ESRI/Google Alliance

People thought it might never happen, but ESRI and Google are working together to deliver serious information on the GeoWeb. Jack Dangermond of ESRI and John Hanke of Google shared a keynote presentation at the Where 2.0 Conference May 12-14 to talk about their shared vision and demonstrate its use. That presentation, nearly 30 minutes long but totally engaging. Click on the title of this article to see the video. There are a growing number of interesting comments.

The basic point is that Google can deliver interesting information quickly, while ESRI does useful analysis of many phenomena. Why not allow Google mashups of ESRI analyses? ArcGIS 9.3, delivered this summer, will allow users to publish their data and services to the GeoWeb.

The Where 2.0 conference began in 2005. It is billed as the place “where the grassroots and leading edge developers building location aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge.” The focus is on open source information..

For more information on the conference and videos of other presentations are posted on the Where 2.0 web site. (The Hanke / Dangermond presentation is roughly 2/3 down the list.)