ArcGIS Explorer vs Google Earth

Can ESRI really compete againist Google?

ArcGIS Explorer is soon to be released and it seems that will be able to do more than Google Earth in features but can it spread further than just the GIS community?




Both look great products (Viewers are both Free) but can paided services really beat Free data too?


Google provide both the viewer and the data via a desktop application.
Esri provide the viewer free but what about the data?
Can it display Arc/Info Coverages, Shapefiles and Geodatabase datasets?

We will see - watch this space for answers....