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ArcGIS is unparallel when it comes to mapping
ArcGIS is every water and environmental engineer must have
531 Esri ArcGIS Reviews
Overall Review Sentiment for Esri ArcGIS
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Because of ArcGIS's popularity, there are a lot of forums, blog posts, and YouTube tutorials out there if you are struggling with something. This makes the program easier to use in a sense. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The high cost of ArcGIS means that I am limited to using it on my University's computers, which is not ideal. I prefer to work in my own office or from home, so I am more likely to invest in learning the QGIS interface since I can access it on my own computer for free.
I find problem-solving using this program to be incredibly difficult. I typically have to rely on outside advice, as the online ESRI tutorials are often too complex or assume the user has a higher level of knowledge. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
ESRI is the program for geospatial analysis. But its main benefit is scalability. Its intuitive for new users to be operational, but can also handle complex analysis Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Not much to dislike about ESRI. Only fault is AGOL is too streamlined and doesn't offer much value in terms of analysis and mapping. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I like the feature that allows you to download datasets and manipulate them in various ways. You can make your geospatial data as complex or as simple as you would like. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I disliked the user interface which seemed very early 2000's-eque. It may be very difficult to navigate and watching tutorial videos will most likely be required. The learning curve may be inconvenient, however, it is to be expected with software that offers such a wide range of advanced features. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Visual capacity for maps is amazing and fascinating. We can create maps easily and easy to learn as well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Cant handle big data, gets too slow with that data. You have to work with python to diminish that downside. Also it s having problems competing with other data based startups in terms of mapping tools. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
ArcGIS suite has met our business needs for well over a decade and the capabilities that it provides, along with its evolutions are typically improvements. We are not usually early adopters of the releases, but are happy with what we have been able to accomplish with each releases improvements Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Currently we have had issues with upgrading to later releases, some due to external factors, but we have bee concerned with the slow development of the Water Utility Network and with it's initial rollout finally occurring requiring 10.6.1 which we may not be able to move to because of those external factors. Another issue, occasionally with development of the suite, some tools have sometimes gone away or changed in where they occur or how they operate with no clear forewarning. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Cartographic tools are exceptional. They provide you the ability to reach a fine level of detail when creating a map as well as controlling the presentation of data. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Lack of support for non-esri based data. There are open data standards that exist both in the United states and internationally, that make it easy to bring in and share data. Esri doesn't support these in many cases, which is exceeding frustrating. If you are going to work with esri for the long-term, the likelihood is that you will get locked into their ecosystem and it will be difficult to move your data out if you wished.
Another major issue is the lack of use of basic database functionality when handling data. Much of the processing that ArcGIS does is in their software layer sitting above the database. This layer replicates functionality that is inherently possible to do inside of the database, and many times, the database is actually more efficient at performing these tasks. By putting the functionality in the software layer, it makes it less efficient, and also creates inconsistencies with data that make it hard to move or share if necessary. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
It is the powerhouse of all things mapping. I love the way the entire ESRI suite let's me interact with data and produce maps to change the world. I love SDE databases and how easy they make it to share data across different agencies. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Some of the geoprocessing tools are inefficient and poorly designed. The error messages are not helpful. Please get rid of the 999999 error and figure out a way to tell users why certain geoprocessing operations fail. I have worked with Java, JavaScript (several frameworks), Rails, lots of python outside of ESRI, and ESRI's error messages are seriously lacking in quality. Please get rid of the 999999 error and provide an actual reason why it failed. It's just not acceptable. Also, half of the time when a geoprocessing tool that fails, arcmap quits. Please build better error handling into the arcgis pro tools. (I understand arcmap isn't going to be changing much...) Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
For basic maps it is fairly easy to create a map for a beginner to intermediate user. There are many powerful tools that can create many relationships out of your data. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Not always user friendly or easy to use. The process to publish maps to our portal is not consistent and is not intuitive. There seems to be too many steps to get one data set published to the portal. As the saying goes in our company, "there are 14 ways to do one job in Arc, one is easy the others are hard and finding the easy way is not easy to find!" Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
