Is There a Future ArcGIS Explorer Desktop Application?

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02-18-2015 01:47 PM
JoeFlannery
Occasional Contributor III

The last major, new build of ArcGIS Explorer Desktop (AGX) was February of 2013, two years ago.  AGX 2500/2505 has been limping along now for way too long and continue to fall farther and farther behind with each new release of ArcGIS for Desktop and updates of ArcGIS Online.  In its day, AGX was considered a wonderful desktop solution for end-users of GIS data and services.  Today, it barely functions.

At the 2014 Esri User Conference (seven months ago), a new product, Explorer for Windows Desktop or ArcGIS Viewer, whatever the name is today, was available for viewing (beta version) at an Esri Showcase island.  It looked very promising.

I think it is poor business for Esri to not be sharing with its multitude of users the plan for new AGX builds or a new AGX replacement application.  There are many loyal and ardent users of AGX who have been left hanging for well over a year for an updated AGX product. Frankly, I feel disrespected.

In the mean-time, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS for Desktop and Server, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Runtime SDKs, iOS and Android Apps, Community Maps, Open Data, etc., continue to be updated and upgraded, regularly and frequently.

Esri – do you really have nothing to tell us about the next version of AGX?  Is there no beta program for the next version of AGX?  Are you even working on a new version of AGX?  Should your users be looking for a Windows desktop alternative to AGX (Google Earth Pro just went to Free)?

Your army of struggling AGX users have been patiently waiting for any hint of news regarding the future of AGX.  Please tell us what’s going on.

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44 Replies
CharlesRobbins
New Contributor II

I would like to express my frustration with how long this "new" version has taken to put out.  I am not blaming anyone in particular (especially not you Mr Bockenhauer), but I would like to see "esri" apply more effort, resources, or whatever to get this version out!

But hey, I'm just a lowly GIS guy.

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JoeFlannery
Occasional Contributor III

ArcGIS Explorer Desktop, built 3400 has been released!

No change log or "What's New" as far as I can see.

ArcGIS Explorer | GIS Viewer | Free GIS Software & Maps

EllenBryson2
Occasional Contributor

What? No one has replied yet to Joe's post?

I downloaded it last night and tried to install it. But either I didn't get it installed correctly, or it's very very similar to 2505...I did see one minor change but am not sure how to use that function yet. It looked a wee bit like something that might handle historic imagery. swoon.

Mark Bockenhaurer, thanks for your support pushing AGX forward! Can you share with us what's new?

Ellen

NormanDeschamps
New Contributor III

Always surprising the lack of posting on this forum. For myself, I've been holding off commenting as I won't get a chance to play with the new build until the weekend. I'm also hoping that a change log comes out in the next couple days so that I have a better idea of what I'm looking for in terms of new functionality/bug fixes.

Norm

NicholasKasimis
New Contributor

Downloaded AGX build 3400 this morning. Cheers to the folks behind this release. Everything worked great for me off the bat. Needless to say previous build was not as smooth.

One question:

Has anyone seen the build 3400 Data Expansion Pack in order to connect ArcSDE ?

Any workarounds in the meantime ? I tried the build 2500 data expansion pack, but it detected a version conflict and exited.

AndreiIvanov
New Contributor III

Nicholas, you do no need Data Expansion pack for 3400. It is part of the release.

CharlesRobbins
New Contributor II

I was happy to finally see this version out too.  One bug I noted that was in previous versions also,  is the fact that my base maps are not showing up..

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LukeWebb
Occasional Contributor III

Our organisation requires a lightweight LOCAL (Non internet based) viewer for use where internet connectivity is not availble.

We have heavily invested into use of ArcGIS online / Server within our workflows already, what benefits does this new explorer have over using ArcGIS online itself?

What should we use when we are not able to fall back to our ArcGIS online maps? We currently use ArcGIS Explorer desktop using an exported file GDB for these uses... please can you recommend what we should use in the future?

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JoeFlannery
Occasional Contributor III

Luke:

The new ArcGIS Explorer 3400 really only fixes bugs and brings the application up to level with ArcGIS 10.3.x.

Have your tried the "Collector App" on a tablet in conjunction with your ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Server assets?  If you host your vector data as a feature service from your ArcGIS Server, users can use those data in a disconnected map.  They can even edit the data and sync the edits back to your server/database.

LukeWebb
Occasional Contributor III

Hi there, we do use that within our organisation, need to look at using it for more!  For now, we have switched to using ArcReader for a simple offline product and it seems to be a lot more reliable than ArcExplorer, so we are very happy!!

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