Oof. Alright, let's go line-by-line...
1. Software products -> Platforms and APIs
- This is a "point of sale" change more than a GIS change. And Esri is still selling software products in addition to SaaS. Selling access to an API is just another revenue stream.
2. Client/server -> Web Services and apps
- I mean, this is just wild. Client applications consume Web Services which are served by a server. This is just restating the point and calling it change.
3. Standalone desktop -> Connected devices
- Fair is fair. The proliferation of both IoT/distributed devices does represent a major shift in both how GISs collect data and how GISs resources are consumed.
4. Printed maps -> Web maps, dashboards, other apps
- This is a stretch as "web map printing" (i.e. the creation of static map/map reports) is still a huge component of modern GIS. The print service is the most used, by far, geoprocessing service across all industries. Creating interactive reports existed before and has its own modern counterpart, so this is an odd 'change.' Also, the engineers in the room would like to have a word.
5. Static data -> Data services, live streams, big data
- Again, fair. The five Vs have definitely changed how data is processed, stored, maintained, exposed, and consumed. If only the Esri geodatabase model wasn't still in its 2008 XML-based schema to keep up with the times, amiright?
6. Custom applications -> Interoperable packages, libraries
- What? I assume this is referring to the boom in python and javascript libraries, but those resources don't exist in a vacuum... they're leveraged in custom applications. I suspect what this is attempting to communicate is that software products are no longer singularly packaged codebases, but are a mosaic of contributions, but that has always been the case. ArcGIS Server 10.0 still used a TomCat web server. Arcpy has had external dependencies since day 1.
7. Single, all purpose application -> Focused apps
- ArcGIS Pro would like to have a word. As would ArcGIS Field Maps.
8. Proprietary data -> Open Data & Shared Services
- This is such a wild take. There's no way y'all even mean this.
9. Using data created by others -> Combining others' data with out own
- This has always existed? GIS has always been about synthesizing different geographic phenomena and developing new insights. Calling it "geoenrichment" and putting it behind a paywall (Point 8 would like to have a word) doesn't make it new or represent a sea change. Also, AGOL's terms of service grants Esri the rights to all user uploaded data.
10. Limited sharing -> Many ways to share
- There have always been many ways to share, but the mechanisms of that sharing and the functionalities enabled by the sharing method have certainly evolved. Are there more? Certainly. But the number of ways is not nearly as significant as the capabilities that different sharing techniques and formats enables.
11. Niche technology -> Ties to larger IT community: GitHub
- This one is also a strange to highlight, as this is clearly an area still developing and pretty significantly nascent. Isn't ArcGIS Enterprise still under a recommended "no upgrade" freeze because the last security patch broke the product? And didn't 10.9.1 require an immediate post-upgrade patch because the upgrade wasn't stable? Is there a proper CI/CD pipeline for promoting content between environments yet? Isn't AGE still only officially supported on two cloud providers?
12. Some attention to societal concerns -> Much attention to societal concerns.
- I mean, this could mean anything? But I don't think it is a "GIS" change, it seems more like a societal change that is reflected in the users of GIS.
Didn't mean to make this a dumpster fire, but I care about GIS and am just... disappointed. Hopefully there's meaningful change in GIS to come.
