Developer’s Corner “As a software developer—as anyone who cares about code—you ought to think in a big way about cloud platforms.” —David Chappell ware development, provided an overview of the impending release, ArcGIS 10, during the plenary. Morehouse also introduced ArcGIS. com, which he described as a “Web gateway into the ArcGIS system.” When ArcGIS.com goes online, it will serve as an online GIS resource where visitors can find basemaps created by Esri and the ArcGIS community, make maps and create mashups, search the Web or GIS servers for additional content for the maps, share maps, view sample applications, and download source codes. Keynote speaker David Chappell, principal of Chappell and Associates, delivered an engaging address on cloud platform development. He differentiated between cloud computing applications and platforms, discussed new and future trends on this platform, and explained the importance of building and deploying GIS applications in the cloud. Chappell observed that in the last 50 years, only five platforms have emerged for business computing: mainframes, minicomputers, personal computers (PCs), PC-based servers, and mobile phones. “We are right now, I believe, witnessing the birth of the sixth platform type. It is cloud platforms,” he said. “As a software developer—as anyone who cares about code—you ought to think in a big way about cloud platforms.” Despite a wheezing economy, the turnout for the 2010 Esri Developer Summit, now in its fifth year, was stronger than ever. Once again, this year’s summit brought GIS developers and Esri software development teams together to develop better tools, applications, and practices. Keynote speaker David Chappell apps without learning Objective-C code. Noyle demonstrated the design and implementation of a geocoding-enabled site for location-based feedback within a user’s local community. Many developers made a beeline for the technical sessions, especially the ones that previewed the capabilities of ArcGIS 10. Esri’s Jeremy Bartley and Keyur Shah demonstrated how to create maps; execute queries; perform geoprocessing, geocoding, and geometry operations; access tiles; and generate KML using the REST API. Attendees learned how to use the REST API in a variety of mashups that also used JavaScript, HTML, Google Earth, Python, and other Web technologies. “I noticed that the really popular sessions focused on extending servers through .NET and Java,” said Bartley. “One of the exciting developments at ArcGIS 10 is that it supports writing custom server object extensions that can be consumed in both SOAP and REST services, which is hugely significant to developers.” Bartley also kicked off the Plenary Session with the unveiling and demonstration of ArcGIS.com, an online resource for finding and using geographic content from Esri and many other sources. ArcGIS.com will give developers a platform to share applications through links and through code. “From a developer perspective, this is exciting because programmers can share their information securely within groups. It also includes all the Web APIs— Flex, JavaScript, and iPhone as well—which are integral to building solutions today,” said Bartley. Scott Morehouse, Esri’s director of softwww.esri.com ArcUser Summer 2010 41