ArcGIS vs. Posit

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ArcGIS
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Esri in Redlands, California offers ArcGIS, a geographic information system.
$100
per year
Posit
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Posit, formerly RStudio, is a modular data science platform, combining open source and commercial products.N/A
Pricing
ArcGISPosit
Editions & Modules
Viewer
$100
per year
ArcGIS for Personal Use
$100
per year
ArcGIS for Student Use
$100
per year
Editor
$200
per year
Field Worker
$350
per year
Creator
$500
per year
GIS Professional Basic
$700
per year
GIS Professional Basic
2,750
per year
GIS Professional Advanced
3,800
per year
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ArcGISPosit
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ArcGISPosit
Considered Both Products
ArcGIS
Chose ArcGIS
ArcGIS is the only tool we have the geocodes addressed on premises without sending data over the internet. We could have explored that option with Spotfire but it was out of our price range. I also tried to do this manually using PostgreSQL which also has a free implementation …
Chose ArcGIS
Much better than any other similar product in the market.
Chose ArcGIS
ArcGIS is more robust than QGIS, but often slower and more memory intensive. QGIS is also free, while providing at least 90% of the functionality. Although it might be difficult to get used to the interface differences between the two programs, QGIS is a worthy competitor …
Posit
Chose Posit
I've used ArcGIS and ESRI for similar analysis and while both have their advantages, RStudio is much better suited for running advanced statistics and processing large volumes of data. It can also produce quality maps, however, for visually attractive maps and graphs, ArcGIS is …
Chose Posit
RStudio absolutely offers everything that SPSS does at zero cost. Yes, there is a bit of learning curve in terms of you needing to equip yourself with R language but that's a good thing as you learn and apply more complex statistical tools and techniques on your datasets. …
Chose Posit
RStudio is the only GUI which is web-client based. It is also by far the easiest to install out of the the 4 GUIs ive listed avaliable for R. Finally I would say the cleanest and most sleek GUI would be RStudio, which makes it easier for other people I work with to understand.
Features
ArcGISPosit
Platform Connectivity
Comparison of Platform Connectivity features of Product A and Product B
ArcGIS
-
Ratings
Posit
9.3
27 Ratings
11% above category average
Connect to Multiple Data Sources00 Ratings8.026 Ratings
Extend Existing Data Sources00 Ratings9.927 Ratings
Automatic Data Format Detection00 Ratings9.926 Ratings
Data Exploration
Comparison of Data Exploration features of Product A and Product B
ArcGIS
-
Ratings
Posit
9.0
27 Ratings
6% above category average
Visualization00 Ratings8.027 Ratings
Interactive Data Analysis00 Ratings10.024 Ratings
Data Preparation
Comparison of Data Preparation features of Product A and Product B
ArcGIS
-
Ratings
Posit
10.0
26 Ratings
20% above category average
Interactive Data Cleaning and Enrichment00 Ratings10.024 Ratings
Data Transformations00 Ratings10.026 Ratings
Platform Data Modeling
Comparison of Platform Data Modeling features of Product A and Product B
ArcGIS
-
Ratings
Posit
10.0
22 Ratings
17% above category average
Multiple Model Development Languages and Tools00 Ratings10.022 Ratings
Single platform for multiple model development00 Ratings10.022 Ratings
Self-Service Model Delivery00 Ratings10.019 Ratings
Model Deployment
Comparison of Model Deployment features of Product A and Product B
ArcGIS
-
Ratings
Posit
9.9
18 Ratings
15% above category average
Flexible Model Publishing Options00 Ratings10.018 Ratings
Security, Governance, and Cost Controls00 Ratings9.915 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ArcGISPosit
Small Businesses
Google Maps API
Google Maps API
Score 8.8 out of 10
Jupyter Notebook
Jupyter Notebook
Score 8.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Google Maps API
Google Maps API
Score 8.8 out of 10
Mathematica
Mathematica
Score 7.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Google Maps API
Google Maps API
Score 8.8 out of 10
Dataiku
Dataiku
Score 8.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ArcGISPosit
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(40 ratings)
10.0
(123 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.7
(17 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(3 ratings)
8.0
(4 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(12 ratings)
8.9
(9 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.3
(4 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
ArcGISPosit
Likelihood to Recommend
Esri
I'm very grateful to be able to use it, and I have a master's degree with a focus in Geospatial Analysis. There can be a bit of a learning curve, and I try to build user-friendly ways for volunteers to see & collect data. Meanwhile, if a colleague is less confident with building such a system, it may be more difficult for them to implement.
Read full review
Posit (formerly RStudio)
In my humble opinion, if you are working on something related to Statistics, RStudio is your go-to tool. But if you are looking for something in Machine Learning, look out for Python. The beauty is that there are packages now by which you can write Python/SQL in R. Cross-platform functionality like such makes RStudio way ahead of its competition. A couple of chinks in RStudio armor are very small and can be considered as nagging just for the sake of argument. Other than completely based on programming language, I couldn't find significant drawbacks to using RStudio. It is one of the best free software available in the market at present.
Read full review
Pros
Esri
  • Enterprise GIS - multi-user, multi-versioned geodatabase access through a host of apps and web tools really help people stay connected to data.
  • Cartography - fantastic control and customization available with the ability to automate workflows.
  • Training - tons of training videos, seminars, and other learning materials are easily accessed. The help documentation is superb.
  • Ability to manage an organization through dashboards is extremely helpful.
Read full review
Posit (formerly RStudio)
  • The support is incredibly professional and helpful, and they often go out of their way to help me when something doesn't work.
  • The one-click publishing from RStudio Connect is absolutely amazing, and I really like the way that it deploys your exact package versions, because otherwise, you can get in a terrible mess.
  • Python doesn't feel quite as native as R at the moment but I have definitely deployed stuff in R and Python that works beautifully which is really nice indeed.
Read full review
Cons
Esri
  • There is a steep learning curve for ArcGIS users.
  • It takes a lot of computing power for ArcGIS, as it can't be installed on every computer.
  • At times, tools can be outdated and there are many similar competitors making more web-based tools that can replace ArcGIS.
Read full review
Posit (formerly RStudio)
  • Python integration is newer and still can be rough, especially with when using virtual environments.
  • RStudio Connect pricing feels very department focused, not quite an enterprise perspective.
  • Some of the RStudio packages don't follow conventional development guidelines (API breaking changes with minor version numbers) which can make supporting larger projects over longer timeframes difficult.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Esri
Simply because the program deserves it. It seems to me that it is a fundamental tool for the storage, analysis, and interpretation of medium and large-scale phenomena, unmanageable with traditional engineering software. Its versatility in the handling of the different "layers" with which the data is handled and interpolation tools, make this software a powerful ally both for companies and for the educational part of the universities.
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Posit (formerly RStudio)
There is no viable alternative right now. The toolset is good and the functionality is increasing with every release. It is backed by regular releases and ongoing development by the RStudio team. There is good engagement with RStudio directly when support is required. Also there's a strong and growing community of developers who provide additional support and sample code.
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Usability
Esri
Once set up, the tools are extremely easy to use. I had a staff member develop a tool for field data collection, that included an external and internal dashboards to monitor progress in days. The field workers that collected the data, barely knew how to use a computer, and within minutes they could use the application that was configured for them.
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Posit (formerly RStudio)
For someone who learns how to use the software and picks up on the "language" of R, it's very easy to use. For beginners, it can be hard and might require a course, as well as the appropriate statistical training to understand what packages to use and when
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Esri
No answers on this topic
Posit (formerly RStudio)
RStudio is very available and cheap to use. It needs to be updated every once in a while, but the updates tend to be quick and they do not hinder my ability to make progress. I have not experienced any RStudio outages, and I have used the application quite a bit for a variety of statistical analyses
Read full review
Support Rating
Esri
Unlike other platforms (ex: EMSI), there is no "help desk" new users can easily call into for troubleshooting or errors, and so you have to spend LOTS of time trying workarounds. This is also because the help center blog posts are usually pretty confusing, and many times do not include images or videos to help you along. Any such changes would be immensely useful!
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Posit (formerly RStudio)
Since R is trendy among statisticians, you can find lots of help from the data science/ stats communities. If you need help with anything related to RStudio or R, google it or search on StackOverflow, you might easily find the solution that you are looking for.
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Implementation Rating
Esri
No answers on this topic
Posit (formerly RStudio)
We did it at the individual level: anyone willing to code in R can use it. No real deployment involved.
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Alternatives Considered
Esri
My students love the "drop" feature in Google Maps, but besides that it truly doesn't compare. I love that you can add, delete, or change layers to this map to better understand its larger affect. There are many more ways to manipulate maps on ArcGIS than on Google Maps. I can also add personal details and information if I want to create a specific map, something that I am unable to do with Google
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Posit (formerly RStudio)
RStudio was provided as the most customizable. It was also strictly the most feature-rich as far as enabling our organization to script, run, and make use of R open-source packages in our data analysis workstreams. It also provided some support for python, which was useful when we had R heavy code with some python threaded in. Overall we picked Rstudio for the features it provided for our data analysis needs and the ability to interface with our existing resources.
Read full review
Scalability
Esri
No answers on this topic
Posit (formerly RStudio)
RStudio is very scalable as a product. The issue I have is that it doesn't necessarily fit in nicely with the mainly Microsoft environment that everybody else is using. Having RStudio for us means dedicated servers and recruiting staff who know how to manage the environment. This isn't a fault of the product at all, it's just part of the data science landscape that we all have to put up with. Having said that RStudio is absolutely great for running on low spec servers and there are loads of options to handle concurrency, memory use, etc.
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Return on Investment
Esri
  • ArcGIS saves us countless hours of manual paperwork by allowing us to conduct inspections in the field.
  • Due to the high upfront costs, the ROI will definitely take longer than other competing products
  • The PDF export feature allows us to share our maps with the public while maintaining control of the data associated with the map.
Read full review
Posit (formerly RStudio)
  • Using it for data science in a very big and old company, the most positive impact, from my point of view, has been the ability of spreading data culture across the group. Shortening the path from data to value.
  • Still it's hard to quantify economic benefits, we are struggling and it's a great point of attention, since splitting out the contribution of the single aspects of a project (and getting the RStudio pie) is complicated.
  • What is sure is that, in the long run, RStudio is boosting productivity and making the process in which is embedded more efficient (cost reduction).
Read full review
ScreenShots

Posit Screenshots

Screenshot of Posit runs on most desktops or on a server and accessed over the webScreenshot of Posit supports authoring HTML, PDF, Word Documents, and slide showsScreenshot of Posit supports interactive graphics with Shiny and ggvisScreenshot of Shiny combines the computational power of R with the interactivity of the modern webScreenshot of Remote Interactive Sessions: Start R and Python processes from Posit Workbench within various systems such as Kubernetes and SLURM with Launcher.Screenshot of Jupyter: Author and edit Python code with Jupyter using the same Posit Workbench infrastructure.