ArcGIS is the name of a group of Geographic Information System software product lines produced by ESRI. At the desktop GIS level, ArcGIS can include: ArcReader, which allows one to view and query maps created with the other Arc products; ArcView, which allows one to view spatial data, create maps, and perform basic spatial analysis; ArcEditor which includes all the functionality of ArcView, includes more advanced tools for manulipulation of shapefiles and geodatabases; or ArcInfo the most advanced version of ArcGIS, which include added capabilities for data manipulation, editing, and analysis. There are also server-based ArcGIS products, as well as ArcGIS products for PDAs. Extensions can be purchased separately to increase the functionality of ArcGIS. A geographic information system or geographical information system (GIS) is a system for creating and managing spatial data and associated attributes. ... ESRI was founded as Environmental Systems Research Institute in 1969 as a privately held consulting firm that specialized in land use analysis projects. ... ArcReader is the free, basic data viewer for maps and data published in the proprietary ESRI format. ... ArcView GIS showing data for the Chesapeake Bay. ... MAP can refer to: Austronesian languages (ISO 639 alpha-3, map) Maghreb Arab Press, the News agency Malawi Against Polio Manifold absolute pressure, an important sensor in automobiles maximum a posteriori estimator, an estimator in statistics Missouri Assessment Program Mobile Application Part, an SS7-based protocol used in GSM networks... ArcEditor is the midlevel editor for maps and spatial data published in the proprietary ESRI format. ... ArcInfo is a Geographic Information System program produced by ESRI. The name ArcInfo is used to refer to a level of licensing for ArcGIS. ArcInfo is the higest level of licensing in the ArcGIS product line and is the most complete GIS solution avaliable from ESRI. It includes and builds... palmOne Tungsten T5 Personal digital assistants (also called PDAs) are handheld devices that were originally designed as personal organizers, but became much more versatile over the years. ...

Product info and history

The ArcMap module of ArcGIS showing data for the Chesapeake Bay

As of November 2005 the current version of the ArcGIS software is 9.1. The next version, 9.2, is scheduled for release early in 2006. While there are alternative products available from other traditional vendors such as MapInfo and Intergraph, ESRI has a dominant share of the GIS software market with its software used by 77% of GIS professionals [1]. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (903x755, 224 KB) Summary Screen image captured by Ray Crew and re-sized in Aobe Photoshop 7. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (903x755, 224 KB) Summary Screen image captured by Ray Crew and re-sized in Aobe Photoshop 7. ... MapInfo Corporation is a business intelligence company, headquartered in Troy, New York. ... Intergraph was founded in 1969 as M&S Computing, Inc. ...

The release of the ArcGIS suite constituted a major change in ESRI's software offerings, aligning all their client and server products under one software architecture known as ArcGIS, developed using Microsoft Windows COM standards, and designed to store data in a new proprietary RDBMS-hosted format: the geodatabase. Microsoft Windows is a series of popular proprietary operating environments and operating systems created by Microsoft for use on personal computers and servers. ... COM can refer to: Component Object Model, popularized by Microsoft The COM file, a simple MS-DOS executable format The prefix for hardware communication ports in Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS operating system . ... A relational database management system (RDBMS) is a database management system (DBMS) that is based on the relational model as introduced by Edgar F. Codd. ... A geodatabase is database with extensions for storing, querying, and manipulating geodata. ...

The ArcGIS Desktop software was developed (with some success) to combine the ease-of-use of the ArcView 3.x product with the full functionality available in ESRI's then-flagship Arc/INFO 7.x (now ArcInfo) product. Arc/INFO is a Geographic Information System program produced by ESRI. The name ArcINFO is both used to refer to Arc/INFO Workstation and a level of licensing for ArcGIS. This article discusses Arc/INFO Workstation. ...

One major difference (of significant impact to the typical GIS user) is the programming (scripting) languages available to customize or extend the software to suit particular user needs. In the transition to ArcGIS, ESRI dropped support of application-specific scripting languages (Avenue and Arc Macro Language (AML)) in favor of Visual Basic for Applications scripting and open access to ArcGIS components using the Microsoft COM standards. At the ArcGIS 9 release a GIS processing ("geoprocessing") environment was implemented that allows execution of tools from any scripting language that supports COM standards. Although the most popular of these is Python, others have been used, especially perl and VBScript. These changes have rendered an extensive range of user-developed and third-party add-on software and scripts that worked with the older software systems incompatible with ArcGIS. Computer code (HTML with JavaScript) in a tool that uses syntax highlighting (colors) to help the developer see the purpose of each piece of code. ... Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is an implementation of Microsofts Visual Basic which is built into all Microsoft Office applications, some other Microsoft applications such as Visio and is at least partially implemented in some other applications such as AutoCAD and WordPerfect. ... COM can refer to: Component Object Model, popularized by Microsoft The COM file, a simple MS-DOS executable format The prefix for hardware communication ports in Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS operating system . ... COM can refer to: Component Object Model, popularized by Microsoft The COM file, a simple MS-DOS executable format The prefix for hardware communication ports in Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS operating system . ... Python is an interpreted programming language created by Guido van Rossum in 1990. ... Perl, also Practical Extraction and Report Language (a backronym, see below) is an interpreted procedural programming language designed by Larry Wall. ... VBScript (short form of Visual Basic Script Edition) is an Active Scripting language interpreted via Microsofts Windows Scripting Host. ...

Because of the changes in scripting capability, functionality, operating system choices (the ArcGIS Desktop software is basically Windows-only), and the significantly larger system resources required by the ArcGIS system, a substantial user base has opted to continue using the older products. ESRI has continued support these users. ArcView 3.x is still available for purchase, and ArcInfo Workstation is still included in a full ArcGIS ArcInfo license to provide some editing and file conversion functionality that has not been included to date in ArcGIS. ArcView GIS showing data for the Chesapeake Bay. ... Arc/INFO is a Geographic Information System program produced by ESRI. The name ArcINFO is both used to refer to Arc/INFO Workstation and a level of licensing for ArcGIS. This article discusses Arc/INFO Workstation. ...

• ArcReader is free. [2]
• ArcView costs $1500 USD. [3]
• One of the popular ArcGIS extensions, Spatial Analyst, costs $2500 USD [4]

The ArcCatalog module, center panel is the Toolbox, right panel is showing metadata.

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1079x852, 206 KB) Summary Screen shot of ArcCatalog. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1079x852, 206 KB) Summary Screen shot of ArcCatalog. ...

References

• ESRI (2004) What is ArcGIS? - White paper. [5] - (PDF download, 124 pages, 16 mb)

See also

• ArcView Covering the older and newer versions
• PurVIEW The Wikipedia entry for a commercial product to expand ArcGIS

ArcView GIS showing data for the Chesapeake Bay. ... PurVIEW is an integrated image display and viewing plug-in software package that incorporates stereoscopic viewing technology for ESRI ArcGIS 9. ...

External links

• ArcGIS official website - ESRI
• PurVIEW homepage
• ESRI ArcGIS 9 Extension KMLer ESRI ArcGIS 9 Extension to create intricate Google Earth KML files from ArcGIS content