What do you like best about the product?

ArcGIS is extremely user friendly. Not only this, their online support as well as the online community is so massive there are few questions that have not been asked or answered at one point or another. I've also always enjoyed their community involvement and workshops which go along with Arc.

What do you dislike about the product?

The worst part about ArcGIS is that it is so "black-boxy". What I mean by that is any processes completed, ranging from geocoding to slope interpolations, do not have an exhaustive list of steps taken to reach the specific geo-coordinates, or percentages. It is also fairly expensive.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

ArcGIS extends well through-out the private and public sector. Being able to share maps with various clients is extremely important, and ArcGIS allows that.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

If you find it too expensive, give QGIS a shot

What do you like best about the product?

Some of the best features of ArcGIS (32bit flavor - not ArcGIS Pro) are in the cartography and vector editing categories. ArcGIS has good tools to produce quality maps. Some tools include the use of ESRI's "data driven pages", which allow users to tile maps on small pages for large areas with high detail (large scale).

Another nice feature in ArcGIS (only available at the Standard and Advanced license level) is vector editing with topology within a Geodatabase. The topology tools work well and have good tools built into them to allow the user to find topological errors and fix them. Vector topology is an essential tool for ensuring data integrity.

What do you dislike about the product?

The costs of this software are enormous for the initial purchase price and the subsequent yearly fees for the product. Not having recent quotes, but in the past pricing for Standard and Advanced licensing were $7,000 and $12,000 respectively for initial purchase. Then yearly fees are incurred to get "updates" to the software and tech support. With $1500 and $3000 yearly maintenance fees respectively for Standard and Advanced, the costs per year can rapidly escalate when multiple licenses are purchased. The annual fees are practically mandatory to stay current with the community and client needs.

Proprietary data format of the Geodatabase. The ESRI geodatabase can only be created and written to by ESRI software (Standard and Advanced licenses). This design creates vendor lock-in, such that organizations need ESRI software to access and edit geodatabases. This design enforces sales of the ArcMap software, as ESRI geodatabases demand ESRI software to be fully utilized. This also creates an environment where a few special operators with special software can access the data. This discourages the accessibility and sharing of GIS data information. Being that GIS data is information, and information should be shared, the proprietary data format is an obstacle to creating easily accessible information within an organization and with other organizations.

The performance of ArcMap (32bit) is poor relative to today's computing standards. 32 bit architecture is very outdated and when performing spatial operations, the delay in processing costs users time. Since ArcMap came out and was re-written from scratch in the early 2000s, there have been continual issues with bugs and performance. Fixes to the bugs are slow to be resolved. Sometimes the application hangs up (not responding) for seemingly basic tasks.

Lack of modern algorithms. Example would be the hydrologic routing tools that are from the early 1990s and have not been updated with current modeling features such as Multi-Flow Direction (MFD) modeling of where water flows, and how much accumulation.

Tech support is a paid service along with updates to the software through yearly annual fees. The first level tech support has often left a disappointing feeling, where either the topic was being read directly from the help menu, or the technician kept trying to solve the problem with educated guesses, rather than knowing what the solution is. A substantial amount of time has been lost with tech support at the tier 1 level. The tier 2 level of support is good. The technicians know the products more specifically, and are generally more helpful to resolve the issue.

Some spatial functions are only available in the top tier product (such as identity). This aspect was really frustrating as a user and for an organization. The difference between the Standard and Advanced licensing is about $5,000 (last checked). The interesting thing is that the Basic, Standard and Advanced licenses are all the same product, just with varying levels of provided tools. One such tool is the identity function. This is a commonly overlay function in any GIS, however, ArcMap only provides this simple overlay at the advanced level.

Lack of general interoperability. Over the years, open data standards such as Web Mapping Services (WMS) and Web Feature Services (WFS) have provided open formats to work with GIS data. WFS is designed to allow editing of features over a web protocol, but in order to implement this in ArcMap, $10,000 software needs purchased (ArcGIS for Server). There is currently no way to write to an open database GIS format from ESRI software, without purchasing additional software.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Client needs. This ranges from permitting applications and risk assessment. Hydrologic modeling for large tracts of land are done with open source software (GRASS GIS) and then brought into ArcMap for compatibility with the organization and client needs. The benefits of ArcMap (from a consulting standpoint) is that it provides a comfort level tho those who believe that GIS is synonymous with ESRI.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

Be careful. ESRI has managed to gain major market share and monopolized the GIS software. Over the years, other open data formats have nudged ESRI to move to more supported open data formats.

Evaluate your needs. Check to see what your organization needs GIS services for. Quantum GIS (QGIS) is a great open source desktop software that meets the geospatial communities needs, with hundreds if not thousands of user contributed add-ons and tools. Some cases may require the purchase of an ESRI license. Explore other options before falling into the vendor lock-in trap. Open source software in the geospatial world, is really advanced and amazing. Consult with a user of GIS in the FOSS world, to gain information about how different products can meet the needs of an ArcMap user.

Setting up a GIS Data Library as a PostGIS/PostgreSQL server was a challenge to integrate with ESRI. The good news is that SDE is a deprecated product and the libraries are now included with ArcMap. This allows ArcMap to access Database servers and PostGIS data formats as read-only. This is ideal for setting up large, state-wide layers of GIS data, with ArcMap able to connect and clip or select features from it, and place the data in the local Geodatabase for editing.

What do you like best about the product?

I like that I can use ArcGIS to communicate with fellow scientist all over the world about a specific area I am researching. We can share updated updated maps and data instantly. I like that Esri also makes softwares such as Collector and Survey123 to work hand-in-hand with ArcGIS.

What do you dislike about the product?

The software is very expensive. Especially for students who are in the scientific community. I wish there was an educational discount for students/faculty. I remember the course I took back in college had us download the free 60 day trial. However, that did not last the entire semester.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

We are utilizing the software to record wildlife presence and abundance. It's used to record how many species of milkweed at found in a specific plot to how many Monarch larvae were recorded on blooming plants. When we as a team are dealing with over a dozen plots, it helps us keep track of where we are going and which plot was which. That seems to easy to do until you are out in the middle of rolling grassland prairies and everything looks the same.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

If you are taking field research seriously, you must know this software. I have used it for every job I have had.

What do you like best about the product?

ArcGIS has had the longest run of GIS software. Due to this, it is the most well-documented GIS software available to industry and the consumer. As GIS software, it is adequate and serves the needs of most users.

What do you dislike about the product?

ArcGIS is expensive and does not interface well with external software. Compared to new (and free!) offerings such as Google Earth Engine, ArcGIS is heavy and difficult to fine tune. For example, ArcGIS' functionality is more like an Adobe Photoshop project than it is an easily-editable and lightweight programming script. As more functionality and processing power is needed for GIS applications, this is quickly becoming a liability.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

I am a professor in the natural sciences. I use GIS software to analyze remote sensing images and produce maps for professional publications.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

In the scientific community, GIS users are beginning to switch over to the Google Earth Engine because it is a superior product to ArcGIS, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

What do you like best about the product?

It's simplicity by providing a window pane on the left to turn on/off mapping features.

What do you dislike about the product?

It's image quality could be sharper unless using the ESRI online subscription.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

By mapping data over political boundaries, I find that these maps more readily engage the audience.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

Great, standard GIS program. Good public health students/workers to learn.

What do you like best about the product?

Visually identifies watersheds and calculates areas for custom project maps

What do you dislike about the product?

Big learning curve to get advanced proficiency.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Easily maps stormwater project areas.

What do you like best about the product?

Ubiquity among gis users but most gis users have never tried using anything else like Maptitude or Transcad gis.

What do you dislike about the product?

Bad software architecture; no design principles -- changes data-structure and interface frequently. Sloppy algorithms (mistakes due to lack of clear topology implementation)

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

I teach and do research and advice companies related to GIS. Arcgis slows down gis implementation.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

I do not recommend Arcgis for gis work. It will slow you down.

What do you like best about the product?

I like how GIS can integrate between survey and CAD work. I like how integrated cities-counties-states are in sharing information that serves for the betterment of all.

What do you dislike about the product?

GIS is a powerful program. It takes time to understand enough to become effective at utilizing its many tools.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Mapping and concept planning. I like the pretty pictures that can be produced to sell ideas-concepts.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

I would highly recommend training from a college-university to get up-to-date training.

What do you like best about the product?

Easy to use, great visuals and great customer service.

What do you dislike about the product?

Bit tricky to help students download, update etc.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

Teaching and learning. University.

What do you like best about the product?

ArcGIS is the premier mapping software to use for professional mapping. The package comes with ArcCatalog, which is great for organizing files. There are many ways to use the software, if you can learn how the functions work together. Everything is referenced on a coordinate system, which means everything you do is fundamentally related to the real world. The raster uses and analyses are high-level as well.

What do you dislike about the product?

The program can be error-prone, takes a lot of space, and randomly crash. It can be difficult to change coordinate systems if the data you're starting with has a non-specific coordinate system. There are a lot of uses, which is a double-edges sword: it is easy to learn enough to use in everyday basic applications, but it takes a lot of time and effort to really become an expert in using ArcGIS. While the analysis functions can be excellent, they can also be a let-down as they don't account for statistical anomalies.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

This helps us map site plans, sampling locations, geology and hydrogeology, and engineered solutions for our clients. The majority of our use is basic two-dimensional problems. The use of layers and geo-databases is extremely important. We could get more use, but without having an expert the use is somewhat limited.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

There are a lot of free mapping apps available, and they are good for small-time personal use and professionals who need limited use. However, for anyone who needs to map items regularly, I recommend ArcGIS.