Following are descriptions of the features that were new in past versions of Express Server.
ExpressZip is a sample web application that you can use to view and export Express Server imagery. You can select multiple layers, select the area that you want to export, and configure output options.
The Express Server installer now preserves any existing configuration of Express Server 8, including the configuration of each image catalog. After you install another version of Express Server, open the Express Server Manager and click Upgrade on the Status page to migrate image catalogs from the previous version of Express Server to the new installation.
Express Server creates multiple threads to process image requests more quickly. The number of threads that you can run at one time depends on the number of cores in your machine's processor. You can set a maximum number of threads on the Settings page of the Express Server Manager.
The working directory is the location where Express Server stores information about image catalogs, including indexes, catalog overviews, the configuration archive, and catalog configuration files. Depending on the size and number of your image catalogs, the working directory may require several gigabytes of space. To alleviate space constraints, you may specify another directory to use for the working directory. For example, you may choose to store the working directory on an external drive.
Express Server now supports version 8 of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
For NITF and JPEG 2000 images that have more than one band, you can select the bands that you want Express Server to deliver and the order of the bands. You can select one band to display an image in grayscale, or three bands to display an image as a red, green, and blue image. Previously, you could only select bands for images in the MrSID Generation 4 format.
You can now configure Express Server without touching an XML file or using the command line, thanks to a graphical user interface called the Express Server Manager. After installation Windows users will find a link to it from your Start menu and Unix users can bookmark a URL.
Express Server 8 supports Geospatial PDF as an input format, offering you greater flexibility in your workflow and another way for you to meet the needs of your users.
Express Server can be downloaded as a 30-day trial version, so it's easier than ever to take for a road test. If you like what Express Server does for your image distribution workflow and decide to purchase it, we send you a license code that turns your trial installation into the full version, so you only have to download and install Express Server once.
This version of Express Server also includes a number of bug fixes and other improvements.
As of version 7 Express Server supports MrSID Generation 4 (MG4) as a source format. Like previous versions of the MrSID format, MG4 enables geospatial professionals to mosaic datasets together and manipulate data in many other ways. But MG4 offers the additional capability of losslessly compressing multispectral and hyperspectral geospatial data as well as alpha band support and improved mosaicking.
Version 7 of Express Server introduced support for multispectral images as source imagery. Administrators can choose which bands of a multispectral or hyperspectral image they wish to be returned for client requests and specify their order. For more information see Mapping Bands and Serving Different Band Combinations from the Same Images.
Express Server 7 and later can be run on 64-bit operating systems. Among other things, this enables you to allot more memory to caching, which improves Express Server performance. For more information, see Adjusting the Size of the Image Cache and Item Cache .
Version 7 of Express Server also included a number of bug fixes and other improvements, including the addition of the "in-image" exception format (application/vnd.ogc.se_inimage) for WMS requests and increased default image quality for JPEG images.
Express Server’s support for Oracle Spatial enables you to enlist Oracle databases running LizardTech Spatial Express as Express Server image catalogs. Express Server’s integration with Oracle Spatial 10gR2 means that you can store images hundreds of gigabytes in size in your enterprise database. Natively serve MrSID and JPEG 2000 imagery stored in a database and save up to 95 percent in storage space.
Support for geography markup language (GML) means Express Server delivers geospatial metadata added to your JPEG 2000 imagery to GIS and other applications.
Express Server includes built-in tools for synchronizing catalog information between multiple installations, so you can easily add another Express Server to your server farm for load balancing or as a hot spare.
Express Server’s sample web applications were updated for version 6 and are included with the installation, so you can view or show off your imagery using a number of viewing methods – including Javascript, Flash, and Ajax – right out of the box. Customizing the sample applications is an easy way to get started running Express Server. Just grab the source code and go!
Express Server supports Microsoft IIS on Windows 2003 without additional manual configuration.
Upon installation, Express Server offers users the option to use Apache and, if the Apache option is chosen, automatically configures the Apache server.
As of version 6.1, Express Server includes support for the JPIP protocol, which enables progressively streaming imagery from a server to a client in support of image use in bandwidth-constrained environments.
Version 6.1 also introduced interoperability with ESRI products, enabling you to add image layers from Express Server to ESRI ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Image Server for rapid viewing of MrSID, JPEG 2000 and NITF imagery.
As of version 6.1, images in MrSID, JPEG 2000 and NITF formats can be loaded from Express Server into Google Earth for high-performance viewing of raster imagery.
As of version 6.1, Express Server includes support for serving National Imagery Transmission Format (NITF) images. You can load NITF imagery into ESRI's ArcGIS products or Google Earth, and serve NITF imagery via ArcIMS, WMS clients or the Web.
As of version 6.1, Express Server works with Apache Web Server version 2.2.4.