Latest Contributions by RJSunderman

Hello Darryl - When questioning the availability and reliability of systems or servers external to GeoEvent Processor, please keep in mind that GEP was developed as a processor of real-time event data. Considering your first example, when a data provider goes off-line, recovery depends on the actions taken by the data provider when they come back on-line. GEP listens for and polls data providers in real-time, receiving and processing immediately whatever a provider sends or has published. GEP does not manage its inputs with a record of the date/time a particular input last received event data; it is not designed to observe a lapse and issue a request for data it thinks it might have missed. If your GEP input were watching a system folder for files and a provider elected to send multiple files to account for a period of time the provider was offline, then GEP will receive the files and process their data as "new" events. If your GEP input were binding to a TCP or UDP port listening for event data, then GEP will receive whatever data the provider sends to that network port. If the provider is offline and not broadcasting then there is nothing for GEP to receive. If your GEP input were polling an external HTTP or RSS feed and the site/feed was unavailable when GEP conducted its poll, GEP simply receives no events for that polling interval. On the next polling interval it will poll and receive whatever data the site/feed has published once the provider comes back online. Considering your second example, when a network outage prevents a data sink from receiving data sent by GEP, the only recovery would be for GEP to resend event data it previously sent -- but you would have to assume that the receiver would be able to identify and discard duplicate event it received from GEP since there is no way for GEP to know whether the data it previously sent was received successfully or for GEP to determine whether data it has sent should be resent. There is no acknowledgement returned to GEP by a data receiver. For example, suppose you were using GEP to push JSON to an external website, but the server hosting your IIS went down. The GEP output would attempt to POST the data over HTTP, but the requests containing the data from GEP will not be received by the external server and there is no way for GEP to know this. I suppose you could design some redundancy into your GeoEvent Services by having GEP cache a copy of events it outputs, using the 'Publish GeoEvents on a REST endpoint' output. Then you could have a second GeoEvent Service poll this cache to re-ingest the cached data as new events and periodically re-send the data ... but there's no mechanism to determine whether resending the data was actually necessary, or whether the second time you sent the data was any more successful than the first time you sent it. Also, you'd have to manage the items in the GEP cache so that you didn't send a particular event more than 'N' times. Worse, in high volume cases, you would have to worry about GEP's cache maintenance discarding events as the cache fills up such that a particular set of events are not available to be resent. Best Regards - RJ ... View more

There is a pretty wide field of potential with regard to GPS and AVL using GeoEvent Processor. For example, we have developed a connector for the RAP protocol to support SierraWireless devices. We also have supported clients with Zonar Systems and Network Fleet. We've conducted some testing with TomTom WebFleet and our DC Regional office staff has developed a connector for InReach (the Iridium satellite-based service for areas where other types of communication are not available). We've also performed some testing with GPS Insight whose data services can be polled as CSV Text over HTTP - you will need to massage the data from Insight some to get rid of the header row. Finally, we have a connector for the GPS variant of NMEA which some folks have used to turn an iPad / iPhone into a simple asset location monitoring device. There's not a lot of detailed documentation on integrating these solutions as they're all very new. I would recommend contacting your Esri Sales Representative to discuss the possibilities of working with a technical adviser or getting a quote for support from Esri Professional Services. Hope this information is helpful - RJ ... View more

Hello Vassilo �?? The development team has not researched development of a connector for the specific package you mention (the AP5000 from Vaisala). We typically look to the community to build out these types of connectors. In the case of the Universal ASCII Lightning Format (UALF) however, you may be able to leverage out-of-the-box components. Briefly looking over the documents at the links below, it looks like UALF is simple ascii text, tab delimited, numeric fields. This would suggest that you could pair the existing Text adapter with an appropriate transport to design a custom connector without necessarily needing to leverage the GeoEvent Processor API to develop any actual code. Link:  AP5000" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.hobeco.net/pdf/ap5000v1.7_users__book.pdf]AP5000 User Guide Link:  CP7000/CP8000" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://somemanuals.com/VAISALA%2CCP7000%2CIBAHJDG.PDF]CP7000/CP8000 User Guide In general, this is the workflow we follow when custom connectors (or other GEP service components such as custom processors) are needed: Step 1:  We typically look for partners to build the components needed to support their respective systems. A couple of examples: - Exact Earth is building a connector for their AIS Vessel data - We have AGI building a connector to output to their CESIUM web client. Partners will be making custom connectors available to the community via the GeoEvent Processor gallery via the �??Partner Gallery�??. Step 2:  If that does not make sense, we look to Esri solution teams to build out the needed components for their respective domains: A couple of examples - The Emergency Response team is building out a CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) connector - The Defense team is planning on building out connectors for military formats/systems that are being demand by their customer base These solution teams would make their connectors available as part of their solution and/or via the GeoEvent Processor gallery. Step 3:  If that does not make sense or cannot be supported then Esri Professional services could be contracted to build the needed components as a consulting project. If it could be agreed to, the development would ideally be made available to the community via the product gallery.  I would imagine in most cases though that the components built would only be available to the customer since they are funding the work as a consulting project. Step 4:  If none of the above are feasible, then the customer (or someone else) can build a connector that meets their needs using the GeoEvent Software Development Kit (SDK). I hope you find this information helpful. Best Regards �?? RJ ... View more

Yaser - if you are referring to the sort of analysis available through GP Tools such as those in the system tools Spatial Statistics toolbox of ArcGIS Desktop, then no, this is not supported at the 10.2.0 release of GeoEvent Processor. Keep in mind that when we refer to "processing" and "analysis" within GEP we are referring to calculations performed on field values, enriching events with data pulled from external data table(s), tagging events with data values based on their spatial relationship with GeoFences, and incident detection based on attribute and spatial conditions ... we are not talking about the sort of processing and analysis performed on feature data using ArcGIS Desktop. Work is being conducted to develop a custom processor element which enable a published GP service to be invoked when event data is received by GeoEvent Processor. This custom processor would be an element a GeoEvent Service designer would incorporate into a GeoEvent Service to send attribute data from a received GeoEvent to an external GP Service. However, the work being conducted is not generic for any GP service; it is for specific types of GP services within one of the Solutions verticals here within Esri. I encourage you to submit ideas for functional enhancements to the ArcGIS" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://ideas.arcgis.com/]ArcGIS Ideas portal. If you tag your suggestion with 'GeoEvent Processor' and submit it under the 'ArcGIS Server' category it will help get the idea routed to the GEP team. Ideas which receive votes have a better chance of being prioritized within our product backlog of functionality and enhancements. ... View more

Attached is a summary of the steps needed to use "?Receive Features on a REST endpoint"? input connector as a single PDF. ... View more

Hello Q �?? Here�??s a summary of the steps you need to follow to use �??Receive Features on a REST endpoint�?? input connector. The forum only allows five images to be uploaded per post, so I've included a PDF of the remarks below with additional screenshots as a separate reply. 1) Create an Input using the provided �??Receive Features on a REST endpoint�?? input connector template     a.  I�??d recommend configuring the input connector to create a GeoEvent Definition for you: [ATTACH=CONFIG]28448[/ATTACH] 2) Create an Output using the provided �??Write to a .json file�?? output connector template     a.  You�??ll need to register a system folder with GEP as a Data Store     b.  I registered C:\arcgisserver\GeoEvent_Files as �??GeoEvent_Files�?? and have my connectors         write to an �??output�?? sub-folder (see screenshot below) [ATTACH=CONFIG]28449[/ATTACH] 3) Design and publish the GeoEvent Service which uses the input and output connectors to receive     the feature JSON and write the created GeoEvents out to a system file as a *.json text file. [ATTACH=CONFIG]28450[/ATTACH] 4) Obtain some valid feature JSON for posting.    a.  An easy way to do this is to query your local ArcGIS for Server sample service �?� [ATTACH=CONFIG]28452[/ATTACH] Note:   You can copy the entire block of feature JSON, or you can locate and copy just one of the features: [ATTACH=CONFIG]28451[/ATTACH] 5) Download an HTML Poster application for your preferred browser    a.  http://code.google.com/p/chrome-poster is one such app for Chrome 6) Configure the poster to identify the MIME type in its header     a.  �??Content-Type�??  / �??application/json�?? (see screenshot below) 7) Post the JSON block to the GeoEvent Processor�??s REST endpoint     a.  http://localhost:6180/geoevent/rest/receiver/<name-of-the-input> (e.g. rest-features-in) 😎 Locate your output *.json file in your registered system folder. You should be able to format the JSON as a list by adding an opeingin �??[�?? and closing �??]�?? set of brackets around the text in the file �?� and replacing every �?? {�?? with �??,{�?? so that the individual JSON blocks are comma separated.  Here�??s what I got for a query of the World Cities whose OBJECTID is less-or-equal to 10. [     {         "CITY_NAME": "Brasilia",         "POP": 2207718,         "POP_RANK": 2,         "POP_CLASS": "1,000,000 to 4,999,999",         "LABEL_FLAG": 0,         "shape": {             "x": -47.897705078125,             "y": -15.7921142578125,             "z": 0,             "spatialReference": {                 "wkid": 4326             }         }     },     {         "CITY_NAME": "Goiania",         "POP": 1171195,         "POP_RANK": 2,         "POP_CLASS": "1,000,000 to 4,999,999",         "LABEL_FLAG": 0,         "shape": {             "x": -49.2550048828125,             "y": -16.72698974609375,             "z": 0,             "spatialReference": {                 "wkid": 4326             }         }     },     {         "CITY_NAME": "Cuiaba",         "POP": 521934,         "POP_RANK": 3,         "POP_CLASS": "500,000 to 999,999",         "LABEL_FLAG": 0,         "shape": {             "x": -56.093017578125,             "y": -15.614990234375,             "z": 0,             "spatialReference": {                 "wkid": 4326             }         }     },     {         "CITY_NAME": "Campo Grande",         "POP": 729151,         "POP_RANK": 3,         "POP_CLASS": "500,000 to 999,999",         "LABEL_FLAG": 0,         "shape": {             "x": -54.61590576171875,             "y": -20.45098876953125,             "z": 0,             "spatialReference": {                 "wkid": 4326             }         }     },     {         "CITY_NAME": "Salto del Guaira",         "POP": 7385,         "POP_RANK": 7,         "POP_CLASS": "Less than 50,000",         "LABEL_FLAG": 0,         "shape": {             "x": -54.2833251953125,             "y": -24.04998779296875,             "z": 0,             "spatialReference": {                 "wkid": 4326             }         }     },     {         "CITY_NAME": "Encarnacion",         "POP": 74983,         "POP_RANK": 6,         "POP_CLASS": "50,000 to 99,999",         "LABEL_FLAG": 0,         "shape": {             "x": -55.85101318359375,             "y": -27.37701416015625,             "z": 0,             "spatialReference": {                 "wkid": 4326             }         }     },     {         "CITY_NAME": "Posadas",         "POP": 312060,         "POP_RANK": 4,         "POP_CLASS": "250,000 to 499,999",         "LABEL_FLAG": 0,         "shape": {             "x": -55.906005859375,             "y": -27.39801025390625,             "z": 0,             "spatialReference": {                 "wkid": 4326             }         }     },     {         "CITY_NAME": "Puerto Maldonado",         "POP": 37543,         "POP_RANK": 7,         "POP_CLASS": "Less than 50,000",         "LABEL_FLAG": 0,         "shape": {             "x": -69.1920166015625,             "y": -12.60302734375,             "z": 0,             "spatialReference": {                 "wkid": 4326             }         }     } ] ... 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Hey Bradley - When you indicate "whenever my server gets restarted", are you saying whenever the server machine itself is rebooted? Do you see this same behavior (opening the Service Designer and finding no services) when you stop and restart the ArcGISGeoEventProcessor windows service? Do you typically exit/close the Service Designer application and the GeoEvent Processor Manager web page before the restart occurs? I believe you are describing a different manifestation of an issue we"?ve seen before. Let"?s say that for some reason a published GeoEvent Service is not valid when the GeoEvent Processor starts up. Maybe an input component was deleted or failed to load; maybe the bundle supporting a processor component of the service is missing; maybe the GEP configuration was not persisted to disk correctly due to an abrupt system shutdown "? there could be several possible reasons... If GeoEvent Processor encounters an invalid service on startup, at 10.2.0 the service will not be loaded into the framework. There have been improvements made with 10.2.1 which handle this situation more defensibly. Also with 10.2.1, the application you know as the Service Designer is being retired and its functionality incorporated into the GeoEvent Processor Manager "? so you won"?t have two separate application which you need to "?refresh"? or use to configure and manage your inputs, outputs, and services. If you"?d like, send us your GeoEventConfig.xml and we can review your configuration. Regardless, I"?m comfortable saying that when the 10.2.1 release is available "? sometime in the next several weeks "? you won"?t continue to experience this issue. Best Regards - RJ ... View more

Referring to your screenshot, the username discovered by the GEP installer, arcgis, does not contain .\ The .\arcgis you see in the dialog indicates that the user arcgis is a local user, not a domain or AD user (e.g. MyDomain\user1234). I have worked to recreate your issue, using a local user arcgis on Windows 2012, installing ArcGIS Server 10.2 and the 10.2 release of GEP. I made sure that the local user"?s password included an "?_"? character. Unfortunately, I was unable to reproduce the issue. The GEP installer is discovering the user configured to run the "?ArcGIS Server"? service. GEP will create and configure its service ("?ArcGIS GeoEvent Processor"?) to run using the same account. That is why you are unable to change the username from within the GEP installation wizard; you must authenticate by providing the discovered user"?s password and allow GEP to create and configure the Windows service used to run the GEP product. The two Windows system services are run using the same operating system account as part of the prerequisite that GEP is run as an extension to ArcGIS Server. At this point your best option is to open an incident with Esri Technical Support. They have the ability to remotely view your system and work with you to resolve the product installation issue. Best Regards - RJ ... View more

You would not normally need to do this, but to convince myself that I do indeed have the correct username and password for the ArcGIS Server windows service I have gone so far as to stop the AGS service, edit the service"?s properties to change the "?Log On"? to an invalid password, verify that the service will not start, then restore the "?Log On"? properties to what I believe the username and password ought to be and verify that I can restart the ArcGIS Server service. Once I have verified that I have the correct username and password, I"?ve always been able to authenticate as part of the GeoEvent Processor installation wizard. My own experience and that of folks I"?ve helped is normally that we think we have the correct password when in fact we don"?t. Is the user running your ArcGIS Server windows service a local user (default is "?arcgis"?)? Does the local user"?s password have any special characters:  < > / : ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( )  ? ... View more

Hey Matt - What I would recommend is that you publish the data you want GeoEvent Processor to be able to edit to your local ArcGIS for Server with the 'Feature Access' capability toggled on so that you have both a 'Map Service' and a 'Feature Service'. Then you can register your Server connection with GEP and configure a GeoEvent Service to add or update features. From your AGOL account you then 'Add Item' > 'On the web' and provide the URL to your local Server's Map Service. For example:[HTML]http://localhost:6080/arcgis/rest/services/SampleWorldCities/MapServer/0[/HTML] This way, AGOL should not allow you to toggle editing capability on the "republished" map service. Public consumers accessing the data through AGOL shouldn't be able to make any edits, and AGOL administrators shouldn't be able to accidentally edit the feature data. Now, if your ArcGIS for Server site is within a DMZ, this may become a network topology issue. You may need to install and configure the Web Adapter to provide a publicly accessible URL for AGOL to use when accessing the map service you have hosted locally. Is this approach viable for you? - RJ ... View more

Hello Vassilo, No, there is no easy way to do what I think you are wanting to do, for two reasons: 1) At the 10.2.0 release the input connector you are most likely using (Text/TCP) does not support ASCII space characters as field delimiters. We expanded the adapter for this connector at 10.2.1 to add support for using any unicode character as a field delimiter, but unless you have some influence over the feed provider and can get the data as comma separated values (for example) you will have trouble at 10.2.0 getting the day/month/year/hour/minute/second values as separate Integer values. 2) The feed currently has separate values for "months" and "days". Using a Field Calculator you can add a number of milliseconds (as a Long) to a value from a Date field to compute a relative value. For example, the expression DateTime + (8 * 3600 * 1000) would add "8 hours worth of milliseconds" to the value currently in the field DateTime, advancing the value by eight hours. The problem is that there is no easy way to adding N months to a Date value using the Field Calculator. You would have to lookup the number of days in each month and count up the total number of days in however many months you have ... and then add "NN days worth of milliseconds" to an established Date value. We are looking for common functions needed in Field Calculator. A DateAdd() Function like what is found in Visual Basic might be useful here. It would be helpful if you could visit http://ideas.arcgis.com/ and post the ideas you have for GeoEvent Processor. The more votes a particular idea gets the easier it is to prioritize an enhancement. When you do post an idea, please be sure to enter "GeoEvent Processor" as a tag value and check the 'ArcGIS Server' category. This will help route the idea to the team. Best Regards - RJ ... View more

I've been told that in the next update to ArcGIS Online, the map viewer will support a configurable refresh interval. You might look for that capability and use AGOL to view a web map rather than relying on a Flex-based map viewer. If you can live with a user needing to pan or zoom to force a display refresh, I suppose that's another option, but I don't have any good high-level suggestions for avoiding the display flicker/flash when you need to frequently and programmatically refresh feature layers to update a map display. I know that the Operations Dashboard was developed using the Windows WPF SDK for ArcGIS Runtime. That choice of development platform may be what's providing the ability to smoothly update features on the display, but I really don't know. That development is handled by another team; if you're interested I can probably find someone who can discuss the technical implementation. Every other client application map viewer I've seen tends to flicker or flash when the feature layers are updated. There are techniques a developer can use to "blit" graphics from a secondary buffer into a primary graphics buffer. Basically you're building an image from the feature data and then copying a prerendered image to the graphics buffer being used by the viewer. That's really low-level graphics manipulation though, not something that you'd be able to do using one of the Web APIs, Flex in your case, to build a simple map viewer. ... View more

Thank you for checking to confirm that the output connector you're using in your GeoEvent Service is not still configured to delete old features. I suspect that an old output connector, still configured and running, may be responsible for the periodic deletion of features. An Input does not need to be participating in a GeoEvent Service to receive event input. Likewise an Output does not necessarily need to be participating in a GeoEvent Service to have an effect on the system. If you want to export an XML of your GeoEvent Processor configuration I'll take a look and see if I can find anything to explain the behavior you're observing with features being deleted. - RJ ... View more

Client-side viewers must actively refresh their displays. In the Introduction to GeoEvent Processor tutorial's 'Making Features Come Alive' exercise, we use the Operations Dashboard because, as a web map viewer, it can be configured to refresh its display automatically every 1, 5, 10, ... seconds. It seems odd that your viewer is displaying features which are "updated" as new rows are added to the database table, but not displaying the features whose existing entries were updated. As for features getting deleted after a minute or so - have you configured the 'Update a Feature' output connector to delete old features? That is the only part of the GeoEvent Processor workflow you've described which would attempt to remove data from your output dataset. - RJ ... View more

Hello Jason - What output connector are you using?  There are connectors for writing GeoEvent data to a feature service as new/updated features. You'll want to look at 'Add a feature' and 'Update a Feature' and create an output connector for updating features, if you're target output is a feature service. - RJ ... View more