ArcGIS Server allows users to perform spatial analysis via simple, browser-based applications.

Extracting data and building innovative tools does little good if no efficient means of distributing these solutions exists. The end result of a GIS department's labor only has value when put in the hands of those who need it most—specifically, workers across the enterprise and the public. ArcGIS Server is the critical piece that makes the efficient flow of geographic information to the end user possible. By implementing ArcGIS Server, GIS departments can maintain centralized management of GIS data and processes while at the same time empowering their constituents to obtain and share the geographic data and tools they need to do their work.

ArcGIS Server has given rise to the "author, serve, use" paradigm. GIS professionals author GIS content and capabilities using ArcGIS Desktop and publish them to ArcGIS Server. From ArcGIS Server, authored content is served out to those who need it. The end user can utilize these authored services in desktop applications, browsers, or mobile devices. Moreover, ArcGIS Server gives users the ability to edit the data, which can, in turn, be shared with other end users, thus creating a common operating picture. With this two-way flow of information, everyone has access to the most current data in near real time.

ArcGIS Server is an open, flexible, and scalable technology that runs on an industry-standard IT infrastructure and supports geospatial service-oriented architecture (SOA) initiatives. ArcGIS Desktop software complements ArcGIS Server by acting as a means of authoring, configuring, and maintaining data, models, and applications. With the addition of an integration platform, GIS services, such as mapping, geocoding, geoprocessing, and data management, can be fused with other shared services of complementary enterprise systems (e.g., customer relationship management [CRM] or enterprise resource planning [ERP]).

Three Core Features

What makes ArcGIS Server a unique, out-of-the-box solution are its three core features: comprehensive management of geographic information, powerful visualization, and enterprise spatial analysis:

• Management of geographic information—ArcGIS Server organizes and manages geographic information to support fast and efficient visualization and analytics applications, regardless of the amount of data held within an organization. Spatial information can be securely stored and data integrity and consistency maintained. Using ArcGIS Server, an organization can propagate data changes between multiple data sources and integrate real-time tracking of features and events. ArcGIS Server supports replication and long transactions. All this enables users to leverage their spatial data to its full potential and maintain a consistent, accurate database.
• Visualization—ArcGIS Server offers Web mapping services that support 2D dynamic and cached maps, as well as 3D globes. Supported 2D and 3D clients provide an interactive environment to disseminate knowledge and discover and identify patterns and trends. The variety of supported clients (desktop, mobile, Web) allows GIS departments to deliver information where and when it is needed to analysts, decision makers, and deployed forces.
• Spatial analysis—ArcGIS Server offers server-based analysis and geoprocessing. This includes vector, raster, 3D, and network analytics; models, scripts, and tools; desktop authoring; and synchronous processing. Any model or tool authored in ArcGIS Desktop can be shared to a broad audience via ArcGIS Server, allowing more people to discover and characterize geographic patterns, predict potential outcomes based on historical patterns, and automate workflows with visual modeling.

More Information

For more information about how ArcGIS Server improves workflows, read the following articles and poster.

• Basin Electric Power Cooperative Deploys Enterprise GIS to Improve Processes and Deliver Business Value
• Los Angeles, California, Department of City Planning Mapping System
• Simplifying Operations for City of Marietta, Georgia
• ArcGIS Server Technology Delivers Property Information
• ArcGIS Server poster [PDF]