It has been a big week for ES Designs. Yesterday, we got a plug on Scripting News for webScheduler. As a result, this site and the ES Designs' test server have been getting a steady stream of hits. While most people are just checking out the webScheduler page, some have dug a little deeper into the site. We have had people working through the webGIS demo, checking out the test servers stats, as well as running the webScheduler demo.

Through all of this, I have only received a couple of error messages from the demos. There are still bugs to catch and the webGIS application is due for a major overhaul (see discussion below). So we have our work cut out for us. Still, is it good to see that much interest in our efforts.

Earlier in the week, our collaborative effort with EIMS produced a proposal to a mining consulting firm. The proposal was well received and we are hopeful that it will spawn a long-term relationship.

We are starting a major push to update webGIS. The goals are to fully implement existing features, fill out the feature set, and improve data handling. We are also looking to port portions of the CGI code to NewtonScript (the built-in scripting language for the Newton and similar PDAs). One of the biggest drawbacks of a web-based application is that it requires an Internet connection, which is still not feasible in many field locations. Porting the CGIs to NewtonScript will allow us to emulate webserver interactions and run applications for collecting data without an active Internet connection. After an Internet connection can be established, the collected data can be uploaded to site databases.

Finally, we will change the name of webGIS. There is at least one other webGIS product on the Internet (for some reason webSuchandSuch, is very popular). As a result, we will split the current webGIS into two separate suites, one for collecting data and one for viewing/manipulating data. The first suite will be called Collector. We haven't decided on a name for the second suite yet (and are open to suggestions), though may call it Analyzer.

Development on Collaborator has slowed significantly. The need for it hasn't really materialized, so we are dropping it to a lower priority project. Once webGIS is transformed into Collector/Analyzer, we will increase efforts on Collaborator.

Finally, I have added a default page to the ES Designs test server. This is mostly for my piece of mind, so I know that people won't get too lost and wander aimlessly around the server. But it does have some information about the servers setup and you can use it to view the current stats for the server. There are also links to the web application demos. If you want to see it, there is a link on the Links Elsewhere page