The ESRI Tracking Analyst is designed to be a powerful complement to the ArcGIS Desktop product line. It provides capabilities for the visualization and analysis of time-related data by defining "Temporal Events" that consist of the following information: Time - The date and time of the event; Position - The geographic location of the event; and Attributes - Object-specific characteristics and properties. The core technology delivered with ArcGIS Tracking Analyst will be deployable either as a stand-alone (Single Use License) application, or as the fully integrated, floating-seat (Concurrent Use License) as an extension to the ArcGIS environment.

The ESRI Tracking Analyst enhances the overall ArcGIS suite of products by adding the capability of handling the temporal dimension to support both monitoring and analytical types of applications. ArcGIS Tracking Analyst is a sophisticated visualization and analysis tool that can be utilized for simple or complex applications. It can be used by itself or can be combined with other ArcGIS extensions to create powerful applications for transportation, emergency response, military, and a host of other purposes.

The functionality offered in the ArcGIS Tracking Analyst will be a superset of the existing ArcView Tracking Analyst version 1.0 functionality - the ArcView GIS 3.x extension. The ArcGIS 8.2 Tracking Analyst will be backward compatible with ArcView GIS 3.x Tracking Analyst version 1.0 data sets.

Key Features

Temporal Data Visualization
Tracking Analyst extends ArcGIS to receive, display and analyze temporal data using objects and tools designed to handle both real-time and historic data.

• Display static, dynamic, and discreet real-time data.
• Display historic datasets containing valid data information.
• Data model supports point, line, and polygon features.
• Data model support linking temporal observations with spatial and attribute information.
• Each layer has its own temporal extent which sets the amount and period of data visible on the display.
• ArcMap functions like Identify and Attribute table honor the settings in the temporal extent.
• Layer labeling of the most current symbol.
• Export real-time data to Shapefile and GeoDatabase.
• Can create layout using temporal layers.
• Supports dates in from January 1, 4713 BC to December 31, 9999.
• Export map display to a multimedia file.
  

• The Tracking Message Server provides a COM based architecture for data reception plug-ins.
• ArcCatalog list available real-time feature services available on connect TMS.
• Each real-time feature class has it own data duration which affects how much data is stored and displayed in ArcMap.
  

• Each layer has its own temporal extent which sets the amount and period of data visible on the display.
• The temporal extent can be used to modify the base symbology by altering it based on future and/or past ranges within the extent. Point symbols can be modified by color, symbol, and size. Line and polygon symbols can be modified by color.
• Tracks line can be drawn to connect like points and polygons.

• Allows the user to view data in the future and past.
• Playback controls allow the user to rewind, stop, fast forward and play data in time.
• Loop function recycles the playback control to repeat the display of data.
• Users can set the playback extent based on one or several layers.
  

• Snap Action - Snaps all incoming events to a road network.
• trackinganalyst813ion Action - trackinganalyst813 all incoming data to a user specified trackinganalyst813ion.
• Highlight Action - Displays a highlight symbol behind the normal feature symbol.
• Suppress Action - Hides the feature on the display.
• Custom Action - Allow the user to build a VB macro within ArcMap that performs some form of operation based on selection criteria.
  

• Temporal Summary tool summarizes data from a temporal layer into a table. This table can then be brought into the ArcMap "graphs" tool for display.
• Temporal data clock is a new form of chart that allows the user to visualize their data in a clock form to search for patterns.
  

• The provided light weight client provides basic map display controls such as pan, zoom, and identify with real-time data display.
• The provided light weight client uses an ArcIMS images service as the background.
• Java toolkit so user can build their own clients.
• Tracking Internet service is available to ArcMap from ArcCatalog.
  

Software from ESRI