The world of geospatial information systems is quite large. You could even say that it is a large software ecosystem, as vast as the world it monitors. GIS is an industry with industry leaders, just like any other. You will also find the arcview system in this category. Together they form a vast and complex platform to monitor all aspects of the planet’s surface. Anybody who wants to get into this complicated software ecology will likely want to give it a shot before purchasing. An arcview demo is a good way to get started. You might think of it as a combination of a trial download for ArcGIS Desktop, and an in-depth analysis on the various resources found in the arcview demonstration section of their website.

ArcGIS is a collection utility. ArcReader ArcView ArcEditor ArcInfo and ArcInfo are some of these utilities. A demo of Arcview is not necessary. We will only be looking at the ArcGIS Desktop’s entry level licensing. This is basically the next step on the path to Arcview 3.x. So what is arcview really good at? There are so many possibilities. Of course, it is crucial to have access to the correct data. You have two options. The flat view is simple, but it can be a little limited in its scope. The only advantage to this view would be the speed of access and processing. This database does not have any relational information, so it is easier to manage resource. One will likely want to use a relational data base system. ArcSDE is best for the purposes of an arcview demonstration. This will give you access to a full relational database system that allows editing and creation.

The next step is actually analyzing the data. This would be a selection of front end software if one was using a model-view metaphor. ArcMap, the program that one will use, allows for the creation geospatial data using the database backend. After saving the system, the file will be written to the local drive with the extension mxd. The data can also be presented in many other formats. It can be printed using any standard printer. If you want to preserve the data digitally, you can export it to a pdf. Be aware that the pdf file is a printed document. It is impossible to input the pdf file back into the system as useful data if the mxd files are lost.