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Using the ArcGIS Data Appliance with ArcGIS Explorer

Adding a service to an ArcGIS Explorer map

Example: Draping an ArcGIS Data Appliance service over your own elevation data in ArcGIS Explorer

Using the locators

ArcGIS Explorer is a free, downloadable GIS viewer that gives you an easy way to explore, visualize, and share GIS information. This page explains how to add ArcGIS Data Appliance services to an ArcGIS Explorer map, then gives an example of how you might combine your own data with an ArcGIS Data Appliance service in an ArcGIS Explorer map. It also includes a section on using the locators included on the ArcGIS Data Appliance with your maps.

NOTE: If you are using ArcGIS Explorer in an environment without an internet connection, see Use ArcGIS Explorer behind a firewall in the Application Configurations book in ArcGIS Explorer Help.

NOTE: The availability of some basemaps and services mentioned in this document may vary depending on the package of the ArcGIS Data Appliance that you purchased.

Adding a service to an ArcGIS Explorer map

To add a service from the ArcGIS Server Data Appliance into ArcGIS Explorer, follow these steps:

  1. In ArcGIS Explorer, on the Home tab, in the Map group, click Add Content and select GIS Services.
  2. If you have not established a connection to the GIS Service, click New Server Connection. If you have already established a connection, double-click its name.
  3. In the Add GIS Service connection dialog, for the Server Type, choose ArcGIS Server.
  4. In the Server text box, enter the URL of the GIS server to which you connected your ArcGIS Data Appliance in the format: http://<server>/<instance>/services. For example, if you accepted the default instance name of ArcGIS when you installed ArcGIS Server, your URL would look similar to this: http://MyServer/arcgis/services.
  5. If your GIS server requires authentication, type an appropriate user name and password. Then, check the box to save the user name and password.
  6. Click Next.

  7. Choose a service and then click Add Service to add the service to your map.

Example: Draping an ArcGIS Data Appliance service over your own elevation data in ArcGIS Explorer

ArcGIS Explorer allows you to tilt the globe to view terrain in 3D. By default, ArcGIS Explorer accesses a set of elevation datasets hosted by ESRI. At best, the resolution of these datasets is 30m. If you have higher-resolution elevation data, you can configure ArcGIS Explorer to use your data instead.

Draping an ArcGIS Data Appliance service over high-resolution elevation data creates a powerful basemap for 3D exploration and analysis. The image below shows the World Street Map from the ArcGIS Data Appliance draped over a high-resolution elevation dataset.

How do you do that?

To create an ArcGIS Explorer map with your own elevation data, you need to use ArcGIS Server to publish a globe service that contains the elevation layer. You can then load the globe service into ArcGIS Explorer. An advantage of using a globe service is that users who open the map will not need to have access to your local data.

The following steps explain the workflow of creating the globe service and adding it to an ArcGIS Explorer map. If any of these steps seem unfamiliar to you, see the Globe Services topic under Publishing Services > Types of Services in the ArcGIS Server Help.

After adding your elevation dataset, you can select a service from the ArcGIS Data Appliance to overlay your elevation dataset. Optionally, you can add other data from your own servers and share the ArcGIS Explorer map (.nmf) with others.

Steps

  1. Open ArcGlobe, create a new globe document and add the high-resolution raster dataset as an elevation layer.
  2. Remove all other layers from the globe document and save it. At this point you'll see just a wireframe globe. If you zoom into your elevation layer and tilt the globe, you can see the terrain in 3D. Do not add the ArcGIS Data Appliance service at this point.

  3. Publish the ArcGlobe document as a globe service. To publish the globe service, open ArcCatalog and select Publish to ArcGIS Server from the globe document's context menu, as shown below.

  4. Generate the full data cache for your globe service. In ArcCatalog, you can create the cache in the Caching tab of the Globe Service Properties dialog box.

  5. Open ArcGIS Explorer and create a new empty map.
  6. Add the elevation globe service you created to the ArcGIS Explorer map. If you need help, follow the steps listed in Adding a service to an ArcGIS Explorer map, selecting your own elevation service instead of one from the ArcGIS Data Appliance.

    When you add the service, ArcGIS Explorer automatically recognizes that it contains an elevation layer. On the Home tab in the Map group, you can click Manage Layers to see it included in the list of elevation layers. If there are any other elevation layers in the map, ArcGIS Explorer will choose the highest-resolution dataset that is appropriate for the area you are viewing.

    At this point, you will still only see a wireframe. Now you'll add a service from the ArcGIS Data Appliance to provide the basemap.

  7. Follow the steps in Adding a service to an ArcGIS Explorer map to add an ArcGIS Data Appliance service to the Explorer map. The image below uses the World_Street_Map service.

  8. Add any other data that is appropriate for the map.
  9. Save the ArcGIS Explorer map (.nmf), and share it with others.

Using the locators

There are two steps involved in using the locators included on the ArcGIS Data Appliance: Specifying custom services for finding places and addresses, and using the locator.

NOTE: If you are using ArcGIS Explorer in an environment without an internet connection, see Use ArcGIS Explorer behind a firewall in the Application Configurations book in ArcGIS Explorer Help.

NOTE: The availability of some locators mentioned in this documentation may vary depending on the ArcGIS Data Appliance package that you purchased.

Specifying custom services for finding places and addresses

By default, ArcGIS Explorer starts up with the default application configuration that includes all the built-in functionality and content from ESRI. To use the locators included on the ArcGIS Data Appliance instead of the default locators, you need to create an application configuration.

To create an application configuration with a custom resource:

  1. Navigate to Start > Programs > ArcGIS Explorer, and click Application Configuration Manager.
  2. Click Add in the main application window to create a new application.
  3. In the Create Application dialog, specify a name for the configuration (e.g., Data Appliance Configuration) and the file name and location to store your configuration. Click Create. The configuration is added to the list of configurations you can manage.
  4. Highlight the new configuration, and click Modify.
  5. In the Application Configuration Properties dialog, click Custom Resources on the left.
  6. Scroll down to Custom Services, and click Choose Services.
  7. Check Use custom place finding service, and enter the URL to the World Places locator on the server where the locators were deployed, for example, http://myserver/ArcGIS/rest/services/ESRI_Places_World/GeocodeServer.
  8. Check any other functionality that you want to make use of your own services for and specify the URL to the web service.
  9. To verify you’ve specified a valid URL, click Validate Services.
  10. Click OK to close the Choose Services dialog.
  11. Make any other desired changes to the configuration and click OK to save your changes.
  12. Exit the Application Configuration Manager.
  13. Open ArcGIS Explorer, then click Set Application Configuration.
  14. Select Use the application configuration located at, and click Browse to browse to the location in step 3 where you saved the application configuration you just created.
  15. Click Update and restart the application. The application will restart with the changes that you made.

When you specify custom services, ArcGIS Explorer’s Find, Find Directions, and Find Route windows will use the services you’ve specified instead of the ArcGIS Online-hosted services.

To learn more about setting custom resources, see Custom Resources in the Application Configurations book in ArcGIS Explorer Help.

Using the locator

Now that your ArcGIS Explorer configuration is set up to use the ArcGIS Data Appliance locator, you can start using the locator.

To use an ArcGIS Data Appliance locator in ArcGIS Explorer:

  1. Click the Find tool Image of Find tool.
  2. Type a place name in the text box, and click Find. With the World Place Finder, you can find a variety of places including countries, states and provinces, administrative areas (e.g., counties), cities, landmarks, and water bodies.
  3. To go to a found location, double-click the location's name in the area below the text box of the Find dialog.

For details on Find results, see the technical notes for the World Places Locator.

For more information on using the Find tool, see Find Places, Addresses or Locations in the Finding book in ArcGIS Explorer Help.