I wanted to spend a few minutes talking about the ArcGIS geoinformation model and the different building blocks of a geospatial system of engagement that make up the geoinformation model. But before we get into that, let's talk about the ArcGIS system and break down ArcGIS into 3 tiers. The first tier is the geospatial infrastructure, web services and data tier. This tier is where systems of record are managed, including geospatial databases, and where the web services are hosted, either by geospatial servers or by external systems. Those geospatial data and map services are then made accessible and managed through the second tier using an ArcGIS portal technology. And the third tier on top is where users of ArcGIS interact with the system though applications in a variety of patterns. These patterns of use as we call them range from field mobility to sharing and collaboration to mapping and visualization to planning and design, and so on. Now, the ArcGIS technology at the heart of all of this that allows for that access and management tier is the ArcGIS portal. And this where the ArcGIS geo information model resides. So what is this geoinformation model?
Well, you can think of it as the web GIS building blocks that make up your end applications that support those business use cases, workflows, and those different patterns of use of geospatial technology. And there are different tiers of this geoinformation model as well. This first tier includes things like your map and vector tile layers, imagery layers, feature layers, and even 3D scene layers. And all of these different layer types are web map layers with a RESTful service behind them that is being hosted by those geospatial servers and that reference those different geospatial databases and systems of record. Now, along with these map layers, there's analytics. These analytics are spatial analysis tools that also have a web service behind them or a geoprocessing service. Some of these analytics include things like spatial joining one feature to another or doing things like geocoding or generating driving routes and directions. And all of these different map layers and analytics are managed within that portal technology as items. Items in the portal are catalogued with an item name, description, tags and other metadata and properties. Now, the next tier up in the geoinformation model is the webmap tier where we have 2D webmaps and 3D web scenes. Now, these web maps can pull in one or more of these map layers and you can have a map layer that supports one or more webmaps or 3D scenes. These web maps and 3D scenes are also items managed within that portal, which means they have their own set of properties and metadata.
The next tier up from that in our geoinformation model is the application tier. Now, ArcGIS provides a variety of out of the box, ready to use and ready to configure mobile, desktop and web-based applications that plug and play with those web maps in 3D scenes. So as soon as a webmap is configured with those different map layers, you can easily configure an ArcGIS app to use a web map. This means you can define a basemap and the look and feel of the map layers by configuring the web map instead of hard coding those properties into the end application. A webmap can also support one or more applications. For example, you may have a webmap containing a variety of different map layers that is being used in a mobile application to collect data out in the field. That same webmap can also support a web based dashboard application back in the office. So as users are editing data in the field, the people in the back office can see those edits in real time. And just like the webmaps, the map layers, and analytics, these applications are also items within that portal that have their own URLs and can be accessed by users of ArcGIS. Now one major component of this portal technology and the geoinformation model is the identity and security model that is provided. These different application, webmap, and layer items within the portal can be shared to a single user, to a group of users, or to the entire portal everyone who has access to that environment.
Now when your organization is looking to support a new planning and design workflow or they need a solution for field mobility or they're looking to improve sharing and collaboration, It's these different building blocks and the geoinformation model that can allow your organization to stand up geospatial workflows very quickly by reusing all of these assets and items that reside within this portal technology. By following this geoinformation model your organization ensures that content being shared via this geospatial system of engagement is up-to-date, shared securely, and provides a consistent framework for using web maps and shared geospatial services throughout your organization.
- Patrick Huls
Solutions Engineer | Spatial Ninja | GIS ️ | Telecommunications
