Standards & Interoperability

Interoperability is engineered into the ArcGIS platform to provide open access to multiple data formats through direct read, translation, and transformation. It embraces open industry standards for all modern computing platforms - XML, SOAP, SQL, and others.

ESRI's support for services-oriented architecture (SOA) adopts stand-alone, peer-to-peer, and client/server architectures and permits interoperability with legacy systems. This critical strength enables one platform to support

• Web service capabilities for network operations and fall back to stand-alone operations in case of network failure
      
• Application migration from file-based data during prototyping to peer-to-peer in initial deployment to full services-oriented network architecture - the same application can support all phases of new architecture development.

ArcGIS Interoperability - Examples

ArcGIS supports the storage and management of geospatial data within multiple and heterogeneous DBMSs. This offers considerable cost savings by supporting multiple DBMS vendors across the entire defense enterprise.

ArcGIS operates in a heterogeneous computing environment that includes Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris, and various types of mobile devices and Web browsers. It can connect to and work with information on many central DBMS servers across a range of platforms. This enables a common spatial framework to straddle capability areas independent of their platform choice.

Defense developers can deploy GIS logic, such as mapping, editing, and geoprocessing anywhere - the traditional workstation desktop environment, embedded in custom mission applications, running on mobile devices, or managed in a server environment. This use of a common toolkit on different platforms saves considerable money through the reuse of code.

System integrators can deploy GIS in a services-oriented architecture that uses open and interoperable standards such as WMS, WFS, ArcXML, and SOAP. ArcGIS provides a netcentric spatial capability as a critical foundation for NCO.

ArcGIS supports open and documented APIs for C++, .NET, Java, and COM, through which developers can access, update, and use all GIS functions.