Introduction to the ArcGIS Marketplace - Apps, Content, Opportunity for Geotech Startups!

The ArcGIS Marketplace, an E-Commerce Solution for Geo Data and Apps and an opportunity awaiting GeoTech startups and developers! GEO Jobe, along with the Esri ConnectEd group, recently hosted an online webinar to introduce GIS users and ArcGIS Online administrators in k-12 and higher education institutions to our Admin Tools solution set.

During the webinar we offered up a couple of short user survey polls in order o get to know our audience a little better. One question asked attendees how familiar they were with the ArcGIS Marketplace. Of interest, a number of the attendees had never used the Marketplace and some were not familiar with it at all. As a result, we’ve decided to share a closer look at the ArcGIS Marketplace, tell you what it’s about and how developers and startups can benefit from this opportunity.

The ArcGIS Marketplace (https://marketplace.arcgis.com/) is essentially a one-stop online market where users of ArcGIS Online can extend their capabilities by adding apps, tools, and features to their business. For registered, named, ArcGIS Online account holders there’s a growing list of applications available, many for free, most offering trials, and all of them offering some great functionality. Apps are conveniently categorized by industry (for example, Education, Transportation, Government) and are also listed by popularity and price. Applications from Esri that expand your capabilities, such as AppStudio, Collector, and Drone2Map, are also available via the marketplace. Additionally, premium and commercial Data can also be found in the marketplace, examples include commercial imagery from the Hexagon Imagery program and weather data via commercial data provider Accuweather. Of note, the initial release of ArcGIS Marketplace was primarily focused on apps and data it also included a limited number of early adopter data providers (see http://doc.arcgis.com/en/marketplace/provider/data-services.htm). GEO Jobe is pleased to be included in this list of early adopters and doubly pleased to share that we have deployed 3 of the Top apps in the Marketplace to date.

There’s many Free apps available in the Marketplace

This from David Hansen, GEO Jobe VP of Software Development (@DHansen601 on Twitter), regarding the Marketplace… “The ArcGIS Marketplace is an excellent resource to find useful extensions to the Esri ecosystem, whether your needs are data collection, routing, or content management to name a few. GEO Jobe focuses on the ArcGIS Marketplace as an outlet for creating tools that extend the core functionality of the ArcGIS Online platform, but there are many useful solutions from Esri and other Esri business partner that can be found with a little exploration.”

Popular Apps in the Marketplace

Using the Marketplace is simple and fast:

Jump to the marketplace at https://marketplace.arcgis.com/
Start your search via keyword (if you know the provider simply search by company name)
for regular users, browse recent additions via the “New” tab to see recent additions to the marketplace
Tip: to test the Marketplace for the first time browse the Free or Popular category and access your first app!

Note, in order to purchase and/or provision applications from the Marketplace, you’ll be required to have a named user account along with the appropriate privileges from with your organization’s IT department or by the administrator of your ArcGIS Online account.

The Opportunity for Developers & Startups is Real

For developers, GIS solution providers (consultants) and new startups, the MarketPlace is a perfect outlet to jump-start or launch your business or new application. Esri business partners are encouraged to build apps on the platform and use the Marketplace as a vehicle to reach users and customers. Benefits are huge and include such perks as support and training, community participation and marketing perks, access to software, and connections or leads to valuable Esri partners. To become a solution provider Esri has a page just for you and describes how to become an ArcGIS Marketplace provider.

Benefits of the ArcGIS Marketplace:

Access to the global ArcGIS user community
Keep all of the sales revenue from your listings (small fee for e-commerce service)
Provide trials and get qualified leads
Leverage the e-commerce integration
Differentiate your products and content
Manage subscriptions and renewals
Take advantage of built-in marketing to the ArcGIS user community
3 years of participation and perks!

For GEO Jobe, the Marketplace has been an excellent route to customers. As an early developer/adopter, we’ve been fortunate to have access to fine resources within Esri to help us build on and use the market. From a marketing perspective, the Marketplace has brought visibility and additional promotion to applications that we’ve launched and also enable us to leverage an e-commerce solution to support sales. By going with a “fremium” model we have nurtured our Admin Tools, and Mapfolio apps and grown them to Top apps, both as a free and Pro app so, yes indeed, you can make sales via the MarketPlace. Value-added benefits from participation as a Marketplace provider have been the relationships and partnerships we’ve built along the way, having teamed up with several other business partners to support their development efforts or providing a piece of the puzzle that they are missing.

Resources

For businesses interested in ramping up and launching as a “startup” consider the Esri Startup Program. The free, three year program provides online services, software, support, and training to kick-start product development. Companies founded less than three years ago that build software or platform-as-a-service products and currently generate less than $1 million annually may be eligible to participate in the Esri Startup Program. Since the launch of the startup program, a number of the companies have launched their apps in the Marketplace resulting in many new additions to the portfolio. For more information about the Esri Startup Program see www.esri.com/startups and on Twitter @esristartups. Developers can apply for the program HERE

Some of the noteworthy apps from the awesome startup program companies include:

Echosec, a social location search appliance for security and GeoIntel
What3words, cutting-edge location reference system
Maptiks, ArcGIS online analytics
Mapillary – integration of street-level photos with ArcGIS Online
HERE reality lense – See real-world data: access hi-res 360˚ street level imagery
Mapfolio – free tool that enables simple customization of your ArcGIS Online landing page

Marketplace data providers you may be familiar with include DigitalGlobe, RapidEye, AccuWeather, and Esri, while Marketplace app providers include Latitude Geographics, Azteca Systems, con terra, and more.

Developers wanting to deploy Mobile Apps and make them available to the ArcGIS user community, see this resource about developing with AppStudio for ArcGIS

GEO Jobe is a long standing Esri Silver Business Partner, and award winner, and proudly, we have created and authored several of the Top (popular) apps in the Marketplace. These include our Admin Tools (free, Pro, and Portal), Mapfolio, and ArcGIS Land Use Editor. We’ve also worked with several Esri small business startup companies to assist them in building, deploying, and maintaining their apps within the ArcGIS Marketplace. We’re glad to work with your company if you need an experienced partner in your corner to assist you getting your ArcGIS Online app or service to market!

Admin Tools, a Top app in the Marketplace from GEO Jobe