Connecting to the ArcSDE/Oracle Spatial Database at ERSC

In May 2003 ERSC implemented an Oracle 9i database on a Dell server running Red Hat Linux 7.3 to serve spatial data through ArcSDE 8.3. The vision is to provide a GIS and Remote Sensing data resource to a range of users including 1) ERSC program scientists, instructors, and collaborators; 2) other University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty and students; and 3) public users beyond campus including students and teachers in Alaska that are part of our MapTEACH project.

We are providing read-only access to general GIS base layers and remote sensing imagery through programs that can connect to ArcSDE databases (e.g. ArcExplorer, ArcGIS, ArcView, IMAGINE). The second phase of this effort, now underway, is providing ArcIMS map services that expand options for connectivity, including OpenGIS connectors for WMS and WFS. Visit our ERSC ArcIMS Testbed or connect directly to map services at http://ies-emp.ersc.wisc.edu.

Our teaching and research programs emphasize the use of raster imagery, and our database content will ultimately reflect this focus. We would like to see, and will be supportive of, other units on campus developing their own spatial databases to share their topically specific data with the campus user community. We hope this set of exercises will help in that effort.

The following tutorials are designed to help guests connect to the ERSC database and to highlight some of the opportunities and capabilities (and limitations) afforded by this technology. All of the exercises require an Internet connection and access to the listed software. ESRI's free ArcExplorer is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. ESRI now offers "ArcExplorer Web" that further improves free access to streaming geospatial web services. The full featured ESRI desktop software programs ArcView and ArcMap are available for Windows only.

[A very useful source of information about "Streaming Web Services to Your Desktop" compiled by Jerry Sullivan with help from A. J. Wortley and David Hart is available online with live links through a PDF or DOC document to web services across Wisconsin.] For the latest version try the Department of Administrtion GIS Office.