GISHardware/Software

System Architecture and Design

Parts of this lecture draw upon:Dave Peters, ESRI User Conference 2002And Ronald Briggs, U Texas, Dallas

GIS Software system components

User interface Tools and functions Data manager

System architecture configurations

Desktop Client-server Centralized desktop Centralized server

GIS software categories

Desktop Server (Internet) Developer Hand-held Other

ESRI’s GIS ComponentsClients

ArcSDE Services

ArcInfo ArcEditor ArcView

ArcIMS Services

ArcExplorer Browser

Internet

ArcEngine/ArcObjectsApplicationDevelopment &Customization

c:\ ArcGIS WorkstationConsistent interfaceIncreasing capability

ArcMapArcCatalogArcToolbox

ArcMapArcCatalogArcToolbox

ArcMapArcCatalogArcToolbox

Source: ESRI with mods.

$

ArcServer Services

GIS Characteristics Detailed, high resolution graphic displays Large data files Intensive data analysis/computation Need powerful workstations Need powerful servers for data retrieval

and batch processing Need high capacity networks

These requirements differ significantly from standard IT environments.

Information System Components

Computer hardware: physical machinery, boxes, cables, connectors

Software: instructions which make hardware perform as desired by user– Operating System to control the basic functions of the hardware

and networks – Applications to provide users with desired results

Data and databases to store information required by users

Networks to distribute information between different computers and users

Orgware: people, procedures & organizational structures to make all of the above function – 85% of cost of IT?

The Computer: Hardware Components

Central processing unit (CPU): – microprocessor (control unit

and arithmetic/logic unit) – primary storage -RAM (main

memory or simply memory) Secondary storage

– disks » magnetic

» optical

– tapes Input/Output Devices (I/O) communications devices/

network connections

cpu

Main Memory

Storage-disks-tapes

Input devices

Output devices(hardcopy)

Networks

Central

Processor

Some Measurement Concepts

for CPU and Storage capacity

– bits and bytes: 8bits=1 byte

– kilobytes (KB), megabytes(MB), gigabytes(GB), terabytes (TB),petabytes(PT)

– (x1,000) 1KB=1,000bytes 1TB=1,000,000,000,000bytes (approx.)

– 5MB: the text of all of Shakespeare’s works

– 1TB: 2001 digital orthos for one large city

– 10TB: text of the library of Congress speed

– hertz: number (frequency) of electrical pulses per second

– clock cycle (megahertz: MHz): (8088: 4.7MHz; p5: 133MHz; p5II 450MHz)

– MIPS: million instructions (integer) per second (very~ = 1 MHz)

– Gigaflops: Billions of floating point operations per second

Central Processing Unit: performanceMoore’s Law: Performance doubles every 18

months

processor speed– clock cycle (megahertz: MHz):

8088-4.7MHz PIII-750MHz– word length (8,16,32,64) at

single address (8088-16; PIII-32)

– data bus width (processor to main memory) (8088-8; PIII-64)

Examples– 4.7Mhz - 2.2Ghz (pc/ws)– Servers substantially more

main memory capacity (RAM): (size of program &/or data file)– 256MB-1GB (pc)

– Servers substantially more Processors & their

organization– single v. multi processing

» 1 v 2,4,8 processors

– massively parallel processing» 1,000 processors

Ability of multi-processors to improve performance depends on operating system capabilities and application software design

Moore’s Law

(Wikipedia) Moore's law is the empirical observation that at our rate of technological development, the complexity of an integrated circuit, with respect to minimum component cost, will double in about 18 months.

Storage: disks and

tapes capacity

– 4,000 (80x50) bytes per printed page

– 350 pages per 1.44MB diskette

– 50,000 pages per 200MB 1/2 inch reel/cartridge

– 150,000 typed pages per 640MB CD-ROM

– 1-7 Gigabytes per 4mm or 8mm cassette

– 40-80GB per DEC DLT (digital linear tape)

– DVD (4.7-17GB)

performance (speed)– seek time (to find data)

» disk: random access» tape: sequential access

– transfer rate – cache size and performance– SCSI (fast) v. IDE (cheap) bus

magnetic disk cost– $15,000 per gigabyte in 1985

(mainframe)– $500 per gigabyte in 1995(pc)– $30 per GB in 1999– $2 per GB in 2002 for IDE– $7 per GB in 2002 for SCSI

traditional trade-off:

disk---optical---tape

Speed & cost capacity

IBM Hollerith Card

Input/Output:User Interface

“IBM” punched card – Herman Hollerith, 1884

Graphical user interface (GUI)– bit-mapped display: – each picture element (pixel)

manipulable

Resolution– CGA: 320x300 pixels with 4

colors (96,000 pixels)– VGA: 640x480 with 16 colors– SVGA: 800x600 or 1024x768

with 256 colors– XGA: 16,777,216 colors at

1024x768 (786,432 pixels) 24 bit color

– RGB: red/green/blue primary colors

– 1x8bit register per color =256 intensity values

– 3 primary colors @ 256 each = 16,777,216 combinations(256x256x256)

Xerox Star 8010 with mouse-controlled GUI

April 1981

Issues: Performance bottlenecks CPU performance Memory (RAM) I/O: to disk and/or to network Network performance: speed and/or load

Balanced system critical

Issues: Capacity Planning peak load versus standard load

Issues: CPU Selection & configuration Servers: database, geoprocessing, web, terminal Client: Workstation, terminal client, browser client Mobile: portable, palm, pocket (laptop, PDA, phone)

Example ArcIMS (Web) Server Configurations

Three TierTwo Tier with load balancing

Three Tier with Load balancing

Note: data is duplicated Note: data is from database server

ArcIMS ComponentsSingle Tier Config.

Biggest processing requirement

Least secure

One of many intermediate solutions

Most secure

Example ArcIMS configurations relative to security

Client ConfigurationsWeb server

TerminalServer

Geoproc. Server

Database Server

PC Workstation

GIS Software runs on PCData to PCHigh end PC High network bandwidthFull GIS functionality

TerminalClient

GIS Software runs on terminal serverCan hand-off some work to GP serverData stays on serversImage to Client Low end PC with special TS softwareLow network bandwidthFull GIS functionality(Citrix is primary vendor)

WebBrowser

GISWeb Software runs on web serverCan hand-off some work to GP serverData stays on serversImage to Client Low end PC with standard web browserLow network bandwidthLimited GIS functionality (depends on GIS Web software)

LAN link

LAN linkOr VPN*Web

Link

Servers

*VPN Virtual Private Network

Mobile Client Considerations

Device type: Portable, tablet, palm or pocket?– Palm and pocket likely to merge– How much capability is required

» In field editing or info look up?

Is Connectivity required?– Wireless data connections slow and expensive

How to keep databases in synch?

Software and Programs Software: instructions to the computer Program: a set of instructions which accomplish a specific task. All computers use the stored program concept for program execution:

– instructions (program) reside permanently on secondary storage

(disk)– program is copied and stored (loaded) into main memory to be run

(executed). to be executed, programs must be in binary machine language

– compilers convert a programmer’s source code to binary code» once converted, can be run many times

» most purchased packages delivered in binary form

» will only run on the OS for which binary was created

» cannot be “understood” or modified by the user

Software LayersHARDWARE Firmware, Device drivers Operating System Utilities Data Base Software Application Software User Interface

USER

Operating Systems: Primary Current Systems

Portable– Windows CE– Palm

Desktop: Basic (home)

– Windows 95/98/Me/XP home

– MAC System 9 and X

– Linux (Red Hat, Caldera) Advanced (professional)

– Windows XP Professional

– UNIX of various flavors

Server/Network/Enterprise Windows Server

– Server– Advanced server– Data center server

UNIX: Solaris (SUN), HP-UX, IBM AIX

Linux

Legacy– IBM MVS & OS/390 (mainframe)– IBM AS/400 (minicomputer)– Digital Equipment Corp (DEC):

Open VMS (1999 Compaq announced 5 yr support)

– UNIX niche (Unisys, NCR, Sequent)

Significance of Different Operating Systems

Upside to Variety: advantages for particular groups of users or applications– legacy for hard core data

processing» extreme reliability» maximized for I/O and data access» binary compatibility between versions

– UNIX for scientific processing, Internet applications and, increasingly, database applications

» extreme flexibility» horsepower for number crunching

– Windows » user oriented, but with power left for

processing

– MAC» user friendly

– Wireless» Access from the field

Downside to Variety– user training – user interface development– different software binaries– support staff expertise– communications and

networking complexities

Web browsers and JAVA help address some of these issues, but really only the first two

GIS may have to access legacy systems for data

Software for GIS: The Main Vector Players ArcGIS--ARC/INFO (ESRI, Inc., Redlands, CA)

– privately owned by Jack Dangermond, a legend in the field and former Harvard student– originated commercial GIS and still clear market leader with about a third of the market– Strong in gov., education, utilities and business logistics

MapInfo– Trying very hard to move from Desktop/Present. to Enterprise/Industrial with newer MapX, MapXtreme and MapInsight products– Strong presence in telecom and business, especially site selection & marketing

Intergraph (Huntsville, AL)– origins in proprietary CAD hardware/software– strong in design and FM (facilities management), and running hard to match ESRI in GIS– UNIX-based MGE (Modular GIS Environment) and FRAMME evolved from CAD – after split with Bentley, courageously committed to NT and object technology in 1995 and first released “new generation” GeoMedia

product in March 1997– Serious threat to ESRI until ArcInfo 8 released.

Bentley Systems (Exton, PA)– Bentley brothers (Barry & Ray) originally developed the PC-based Micro-Station product under contract with Intergraph, but split in 1995

– have very successfully continued to develop and sell MicroStation GeoGraphics since then. – Strong in engineering; advertises itself as “geoengineering”

Autodesk’s AutoCAD Map– dominant CAD supplier and world’s 4th largest software company– fully topological AutoCAD Map introduced in 1996 (but no raster)– High initial expectation (huge installed AutoCad base) but hasn’t lived up to earlier expectations– Primarily small business/small city customer base

The only two “pure GIS” companies.

Software for GIS: Remote Sensing/Raster

– ERDAS/Imagine long established leader, purchased by Leica Systems of Switzerland in 2001

– ER MAPPER very agressive newcomer originating in Australia

– Envi, another relative newcomer, radar specialization, now (2000) Kodak owned

– PCI long-term Canadian player

– CARIS another newer Canadian entry

– Different players– origins in remote sensing thus

raster oriented – Some now include vector

support, but has proven insufficient for them to really compete with vector-based GIS

– Convergence of raster and vector GIS software has not occurred to the degree expected 5 years ago

– Need one of these products if you are heavy into remote sensing, image analysis, ororthophotography production

– new satellite data products enhance their utility

– Will never compete in the enterprise/management market

Software for GIS: other professional/analytical

Other Commercial Players– Manifold

(CDA International Corp)one of the best deals around

– Maptitude (Caliper Corp, MA): another low cost one

– CadCorp SIS (Spatial Information System)recent entry from UK

– WinGIS (Progis Corp, Austria): European entry

– Smallworld Systems (Englewood, CO)first to use OO (in early 1990s) but never broke out of its FM utilities base and bought by GE in 2000

Also….

GRASS– raster oriented, but some vector routines

– originally developed by US Army Construction Engineering Research Lab(CERL)

– army ended dev. & support in 1996 but assumed by Baylor University.

IDRISI (Clark Univ)– one of the pioneering, university developed

packages,

– limited commercial penetration but still trying

– raster orientation with some vector capabilities

GRASS: Unix Tkl/Tk

Manifold GIS Release 6.5

Software for GIS: Niche productsBusiness Targeted– BusinessMAP (from ESRI): $99 choropleth and pin mapping (originally Maplinx)

– NDS (National Decision Systems): marketing data supplier; I-Mark software (released 1999) combines earlier Infomark Express (reporting) and I-Map (maps)

– Tactician: specialist product for market analysis, site selection, etc.

– GeoQuery (Naperville, IL): a business mapping product based on Intergraph GeoMedia (originally an independent product)

Other Industry Targeted– TransCAD (from Caliper): specialized GIS for transportation

– EDX, Planet (from Mobile Systems International, now part of Marconi), Network Engineer (from Mesa Solutions), Cell CAD II: wireless telephony planning

GIS specialized functions– Surfer (Golden Software): contour creation & spatial interpolation

– Map Viewer (Golden Software): thematic map creation

– FreeGIS (www.freegis.org)– Xmap Geographic (DeLorme): 3-D TopoQuads display, image registration, coordinate

geometry

– Blue Marble Geographic Calculator: projections, conversions, etc.

Extensions to standard GIS Products– Add-ons to standard GIS packages to meet niche needs

Estimated Market SharesGIS Vendor

Marketshare 2001

MapInfo6%

IBM5%

SICAD5%

Logica3%

Other14%

GE Netw ork Solutions

7%

Autodesk7%

Intergraph13%

ESRI34%

Leica Geosystems (ERDAS)

6%

Total Revenue Estimates

2001 1,073 M

2004 2, 020 M

2003 Sector shareUtilities 44%Public sector 29%Private sector 24%

2003 Type shareSoftware 64%Services 24%Data 8%Hardware 4%

ESRI Product Line-up: ArcGIS client productsArcReader (“adobe acrobat” for maps) & ArcExplorer (spatial data viewer)

– Free viewers for geographic data. ArcGIS 9.x Desktop: two primary modules (MS NT/2000/XP only)

1. ArcMap: for data display, map production, spatial analysis, data editing2. ArcCatalog: for data management and previewArcToolbox, for specialized data conversions and analyses, available as a window in both

Available capabilities within these modules are “tiered” » ArcView: viewing, map production, spatial analysis, basic editing» ArcEditor: ArcView, plus specialized editing» ArcInfo: ArcView & ArcEditor plus special analyses and conversions

Extensions: for special apps.: Spatial Analyst, 3D Analyst, Geostatistics, Business Analyst,etc.ArcObjects: build specialized capabilities within ArcMap or ArcCatalog using VB for Applications

ArcGIS Workstation (for UNIX and MS NT/2000/XP)– the old command line ArcInfo 7.1

ArcGIS Engine (MS NT/2000/XP)– Set of embeddable GIS components (ArcObjects software objects) for building custom

applications– Runs under Windows, Unix and Linux, with support for Java, C++, COM and .NET – Replaces MapObjects which were based upon a previous generation of GIS objects

Notes: ArcGIS 8 released 2000 to integrate two previous standalone products: ArcView and ArcInfoArcGIS 9 released 2004 providing the full capability that should have been in ArcGIS 8!!!

--full support for all data types (coverages, shapefiles, geodatabases)--full support for all previous geoprocessing analyses --Modelbuilder for scripting and repetitive processing--ArcEngine for building custom applications

ArcView 3.3 (the predecessor to ArcGIS 8.x) the only GUI option for UNIX.

SDE (Spatial Database Engine)– middleware to support spatial data storage in standard DBMS – Supports all major industry databases:

» Oracle, SQL-Server, IBM DB2, Ingres ArcGIS Server

– Permits the creation of server-based GIS services using any ArcGIS capability

– Provides GIS capabilities to a user without a desktop GIS system:

» inward focus—user goes to serverArcIMS

– Software to develop Internet server-based mapping and basic analysis

– Provides maps to the user without a desktop GIS system : » outward focus—gives user a map

ArcGIS Services– Server based applications built and operated by ESRI or its

partners and made available on the Internet for subscription– Normally charged on a “per transaction” basis, but can be flat fee– presumably built using ArcGIS Server

ESRI Product Line-up: ArcGIS server products

Decisions/Actions Required

for Software Operating systems for clients and

servers Interfacing with existing non-GIS

application systems Selection of GIS software appropriate

for task required

GIS Software Selection Council, get off my back! Planner Needs faster, easier, jazzier way of

answering council member queries.– Need professional analysis package– use ArcView 9, since city has extensive ArcInfo shapefiles & coverages; – Uses ModelBuilder and Python scripts to automate most common queries

Appraisal District needs to accurately maintain parcel files– Replaces current CAD system with ArcEditor for accurate topological editing

and easier interface with GIS files Emergency Preparedness Manager for coastal county needs

application to track potential spread of oil spills– Uses ArcObjects and VB for Applications within ArcInfo version of ArcGIS to

develop customized model City Planner wants easier way for citizens to know location of city

facilities, property zoning, roads, etc..– Developes ArcIMS application on city server which includes layers for roads,

zoning, parcels, schools, other city facilities, etc.. which citizens can access from their home PCs using any browser

Contd on next slide

GIS Software Selection Bus service manager. Wants application to display real time location of

buses on touch-screen terminal to passengers waiting at transit centers– Uses ArcServer to develop central application to track buses – Uses internet browser at transit station to query ArcServer

Developer of software to support operations within a real estate office, including payroll, client tracking, billing, etc.., requires way to map location of houses sold by office

– Uses ArcEngine to incorporate mapping capabilities within his software system

Taxation aqnd Assessment. Must tie all my data together--land ownership, tax rolls, utility lines, roads, 911 calls etc.

– Needs enterprise solution.– ArcSDE with ORACLE data base, accessed with ArcExplorer (free),

ArcView 9 (for read only & analysis), ArcEditor 9 (for data maintenance) & ArcInfo 9 (for specialized analyses)

strategic: long term direction, goals (us versus them; Ford v. GM; Plano v. Richardson

Tactical/procedural: comparisons for short term decision making (is it selling?, focus policing at high accident/crime sites; identify roads)

operational: daily activities (inventory replenishment; repair orders)

transactional: flows through the system ( water meter readings, billings, 911 calls).

Functional Types of Data

Database Choices

ArcSDE supports Oracle Microsoft SQL Server IBM’s DBII InformixSelection often a function of

what already exists in house for business applications

ArcSDEWorkstation

Middleware

DB

Some database vendors have ability to support spatial data directly without ArcSDE (e.g. Oracle Spatial)

may conform to ISO standard Better security May cost less than ArcSDE More limited capability (e.g.

no “geodatabase”)

Does not protect against disastrous destruction! (WTC 9/11, tornado, etc.)