Esri ArcGIS

ArcGIS is Esri's geographic information system and the reference implementation of the category, providing capabilities, applications, maps and data for creating, managing, analysing, mapping and sharing spatial data. Products run in the cloud, on mobile devices and on desktops, and are licensed through user types rather than by product, which is the commercial detail that most affects what a deployment costs.

User type licensing means the cost depends on what each person does rather than which software they open. Someone who only views maps, someone who edits data and someone who builds analytical models are licensed differently, and understanding that structure before requesting a quote is what prevents a nasty surprise on a large deployment. It is also more sensible than per-product licensing for organisations where most staff consume maps and a few produce them.

The core products divide clearly by deployment. ArcGIS Online is the complete software-as-a-service mapping platform. ArcGIS Pro is the desktop application and the vendor's flagship for serious GIS work. ArcGIS Enterprise is server software for organisations needing mapping and data management inside their own infrastructure, which remains a requirement in government and utilities where data cannot leave the perimeter.

Featured products extend well beyond mapping. ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World is a large curated collection of ready-to-use geospatial information, which matters because the hardest part of most spatial projects is obtaining reliable base data rather than analysing it. ArcGIS Solutions provides pre-built configurations for common industry problems, ArcGIS Reality is photogrammetry software for building accurate digital representations of physical places, ArcGIS Location Platform brings maps and location services into custom applications, and ArcGIS Indoors handles indoor mapping.

Indoor mapping deserves note as a distinct discipline: navigating a hospital, campus or airport is a different problem from navigating between buildings, and general mapping products do not address it. Pricing is not published as plan figures.