ESRI Announces ArcWeb Services 2006 is Now Available for On-Demand Mapping and GIS.

REDLANDS, Calif. -- ESRI announced today that ArcWeb Services 2006 is now available. ArcWeb Services 2006 further extends on-demand mapping and geographic information system (GIS) capabilities for Web developers. ArcWeb Services are powerful mapping APIs that allow developers to integrate mapping and spatial functionality into any Web-based application.

"Web developers who wish to easily build applications that go beyond basic maps and directions should evaluate ArcWeb Services 2006," says Mike Tait, director of Web Services at ESRI. "With the latest release of ArcWeb Services, developers can further integrate enterprise-level mapping functionality into Web-based commercial and mobile applications."

Highlights of ArcWeb Services 2006 include

--New Developer APIs -- in addition to a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) API, ArcWeb Services 2006 includes a REST API for creating maps using simple URL requests, OpenLS, and a Java 2 Platform Micro Edition (J2ME) Wireless Toolkit for rapid development of wireless applications.

--Custom map and spatial query services -- Developers can upload their own point, line, and polygon data. End users can then perform custom rendering and spatial queries.

--Mobile location services -- Through partnerships with Sprint and Bell Mobility, the ArcWeb Services 2006 mobile location service enables subscribing companies to build location-based services (LBS) applications for tracking their non-GPS and GPS-enabled cellular phones and send short message service (SMS) messages.

--Enhanced route finder service -- Developers can now build applications that route around traffic obstacles as well as optimize the order of the route stop midpoints.

--New administration portal -- A new Web site is available to help ArcWeb Services 2006 subscribers easily create, customize, and administer services. This Web site offers everything needed to get up and running with ArcWeb Services including Web-based wizards for uploading, geocoding, and managing data; samples; tools to help administrators manage groups of users and track how many credits they have used; and much more.

--Map Image service enhancements -- Significant enhancements were also made to the ArcWeb Services 2006 map image service. In addition to providing all the standard static graphical file formats, ArcWeb Services 2006 now includes Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) and Adobe Flash (SWF) mapping file formats. Web developers can use SVG or SWF to directly access vector mapping data for building rich Web 2.0 Internet applications.

The range of mapping data accessible through the ArcWeb Services APIs has also been expanded. Data sources now include:

--U.S. Business Listings -- This data set provides access to name, address, phone number, and SIC code for 13 million businesses across the United States.

--Navteq European Union data -- ArcWeb Services now offers Navteq mapping, geocoding, and routing data for the European Union.

--Reverse Phone Number location lookup service -- This data allows for an address to be looked up via a phone number, and a phone number to be associated with an address.

--IP and Domain Name location lookup services -- Applications can now associate general geographic coordinates to IP addresses and domain names worldwide.

For more information on ArcWeb Services or to get a 30-day evaluation copy, visit www.esri.com/arcwebservices or call ESRI at 1-800-447-9778. Outside the United States, contact your local ESRI distributor; see www.esri.com/international for a current distributor list.

About ESRI

Since 1969, ESRI has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS, ESRI software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 5,000 colleges and universities. ESRI applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. ESRI is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit the company at www.esri.com.

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