What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Esri Products?

Question

I am contemplating entering the field of GIS and would like to understand the pros and cons of ESRI products, such as arcGIS.

ArcGIS primarily runs on the Windows operating system, which might limit its accessibility for those using other operating systems.

MicZatorsky_AEC · Answer

Read job advertisements.  See what software the market is asking for the most. Follow the money. Learn what pays.

In Australia, that means ArcEverything, FME and Python.

jcarlson · Answer

There's also the "going with the flow" factor. Depending on your region / industry, it may well be the case that most of your peers will already be using Esri products. Certainly the case in US local government. Using the same products means your work is almost certainly compatible with others.

The thing with Esri is they do so much. It's hard to really compare, because "competitors" may only compete on a few items, not the whole swathe of offerings. The web and mobile options with Esri are top-notch, and I enjoy using them most of the time. Desktop, though? I use QGIS almost every day, since I'm running Linux. I boot into Windows when I need to use the Parcel Fabric, which is something I am absolutely happy to pay for, but the rest of ArcGIS Pro? I don't really need it.

I would encourage you to narrow down what specifically you are looking to do in GIS, and see how Esri and alternatives meet that particular need. If you're doing serious analytical work, you may not need desktop GIS at all! Some of the best maps I see these days are produced entirely in R.

Gisbert61 · Answer

Esri GIS is not free or cheap (con) but as a student you have free non-commercial access to the software  (pro) (not sure if you are a student) and Esri has a wealth of tutorials (pro) and online courses (pro) you can follow to get into the miriad of topics GIS can cover. Their learning materials are really high quality (pro).

Furthermore I cherish the professional support they offer (pro) , I have never been let down by their support desk, which, as a single GIS person in my company, I sometimes need.

And not in the least: there is a wide range of apps (fieldmaps, survey123, quickcapture, dashboard, storymaps and so on) accompanying the 'basic' GIS software, thus making communicating with your fieldworkers and customers (eg: non-technical people) easy.

I am very happy I work with Esri GIS and if I were to start over I would choose Esri without a doubt.

Bert