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Import data to GIS

ArcGIS

What is ArcGIS?

ArcGIS is a widely used GIS in education and the public and private sectors. A licence is required. Your institution may have a site licence agreement via Chest, which negotiates software licences for higher education in the UK.

  • You will not be able to access ArcGIS without a licence.

Unsure if your institution has a licence? You could:

  • Check with your IT Software team.
  • Contact your local Digimap support staff (check the MyCollections area of MyDigimap to find your local support contact).
  • Email Chest software licensingto find our your local contact.

What version should I use?

ArcGIS is available as a desktop product or an online service.

  • ArcGIS Desktop. A suite of several tools for managing, visualising and analysing geospatial data (ArcMap is the tool where you import and view data). The current version is 10.8.1. ESRI do not plan to release a next version as their development efforts are concentrated on ArcGIS Pro.

  • ArcGIS Pro. A newer desktop product, ArcGIS Pro is designed to have very similar functions to ArcGIS desktop but work in a more contextual way. It has a ribbon (similar to Microsoft products) so that tools are available when you need them, rather than in toolbars.

  • ArcGIS Online. ArcGIS Online provides a library of basemaps and data to get you started in creating visualisations of your project area or data. The desktop versions of ArcGIS have more capbility to carry out analysis and customise the display of your map.

Learning ArcGIS

ArcGIS have a huge quantity of high quality resources to help you learn how to use their software. Some useful learning for beginners can be found at the links below: