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Interview: ESRI Outlines Technology Development Plans |
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Written by Matt Ball |
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Tuesday, 08 July 2008 |
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采访：关于ESRI的技术发展计划纲要 V1: I understand that this is the first time that you’ve addressed the APA in a keynote address since 1993.
Dangermond: The role of GIS in urban planning is an interesting topic to me. Urban planners were one of the first professions to see the promise of GIS, largely because they need to integrate lots of different data and considerations in coming up with their comprehensive, neighborhood and regional plans. They’re data consolidators that get data from a lot of sources and integrate it. 对我来说， 关于GIS在城市规划中所扮演的角色是一个非常有趣的话题。在所有的行业中，城市规划行业的人员可以最先感受到GIS技术对他们的帮助和承诺。主要原因在于，规划人员需要整合不同类型的数据并考虑如何进行全面的规划工作。他们是数据的整合者，因为他们需要从海量的数据源中提取需要的信息并进行整合。 In the past, people like Ian McHarg did that with plastic overlay maps and a lot of manipulation of data. GIS has really provided a framework in which people can bring all of the data together and analyze it with models and analytics to create suitability maps and interpretive maps. GIS helps planners bring together their thoughts for creating plans, but also for communicating those plans to others. 而在过去，像Ian McHarg这样的学者需要使用塑料透明地图以及大量的数据处理才能完成这样的工作。GIS就提供了这样一种框架：人们可以把所有的数据整合到一起，用各种模型和方法进行分析，然后来创建适合的能解释问题的地图。GIS可以帮助规划人员把自己的想法表达成设计方案，同时可以方便人们之间对设计方案的交流。
The GIS toolset has come a long way since 1993. Dangermond: When we first sold GIS, planners had to be GIS experts. Today what’s occurring is that tools are easier to use so that people who aren’t that technical can use and apply them. Also the data is becoming more product oriented. I can buy data off the web as a web service.
That availability of geographic data and its ability to be brought together to professional planners, so that you can combine the data instead of create all the data is something that is going on. It’s certainly one of the things that’s making geospatial analytics more powerful to the professional practitioner. 地理数据的这种实用性特点同样适合于专业的规划人员，他们可以把需要的数据关联到一起，而不像过去那样要创建所有的数据。而这个特性也只不过是使专业人员拥有更强大的空间分析能力的一个方面。
How does the sensor web factor into future planning?
One advanced application of this is GIS-based, it’s in water resources. It’s called CHUASI, and it’s led by David Maidment and a variety of his clients. They’re pushing to make all water measurements available in a geospatial environment for any application to read in and use the data in real time. All water resource information is available online, georeferenced, and can be integrated dynamically. It’s changing the science of water research. That’s an example of what’s going to happen in the sensor web. Traffic, weather, species changes, animals moving around, will all be measured and will be able to be brought into the next generation of planning to be more dynamic and situationally aware.
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Dangermond: There are several main technical areas that we’re working on. Some of them are very near completion, and ready for release in ArcGIS 9.3, and others will be available in ArcGIS 9.4.
One area of software development deals with geographic sketching. The concept behind geographic sketching is to allow users the ability to sketch on top of maps and imagery that live inside of a GIS. Those maps could be the result of an analytic model, like a suitability map for a specific geography.
The sketching tool is different than a digitizing tool. It has to be very simple and intuitive like you’re drawing on a piece of paper or drawing on a map. And it has to be a tool that allows you to symbolize particular features.
What we’ve designed is a way to build a template data model inside of the GIS and store it inside of the geodatabase and then grab a symbology and start drawing it on the map. Just like a planner would do when they’re designing by hand.
The distinction, however, is that this data goes directly into the geodatabase so that it can immediately be analyzed and provide feedback. If I designed a polygon that says an area should go into residential development, commercial development or a golf course, the software can overlay that polygon on different layers, and will return details regarding the impact for any of those decisions. The software will return values for the size of the area, for how the development will increase transportation, or water runoff, etc. It will provide an immediate design feedback and analysis process.
V1: Is this a design tool similar to the functionality of a CAD package?
Dangermond: It’s not a tool for making graphics, this is integrated into the geographic information system so that you can design with it and get immediate feedback, and share it and collaborate with others that are perhaps participating with you over the web.
The first version is ArcSketch, and it’s a free downloadable extension tool on the current release. In the 9.4 timeframe, it will be embedded in the core software tools, and will become much richer and more integrated as the design process emerges. This will have huge implications for linking together the design community, which is intuitive and creative, with the scientific community, which is all about measurement, analysis and process.
Bringing these two worlds together around one common information system will have huge implications. This geographic design is not limited to just land use planning or landscape architecture. I’m finding that geographic design is being used by business people, military people, foresters, people that do resource extraction, farmers – they all like to layout their strategy using paper and pencils. This will allow them to do it with a more guided and intelligent process. It’s like looking at an air photo, and bringing all the factors together, with interpretive overlays to guide the design.
我们的工作有几个主要的技术领域。其中一些接近完成将在ArcGIS 9.3中发布，其余的会发布在ArcGIS 9.4。
其中一个方面是关于geographic sketching的软件开发细节。geographic sketching背后的理念是允许用户在地图上画草图并实时地展示在GIS中 那些地图可以作为分析模型的结果，就象为具体地理所做的一幅适宜地图。
sketching工具不同于数字化工具，它必须非常简单、直观就象你在一张纸或地图上画一样，而且可还以把特别的事物符号化。
我们设计的一种方法是在GIS中建立一个模板数据模型并存储在geodatabase里，然后抓取一种符号把数据画在地图上，就象规划师在规划时用手做的那样。
所不同的是，这里的数据直接进入geodatabase，从而可以进行快速地分析和反馈。如果设计了一个多边形就表示这个区域将要进行住宅区开发、商业区开发或者一个高尔夫球场项目。软件可以把那个多边形叠加在不同的图层上，并将返回有关做出某种决策将会产生的影响的详细资料。软件将会返回区域大小的数值，以显示开发活动将如何增加交通或径流量等等。总之，它将提供快速的设计反馈和分析处理。
它不是一个专门用来制图的工具，而是被集成到GIS中，这样你可以用它来设计并得到快速的反馈，你还可以把它共享从而可以和其他人通过网络进行协作。
ArcSketch是它的第一个版本 ，目前，它是一个免费下载的扩展工具。在9.4的时间表上，它将被嵌入核心软件工具集，作为一个变得更丰富和完善的设计程序出现。这对连接起设计领域和科学领域具有巨大的意义。它们一个是直觉的、创造性的，另一个是关于测量、分析和过程。
把这两个围绕普通信息系统的世界联系在一起具有巨大的意义。这个地理设计不仅仅局限于土地利用或景观建筑布局，我发现地理设计正在被商业人员、军事人员、林务员、资源开采人员、农民使用，他们都喜欢用纸和笔设计出他们的战略。现在，这个软件允许他们使用一种有更多引导和更智能的设计过程。这就象是在看一幅航空影像，集合了所有的因素，并利用各种解释图层来指导设计过程。
V1: How will GIS technology evolve in terms of visualization?
V1：GIS技术在可视化方面的发展趋势有哪些？
Dangermond: We’re working to drive GIS into the 3D domain. This has many different dimensions. It starts with extending the geodatabase models with support for full 3D, not 2.5D visualization, but true 3D data objects and features. This is done through technology extensions, extending how we model, store and represent geography in the database.
Dangermond：我们正将GIS带向3D领域，这包括多个方面。首先是geodatabase的模型将彻底支持3D，不是2.5D的可视化，而是真3D的数据对象和要素。实现方式将采用扩展技术，对数据库内的地理信息的建模、存储和展现进行扩展。
The second dimension is adding analytic tools that can do something with these 3D data models. These are things like 3D line of site, 3D buffering of objects, envelopes and volumetric representations through visualization. Tools that allow us to represent 3D in ways that are true 3D, not just pictures, where we can virtually walk into buildings and see both inside and outside.
第二个方面是增加能处理这些3D数据模型的分析工具，包括3D line of site、对象的3D buffering、envelopes和体积表现的可视化。而这些工具是以真三维的方法来进行展示的，而不是图片，我们可以虚拟地走进建筑物，不但可以看到外面，还可以看到里面。
To do this, we have to be able to model all sorts of objects, such as surfaces, volumes, facilities and buildings. In the last six years or so, there has been a lot of work on standardizing building information models or BIMs. The problem with these standardization efforts is that there are so many of them. There are CAD-based extensions that CAD companies have built. There are standards coming from the facility management world, the visual simulation world, etc.
要实现这些，我们必须能对所有的对象进行建模，如surfaces、volumes, facilities and buildings等。过去的六年内，在标准化建筑信息模型（building information models，BIM）上，做了大量工作。标准化过程中的问题就是标准太多：有CAD公司构建的基于CAD扩展的标准，还有来自于设施管理界的、可视化模拟界的，等等。
Our approach is to build a GIS-based way to store and integrate the building information directly into the GIS, and then build interoperability procedures that interoperate between all the different proprietary and so-called standardized BIM models. We feel this is the way it’s going to go rather than one BIM model that people will use.
我们的方法是构建一个基于GIS对方法，来将建筑信息直接存储、整合进GIS，然后通过互操作过程，对各种私有的所谓标准化的BIM模型进行转换。我们感觉这种方式比人们只用一种BIM模型要好。
Our partner in Canada, Safe Software, is looking to extend their tools into this space. That means we will have multiple BIM models and we will be able to talk to all these different models.
我们加拿大的合作伙伴正在这方面扩展它们的工具。也就是说，我们将有多套BIM模型，而且能实现多个模型间的互访。
Why not have just one interoperable model? Because there’s such a strong relationship between the data model and what you can do with it, and how fast it performs. Different proprietary tools are designed to do very specific things, and therefore need a very specific model. I believe that there will be lots of ways that these 3D building models emerge on the Web and in various technical manifestations, and they’ll be interoperable using these extract, transform and load (ETL) tools.
为什么不构建一个单一的交换模型呢？这是因为数据模型与处理方式，及效率之间的关系十分密切，不同的私有工具都设计用来做特定的处理，因此，他们也就需要特定的模型。我相信，各将会出现很多方法，通过不同的技术手段，使得3D建筑模型能在网络上展现。
V1: What’s the future of building models within GIS?
V1:GIS的建筑物模型的未来是什么？
Dangermond: We are increasingly seeing that GIS users want to incorporate not just shells of buildings, but complete BIM models that are intelligent, and they want to do this inside of their database for continuous and seamless data. Some of our partners, such as ARCHIBUS, that manage facilities and campuses, have discovered the value of bringing GIS into their workflows to provide a broader context beyond the building. They’re extending their tools to take advantage of geospatial analytics by integrating CAD models for engineering design and geodatabases and analytic tools for planning and visualization.
Dangermond: 我们越来越发现，GIS用户不只想使用建筑物的外壳（shell），他们还想使用完全的智能的BIM模型，处理数据库内无缝连续的数据。我们有些合作伙伴，如ARCHIBUS，一个做设施和校园管理的公司，它已经发觉将GIS引进他们的工作流能提供比建筑物更广阔的天地（have discovered the value of bringing GIS into their workflows to provide a broader context beyond the building.）。他们正对其工具进行扩展，通过整合用户机械设计CAD模型、geodatabases、以及用于规划和可视化的分析工具，来充分利用地理空间分析的优势。
In order to do full information management of reality, we often use different technologies and data models, such as CAD image processing, DBMS, document imaging, graphics packages, and visual simulation tools. ARCHIBUS is integrating these database technologies, document imaging technology, CAD and GIS technologies with various forms of workflow tools. It’s another way to integrate these worlds.
为了能对现实进行完全的信息管理，我们经常使用不同的技术和数据模型，如CAD图像处理，DBMS，文档映像技术（document imaging technology），图形包河可视化模拟工具等。ARCHIBUS将数据库技术和文档映像技术，CAD和GIS技术整合进不同形式的工作流中，这是另外一种整合这些技术的方法。
I see two forces occurring, one is the harmonization of these data models so that they can be continuous, which is what we’re working on for ArcGIS 9.4. The second is the integration of these disparate technologies using workflow web services and ETL interoperability technologies.
我发现有两种趋势正在涌现：其一是这些数据模型的协调，使其能连续化，这也就是我们将在ArcGIS9.4中要实现的；其二是通过工作流web服务和ETL互操作技术，将这些不同技术进行整合。
In the past this has been more difficult to do because of the performance of computers, but with the continuation of Moore’s law it enables interoperability to be done in near real-time. We can allow individual technologies to remain distinct, but they can be integrated with computational processing in the background rather than forcing everybody to be in one system.
过去，由于计算机性能的限制，做起来比较困难；但随着摩尔定律的持续奏效，互操作将能以接近实时地进行。我们可以允许各自保持不同技术，而通过后台的处理来进行整合，而不需要强迫每个人都纳入同一系统来。
The logical extrapolation of that on the web is that you can have different distributed systems that can be unified or brought together dynamically with mashups or different workflow technologies.
在网络上进行整合，从逻辑上来说，可以有不同的分布式系统，这些系统可以是同一标准的，也可能是动态地将mashups或不同的工作流程技术进行整合。
V1: How does temporal data and simulation play into that vision?
在这一远景下，时间数据和模拟将发挥什么作用呢？
Dangermond: The integration of time within GIS can fall into three main buckets, and we’re seeing this increasingly implemented in GIS. The first one is looking at history, with time stamping of objects and storing or persisting historical synoptic images, which are also date stamped. This capability allows us to recall based on date or a particular set of circumstances.
Dangermond: GIS内，结合时间维，主要有三个作用。事实上，我们也发现GIS内对时间维的实现也越来越多。第一，通过对象的时间戳，以及存储或序列化历史的气象影像（它也有日期戳），是能对历史的状况进行回顾。该功能使我们能基于日期或特定的情况来重现历史。
For instance, asking the question, “What did the parcel map look like on July 14, 1945?”, and it brings that view forward to compare it with the current situation. This change analysis or differencing, is a very valuable tool, and we see it a lot in imagery. Different image pictures through time allow us to see change in land use and change in landscape.
比如，提问：“July 14, 1945的parcel地图上什么样子呢？”，已经与目前的情况进行比较会发现什么？这种变化分析或差异分析，就十分有用，能通过图像发现很多规律。不同的栅格图片，通过时间维，让我们能看到土地利用变化和景观变化情况。
The second big area is moving from histories into real-time. In our field, GeoRSS feeds and other real-time information like weather, are starting to give us situation awareness pictures about the dynamics of what’s going on now. GIS through technologies like Tracking Server have been exceptional in that regard.
第二个大的应用是从历史走向实时。在我们领域，GeoRSS feeds和其它实时信息，如天气，正开始向我们提供当前发展态势的图画。GIS，通过像Tracking Server这种技术，在这方面的工作已经很杰出。
The third is simply the time stamping of objects in the database.
第三个作用就是简化数据库内对象的时间戳。
Dealing with future time, the technology is really simulation and modeling, and here we construct tools within ArcGIS to do iterative modeling. There are two kinds of integration that is going to occur. One is GIS-based time simulation models, and the second is the integration of GIS with external models, by being able to extract GIS data, put it into a specialized model and extract and put the data back into GIS. Again Web Services and the ability to do collaborative computing between multiple systems will mean that we can accomplish this integration effectively.
处理未来时间方面的技术就是模拟与建模，而我们在ArcGIS内实现了若干工具来进行迭代建模。目前，有两类结合未来世界的方法，一种是基于GIS的时间模拟模型，另一种是GIS与外部模型进行整合，通过提取GIS数据，将其导入特定的模型中，然后再将其提取出来导回到GIS中。同样的，Web服务及多个系统间的协同计算的能力，将使得该过程的实现更高效。
Particularly critical are things like time-based modeling of future climate situations. The Nature Conservancy has just recently integrated all of the time information with respect to global forecasts and climate change and are about to put that into a web service environment for specialized users. We’re working with them on this. It’s an ArcGIS Server hosted application, and it’s going to be an extraordinary thing. I can put in a geography and it will calculate what that region will look like in the future.
还有特别关键的事情，如基于时间的未来天气情况的建模。最近，Nature Conservancy正整合好所有与全球预报和气候变化的相关的时间信息，正打算将其置于Web服务环境，供特定用户使用。我们也在做这方面的工作，这个通过ArcGIS Server部署的应用程序非同寻常，我输入一幅地图，它就能计算该地区未来将是什么样子。
Dangermond: Today we have two things going on rapidly in the geospatial field. One of them is in the domain of professional GIS and the other is in the area of consumer-based mapping and visualization, such as Google Earth and Microsoft’s Virtual Earth. We’re making progress in both of these spaces.
V1：对于面向客户的制图应用的竞争，你当前有什么想法？
Dangermond：当今，在空间地理邻域我们必须立马去做两件事。其中一件事属于专业GIS邻域，另一件是属于基于用户的制图和地图可视化，例如：GoogleEarth和微软的VirtualEarth。我们正在朝这些领域去努力。
GIS is becoming more services oriented, and richer in tools and functionality. The consumer mapping and visualization space is evolving with more and more participants. Their main goal is to provide a geospatial base map that is a framework for spatial search, that georeferences content on the web to be able to spatially searched and discovered. There’s a rich advertising environment that is seen as the payoff for this investment. These two worlds, while overlapping, in future years will become increasingly more integrated.
GIS professionals will be serving their data into the consumer space, and the base maps that companies like Microsoft are creating will be able to be served into the GIS space. It will become a crosswalk. People describe this as the GeoWeb environment, which makes available virtually all geographic information, whether it’s casual consumer-collected and volunteered geographic data or rich authoritative-source data and professional models and rich content. This crosswalk means that GIS professionals will have new places to publish their maps, visualizations and analytics. For the consumer space, they’ll be able to georeference that content in their search engines, and also be able to leverage their investment in powerful basemaps into the professional world.
The benefit will be to all of society. It will be one way that we’re going to reach all of the world with communication about what’s happening on the planet and what’s happening locally. For the consumers, it means that they’ll have more knowledge available. It will be a democratization of the geospatial world to the extent that people want to do that. It doesn’t obsolete what’s happening in GIS servers and desktops. They are important cornerstones for making government, business and academic research continue. The ability to leverage the consumer data will make our professional GIS systems richer.
There are interesting opportunities there. How can we leverage thousands, millions or hundreds of millions of people that observe geography and are willing to share their information in a geographic context? All of that volunteered geographic information (VGI as Michael Goodchild calls it) should be brought into geographic information systems so that we can understand it.
That brings up significant issues such as authoritative source vs. volunteered geographic information. How do we sort through what we depend upon? What applications will benefit from it, and what applications should stay with authoritative source? There are issues of privacy, and who owns the information (IP), and issues of national security that all need to get vetted and worked out carefully as this GeoWeb evolves into the future.
那带来了重要问题，比如：官方数据vs 自愿提供的数据。我们依靠什么来对对这些数据进行分类？什么样的应用可以从中有益？什么的应用去使用官方数据？有数据隐私问题，还有谁去拥有这些信息的问题，以及国家安全问题。在将来GeoWeb应用逐渐发展，所有这一切问题都需要对数据进行仔细审查和处理。
Dangermond: In terms of the health and potential for geotechnology, it’s vibrant and well. Our business continues to grow and accelerate, building the geospatial infrastructure behind the scenes that people can build applications on for the professional world, and increasingly reaching out to the consumer space.
V1:从一个行业方向来看，地理技术当前正处于什么状态？
Dangermond：就地理技术的活力和潜力来说，它充满生气和潜力很大。我们行业正在加速增长，人们可以为专业邻域建立地图应用并且逐渐延伸到拥有邻域，在这样的背景背后建立地理空间基础设施。
The dynamics of what’s been going on with consumer-focused websites is making our job easier in terms of storytelling about the importance and viability of what our technology provides and what our users are doing. We’re moving in part from tools in the background to emerging solutions. People want to buy a mobile GIS without tools that they need to program. That’s offering our business partners huge opportunities to build applications that sit on top of our core technologies. Our business partner conference is like a feast, with partners gobbling up the new technologies and development environments that make custom development much easier.
就我们技术所提供的和我们用户正在做的重要性而言，面向用户的站点将来发展的动力将使我们的工作变得更加容易，我们挪用一部分幕后的工具来产生解决方案。人们想买一个没有工具的移动GIS，这些工具需要他们去编程实现。提供给我们的行业合作伙伴大量的机会在我们核心技术的基础上去建立应用。
我们行业伙伴的大会就想一个宴会，合作伙伴狼吞虎咽的吃掉我们的新的技术和开发环境，以使用户开发起来更加容易。
There’s our own company’s vibrant performance, our competitors are all doing well I think, and our business partners (the thousands of companies that are building applications and doing integration) are doing well.
有我们自己公司的充满活力的表现。我认为我们的竞争者和我们的行业合作伙伴都做的也很好。
名词解释：
document imaging technology: Document Imaging is an information technology category for systems capable of replicating documents commonly used in business
详见：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Document_imaging
Spatial ETL tools provide the data processing functionality of traditional Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) software, but with a primary focus on the ability to manage spatial data (which may also be called geographic, map or location data).
Mashup：In technology, a mashup is a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool; an example is the use of cartographic data from Google Maps to add location information to real-estate data, thereby creating a new and distinct web service that was not originally provided by either source.
Mashup originally referred to the practice in pop music (notably hip-hop) of producing a new song by mixing two or more existing pieces together.