City of Medford

City of MedfordA road construction application

Public Works Department Goal

• Notify citizens and media of road hazards and impediments.

• Audience: – TV– Newspapers– Citizens– City Staff– Public Safety

• A manually managed list

• Bulk emails sent to all users

• Must call department to be added or removed

• No mapping, just a description

The old system

What can GIS do for you?• Standardize notifications

• Capture data

• Create maps of work zones– Daily Summary Map– Daily Update– News Release

• Enable citizens to sign up

• Create output in KML

• Consistent URL for users to access road construction info

• Flex?– We are a .NET shop go with your strengths

So, which API?

No flex!

• Silverlight?– We love the functionality and rich user

experience– But … this is an internal only application

• We want to stand up quickly

So, which API?

No silverlight!

• Javscript?

– I hate Javascript!• No intellisense or real debugging in Visual Studio• Javascript can get sloppy ... compiled code is organized

– I love Javascript! • ArcIMS got us all very comfortable with Javascript• Javascript is fast• JQuery and Dojo are awesome

– $ajax() calls to services are so fast and easy

» Asynchronous REST calls keep things moving

– UI Libraries get us most of the user experience that we want

So, which API?

JAVASCRIPT WINS!!!

How it is used (City website)

News Release PDF

Daily Update PDF

How it is used (Events)

How it is used (MedfordMaps)

Video

DNA of the System

Web application Console application

Medford MapsServer Object Extension

Web application• MVC2

• LINQ to SQL

• JQuery

• Dojo

• Javascript API

• SOE

LINQ to SQL

Databases

ArcGIS Server

Public Website

SOEREST

Console application

• SOAP SDK

• SOE

• System.Data

• Scheduled task

ArcGIS ServerPublic Website

DatabasesSOAP SOE

ISSUES

LINQ to SQL Issues• Joins!

– I typically design my joins in SQL Server Mgmt Studio … easy SQL

Looks something like this:

SELECT dbo.mp_Users.UserID,dbo. mp_Users.SiteID, dbo.mp_Users.Name, dbo.mp_Users.LoginName, dbo.mp_Users.LoweredEmail, dbo.mp_Users.PasswordQuestion, dbo.mp_Users.PasswordAnswer, dbo.mp_Users.Pwd, dbo.mfr_MailingListUser.MailingListID, dbo.mfr_MailingLists.MailingListName, dbo.mfr_MailingLists.ApplicationName, dbo.mfr_MailingLists.IdentifierNameFROM dbo.mfr_MailingLists INNER JOIN dbo.mfr_MailingListUserON dbo.mfr_MailingLists.MailingListID = dbo.mfr_MailingListUser.MailingListIDINNER JOIN dbo.mp_Users ON dbo.mfr_MailingListUser.UserID = dbo.mp_Users.UserID

In LINQ it becomes something like this:

var mailingListUsers =from u in db.mp_Usersfrom mlu in u.mfr_MailingListUsersjoin ml in db.mfr_MailingLists on mlu.MailingListID equals ml.MailingListIDselect u;

return mailingListUsers;

LINQ to SQL Issues

• Database Design

– LINQ to SQL strongly typed objects are really nice to use• Though, I am finding that I like the Silverlight / WCF model (as I work more with

Silverlight)

– My database design techniques need to change up a bit• Focus more on business objects than on normalization (not mutually exclusive, but

can be different)

• I have always avoided trying to create database objects that look like "objects", rather I just think in terms of how to normalize.

– Now is the time to rethink my database design strategies and think about the database as an active participant in my application, rather than simply a storage mechanism for the data ... am still sorting this idea out.

MVC Issues• Getting accustomed to the MVC way of doing things

– Dropdown lists• This was a really kind of odd thing for me to get a handle on. It is

seemingly trivial, but took some adjustment to figure out

public class ContractorRepository{

public IQueryable<Contractor> ReturnAllContractors() {

return db.Contractors;}

}

----- public class ProjectsController : Controller{

ContractorRepository contractorRepository = new ContractorRepository();... public ActionResult Create() {

SelectList contractors = new SelectList(contractorRepository.ReturnAllContractors(), "ContractorID", "Name", project.ContractorID);ViewData["Contractor"] = contractors;

}}

MVC Issues• Serializing JSON

– This was eventually another simple solution … eventually.– As with most problems in MVC, there is always an answer

public JsonResult GetProjectGroups(){

var projectGroups = from p in constructionProjectGroupRepository.ReturnAllProjectGroups()select new {

ConstructionProjectID = p.ConstructionProjectID,ConstructionProjectGroupID = p.ConstructionProjectGroupID,StartDate = (DateTime?) p.StartDate,EndDate = (DateTime?) p.EndDate,ReleaseDate = (DateTime?) p.ReleaseDate,DateEmailSent = (DateTime?) p.DateEmailsSent,AllDay = p.AllDay

};

return Json(projectGroups, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);}

MVC Issues• Testing and Mail

– This application uses Active Directory to get many of the email recipients.

– Debugging the mail is a huge pain• There have been situations where random settings at the network level have

prevented users from receiving emails• Also, how users are stored in Active Directory is an issue when searching for valid

Active Directory users – Normal users = 512– Users who don’t need a password = 544– Not a good test for valid users depending on how your AD is set up.

SOE Issues• There are some large hurdles related to converting to Server Object Extensions

– The difference between wrapper functions and business functions• Wrapper functions handle to communication back to the client• Business functions do the work … called from wrapper function (of the same name)

– Registering the SOE• We had some registration issues

– Our servers (and dev machines) are 64 Bit– The short story … we needed to compile to 32 bit .. long story was longer

– Not a whole lot of really good documentation• Or in some cases, too much disparate documentation

– SOE design on the ArcGIS Server• Really designing how SOE’s relate to services on our server is still evolving• Probably need to spend more time with Property Pages

• Awesomeness– No Server Context

• All ArcObjects – so very nice!

– Once you get beyond the SoapMessaging stuff, it is just plain old ArcObjects• Steep learning curve initially, but once you get over the hurdles it is smooth sailing

ESRI Support Issues• ESRI Support is phenomenal!

• We buy developer support– Am the only developer in our group, so it is good to have someone to help

me see things differently– Get pointed in the right direction– Quickly escalate issue if necessary– I enjoy talking with them and just working through issues with them– Best thing from ESRI we have ever purchased!

• Shoutouts (for help with SOE configuration)– Xuening– Rahat– Sumedha– Nagendra

• Shoutouts (for general help)– Yamini– Nakul

• Thanks ESRI Support!

Thanks!

David Renzhttp://www.medfordmaps.org / http://ci.medford.or.us [email protected]

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