ArcGIS License Information: The CGIAR has recently signed a new contract with ESRI for ArcGIS software provision. The new contract means that we pay a fixed total cost and can request unlimited network and standalone licenses. However, we must monitor and register all these with ESRI and our main contact at ILRI is Wachira Theuri (w.theuri@cgiar.org). For users based in Nairobi and Addis we will continue to use a network license but when you travel you should send a request to Wachira for a temporary standalone license and he will issue you with a license code (via e-mail). For users who are not connected to the Nairobi or Addis network then your license will work as standalone at all times.

In order to achieve full-cost recovery for this software we have taken the full cost of the software and divided by estimated numbers of users. The cost of a license to any ILRI staff will be $250 (no extra charge for the temporary standalone licenses or non-network based staff). If the list becomes longer in response to this e-mail then we will reduce the charge. In future will try and adjust to project-based charging (as with most full-cost recovery items) but for now it is simplest to do it by person.

You will be requested to provide a budget code for recharging (with approval from the budget holder) when you request access to the network license and/or a standalone license. Wachira Theuri (and Agnes Odanga) are your main contacts for this (w.theuri@cgiar.org and a.m.odanga@cgiar.org).

Kindly note: The ArcGIS 9.3 licenses are due to expire at the end of this month. Hence you will be unable to connect via the ArcGIS 10 licenses.

ArcGIS Technical Upgrade Information: We have just received the latest version of the ESRI ArcGIS 10 software and will be carrying out a migration from the previous versions which are ArcGIS 9.2, ArcGIS 9.3 and ArcGIS 9.3.1 to the new ArcGIS 10.

The software is currently undergoing testing on our server as well as on several client machine, and has so far proven stable. Hence the migration process will officially begin this week (20th September 2010) at the Nairobi Campus and on the final week of September as of the at the Addis Campus.

We will be upgrading our ArcSDE database platform to ArcSDE 10. Once upgraded the users still running on the previous versions of ArcGIS Desktop will be unable to connect to the database. The ArcGIS Server Web Applications upgrade will be carried out concurrently, and both services (ArcSDE and ArcGIS Server) will experience some downtime during this migration process.

Additional Functionalities

Geoportals

Esri has expanded the power of geoportals with the release of the ArcGIS Server 10 Geoportal extension. The extension allows organizations to quickly set up Web sites, called geoportals that help them manage and share their geospatial information externally with the public or internally with employees.

ArcSDE

ArcSDE is a spatial database engine or geodatabase  that is used to store a rich collection of spatial data in a centralized location. We already have it set up on the intranet, and it can be accessed by any client machine with ArcGIS Desktop.

Some new functionality added to the geodatabase at ArcGIS 10 includes improved management of geodatabases, the ability to create layers based on queries on spatial tables in spatial databases, support for new data types in ArcSDE geodatabases, and new one-way replication scenarios.

ArcGIS Server Enterprise

ArcGIS Server software gives you the ability to create, manage, and distribute GIS services over the Web to support desktop, mobile and Web mapping applications

Among the key functionalities of ArcGIS Server are;

• Geodatabase Management
• GIS Web Services
• Web Mapping Applications
• Web Enabled Geoprocessing via models published on the ArcGIS Server.

The enterprise license we have acquired has no limitations to the geoprocess models you can publish on the site and can be used as a way of distributing dynamic maps to a wide audience, as all is needed is a standard web browser to access these services.

ArcGIS Engine

ArcGIS Engine is a collection of GIS components and developer resources that can be embedded, allowing you to add dynamic mapping and GIS capabilities to existing applications or build new custom mapping applications.

This year we have subscribe to the Esri Developer Network (EDN) that is an essential resource for GIS developer Support.

Virtual Training

ESRI Products training is now possible without requiring travel funds. We have an annual subscription to the virtual campus.

If you have any questions regarding the above technical details relating to our ESRI ArcGIS license please contact Theuri Wachira.