Reading Assignment

Read

Pages Chapter 1 from Fundamentals of Software Architecture by Mark Richards. This will give you a high-level view of software architectures & their main components.

Think About

Think about the 8 core expectations of a software architect and consider the one you think is the most important for developing a GISystem and why. Also consider how you have used one or more of these core requirements in your own position.

Read

Architecting the ArcGIS Platform. Published by Esri.

Think About

This is a good summation of how Esri conceives their system architecture. It's aimed at helping software developers, so don't worry about programming details at this point. I don't expect you to pore over every detail, but I recommend you read the first couple pages and then use the clickable architecture graphic on Page 6 to explore a few of the concepts that you find personally interesting.

Think about the important components of the conceptul reference architecture. What do you see as the most important themes? Also consider your take on how you see architecture layouts like this one evolving in the years ahead. Is there anything missing from this framework that you think should be included in the future?