GIS Programming relays the fact that the MapObjects Evaluation version is no longer available. I posted a while back about MO not being supported on Vista. In recent Twitter conversations I have learned that some folks are still running MOIMS apps.
The bottom line is that MapObjects rivals ArcView 3.x as the ESRI product with the most enthusastic fan base. Just mention MO to a GIS developer of a certain age (ahem) and the war stories will start to flow. So, in honor of this latest nail in the coffin, let ’em flow.
Do you still use/support MO? If so, what are you doing with it?
Do you plan to migrate to ArcGIS Engine or will you consider other libraries, like SharpMap?
What was coolest thing you ever did with MO?
For me, it was a modular application that we designed to integrate a bunch of free-standing analysis apps. Some were AV3 extensions, some were done in MapBasic MapX, some were completely proprietary code, some were already in MO. Our customer couldn’t easily build an integrated analysis product with all of those results. We designed a common GUI and a plug-in COM API so that all of those apps could be migrated into one place but managed according their own lifecycles. We got it working and also built in some collaboration features. We got a couple of releases out before ESRI released ArcGIS with a similar architecture and we decided to go there. It didn’t upset me too much, I considered it the sincerest form of flattery 😉 .
I used MOLT extensively to code the Health Atlas for the Dominican Republic. It was installed all over the country and was a hit – both because of the GIS capabilities and because of the rich content, which was developed together with a team of colleagues. It installed on everything from Win95 right through to XP-SP2. It was royalty free. It was a great product. R.I.P., MO and MOLT, you were ahead of your times
Thanks for ping back. MO is wonderful product from ESRI. I still use MO for one of our project. This is sort of DVD product. We made best use of it. I love MapObjects, from where I learnt my GIS fundae. I personally feel that ESRI should continue this product. One of main advantage of MO is that it it light weight component. We can bundle in one single DVD. Moreover for simple Mapping applications MO is good enough.
Anyway, MapObjects soul rest in peace!
Hey Bill
well I don’t use MO since 1999-2000. My last application was with MO IMS and basically is what I after performed with Arc IMS and now with MapServer.
Here at my office we switched from commercial to OS software, and we opted for a Python environment. So SharpMap will not be an option, at least for my actual job.