Placepoint

Esri

Esri is the US software company behind ArcGIS, the world's leading platform for geographic information systems (GIS). The name is short for Environmental Systems Research Institute. When a Norwegian kommune, government agency or adviser works with digital maps, reguleringsplaner (zoning plans) or location-based analysis, Esri software is usually what sits underneath.

Esri was set up in 1969 in Redlands, California by Jack and Laura Dangermond, and it is still a privately owned, founder-led company. It has grown into by far the largest player in the global GIS market, with a position similar to Adobe's in graphic production or Autodesk's in engineering design. Income comes from licences for the ArcGIS products, not from sales of data; users get the map data itself from national and commercial data sources.

Much of the infrastructure for modern GIS comes from Esri. The company defined the shapefile format in the 1990s, and it is still one of the most widely used file formats for vector data despite its age. Esri is also behind File Geodatabase, a storage format with high performance, but hard to read outside Esri's own tools, and it contributes actively to open standards such as GeoJSON. The split between Esri's closed formats and open alternatives is a recurring issue when data has to move between platforms, and one of the reasons why Norwegian public agencies publish data in open formats such as SOSI, GML and WMS and WFS services alongside the Esri formats.

In Norway, the Esri software is sold and supported by Geodata AS, Esri's official distributor and also the single supplier with the most datasets in Placepoint. Geodata compiles ready-made thematic map layers (demographics, climate risk, business statistics) built on underlying sources such as Statistisk sentralbyrå (SSB), Brønnøysundregistrene (BRREG) and Kartverket. Practically every Norwegian kommune runs ArcGIS for planning administration, so Esri's formats and services are a de facto standard in municipal and national map management.

For a property professional, Esri is rarely something you deal with directly. A full ArcGIS set-up needs GIS skills, licences and configuration, and it is aimed at organisations that build their own data services or run heavy spatial analysis. Sector-specific tools such as Placepoint cover property analysis without the user having to build their own GIS, but in practice they draw on many of the same underlying sources, including through Geodata's Esri-based services. The relationship to ArcGIS, open alternatives such as QGIS and the relevant file formats is described in more detail in the ArcGIS entry.

In Placepoint you meet Esri indirectly: several of the map layers for demographics, business, risk and energy are delivered as ready-compiled services from Geodata AS, Esri's Norwegian distributor, and are combined with data straight from Kartverket, matrikkelen and FKB.

From Placepoint's glossary: Esri

More information: Esri: About Esri, Geodata: the developer behind ArcGIS, Store norske leksikon: GIS

English: Esri (Environmental Systems Research Institute, the US company behind ArcGIS).

Common questions we come across

What is Esri?

Esri (Environmental Systems Research Institute) is the US company that develops ArcGIS, the world's leading GIS software. The company was founded in 1969 and is still privately owned and founder-led.

What is the difference between Esri and ArcGIS?

Esri is the company; ArcGIS is the product family the company makes. In the same way that Microsoft makes Office, Esri makes ArcGIS. When people say "we use Esri", they usually mean the ArcGIS platform.

How do I get hold of Esri software in Norway?

In Norway, the Esri software is sold and supported by Geodata AS, Esri's official distributor. Geodata also delivers ready-made data and analysis services built on the platform.

What is a shapefile?

A shapefile is a file format for vector data (points, lines, polygons) that Esri defined in the 1990s. It is still one of the most widely used formats for exchanging map data, even though newer open formats such as GeoPackage and GeoJSON are coming in.

Does Placepoint use Esri?

You do not deal with Esri directly in Placepoint, but several map layers are delivered as ready-compiled services from Geodata AS, Esri's Norwegian distributor, alongside data straight from Kartverket and matrikkelen.