ArcGIS vs Power BI

Overview

Power BI

Stacks991

Followers946

Votes29

ArcGIS

Stacks144

Followers194

Votes20

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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

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Advice on Power BI, ArcGIS

Vojtech

Head of Data at Mews

Nov 24, 2019

Decided

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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Detailed Comparison

Power BI	ArcGIS
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.	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.
Get self-service analytics at enterprise scale; Use smart tools for strong results; Help protect your analytics data	-
Statistics
Stacks 991	Stacks 144
Followers 946	Followers 194
Votes 29	Votes 20
Pros & Cons
Pros 18 Cross-filtering 4 Database visualisation 2 Powerful Calculation Engine 2 Intuitive and complete internal ETL 2 Access from anywhere	Pros 7 Reponsive 4 Data driven vizualisation 4 A lot of widgets 2 Easy tà learn 2 3D
Integrations
Microsoft Excel	No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Power BI, ArcGIS?

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.

Metabase

It is an easy way to generate charts and dashboards, ask simple ad hoc queries without using SQL, and see detailed information about rows in your Database. You can set it up in under 5 minutes, and then give yourself and others a place to ask simple questions and understand the data your application is generating.

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.

OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap is built by a community of mappers that contribute and maintain data about roads, trails, cafés, railway stations, and much more, all over the world.

OpenLayers

An opensource javascript library to load, display and render maps from multiple sources on web pages.

Superset

Superset's main goal is to make it easy to slice, dice and visualize data. It empowers users to perform analytics at the speed of thought.

Cube

Cube: the universal semantic layer that makes it easy to connect BI silos, embed analytics, and power your data apps and AI with context.

Mode

Created by analysts, for analysts, Mode is a SQL-based analytics tool that connects directly to your database. Mode is designed to alleviate the bottlenecks in today's analytical workflow and drive collaboration around data projects.

Google Datastudio

It lets you create reports and data visualizations. Data Sources are reusable components that connect a report to your data, such as Google Analytics, Google Sheets, Google AdWords and so forth. You can unlock the power of your data with interactive dashboards and engaging reports that inspire smarter business decisions.

Related Comparisons

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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

ArcGIS vs Power BI

Overview

ArcGIS vs Power BI: What are the differences?