We read much from the providers of mapping and GIS products. But have you ever wondered the difference? I have both wondered and, through this blog, been asked that exact question. I thought it was time to put this question to bed and to ask each of the main map/GIS providers a set of questions in an effort to better understand the similarities and differences.

GIS/Map Providers Wondering the Difference?

I approached the following 8 companies:

• Esri
• Pitney Bowes
• Boundless
• GIS Cloud
• Carto
• Mapbox
• Mango
• Hexagon Geospatial (no response received)

and asked the following 6 questions:

• Can you summarize your core offering?
• What differentiates you from your competition?
• Does your offering extend or compliment other GIS or mapping solution? If yes, please elaborate?
• Could you summarize your pricing model?
• There is a growing demand for maps and GIS to integrate with popular business platforms (BI, CRM, EAM) and data. Does your offering play well with other non-GIS/mapping systems?
• Do you have a partner program? Why might your clients turn to your partners for help?

We will roll the answers to the questions out in individual blog posts over the next 2 weeks. It should prove to be a very interesting blog post series.

Read the first article in the series:

Author: Matt Sheehan

Matt Sheehan is a Principal at WebMapSolutions. Matt evangelizes GIS and location intelligence around the world through keynotes, articles, tweets and his books. Follow him on Twitter: