In the September release of ArcGIS, the Esri Marketplace was launched. The Marketplace is described as a shop window for Esri business partners and distributors to list data and applications that can be used in the ArcGIS platform. Desktop, Web or Mobile applications are listed with some information and then the user is offered a chance to request access there and then. Some apps are free (mostly Esri ones), some are paid for and some have a free trial. It is interesting for me as a Product Manager as this is a new way of delivering product to customers so I wanted to check it out.
I thought that I would try out one of the apps and so started a free trial of GeoWise Instant Atlas, a desktop app for presenting health data and social care data. This was really easy as all I did was browse the item in the Marketplace and click ‘start free trial’. After I had done this I could see the app in my console and start the download.
The application is a really nice looking desktop app that allows me to publish a report as a web application within my ArcGIS Online organisation. To give this a go I searched for public data and found some containing ‘% of pupils with minimum GCSEs‘. Using this I was able to generate a really simple but great looking report that dynamically changed the view of the data on the screen.
So in 10 minutes I had gone to the Marketplace as a new user, found an app that I was able to trial and then use that app to produce something of value. I can then spend more time evaluating to understand it’s business benefit before I need to commit to buying it. I chose a desktop app but there are plenty on the Marketplace that are mobile or web. The web ones are pretty interesting as they could then be used anywhere on any device and would only need my ArcGIS Online credentials for me to start using them.
I will be thinking now about how I might be able to deliver the products that I manage to my customers through the ArcGIS Marketplace.