Esri (, a.k.a.
Environmental Systems Research Institute) is an international supplier of geographic
information system (GIS) software, web GIS and geodatabase management applications.
The company is headquartered in Redlands, California.
The company was founded as Environmental Systems Research Institute in 1969 as a land-use consulting
firm.
Esri products (particularly ArcGIS Desktop) have 40.7% of the global market share.
In 2014, Esri had approximately a 43 percent share of the GIS software market worldwide,
more than any other vendor.The company has 10 regional offices in the U.S. and a network
of 80+ international distributors, with about a million users in 200 countries.
The firm has 3,800 employees globally, and is privately held by its founders.
In 2006, revenues were about $660 million.
In a 2016 Investor's Business Daily article, Esri's annual revenues were indicated to be
$1.1 Billion, from 300,000 customers ($4000/customer/year).The company hosts an annual International User's
Conference, which was first held on the Redlands campus in 1981 with 16 attendees.
The User's Conference has been held in San Diego at the San Diego Convention Center since
1997.
An estimated 15,000 users from 131 countries attended in 2012.
== Ownership == Jack and Laura Dangermond founded Esri in
1969.
Jack Dangermond is the current president.
== Pronunciation of company name == According to the company, Esri is pronounced
as a word, 'ez-ree'.Some distributors outside of the USA such as Esri Canada market themselves
with the 'ess-ree' pronunciation followed by the country name.
== Products ==
Esri uses the name ArcGIS to refer to its suite of GIS software products, which operate
on desktop, server, and mobile platforms.
ArcGIS also includes developer products and web services.
In a general sense, the term GIS describes any information system that integrates, stores,
edits, analyzes, shares and displays geographic information for informing decision making.
The term GIS-Centric, however, has been specifically defined as the use of the Esri ArcGIS geodatabase
as the asset and feature data repository central to computerized maintenance management systems
(CMMS) as a part of enterprise asset management and analytical software systems.
GIS-centric certification criteria have been specifically defined by NAGCS, the National
Association of GIS-Centric Solutions.
=== Desktop GIS === As of February 2018, the company's desktop
GIS suite is ArcGIS for Desktop version 10.6.
ArcGIS for Desktop consists of several integrated applications, including ArcMap, ArcCatalog,
ArcToolbox, ArcScene, ArcGlobe, and ArcGIS Pro.
The suite's main components, ArcMap, ArcCatalog and ArcToolbox, allow users to author, analyze,
map, manage, share, and publish geographic information.
The product suite is available in three levels of licensing: Basic (formerly called ArcView),
Standard (formerly called ArcEditor) and Advanced (formerly called ArcInfo).
Basic (ArcView) provides a basic set of GIS capabilities suitable for many GIS applications.
Standard (ArcEditor), at added cost, allows more extensive data editing and manipulation,
including server geodatabase editing.
Advanced (ArcInfo), at the high end, provides full, advanced analysis and data management
capabilities, including geostatistical and topological analysis tools.
Additionally, ArcGIS is compatible with following OGC standards: WFS, WCS, GFS and various others.
ArcGIS Explorer, ArcReader, and ArcExplorer are basic freeware applications for viewing
GIS data.
ArcGIS for Desktop Extensions are available, including Spatial Analyst for raster analysis,
and 3D Analyst for terrain mapping and analysis.
Other more specialized extensions are available from Esri and third parties.
Esri's original product, ARC/INFO, was a command line GIS product available initially on minicomputers,
then on UNIX workstations.
In 1992, a GUI GIS, ArcView GIS, was introduced.
Over time, both products were offered in Windows versions, and ArcView also as a Macintosh
product.
The names ArcView and ArcInfo are now used to name different levels of licensing in ArcGIS
for Desktop, and less often refer to these original software products.
The Windows version of ArcGIS is now the only ArcGIS for Desktop platform that is undergoing
new development for future product releases.
=== Server GIS === Server GIS products provide GIS functionality
and data deployed from a central environment.
ArcGIS for Server is an Internet application service, used to extend the functionality
of ArcGIS for Desktop software to a browser based environment.
It is available on Solaris and Linux as well as Windows.
ArcSDE (Spatial Database Engine) is used as an Relational database management system connector
for other Esri software to store and retrieve GIS data within a commercially available database:
currently, it can be used with Oracle, PostgreSQL, DB2, Informix and Microsoft SQL Server databases.
It supports its native SDE binary data format, Oracle Spatial, and ST_geometry.
ArcIMS (Internet Mapping Server) provides browser-based access to GIS.
As of ArcGIS 10.1, ArcIMS has been depreciated in favour of ArcGIS for Server, but there
are still many instances of ArcIMS (10.0 and older) in production environments.
Other server-based products include Geoportal Extension, ArcGIS Image Server and Tracking
Server as well as several others.
=== Mobile GIS === Mobile GIS conflates GIS, GPS, location-based
services, hand-held computing, and the growing availability of geographic data.
ArcGIS technology can be deployed on a range of mobile systems from lightweight devices
to PDAs, laptops, and Tablet PCs.
The firm's products for this use are ArcPad, ArcGIS for Mobile, ArcGIS for Server (Server-oriented
APIs), ArcWeb Services (Web-oriented APIs), hosted geographic databases, ArcGIS mobile.ArcGIS
for mobile ADF is an application programming interface (API) for developing solutions on
various Windows Mobile and Windows-embedded platforms (pocket PC, smartphone, ultra-mobile
devices, etc.).
=== Developer GIS === Developer GIS products enable building custom
desktop or server GIS applications or embed GIS functionality in existing applications.
These focused solutions can then be deployed throughout an organization.
The firm's products for this are Esri Developer Network or EDN, ArcEngine (Desktop-oriented
APIs), ArcGIS for Server (Server-oriented APIs and a web development ADF which is part
of ArcGIS for Server), ArcWeb Services (Web-oriented APIs).
=== Online GIS (ArcGIS Online) === ArcGIS includes Internet capabilities in all
Esri software products.
The services, provided through ArcGIS Online at www.arcgis.com, include web APIs, hosted
map and geoprocessing services, and a user sharing program.
A variety of basemaps is a signature feature of ArcGIS Online.
The Esri Community Maps program compiles detailed user basemap information into a common cartographic
format called Topographic Basemap.
== Data formats ==
=== Vector ===
Shapefile – Esri's somewhat open, hybrid vector data format using SHP, SHX and DBF
files.
Enterprise Geodatabase – Esri's geodatabase format for use in an RDBMS.
File Geodatabase – Esri's file-based geodatabase format, stored as folders in a file system.
Personal Geodatabase – Esri's closed, integrated vector data storage strategy using Microsoft's
Access MDB format.
Coverage – Esri's closed, hybrid vector data storage strategy.
Legacy ArcGIS Workstation / ArcInfo format with reduced support in ArcGIS Desktop lineup.
=== Raster === Esri grid – binary and metadataless ASCII
raster formats.
Mosaic - data structure for managing and analyzing multidimensional raster and imagery data,
including netCDF, GRIB, and Hierarchical Data Format
== Esri Technical Certification ==
The Esri Technical Certification program was launched in January 2011.
The program provides an exam based certification for Esri software.
The core groups for the certification include Desktop, Developer, and Enterprise.
Each subcategory under these groups have two certification levels, Associate and Professional.
== Esri Conservation Program == In 1989, the Esri Conservation Program was
started to help change the way nonprofit organizations carried out missions of nature conservation
and social change.
This program provides GIS software, data, and training, as well as helping to coordinate
multiorganizational efforts (e.g.
The Society for Conservation GIS).
== Federal investigation == On June 28, 2006, an Esri official said that
the company had received a federal subpoena as part of the ongoing investigation into
the ties between Jerry Lewis and Copeland Lowery.
"We have no concerns," Esri spokesman Don Berry said.
"We retain a lobbyist and it is not an issue for us."
On September 5, 2006, the Associated Press reported that federal investigators were looking
into a donation of 41 acres (170,000 m2) of land to the city of Redlands by the owners
of Esri in 2001, land adjacent to the home of Lewis.
In late November 2010, the US Department of Justice notified Lewis's attorneys that the
case had been concluded and closed without charges.
== See also == Open Geospatial Consortium
ArcGIS