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ArcGIS Earth

ArcGIS Earth is a free Windows desktop application for viewing spatial information on a 3D globe.

The reason to use it is fairly simple. Sometimes people need to see the whenua together before they need to analyse it.

You may have a KMZ from an earlier project, a shapefile from a council, a GeoTIFF of recent imagery, a GPX track from field mahi and a few public web services. ArcGIS Earth can bring those things into one view without requiring you to build a full GIS project first.

For that kind of work, this guide recommends ArcGIS Earth as the main free desktop globe for new Windows workflows. It is also a practical successor to many Google Earth Pro desktop uses as that application moves into legacy status.

ArcGIS Earth is not ArcGIS Pro and it is not trying to be. It sits between a simple globe viewer and a full desktop GIS.

Where it fits​

ArcGIS Earth works well when the mahi is about looking, comparing, orienting and talking through place.

That can include:

  • bringing several spatial layers into a hui without building a complicated application
  • opening KML or KMZ files that have accumulated over years
  • looking at whenua, awa, ridges, access and surrounding land use in 3D
  • opening GIS files supplied by councils, agencies or consultants
  • taking local data into a place with poor or no internet access
  • checking a GPX route or field track against terrain
  • comparing a local layer with public web services
  • showing a proposed route, project area or generalised site without needing ArcGIS Pro
  • using an elevation profile, line of sight or viewshed to support a practical discussion

It is especially useful where the person presenting the map is not trying to perform analysis in front of everyone. The technology can stay in the background while people concentrate on the place and the kaupapa.

Start with the kaupapa​

Opening a globe should not be the first decision.

Before loading data, ask:

  • What are we trying to understand, explain or decide?
  • Whose relationships to this place matter?
  • Does all of the available information need to be shown?
  • Who should be in the room when particular layers are visible?
  • Is a precise point or polygon actually an appropriate representation?
  • Is the data current enough for the decision being made?
  • Are we looking at an official administrative representation, local knowledge, or both?
  • What should remain outside the GIS altogether?

ArcGIS Earth makes it very easy to place layers on top of a globe. That convenience does not make every layer equally meaningful or equally appropriate to use.

A cadastral parcel can be useful without defining the full relationship to whenua. A council boundary can be relevant without defining a rohe. A point can show where a record sits without capturing everything known about that place.

The map should support the kōrero, not quietly replace it.

Why ArcGIS Earth​

ArcGIS Earth is useful because it can work with both local files and online services while keeping the interface relatively simple.

Esri currently provides ArcGIS Earth for Windows free of charge. An Esri account is not required to use local files or explore public ArcGIS Online and Living Atlas content. Signing in becomes useful when you need your organisation's ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise content.

Official information:

What it can open​

ArcGIS Earth can open a useful range of local spatial formats directly from a computer or shared drive.

Current supported local data includes:

  • KML and KMZ
  • shapefiles
  • GeoPackage
  • GeoJSON
  • CSV and TXT files containing locations
  • GPX
  • local raster files including GeoTIFF
  • mobile geodatabases
  • tile packages and vector tile packages
  • mobile map and mobile scene packages
  • scene layer packages
  • 3D models
  • 3D Tiles

It can also connect to web services including ArcGIS map, image, feature and scene services as well as OGC services such as WMS, WMTS and WFS.

See Esri's current supported-data guidance: https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-earth/use/add-data.htm

This range is one of the reasons ArcGIS Earth is a stronger desktop viewing option than treating KML as the only way to move information between people.

A useful first workflow​

Imagine you are preparing for a hui about an awa restoration project.

You have:

  • a catchment layer
  • recent aerial imagery
  • a council waterways layer
  • a GPX track from a site visit
  • a small locally maintained layer of monitoring locations
  • a KMZ showing an earlier planting proposal

A sensible ArcGIS Earth workflow is:

  1. Open the catchment and waterways layers.
  2. Add the GPX track and the old KMZ.
  3. Add the imagery if it is held locally, or connect to the appropriate service.
  4. Turn layers off until the view is simple enough to read.
  5. Tilt into 3D only where terrain helps explain the kōrero.
  6. Add a few temporary placemarks or lines if they help identify questions for the hui.
  7. Save an appropriate working view or KMZ.
  8. Keep restricted information out of the version used for wider circulation.
  9. Take any decisions, corrections or new information back into the maintained GIS rather than treating the meeting view as the new source of truth.

The final step matters. ArcGIS Earth is good at bringing information together. It should not become the accidental master database simply because a useful discussion happened in it.

KML and KMZ​

ArcGIS Earth handles KML and KMZ particularly well.

You can add, create and edit KML content including:

  • folders
  • placemarks
  • lines
  • polygons
  • ground overlays
  • screen overlays
  • network links
  • tracks and multitracks
  • 3D models

Edits can be saved back to KML or KMZ.

That makes it useful for organisations with years of Google Earth material. You can often open those files directly rather than rebuilding them before you know whether they are still useful.

Keep KML in its place​

KML and KMZ are excellent viewing and exchange formats. They are not always the best place to maintain important long-term data.

A practical pattern is:

  • maintain important working data in GeoPackage, a geodatabase or another managed GIS format
  • create KML or KMZ when a lightweight globe view is useful
  • preserve the original source and provenance
  • keep a clear distinction between draft, internal and publication-safe versions

For example:

01_source/
02_working/
03_hui/
04_public/

A KMZ in 03_hui might contain more detail than one prepared for 04_public.

Local files​

One of ArcGIS Earth's strongest features is that local data can remain local.

You can open files from the computer or a shared drive without first uploading them to a web platform.

That can be useful when working with:

  • internal project information
  • draft rohe representations
  • environmental monitoring data
  • imagery licensed for internal use
  • council or agency extracts supplied for a particular purpose
  • information that people have agreed may be viewed for the current kaupapa but not published

This does not mean that anything stored locally is automatically safe.

The laptop still needs sensible access controls. Shared drives still need the right permissions. Files can still be copied. Screens can still be photographed. A locally held KMZ can still be emailed to the wrong person.

Local storage is a technical option that can help give effect to decisions about mana whakahaere. It does not make those decisions for you.

Basemaps are context​

ArcGIS Earth can use Esri basemaps, ArcGIS Living Atlas content, local basemaps and other supported services.

Basemaps are useful because they help people orient themselves. They also carry choices about what is named, what is visible, which boundaries are emphasised and which representation of land is treated as normal.

Do not let the default basemap quietly become the worldview of the project.

For some mahi, a useful globe may need:

  • a simple imagery base
  • tangata whenua place names added as an appropriate layer
  • waterways shown more strongly than roads
  • cadastral parcels turned off until they are actually relevant
  • a local terrain or imagery layer rather than the default service
  • no administrative boundaries at all

The question is not whether the basemap is technically good. The question is whether it helps the people in the room see the relationships that matter to the kaupapa.

See Decolonising the basemap.

3D terrain​

Three-dimensional terrain is one of the main reasons to use ArcGIS Earth.

It can make some relationships much easier to see:

  • how an awa sits within its catchment
  • ridges and spurs around a site
  • steep access routes
  • how a proposed road or track crosses terrain
  • the relationship between a kāinga, valley floor and surrounding slopes
  • where a flood or slip discussion sits in the wider landscape

ArcGIS Earth also provides interactive tools for:

  • elevation profiles
  • line-of-sight analysis
  • viewshed analysis
  • 3D distance and area measurement

These are useful calculations, not cultural interpretations.

A viewshed can show what the software calculates as visible from a location given its terrain and analysis settings. It cannot tell you why a view matters, who has a relationship with the place, what was historically visible at another time, or whether the question should have been asked in that form.

Use 3D analysis to support a question, not to manufacture authority for the answer.

Current ArcGIS Earth interface and analysis guidance: https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-earth/get-started/ui-overview.htm

Offline and disconnected work​

ArcGIS Earth can work with local packages and files when there is no network connection. It can also download eligible web tile layers for later offline use where the service allows tile export.

That is useful when:

  • a marae or hui venue has unreliable internet
  • field mahi is outside mobile coverage
  • large imagery is better carried locally
  • the project deliberately avoids depending on a live cloud service
  • the map needs to keep working during an emergency or network outage

Prepare offline work before leaving connectivity.

Test that:

  • the application opens
  • the required data is actually local
  • the basemap or imagery you need is available
  • KML and other files open correctly
  • another person can find and use the package

A map that looked excellent in the office but turns into a grey globe at the hui is not an offline workflow.

Esri's current offline guidance includes downloadable tile and vector tile layers where the source service supports export: https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-earth/use/download-map-tiles.htm

Using ArcGIS Earth at hui​

The strongest use is often the simplest one.

Prepare the map so people are not watching you operate software for twenty minutes.

Before the hui:

  • open the area and save useful viewpoints
  • check names and macrons
  • remove layers that do not serve the kaupapa
  • confirm which information is appropriate for that room
  • test the map without internet if connectivity is uncertain
  • keep a publication-safe version separate from a more detailed internal version
  • know which dataset each important layer came from

During the hui:

  • begin with a familiar place rather than a wall of layers
  • keep north and orientation clear when moving around in 3D
  • use terrain only when it adds understanding
  • turn layers on one at a time
  • allow people to challenge the map
  • record corrections as corrections, not as proof that the existing dataset was wrong in every context
  • stop and leave something unmapped when that is the appropriate decision

After the hui:

  • preserve any annotated or agreed outputs
  • record where corrections came from
  • take approved changes back into the maintained dataset
  • do not automatically digitise every kōrero that arose around the map

The useful output may be a corrected layer. It may also be a better shared understanding of the place without creating any new layer at all.

ArcGIS Online and Enterprise​

ArcGIS Earth can connect to public ArcGIS Online content without an account. If you sign in, it can also access content available through your ArcGIS Online organisation or ArcGIS Enterprise portal.

This is useful when an organisation already has:

  • hosted feature layers
  • image services
  • web maps
  • web scenes
  • internal ArcGIS Enterprise services
  • Living Atlas layers used for context

Do not assume that because a layer can be added from a portal it should be shown in every setting.

The same rules still apply around purpose, access, sensitivity and authority.

ArcGIS Earth is a client. It shows what it is allowed to reach. It does not determine whether the underlying sharing settings were sensible in the first place.

Working with public data​

Public data can be extremely useful for Māori GIS mahi, but public and authoritative are not the same thing.

A LINZ parcel layer may be an official representation for cadastral purposes. A council hazards layer may be the council's current published model. A Crown place-name dataset may be an official record for a particular system.

Those are important facts about the source. They do not make those datasets the final authority on Māori relationships, meaning or knowledge of place.

When bringing public data into ArcGIS Earth, keep enough source information to answer:

  • who produced it
  • what it was produced for
  • when it was last updated
  • what its limitations are
  • whether you have modified it
  • what local knowledge sits alongside it

See Whakapapa of data.

When ArcGIS Earth is not enough​

ArcGIS Earth is deliberately lightweight.

Move to QGIS or ArcGIS Pro when you need:

  • proper georeferencing
  • repeatable spatial analysis
  • coordinate transformations
  • structured editing of maintained datasets
  • topology and data-quality rules
  • complex joins and attribute work
  • cartographic print layouts
  • database management
  • processing models or automation
  • robust metadata workflows

A useful pattern is:

ArcGIS Earth → QGIS or ArcGIS Pro → ArcGIS Earth

for:

explore → prepare and analyse → communicate

This keeps the globe doing what it is good at instead of trying to turn it into a full GIS workstation.

Compared with Google Earth​

Google Earth in the browser and ArcGIS Earth overlap, but they have different strengths.

Use ArcGIS Earth when the important thing is:

  • an installed Windows desktop application
  • local KML and KMZ
  • local GIS files
  • GeoTIFF and other raster data
  • GeoPackage, shapefile or GeoJSON
  • ArcGIS and OGC services
  • disconnected work
  • 3D analytical tools such as viewshed and line of sight

Use Google Earth in the browser when the important thing is:

  • Google's imagery
  • historical imagery
  • Street View
  • quick global exploration
  • lightweight browser projects
  • sharing something simple through Google's web experience

Google Earth Pro desktop is becoming a legacy product. See Google Earth Pro desktop is becoming legacy.

The aim is not to force every old Google Earth Pro workflow into ArcGIS Earth. Use the tool that serves the actual mahi.

Compared with QGIS​

ArcGIS Earth is easier when you simply want to open a collection of spatial information and explore it on a globe.

QGIS is stronger when you need to work on the data itself.

For a small iwi or hapū GIS, the two can work well together:

  1. Maintain and prepare the data in QGIS.
  2. Export or open an appropriate view in ArcGIS Earth.
  3. Use ArcGIS Earth for 3D kōrero, checking and presentation.
  4. Bring agreed corrections back into QGIS.

That is usually more sustainable than trying to make one application do everything.

A first hour​

If you are trying ArcGIS Earth for the first time, do not begin with a training course.

Use a place you already know.

  1. Install ArcGIS Earth on Windows.
  2. Open a familiar part of Aotearoa.
  3. Add one KML or KMZ file.
  4. Add one shapefile or GeoPackage.
  5. Add one local GeoTIFF if you have one.
  6. Tilt the terrain and return to north-up view a few times.
  7. Draw a temporary line and polygon.
  8. Create an elevation profile along a route you know.
  9. Save a small KML or KMZ output.
  10. Close the application and confirm you can find and reopen the material.

Then ask whether the tool makes the mahi easier.

If it does, build a small repeatable workflow around it. If it does not, use something else.

A practical folder pattern​

Keep source data, working files and outputs separate.

For example:

Kaupapa_Name/
  01_source/
  02_working/
  03_arcgis_earth/
  04_hui/
  05_public/

Inside 03_arcgis_earth, keep files that exist specifically for globe viewing rather than treating them as the maintained source.

A source register can note:

  • layer name
  • source organisation or person
  • date received or downloaded
  • purpose
  • restrictions
  • maintained source location
  • ArcGIS Earth derivative created
  • last checked date

That is usually more valuable than a complicated software-specific filing system.

Limits​

ArcGIS Earth has some straightforward limitations.

  • Desktop ArcGIS Earth is currently Windows-only.
  • It is not a replacement for full GIS analysis and data management.
  • A globe encourages visual interpretation, which can make uncertain boundaries look more definite than they are.
  • 3D terrain can be persuasive even when the source elevation or assumptions are not appropriate for the question.
  • Access to a layer does not mean authority to reuse or share it.
  • Default basemaps and labels may not reflect the relationships or names that matter locally.

These are reasons to use the tool carefully, not reasons to avoid it.

Download​

ArcGIS Earth for Windows is free to download.

Current Esri documentation confirms that ArcGIS Earth can work online and offline, can use local files and public content without an Esri account, and supports a broad range of local GIS formats and web services.

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026

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