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ArcGIS vs Power BI: What are the differences?

Introduction

ArcGIS and Power BI are powerful tools for data visualization and analysis. While they both serve similar purposes, there are key differences between the two.

  1. Integration with GIS data: ArcGIS is specifically designed for Geographic Information System (GIS) data and provides advanced mapping and spatial analysis capabilities. It supports various data formats, such as shapefiles and geodatabases, allowing users to create and manipulate geographic data. Power BI, on the other hand, can integrate with ArcGIS Online to display maps, but it is not as specialized in GIS data as ArcGIS.

  2. Data sources: Power BI is particularly strong in its ability to connect to a wide range of data sources, including spreadsheets, databases, and cloud services. It can pull data from various platforms and perform data transformations before visualization. ArcGIS, on the other hand, focuses more on geospatial data and is capable of integrating with GIS-specific data sources, such as aerial imagery and satellite data.

  3. Analytical capabilities: ArcGIS offers a comprehensive suite of spatial analysis tools, including proximity analysis, network analysis, and spatial statistics. These tools allow for in-depth spatial analysis and modeling. Power BI, although it offers some basic analytical capabilities, is primarily focused on visualizing and exploring data rather than performing complex spatial analysis tasks.

  4. Customization and extensibility: Power BI provides a user-friendly interface for creating visually appealing dashboards and reports. It offers a wide range of customizable visualizations and allows users to create their own custom visuals using the Power BI visualization SDK. ArcGIS, while it also provides customization options, requires more technical expertise and programming skills to extend its functionality.

  5. Collaboration and sharing: Power BI integrates well with Microsoft's collaboration tools, such as SharePoint and Teams, making it easier for teams to collaborate on data visualization projects. It also allows for easy sharing of reports and dashboards both within the organization and externally. ArcGIS, on the other hand, provides its own collaboration platform, ArcGIS Online, which allows users to share and collaborate on maps and spatial data specifically.

  6. Cost: Power BI comes with different pricing plans, including a free version with limited features and paid plans with additional capabilities. It offers flexibility in terms of pricing based on the organization's needs and budget. ArcGIS, however, tends to be more costly, especially for larger organizations or those with more specialized spatial analysis requirements, as it offers a wider range of advanced spatial analysis capabilities.

In summary, ArcGIS excels in GIS-specific functionalities, such as spatial analysis and handling of geospatial data, while Power BI offers broader data integration capabilities, collaboration features, and a user-friendly interface for creating visually appealing dashboards and reports. The choice between the two largely depends on the specific requirements of the project and the organization's overall data analysis needs.

Decisions about ArcGIS and Power BI
Vojtech Kopal
Head of Data at Mews Systems · | 3 upvotes · 298.6K views

Power BI is really easy to start with. If you have just several Excel sheets or CSV files, or you build your first automated pipeline, it is actually quite intuitive to build your first reports.

And as we have kept growing, all the additional features and tools were just there within the Azure platform and/or Office 365.

Since we started building Mews, we have already passed several milestones in becoming start up, later also a scale up company and now getting ready to grow even further, and during all these phases Power BI was just the right tool for us.

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Pros of ArcGIS
Pros of Power BI
  • 7
    Reponsive
  • 4
    A lot of widgets
  • 4
    Data driven vizualisation
  • 2
    Easy tà learn
  • 2
    3D
  • 1
    Easy API
  • 17
    Cross-filtering
  • 2
    Powerful Calculation Engine
  • 2
    Access from anywhere
  • 2
    Intuitive and complete internal ETL
  • 2
    Database visualisation
  • 1
    Azure Based Service

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What is ArcGIS?

It is a geographic information system for working with maps and geographic information. It is used for creating and using maps, compiling geographic data, analyzing mapped information, sharing and much more.

What is Power BI?

It aims to provide interactive visualizations and business intelligence capabilities with an interface simple enough for end users to create their own reports and dashboards.

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What companies use ArcGIS?
What companies use Power BI?
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What are some alternatives to ArcGIS and Power BI?
Google Maps
Create rich applications and stunning visualisations of your data, leveraging the comprehensiveness, accuracy, and usability of Google Maps and a modern web platform that scales as you grow.
Tableau
Tableau can help anyone see and understand their data. Connect to almost any database, drag and drop to create visualizations, and share with a click.
Mapbox
We make it possible to pin travel spots on Pinterest, find restaurants on Foursquare, and visualize data on GitHub.
Leaflet
Leaflet is an open source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps. It is developed by Vladimir Agafonkin of MapBox with a team of dedicated contributors. Weighing just about 30 KB of gzipped JS code, it has all the features most developers ever need for online maps.
OpenLayers
An opensource javascript library to load, display and render maps from multiple sources on web pages.
See all alternatives