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> I've always wondered why there isn't a solid tech company that could build a product that could take over Arc's business.

A "friendly relationship" of customers with salespeople, perhaps. And familiarity with software that's used in GIS courses at universities.

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Esri has been around for a long time, it’s basically MS Excel for anybody who has to make maps for work.

Their pro software and online services have kept up with the times, you can do almost anything in the program as well. And there’s multiple ways to do each thing. It also has its own internal logic that people get used to like photoshop.

I believe it’s a private company too which means they aren’t always pleasing shareholders

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