Elliot Schwid 5/18/2010 Geography 4100 ArcIMS vs. ArcServer Both ArcIMS vs.

ArcServer have their strength and weaknesses. ArcServer is a major upgrade to ArcIMS. ESRI created ArcIMS in order to allow companies to publish their maps dynamically over the internet. In order to publish over ArcIMS a user must jump through several programs. ArcServer can publish maps through just Arcmap and the interent, if they network is set-up properly. ArcIMS runs Axl files which must be created through Author. Author severly limits what can be created compared to arcmap. Author merely compiles the data; points, lines, polygons and text. Then through Administrator a service can be created, this is also where tools are managed. Then in Designer, the final map can be published. Designer has templates to customize the work space and it can be determined which functions the client will be able to use. The Axl file will now viewable to the public. ArcIMSs system is severely limiting on what can be done in the final Axl files. Only simple layouts and templates are supported. ArcServer allows for a more intuitive and elaborate approach to web mapping. It allows for multiple outputs, such as Silverlight, flex viewers and java viewers. Compared to ArcIMS it is incredibly light looking and pretty. Its authoring can be done through ArcMap which users are more familiar with. It runs on the .Net framework which supports multiple programming languages. ArcServer allows clients a simple and easy way to view geographic data.