At the recently held ESRIUC the mobile team charged with the development of ArcPad provided a session designed to introduce users to the new functionality provided by ArcPad 10.
Most noteworthy at release 10 of ArcPad are improvements to usability along with significantly enhnanced performance. Note, Arcpad 10 was released in June 2010 and there was also a release of SP4 for ArcPad 8.
Users of “10″ are greeted with a similar UI as what was provided with ArcPad 8 where upon start-up the user lets to work with a new map, open or create a quickproject. To start your ArcPad project the user can elect to use basemap data from a number of sources including: load base data from Bing maps, ArcGIS online, ArcGIS.com or add data from your own server.
Of interest is the Quick capture toolbar, a dynamic toobar, fully configurable in the TOC and also provides a quick photo capture complete with options to geotag the image via GPS or tap on the map to position the photo. Elvin Slavik, lead ArcPad developer of the Esri ArcPad team (from RIA Terra Systems/Maptel, Melbourne, Australia) described and showed off just how easy it is to create a new QuickProject out of ArcPad 10 – basically its as simple as creating a ZIP file where all the required data files are grabbed and bundled into a single project file.
10 Cool, New Features of ArcPad 10:
- Navigation, as part of the arcLogistics Navigator allows for communication between ArcPad and ArcLogistics
- ArcPad 10 has a must faster response time, visualization, and drawing speed
- New spatial indexing, offers enhanced speed when at edit scale – faster draw speed, pan, zoom, and file opening
- More efficient memory management and usage
- QuickDraw – alternate view, fast/coarse symbol display
- Arcpad data manager – at ArcPad 10 can deploy to R 8 and 10
- Support for basemap data via Bing Maps and ArcGIS online
- QuickCapture also supports faster, automated form building
- Data Manager supports faster, simple customization of projects with little scripting
- New DirectShow camera module provides simpler use of photos within ArcPad projects
The ArcPad Dev team sporting nifty work vests in their presentation… nice!
Other Highlights of ArcPad 10 include
- Support for ArcGIS Online Map Services—You can now access ArcGIS Online basemaps, such as World Street Map, World Topographic Map, and World Imagery, as well as Bing Maps, that can be used in ArcPad projects.
- Improved Performance—Drawing speed has increased from the previous release. Improvements have also been made to ESRI StreetMap Premium to ensure the maximum amount of memory is available to both ArcPad and StreetMap Premium, ensuring better performance for users.
- Dynamic QuickCapture Toolbar—A new dynamic toolbar allows you to quickly capture new features with a simple tap-on screen. The QuickCapture toolbar contains tools representing features in the user’s current map that the user can choose to create new features. This toolbar requires no customization and can be used across all of the user’s ArcPad projects.
- Enhanced ArcPad Data Manager for ArcGIS 10—The ArcPad 10 Data Manager now gives you more opportunity to customize an ArcPad project with no coding or scripting needed. Data entry forms are generated for related tables, and users have greater control over using photos in ArcPad projects. Hyperlinked photos are now integrated in the checkout and check-in process.
- Better Camera and Photo Experience—A new camera module that works for a greater number and range of hardware devices will benefit ArcPad 10 users. Across a variety of devices, the camera’s user experience is the same. Along with improved photo management (within the ArcPad Data Manager), users will be able to incorporate photos into their ArcPad projects much easier and faster.