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ArcGIS Review - Powerful but Slow and Expensive
April 13, 2018

ArcGIS Review - Powerful but Slow and Expensive

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with ArcGIS

ArcGIS is used by my department in the earth sciences. It allows sophisticated visualization and statistical analysis of geospatial data. It is also used by some other departments (e.g. astronomy and archaeology) for ad-hoc needs.
  • ArcGIS can handle multiple data types natively and usually without error. This mixing allows for more in-depth analysis than with a less robust software suite.
  • ArcGIS has ready-to-use basemaps that save time when doing quick work.
  • ArcGIS often allows multiple solutions to a problem. This user flexibility makes for a more comfortable experience.
  • There are frequently errors when using some tools, and the descriptions on these errors are often vague and unhelpful. This makes troubleshooting very difficult.
  • ArcGIS is slow for many tasks, which makes for an annoying experience - particularly with large datasets.
  • ArcGIS is expensive. Licenses may be out of reach for some researchers or organizations.
  • When writing papers, ArcGIS is much quicker to use to create map figures than, say, drawing the figure in Adobe Illustrator.
  • When joining datasets, ArcGIS' spatial join abilities give a level of clarity not found in typical dataset joins (i.e. as might be done with a programming language).
  • ArcGIS' ability to interface with Python saves a ton of time for very large datasets involving repetitive work.
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 (especially if cost is an issue). However, I've stuck with Arc because I bought a license.

Grass GIS also has a lot of similar functionality and is free, but feels very dated compared to ArcGIS. This makes it harder to use for some tasks and undesirable for most.
ArcGIS is the industry standard for geospatial analysis because nothing else has such a large suite of features. This robustness is the software's greatest strength and is why it's used everywhere from academia to industry. One useful scenario is in performing network traces from thousands of different points - model builder or Python can automate this process.

However, ArcGIS' high cost and memory/slowness issues preclude it for being perfect for all scenarios. Some open source competitors offers 90% of the functionality without the headache.