LocatorHub Migrating LocatorHub to Version 5.0 The Transition from ArcObjects Based Plug-Ins to ArcGIS for Server Services January 2013
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Contents 1. Introduction... 1 1.1. About this Document... 1 1.2. Integration with the ArcGIS System... 1 1.3. Additional Sources of Information... 1 2. Architectural Changes... 2 2.1. Impact of 64-bit architecture... 2 2.2. Impact of.net 4.0... 2 3. Locator & Coordinate Conversion Migration... 3 3.1. Overview... 3 3.2. Within a LocatorHub Web Service... 3 3.3. Outside a LocatorHub Web Service... 6 4. Functionality Offered by New LocatorHub 5.0... 9 4.1. ArcGIS Map & Feature Service Locators... 9 4.1.1. Geometry Mid-points... 9 4.1.2. Tables within Map & Feature Services... 9 4.1.3. Reverse Geocoding... 9 4.1.4. Version Support... 9 4.2. ArcGIS Locators... 9 4.2.1. Single Line... 9 4.2.2. Version Support... 10 4.3. Geometry Service Coordinate Conversion... 10 4.3.1. Composite Geotransformations... 10 4.3.2. Version Support... 10 5. Summary... 11 5.1. ArcGIS Online... 11 i
1. Introduction 1.1. About this Document This document is targeted at Technical Architects upgrading to LocatorHub 5.0. It highlights key architectural differences between versions and discusses the effects of, and recommendations around, these differences. In particular, it discusses the recommendation to discontinue using Feature Class locators for locations stored in the GeoDatabase, and also the ArcObjects-based Coordinate Conversion Plug-ins. This document assumes knowledge of LocatorHub and ArcGIS. 1.2. Integration with the ArcGIS System LocatorHub can be consumed within, and complements the Esri product stack for geosearching and geocoding, including the various methodologies offered through online and on-premise offerings. This includes consuming and exposing ArcGIS-style REST-enabled locators, consuming coordinate conversion/re-projection services, creating spatial layers and consuming map services for interactive geocoding. The majority of changes within LocatorHub 5.0 are related to the ArcGIS integration points and therefore this document focuses on these issues. 1.3. Additional Sources of Information Please refer to the following documents for further information about the LocatorHub solution: LocatorHub Installation Guide LocatorHub Release Notes Consuming LocatorHub LocatorHub Technical Description Dashboard, Editor and LTS Online Help 1
2. Architectural Changes There are two key architectural changes within LocatorHub 5.0. These are: Installable as a 64-bit application (as well as 32-bit) Built against.net 4.0 These changes have a direct impact on the LocatorHub installation procedures but have minimal impact on the solution design and end user experience. Since LocatorHub has various integration points with ArcGIS, there are some configurations that will not be supported. For example: ArcGIS for Desktop cannot be used in conjunction with 64-bit LocatorHub ArcGIS for Server 10.1 cannot be used in conjunction with 32-bit LocatorHub The correct Oracle client (32/64 bit) should be installed to match the version of LocatorHub (32/64 bit) See the LocatorHub Technical Description for details. 2.1. Impact of 64-bit architecture Previous versions of LocatorHub were entirely 32-bit; this makes no real difference to the end user applications using LocatorHub (e.g. Editor and LTS). However, in an enterprise environment using LocatorHub Web Services, the Application Pool, on a 64-bit operating system has to be set to enable 32-bit applications. When using the 64-bit installation of LocatorHub, setting this will not be necessary. 2.2. Impact of.net 4.0 Since LocatorHub is built against.net 4.0, it is a requirement that all machines that will have LocatorHub installed also have.net 4.0 (Client and Extended). On the web server this also means that ASP.Net 4.0 needs to be installed. 2
3. Locator & Coordinate Conversion Migration 3.1. Overview Version 5.0 of LocatorHub introduces three new locators and one new coordinate conversion plug-in. These components utilise the ArcGIS REST and SOAP end points of ArcGIS for Server and ArcGIS Online. It is intended that these components should be used instead of the current Feature Class locators and coordinate conversion plugins that use ArcObjects. This change is in line with offering LocatorHub functionality through a Service Oriented Architecture that no longer has a dependency on locally installed ArcObjects. This decreases the footprint of the required software whilst offering the same functionality. There are two different scenarios where Feature Class Locators and ArcObjects based coordinate conversion have been used, and the solution architecture should be changed to accommodate the new recommended architectures: Within a web service Outside a web service (Data loading and Direct Connect) The following sections describe what was available in previous versions of LocatorHub and the recommend architectures going forward for these two scenarios. 3.2. Within a LocatorHub Web Service This scenario occurs when implementing LocatorHub in an enterprise environment where LocatorHub services are exposed via web services. These include the default SOAP web service, the REST web service and the ArcGIS Compatible REST web service. 3
Feature Class Locator Direct Connect to GeoDatabase Feature Class Locator ArcGIS Server Connection (AO Client) ArcGIS Coordinate Conversion Desktop/Server Licence ArcGIS Server Coordinate Conversion At version 4.X and below, the following conceptual architecture was recommended for ArcGIS integration: LocatorHub Application Server Web Service Tier ArcGIS Server/Desktop (ArcObjects) 9.3/10.0 LocatorHub Web Services (IIS) As the diagram indicates, the locators and coordinate conversion plug-ins are contained within IIS in-process. All the LocatorHub components use ArcObjects which have a large footprint; they were not designed to be used within a web service. For clarification, the LocatorHub components are described as follows: Feature Class Locator with two different connection types: o Direct Connect to GeoDatabase uses ArcObjects to make connections to spatially enabled databases such as ArcSDE. Not recommended for use within a web service. This is not supported when using version 10.1 of ArcGIS when using a web service. o ArcGIS Server Connection uses ArcObjects Client to make a DCOM connection to an ArcGIS for Server instance and remotely makes a connection to an exposed GeoData Service. This is unsupported at version 10.1 of ArcGIS. Coordinate Conversion Plug-ins supporting re-projection of coordinates: o ArcGIS Coordinate Conversion uses ArcObjects directly to reproject coordinates. Not recommended for use within a web service. This is not supported when using version 10.1 of ArcGIS when using a web service. o ArcGIS Server Coordinate Conversion uses ArcObjects client to make a DCOM connection to an ArcGIS Server instance and remotely use ArcObjects on the server to re-project coordinates. This is unsupported at version 10.1 of ArcGIS. 4
Locators consuming ArcGIS REST Services Coordinate Conversion consuming ArcGIS REST & SOAP Services LocatorHub 5.0 includes newly developed service locators and a coordinate conversion plug-in to remove the need for ArcObjects. The architecture illustrated below is recommended for LocatorHub 5.0: LocatorHub Application Server Web Service Tier ArcGIS Server/ArcGIS Online 9.3.1/10.0/10.1 LocatorHub Web Services (IIS) The diagram shows the recommendation to replace all ArcObjects based components with components that consume SOAP and REST services exposed by ArcGIS Server Standard. The ArcGIS for Server instance can either be on the same application server as LocatorHub or can be on a dedicated server. Alternatively, the LocatorHub locators and plug-ins can connect to ArcGIS Online. The components introduced at version 5.0 can be summarized as: Locators consuming ArcGIS for Server REST services o ArcGIS Map Service Locator using a map service published in ArcGIS for Server o ArcGIS Feature Server Locator using a feature service published in ArcGIS for Server o ArcGIS Locator using a geocoding service published in ArcGIS for Server Coordinate Conversion consuming ArcGIS Server SOAP and REST services o Geometry Service Coordinate Conversion using a geometry service published in ArcGIS for Server. 5
Data Loading with Spatial Theme Creation Feature Class Locator Direct Connect to GeoDatabase Feature Class Locator ArcGIS Server Connection (AO Client) ArcGIS Coordinate Conversion Desktop/Server Licence Note that whilst new functionality is now available at version 5.0, the older functionality is still available; however, for some configurations at ArcGIS 10.1 it is not supported. Specifically: Feature Class locators are not supported at ArcGIS 10.1 when used within a web service. Feature Class locator using the ArcGIS for Server connection is not supported at ArcGIS 10.1. Coordinate conversion using ArcObjects is not supported at ArcGIS 10.1 when used within a web service. Coordinate conversion using the ArcGIS for Server connection is not supported at ArcGIS 10.1. 3.3. Outside a LocatorHub Web Service This scenario occurs when performing data loading on the application server, on the database server or when using direct connect in a client application. At version 4.X and below, the following conceptual architecture was recommended for ArcGIS integration: LocatorHub Application Server Use of ArcGIS outside of Web Service Tier e.g. Data Loading, Direct Connect ArcGIS Server/Desktop 9.3/10.0 LocatorHub Dashboard 6
Data Loading with Spatial Theme Creation Feature Class Locator Direct Connect to GeoDatabase Locators consuming ArcGIS REST Services ArcGIS Coordinate Conversion Desktop/Server Licence Coordinate Conversion consuming ArcGIS REST & SOAP Services The locators and coordinate conversion plug-ins are contained in-process, in the LocatorHub Dashboard. All the LocatorHub components use ArcObjects which have a large footprint and can be slow. The LocatorHub components are described as follows: Data Loading with Spatial Theme Creation uses ArcObjects when loading published datasets to create a spatially enabled layer within a geodatabase. Feature Class Locator with two different connection types: o Direct Connect to GeoDatabase uses ArcObjects to make connections to spatially enabled databases such as ArcSDE. o ArcGIS Server Connection uses ArcObjects Client to make a DCOM connection to an ArcGIS Server instance and remotely makes a connection to an exposed GeoData Service. This is unsupported at version 10.1 of ArcGIS. Coordinate Conversion Plug-ins supporting re-projection of coordinates: o ArcGIS Coordinate Conversion uses ArcObjects directly to reproject coordinates. Apart from the data loading component, this architecture is also applicable to a desktop client application such as the LocatorHub Editor or LTS. The following architecture is recommended at version 5.0: LocatorHub Application Server Use of ArcGIS outside of Web Service Tier e.g. Data Loading, Direct Connect ArcGIS Server/Desktop & ArcGIS Online 9.3.1/10.0/10.1 LocatorHub Dashboard 7
The diagram shows that although the existing ArcObjects based components are available at version 5.0, there are additional service based components that can be utilised. This means that ArcObjects is not necessarily required on the application server (or client machines). The ArcGIS for Server instance can either be on the same application server as LocatorHub or on a dedicated server. Alternatively, the LocatorHub locators and plugins can connect to ArcGIS Online. 8
4. Functionality Offered by New LocatorHub 5.0 This section highlights the differences between the new components within LocatorHub 5.0 and the pre-existing functionality offered by older versions of LocatorHub. 4.1. ArcGIS Map & Feature Service Locators These locators offer comparable functionality to the Feature Class locators with the following exceptions: 4.1.1. Geometry Mid-points LocatorHub requires a geocode to be in the form of a point. When using different geometry types the following will be returned as a successful geocode: The XY of the matched point feature The first point of the matched polyline feature The first point of the matched polygon feature (unless using a geometry service) Other geometry types are not supported. To return a centroid for polygon features it is possible to configure a geometry service in the locator to obtain the Label Point. Note that this will increase the amount of calls to the ArcGIS for Server. 4.1.2. Tables within Map & Feature Services Only published feature layers can be used within the locators, not tables. 4.1.3. Reverse Geocoding Reverse geocoding is not supported within these locators. 4.1.4. Version Support The ArcGIS Feature Service locator works with ArcGIS 10.0 SP1 and later. The ArcGIS Map Service locator works with ArcGIS 9.3.1 and later. 4.2. ArcGIS Locators This locator consumes geocoding services created by publishing ArcGIS locators through ArcGIS for Server. 4.2.1. Single Line LocatorHub can only support ArcGIS locators that have single line searching enabled (available at ArcGIS 10.0 and later). 9
4.2.2. Version Support The ArcGIS Locator works with ArcGIS 10.0 SP1 and later (although the search extent property only works at 10.1). 4.3. Geometry Service Coordinate Conversion The Geometry Service Plug-in is comparable to the ArcObjects based plug-ins. 4.3.1. Composite Geotransformations When a re-projection is requested that requires a composite geotransformation, such as Irish National Grid to British National Grid, two calls to the REST API will be completed to achieve this. 4.3.2. Version Support Coordinate conversion works with: SOAP: 9.3.1 and later with specified geotransformations REST: 9.3.1 and later without specified geotransformations (10.1 and later with specified geotransformations) 10
5. Summary The new components within LocatorHub 5.0 reflect the changing nature of the ArcGIS system from a predominantly local desktop/server solution to a more service-based, online solution. This provides opportunities for the LocatorHub solution to integrate with other ArcGIS technologies such as ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Web based APIs. This means that the solution will no longer depend on COM based components (such as ArcObjects) that have to be installed on the server, but can use existing services that are published in ArcGIS for Server and ArcGIS Online. The only effect on the LocatorHub solution is the potential latency between LocatorHub and the published service. 5.1. ArcGIS Online LocatorHub is able to connect to services published in ArcGIS Online. There are restrictions on the transactions that can be performed using the free services: there is a cap on usage of map, feature and geometry services, based on a transaction limit. In addition, using the standard free ArcGIS Online geocoding services, the results can only be used for map navigation (termed geosearching ) and not stored (termed geocoding ). When using the new Coordinate Conversion Plug-in that can use an ArcGIS Online Geometry Service, each address result will require a call to the service to re-project the coordinate. The number of calls will quickly mount up when using batch geocoding operations. When using any ArcGIS Online free geocoding services, client applications that perform batch geocoding such as the geocode/rectify task in Dashboard or geocode/rectify task in LTS should not be used unless the premium/subscription based service has been paid for. The terms of use for ArcGIS Online can be viewed at Summary of Terms of Use and Full Terms of Use. 11