I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read that people are getting these three products confused. ArcGIS Explorer is ESRI’s ArcGIS Server desktop client. ArcExplorer is ESRI’s GIS viewer (either MapObjects or Java based) and ArcWeb Explorer is ESRI’s flash based ArcWeb browser client. About the only things that they have in common are that they are free and they are made by ESRI. ESRI’s propensity to name things with the prefix “Arc” causes some of this confusion, but having two products with the prefix Arc and Explorer in their name could be worse.
ArcWeb seems to be included in ArcGIS as well as on its own. ArcGIS extensions usually have ArcGIS in front of their names (e.g. ArcGIS 3D Analyst or ArcGIS Publisher), but Maplex for ArcGIS and ArcScan for ArcGIS both append ArcGIS to the end. It is even worse on the server side as only ArcGIS Server adheres to the ArcGIS naming convention. ArcIMS and ArcSDE (both which predate ArcGIS) continue to hold on to their older names and ESRI Image Server doesn’t even have the word Arc in it.
ESRI Developer Network which is really ArcGIS Server and Engine Developer Network also doesn’t use Arc. One could go one, but I think everyone gets the picture. The bigger problem as I see it is that ESRI still isn’t getting any better at naming (taking ArcGIS Explorer and ArcWeb Explorer as the example). It is hard enough to explain the difference between ArcGIS Desktop, ArcView, ArcEditor and ArcInfo these days without new products making it worse. I guess eventually there will be two products, ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Server and the licenses will dictate how they are to be used. Still ESRI doesn’t seem to like to give up on these old names so I’m sure we’ll see ArcIMS and ArcSDE soldier for years to come.
12 responses so far ↓
1
GE Fan
// Jul 3, 2006 at 5:43 pm
“ArcGIS Explorer is ESRI’s ArcGIS Server desktop client”
Wait, I thought ArcGIS Explorer was ESRI’s answer to Google Earth or am I thinking of a different product?
2
James Fee
// Jul 3, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Without ArcGIS Server, ArcGIS Explorer is limited in value. AGX will augment GE rather than replace it (well beyond that wacky EULA that GE has).
3
Christopher
// Jul 3, 2006 at 5:53 pm
James, your choice of the word soldier in the last sentence is genius. I can’t imagine a better verb to describe how ESRI holds on to these names. I wish they took the name ArcView and tossed it aside.
4
Reid Watkins
// Jul 3, 2006 at 10:54 pm
You really come up with some great graphics to accompany your posts James. This is one of the best. Not only are you keeping the ESRI developers on their toes, but you’re giving the Graphics Department a run for their money too.
5
Paul
// Jul 7, 2006 at 11:20 am
Adding to your original list, there’s also “ArcExplorer Web”, the Geography Network’s browser client for viewing map services.
In any case, it would appear that ESRI still has a bit of room to name new products using these four basic word roots. A quick matrix
reveals:
GIS Explorer Web
ArcGIS AGG AGX AGW
ArcExplorer AXG AXX AXW
ArcWeb AWG AWX AWW
So what might we expect from
ArcGIS Web (AGW)?
ArcExplorer GIS (AXG)?
ArcWeb GIS (AWG)?
6
Paul
// Jul 7, 2006 at 11:30 am
Paul
pperinch@d.umn.edu
Adding to your original list, there’s also “ArcExplorer Web”, the Geography Network’s browser client for viewing map services.
In any case, it would appear that ESRI still has a bit of room to name new products using these four basic word roots. A quick matrix reveals:
GIS Explorer Web
—————————————–
ArcGIS AGG AGX AGW
ArcExplorer AXG AXX AXW
ArcWeb AWG AWX AWW
So what might we expect from
ArcGIS Web (AGW)?
ArcExplorer GIS (AXG)?
ArcWeb GIS (AWG)?
7
rick
// Aug 28, 2006 at 7:11 am
Is there anyway to use this as an online variant to ArcReader.. as I would like to open Arc files in an environment which doesn’t have arcreader installed or will let it install easily (citrix)
8
James Fee
// Aug 28, 2006 at 10:35 am
@rick
No it won’t read PMF files, but if you use ArcGIS Server and host your MXD on the web, ArcGIS Explorer can connect to it.
9 ArcConfusion // Feb 20, 2007 at 8:11 am
[...] said before this Arc”Whatever” stuff is more confusing than helpful. From an email I received yesterday: James, [...]
10
Christopher Garland
// Feb 20, 2007 at 11:21 am
So would you care to explain the differences? I have been interested in purchasing an ESRI product with which to view GIS data for my engineering practice, but I can’t figure out which one does what I want. ERSI’s web page doesn’t seem to explain this, they just list a bunch of “Arc” stuff…
11
Jon Satch
// Nov 23, 2007 at 2:45 am
Guys, so is ArcGIS Server the new ArcIMS and ArcSDE rolled into one? or is this totally separate. as the above post mentioned this isn’t too clear on the ESRI website.
cheers.
12
Tim Maddle
// Nov 25, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Jon,
This link has licensing information:
http://downloads.esri.com/support/whitepapers/other_/MigrationInfo92_121206.pdf
You might also want to search this blog for the work “license” and browse the results.
To answer your question as best I can, you need to distinguish between the concepts of ArcGIS Server the program and an ArcGIS Server License. Here’s my understanding:
ArcGIS Server Basic License gets you ArcSDE only.
ArcGIS Server Standard or Advanced License gets you ArcSDE and ArcGIS Server.
In addition, when dealing with ArcSDE you need to be aware of the Enterprise versus Workgroup License levels. The Enterprise Level allows you to store your data in a database other than MS SQL Server Express.
So, if you want ArcSDE (connected to a database other than SQL Server Express) for storage and you want ArcGIS Server (or ArcIMS 9.2) to get map serving capabilities, you would need at least a ArcGIS Server Standard Enterprise license.
Clear as mud. If I’m incorrect about any of this, or someone can explain it better, chime in.
Leave a Comment