and even 1 to 5,000 scale is not sufficient scale to...

1:01:40...show all the full feature density that they need to have in their basemap.

1:01:44So they were anxious to work on a map such as the topo map that allowed them to work at very large scales down to 1 to a thousand.

1:01:50And they've done that and done a very nice job with their map using the local data that they have available.

1:01:56So it's, as we mentioned, this is one way to get started.

1:02:00While you're at the UC, I would encourage you...

1:02:01...if you're interested in participating, to spend some time at the online GIS island.

1:02:05There is a couple colleagues of ours, Colin Stokes and Tiffany Cronin, who are down there to answer questions...

1:02:10...and to actually sign you up in the program if you like. You sign up today, there's a social this evening.

1:02:15You could have a chance to meet with more people in the program and other people on the team.

1:02:21So with that, let's go back. I think we've got nine minutes for questions, then we have to start trekking over to the SIG. Sorry.

1:02:28[Audience question] When you navigate around here, are you just, in general using Explorer Online then?

1:02:33That's basically what you're doing?

1:02:34Yeah. Correct. Yeah, so just in ArcGIS.com, as I mentioned, I searched for community basemaps.

1:02:40I found this item, community basemaps, which is an ArcGIS Explorer Online web map.

1:02:44When I opened it up, it opens up in Explorer, and then you'll see that during my free time I authored a little presentation.

1:02:53So all of the little maps we were going through have been captured as slides in a presentation.

1:02:59So if I wanted to capture a new slide, I go in, I edit the text; I won't do this.

1:03:08And then I could capture a new slide, and it adds that to my presentation, and then that shows up.

1:03:13And then if I play, it shows up. So it's a very simple tool to create a mashup.

1:03:18In this case, I was just switching between basemaps so I didn't have to create much of a mashup...

1:03:21...but I spent a few minutes going through different places, adding some text to it...

1:03:26...saved it as a presentation that now lives in ArcGIS.com.

1:03:29And then a user who discovers that, such as yourself, can open it up and run it in presentation mode and do the self-guided tour.

1:03:35[Audience question] Well, last year, that same functionality was just in ArcGIS Explorer 900 then. Is that right? [Inaudible]

1:03:42Correct. So last March when we released ArcGIS Explorer 900...

1:03:46...which is a desktop application we introduced to this presentation capability...

1:03:50...but that was only running in our desktop software at the time. And 900 then 1200 had the same thing.

1:03:56Just with the release of ArcGIS.com, we introduced ArcGIS Explorer Online...

1:04:01...which is a browser-based version of that application.

1:04:05A lot of the same functionality, but it runs purely within a browser.

1:04:07So you just need to have a Silverlight plug-in on your browser, and which most current browsers do.

1:04:12So it's great, 'cause, you know, desktop...

1:04:14A lot of users downloaded ArcGIS Explorer; there's hundreds of thousands, but not everybody can do that.

1:04:19And if you want to share a presentation, you can't expect everybody to have it installed.

1:04:23So this is a great way, and this is a real pattern.

1:04:26And it's kind of a sidetrack, but I feel pretty strongly that it's a great way to tell a story.

1:04:31You know, if you liked what we did in this presentation, it's great to be able to articulate a story about your map...

1:04:37...but still give the user control over the map. You know, it's not a bunch of static PowerPoint slides.

1:04:42They can stop at any point, pan and zoom, zoom in and out, take control of the map, and then continue to play the presentation.

1:04:48So we use this a lot. When I'm briefing Jack, I typically use tools like this to kind of run through.

1:04:54And it gives us flexibility, so after the first slide when he sends me on a detour, I can, you know...

1:04:58...go that direction and then get back to where I started pretty easily.

1:05:02So I think it's a great way to tell stories with your maps. And there's also, if you go to ArcGIS.com...

1:05:08...and you go to the gallery...sorry. Go to the gallery; there's some interesting maps in here; one for, say, San Diego County.

1:05:17This is one of the participants in the map, and for many of the maps that we're adding to the Community Maps Program...

1:05:23...we are encouraging users to not only just create the map but to create a web map that tells the story of the map.

1:05:33So for San Diego County, after we published the map online, we created what we call a web map...

1:05:39...an Explorer map that tells a little bit of a story about the place.

1:05:44And so sometimes the maps are really vehicles to tell a story...

1:05:47...and in the case of a city, you might want to tell the story of your community.

1:05:50So this is an example of that, and I'm running it in automatic loop mode right now...

1:05:54...so it's just going to go through the different slides.

1:05:57But it's a great way to publish your map and then tell the story of your community. Yes, sir.

1:06:02[Audience question] Will you be facilitating or have the ability for a community to suggest error corrections?

1:06:09Great question.

1:06:10Yeah, that's a good...good question.

1:06:11So the question was, Will we be facilitating an ability for the community to suggest error corrections?

1:06:17And the answer is yes, we definitely want to do that. We...

1:06:21What we envision is having a web application running at a new site, like CommunityBasemap.org...

1:06:27...that allows users to use the maps but also to comment on the maps and, you know, make notes or geotags...

1:06:34...where they see issues, and that information will then get recorded back into a central geodatabase.

1:06:40And then that information will be vetted and then forwarded on to the data providers.

1:06:44We're going to do that through some of the new capabilities in ArcGIS 10 with its ability for feature services.

1:06:50So the reason it doesn't exist today, 'cause we didn't have the tools to do it until recently but now we do.

1:06:55And so that's something you can look to see later this year.

1:07:00[Audience question] Is the topographic base that's being...caches are being generated by the contributors...

1:07:05...does the template require Maplex, and would additional, more detailed hillshades...

1:07:10...be possible to incorporate in the caches?

1:07:13The question is if we're using...if the user is generating the cache, do they...does the template require Maplex.

1:07:19And could you repeat the last one?

1:07:20[Audience question] Are hillshades one of the layers that can be added at higher resolution?

1:07:25And are hillshades one of the layers that can be added at high resolution.

1:07:28The answer to the first one is, yes, we do encourage users to use Maplex...

1:07:33...because it does do some advanced label placement, stacked labels and so forth. That is part of the template.

1:07:38For users who are participating, we have made some special arrangements to get them a license of Maplex...

1:07:43...for the purpose of this, if they don't already have it.

1:07:45But yeah. We would encourage users to do that.

1:07:48And then, yeah. Hillshade, we do... As Christophe mentioned, there's a few layers of information...

1:07:52...that Esri has separately licensed rights to use and can be made available for blending in. Elevation is one of those.

1:07:59We have access to 5-meter-resolution elevation for most of the United States and large parts of Europe...

1:08:06...that could be blended into a map that's generated at very large scales.

1:08:10And we also have access to lower-resolution elevation for larger areas. Sir?

1:08:16[Audience question] Okay. Before the Internet...'net came up, you alluded to one basemap that described the program.

1:08:23Could you just show where that is?

1:08:25I think the one I was referring to was this...

1:08:29Presentation. ...this presentation.

1:08:31The ArcGIS Explorer Online Community Maps presentation.

1:08:35So what I would suggest is go to here, ArcGIS.com, search for community maps, and there's this Community Basemaps map.

1:08:44That was the one I ran through.

1:08:45The other one that's a little bit more abbreviated version is also featured in our gallery.

1:08:50This is one that Bernie Szukalski authored, a Community Maps tour.

1:08:54And it's...it tells a similar story but in a more abbreviated version. I'm longer winded than Bernie is, I guess.

1:09:02Got a few more minutes. Any other questions? Yes, sir.

1:09:04[Audience question] Is there a possibility to use these maps in a GPS?

1:09:08The question, Is it possible to use these maps in a GPS? And, yes. You could.

1:09:12There...the map... If you have a GPS-enabled device that's able to display...

1:09:17...that has Internet connectivity and is able to display an online map, then yes, you could.

1:09:21And the ArcGIS for iOS application that was released recently would...

1:09:26...you know, iPad devices and iPhones with GPS is a great of example of how to leverage this with a GPS, so...

1:09:33...that would be a great way to use especially in rural areas for hiking and...and so forth.

1:09:36Did you have a question, ma'am? No? Yeah.

1:09:39[Audience question] Where...where is this island that you're talking about [inaudible]?

1:09:43Sure. There's...there's a main showcase area down on the first floor in Hall C where the...

1:09:49...the product islands are and the partner showcase exhibits are.

1:09:53In the product area with the white signs are a set of product islands...

1:09:59...and there's one called Online, which is right in the center right behind the Product Info booth.

1:10:03The Online Island is where we're talking about ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Explorer, and the Community Maps.

1:10:09So if you go to the Online Island down in the showcase.

1:10:11It's right in the middle.

1:10:13Right in the middle. Yeah, we got great location. Yes, sir?

1:10:17[Audience question] Could you just repeat what you said about what I would do as a community...

1:10:21...if I wanted to share my vector maps as vectors.

1:10:26Right. So the question is, What would you do if you wanted to share your vector maps as vectors?

1:10:30So if you had a vector layer that would fit into one of our maps, but it wasn't sufficient to support the full map...

1:10:38...you would typically deliver the vector layer to Esri...

1:10:42...and then we would do the work of authoring that vector layer into the appropriate map.

1:10:46So let's say, for example, it's parcels. You have parcels for your community.

1:10:49You'd deliver the parcel data to us with permissions to blend it into a map...

1:10:54...and then we would author that into one of our maps at the appropriate scales and then cache it along with other layers.

1:10:59The important point being that the maps that we're looking at...if I go back to, say, San Diego.

1:11:08At a given scale, the map will have a number of different layers in it...

1:11:12...and so we generate the cache with a composite of all those layers combined together.

1:11:17So we don't generate the cache until we've built the full map.

1:11:21[Audience question] [Inaudible]. The broader question, though, is...

1:11:25...is there a facility outside of this program for me to contribute that...

1:11:31...and allow some other user to download the vectors [inaudible].

1:11:34Yes. Okay. Good follow-up. So the broader question is can, outside of this Community Map[s] Program...

1:11:40...is there a mechanism to share that vector data with other users.

1:11:43And the answer to that is also yes. And that can be done through ArcGIS.com.

1:11:48So if you go to ArcGIS.com, one of the types of items that you can add and share is what we call a layer package.

1:11:55And a layer package is something you can create from ArcGIS Desktop where you take, say, a vector layer, a shapefile.

1:12:00You apply some symbology to it; you right-click on it, create a layer package...

1:12:04...and it packages up the vector data and the symbology.

1:12:06You can upload that and then you can share that.

1:12:08There's hundreds of those that have been shared by users so...

1:12:11...definite, that's a great way to do it.

1:12:12And for maps that don't fit into the topo map, somebody might say...

1:12:15...Well, I've got some great, you know, ecoregions data that I'd really like to get out there.

1:12:19It may not fit into one of our basemaps, but that's a great way to share it with users.

1:12:23Author a layer that would overlay on a basemap and then create a layer package and share that or publish a service with it.

1:12:28It's also a great way for you to create your own community, because on ArcGIS.com, you could create a group.

1:12:33So if you have a group, if you're a member of a community of the ecoregions, you could gather your peers...

1:12:40...and create a group, manage that group, open the group either to everyone or just to your community, and then each of...

1:12:48...each of you...each of you as a member could contribute this data to that group.

1:12:53And then you would have access to all the data of the entire group.

1:12:56So here's a good example of that. This is a group in the site that's featured, National Maps for USA.

1:13:01Has data from a number of federal users, and if you look at the list, there's some like alternate...

1:13:07...alternative fuel stations and diabetes rates that are layer packages that have been published.

1:13:11And so if I were to select one of these and open it, it would open up in...with my ArcGIS Desktop application.

1:13:17[Audience question] Does ArcGIS Explorer Online consume layer packages?

1:13:21Question is, Does ArcGIS Explorer Online consume layer packages? And the answer is no.

1:13:25You can do that with ArcGIS Explorer Desktop.

1:13:27To consume a layer package, you need a desktop client like ArcGIS Explorer Desktop or ArcGIS Desktop. Yes, sir?

1:13:36[Audience question] Think you addressed this in an earlier question.

1:13:39We upload a boundary, city boundary, see, like in the topo map, you know...

1:13:45...it's an old...they have no boundary for us, how is that going to be solved at their level?

1:13:52In other words, you overlay it or as it would be in that map, it's going to look kind of funny...

1:13:58...'cause it shows, you know, maybe a shade for the city boundary, but our boundary would be much bigger.

1:14:06The best would be to let us know that you have that boundary layer, and the best way to do it would...

1:14:12...go on esri.com/communitymaps and then complete the form that we have there.

1:14:18[Audience participation] Okay.

1:14:19And then we'll know that you have that dataset.

1:14:20So you may want to share it as a vector and as part of ArcGIS.com...

1:14:25...but you may also want to let us know that you have that so that we know and we could provide the data [unintelligible].

1:14:32[Inaudible audience participation]

1:14:35Yeah, we would try to facilitate that. I mean, sometime...boundaries are a controversial thing; not everybody agrees on boundaries.

1:14:40But we would certainly facilitate the communication to say there's a disputed boundary here and...

1:14:46[Audience question] And through that mechanism you discussed in that other question, the answer?

1:14:50You said about coming to the form.

1:14:52Yes, right.

1:14:53Yes. That would be the...that would be a great... Yeah. ...vehicle to do that.

1:14:55So yeah. We want that ... That will be one of many capabilities we intend for that web site.

1:15:01But that will be a key one, for users to report feedback.

1:15:03[Audience participation] Thank you.

1:15:04I think we've run out of time. Ma'am, you had your...

1:15:07[Audience question] Yeah. I just was wondering, what percentage of the maps that are part of the online...

1:15:11...map services are also available to download?

1:15:15So the question is, What percentage of the maps that are available online are also available for download?

1:15:21That's a good question. I have a hard time quantifying that.

1:15:24Right.

1:15:25Most of the maps, say our imagery map, the volume of imagery is so substantial...

1:15:29...that delivering it as an online map is a much more efficient distribution mechanism.

1:15:33And so in that case, very little of the data is available for download.

1:15:37On the other end of the spectrum, with our street basemap, many of the layers that you see in our street map...

1:15:43...like country boundaries, county boundaries, major roads, highways, landmarks, parks...

1:15:50...those are available to download, and you can get to them through ArcGIS.com.

1:15:54Another group that's in ArcGIS.com that you may not be familiar with is an Esri Data & Maps group.

1:16:00And if you're an ArcGIS user and have been for a while, you've probably received the DVD in the box.

1:16:05We now have many of those layers, in fact almost all of those layers are now layer packages on ArcGIS Online...

1:16:11...and you can download them.

1:16:12So you could download the counties and countries and parks and landmarks as layers from ArcGIS.com.

1:16:18But it really depends on them being small enough to transport via the Internet.

1:16:22And most of those vector layers are, but in pieces like imagery, it's not typically feasible.

1:16:28Well, thank you very much for your attendance. Feel free to join us at the SIG, I guess in 28 E.