Athens Conservancy GIS Center
GIS Program Resources

ESRI ArcExplorer Program

This is a free GIS reader that can be used in two ways. It can access data on the ESRI website to view maps of areas and to zoom in and out, and it also can use local shapefiles, which are what are provided through this website. This reader allows the user to see the layers, but not to change them or to make maps from them.

ESRI ArcGIS Earth

This is a free map access tool, somewhat after the nature of Google Earth, that can access a complex of maps and imagery worldwide. This largely supplants ArcReader.

ESRI ArcReader Program

This is a free GIS reader that can be used also in two ways. It can access compiled maps from a variety of sources, using a special graphical interface to search for maps. It can also view local (on your own computer) generated map files in .pmf format. It cannot directly view shapefiles. This is being largely superseded by ArcGIS Earth.

ESRI ArcGIS 10.x Program

This is a proprietary GIS program. It is available in three levels: ArcInfo, the most powerful, then ArcEditor, intermediate, then ArcView, the most basic. Each "nests" inside the next higher level. These programs costs money.

SolidWorks eDrawings Program

This is a free version of CAD software, for home use.

Forestry GIS (fgis) Program

FGIS is a free full-featured GIS program using .shp shapefiles. It was created for forestry management, with the intent of being a simpler, more easy-to-use interface than commercial products.