What is the difference between groundMapper and ArcGIS?

Tools like groundMapper and ArcGIS both provide access to maps and spatial information, but they aren’t direct equivalents.

Idox Geospatial's groundMapper is a browser-based GIS that makes it easier to access, interrogate and share geographic information. ArcGIS is a much broader family of specialist GIS products from ESRI, encompassing desktop GIS, web mapping, spatial analysis, data management, field applications and enterprise infrastructure. A better comparison and question might be: what do you need this software to do?

Where does groundMapper fit?

groundMapper is designed for organisations that want to bring their own information together with authoritative and commercial geospatial data and make it accessible through a web browser to all types of users. Especially when those users don’t always have specialist skills or desktop GIS software to view and interact with that information.

For utilities and infrastructure organisations, for example, this can be useful when engineers, planners, project managers or other colleagues need to:

• View assets or project information on a map

• Search for locations and features

• Interrogate mapped information

• Work with several relevant datasets in one place

• Share a consistent geographic view across a team

The emphasis is on making GIS information usable without requiring every person who needs it to become a GIS specialist.

How is ArcGIS different?

ESRI’s ArcGIS platform covers a wider range of specialist geospatial functions. Depending on the products deployed, organisations can use ArcGIS for advanced spatial analysis, data editing and management, automation, web mapping, mobile fieldwork, imagery, 3D GIS and enterprise-scale geospatial infrastructure.

That breadth makes ArcGIS appropriate where GIS professionals need sophisticated analytical and data-management capabilities. It may also offer the functionality, configuration and licensing decisions that are more appropriate for managing a project, where a team needs relatively straightforward access to maps and organisational data actually needs. 

Could groundMapper ever replace ArcGIS?

For an organisation already using ArcGIS or another enterprise GIS, groundMapper can address a different part of the requirement: giving a wider group of users straightforward browser access to selected spatial information.

A specialist GIS team might continue creating, maintaining and analysing complex geographic datasets in its established environment, while other teams use a simpler web GIS to access the information relevant to their work.

Equally, organisations with less complex requirements may find that a browser-based platform provides the GIS functionality they need without deploying a larger GIS environment.

Which should you choose?

Start with your people, rather than the software they’ll be using.

• If your GIS specialists need advanced analysis, editing, modelling and enterprise geospatial tools, the broader ArcGIS ecosystem offers advanced capabilities.

• If the priority is to make maps and location intelligence readily available to project teams and other non-specialist users through a browser, groundMapper may provide a better fit.

For utilities in particular, the two approaches don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Idox Geospatial can help assess existing GIS workflows, the datasets users need and the level of functionality required, then determine where groundMapper could simplify access to spatial information without unnecessarily duplicating specialist GIS capabilities.

Need help training staff in ArcGIS? Take a look at our ArcGIS training courses. 

How we can help

If you can't find exactly what you need, we can help you choose the right mapping data solution for your project via email, chat or over the phone.

For more information, reach out to our Customer Support team.

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