An interesting press release floated across GISuser yesterday on ESRI striking a strategic partnership with Jane’s to make their data available through ESRI tools. What I found intriguing was a service like Jane’s, which targets a non-technical audience, using ESRI, which has a largely technical user base, as channel to disseminate their data. The question it raises is ESRI working on something new to seriously expand their user base beyond GIS professionals, or is there enough demand by the US government (and others) for Jane’s data to be available to its GIS users to drive the deal.

The press release gives a few clues:

“For Jane’s electronic data, subscribers to its Web and desktop services can fuse and share the geospatial information in a common operating picture via ESRI’s software….For users new to the power of GIS, this easy-to-use capability will add considerable value to Jane’s products.”

So, is this a new “easy to use capability” or are they referring to ArcGIS 9.2 and ArcIMS?

Looking at the quote from Jane’s side is sounds as if the target is to make the data available to GIS professionals, “this partnership opens up a wealth of opportunity for Jane’s customers to view information in a GIS environment.” I think this brings up the compelling question of when does GIS include everyone, or when does web mapping (aka Google, Microsoft) encompass GIS. The line is definitely getting more blurry every day.

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