ESRI is pleased to announce the release of ArcPad 6 and ArcPad Application Builder 6. The latest release of ESRI’s mobile mapping and GIS technology addresses a number of key issues including a new development product, extended global positioning system (GPS) receiver support, enhancements to key functions, internationalisation and localisation, and continued growth as the mobile client in the ArcGIS family of products.
Customization with the ArcPad Application Builder
At ArcPad 6, users are able to personalize and customize ArcPad using the ArcPad Application Builder. The ArcPad Application Builder enables users to create new toolbars that contain built-in and custom tools, design custom forms to streamline data collection in the field, build applets that focus on unique goals, write scripts that interact with ArcPad internal objects, and develop extensions to support new file formats and positioning services. The ability to customize ArcPad 6 enables users to target their applications to meet their specific data collection needs out in the field.
Extended GPS Receiver Support
GPS support for basic navigation and data capture at ArcPad 6 are extended worldwide to all receivers that support any of the following GPS protocols: National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA), Trimble Standard Interface Protocol (TSIP), and the DeLorme Earthmate binary protocol. In addition, ArcPad 6 includes new options for setting GPS quality controls such as position dilution of precision (PDOP) and estimated position error (EPE) and allows for position averaging for points and vertices.
Additional Enhancements to Key Areas
ArcPad 6 provides additional enhancements to the key areas of editing, query, navigation, and map display. At ArcPad 6, the editing capabilities are extended with tools to add, delete, and move vertices for lines and polygons; tools to append vertices to existing line features; and support for point mode digitizing with a pen or GPS input. The Find tool includes additional search operators for string and numeric fields, enabling users to focus their queries. The addition of spatial bookmarks and tools to pan and zoom to a specified coordinate improves map navigation capabilities. Map display and symbolization include support for graduated symbols and colors, labeling of lines and polygons, and raster symbols.
Internationalization and Localization
ArcPad 6 is fully internationalized for all of the code sets and languages supported by the Windows CE operating system. These include Western and Eastern European languages as well as multibyte languages such as Japanese and Chinese. Localized versions of ArcPad will also be made available for a number of languages and countries.
Mobile Client for ArcGIS
Another important enhancement to ArcPad 6 is the creation of ArcPad tools for ArcGIS Desktop. This allows users to extract, convert, and project their data using the ArcGIS Desktop products (ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo).
An evaluation copy of ArcPad 6 is available for download at https://www.esri.com/downloadarcpad
