[postgis-users] how to connect ArcGIS 9.3 to Postgis withoutArcSDE ?

[Simon Greener]

Regina,

> Not sure if anyone mentioned uDig and OpenJump already.  Those you can edit
> with as well I believe, though I don't really do much editing with tools so
> can't speak for the merits of editing. My personal favorite is OpenJump.
>
> Manifold GIS by the way has a lot of charm.  I haven't really dug that
> deeply into my copy yet, but there is a lot under the hood there.  And if
> per chance you are dealing with multiple different spatial databases it
> supports
>
> SQL Server 2008, PostGIS, DBII I think, and Oracle Spatial some really nifty
> looking RASTER functions without any SDE goo.
>
> I find it harder to get into though than something like OpenJump without
> reading a bit.

Each to his/her own, Regina. Manifold has zillions of pages of well written help whereas,
most open source software, tends to be weak in this area.

I think the issue for our ArcGIS friend is how to connect to PostGIS without paying ESRI more
$zillions for middleware he doesn't need. As such, though I haven't tried it, zigGIS should be
the first thing he looks at before trying any of GIS client (with the high associated costs of
relearning - as you have discovered wrt Manifold).

> Granted SDE does afford some things like hmm versioning and RASTER storage?

But versioning and raster storage are only for ESRI clients, no? If you wanted to use uDig or OpenJump to access
version tables or access constraint information held in the ESRI GDB_* table soup can you? 

> And you can use PostGIS raw without going thru the SDE service as long as
> you pay for the SDE service I think.  Though the idea that you have to pay
> for something so that you can not use it seems a little strange.  Someone
> correct me if I am wrong in my impression there.  It seems if you have the
> service turned off and you can still connect via ArcGIS, doesn't that mean
> you didn't need the service, but you have to still pay for the service?

The thing about all spatial databases is that they provide a client agnostic, centralised data management tier that
is accessible by all. Putting an ArcSDE middleware layer over the top of a database and then storing corporate
data in a proprietary format not accessible to anyone else via the normal APIs and access protocols is what I argue
against whenever I can.

But, (check this out), I don't actually say that the ArcSDE API should not exist. I have no problem with ESRI creating
a common data access API for all its clients to "harmonise" or "standardise" the access language. Oracle's SDO_* operators
and PostGIS's && etc operators are a case in point.

More than 2c worth!

Simon
-- 
SpatialDB Advice and Design, Solutions Architecture and Programming,
Oracle Database 10g Administrator Certified Associate; Oracle Database 10g SQL Certified Professional
Oracle Spatial, SQL Server, PostGIS, MySQL, ArcSDE, Manifold GIS, Radius Topology and Studio Specialist.
39 Cliff View Drive, Allens Rivulet, 7150, Tasmania, Australia.
Website: www.spatialdbadvisor.com
  Email: simon at spatialdbadvisor.com
  Voice: +613 9016 3910
Mobile: +61 418 396391
Skype: sggreener
Longitude: 147.20515 (147° 12' 18" E)
Latitude: -43.01530 (43° 00' 55" S)
NAC:W80CK 7SWP3