The differences between our mobile GIS and Esri’s mobile ArcGIS software

If you’re thinking about investing in a mobile GIS, you’ll be doing a fair bit of research to make sure you get the right one for you and your business.

We’re glad you’ve come across Mappt, but you may have stumbled across Esri’s Collector for ArcGIS too, which is also downloaded onto a mobile device.

If you want to understand the differences between our data collection software and Esri’s, check out this breakdown of Mappt vs Collector…

Or if you’d like a simple feature comparison table of the two apps, check our latest blog here.

IMAGERY

Collector

To use background imagery on Collector, it first needs to be optimised with the ArcGIS server and made available on ArcGIS online via an online map. Imagery is available offline, however it is limited or restricted to bandwidth. Background imagery (and other base data) can also be added to the device locally and accessed by Collector via adding a Tile Package that has been created separately in ArcGIS.

Mappt

Be it ECW or JPEG 2000 (JP2), adding imagery to Mappt is incredibly easy. You can do this in several ways including:

via memory card or USB

downloading it to the tablet via Dropbox, Google Drive, or your FTP site

You can also add imagery via WMS/WMTS/WFS – be it from a feed or a third party. i.e DigitalGlobe Basemap, NearMap, USGS, etc. There’s no need to sync it with another suite and you can also cache these feeds on the device if you’re going to be in an area with little or no internet connection.

If you have a Mappt Professional licence, there is no imagery limit, otherwise there is a 1 gigapixel limit for Standard licence users, but never any extra costs or consuming credits.

VENDOR AGNOSTIC

Collector

Collector uses Esri’s spatial infrastructure (server, online subscription account, user credit) to create data collection projects. It also needs an ArcMap seat license to create data in Esri format, a subscription to upload it to ArcGIS online and the internet to create a dataset for Collector to use. Data is not exportable or transferable to memory cards. Data exported is a map and working layers need to be selected for editing.

This is a fairly long process as maps need to be optimised for imagery, so if you’re new to all this, you may need help from an expert in ArcMap, ArcGIS server, ArcGIS online or geodatabases.

Mappt

Our mobile GIS can import and export data from QGIS, Esri Suite, Google, open source GIS programs, Global Mapper, CSV files, survey software, etc so it’s vendor agnostic’, meaning you can import and export data to your clients when they don’t have the full Esri suite.

PRICE

Collector

Collector is free to download when you have purchased ArcGIS desktop software, which can cost anywhere between $1,500 and $7,000+ per year. It also can have hidden charges when you want to consume online subscription credits that require ArcGIS licensed seat. Expertise is also required in multiple products to set up, and access to online functionality (editing/storing data in ArcGIS online) is required for some Collector editing functions requiring Geodatabase access.

Mappt

If you choose to upgrade from our free trial to Mappt Standard or Professional, you can either set up a monthly cancel-any-time plan from $19 (find out which licence is best for you here).

And we can’t forget about little Mappt Lite either, which is just USD $50 per year!

No credit structure, no credits to worry about it if you use it 24/7, no need to worry about how many ArcGIS licenses you have to run Collector, etc.