ArcGIS Explorer Build 900 Released

ESRI has just released the much anticipated ArcGIS Explorer 900 build. This is the build people have been talking about for a while, introducing such features as:

New ribbon UI ala MS Office
Greatly improved support for KML and added support for ESRI layer files
Ability to switch to a 2D display and projection support
Presentation mode for, well, presentations
Lots more you can read about and see a video on here

People either love or hate the MS Office ribbon style interface, but it's well implemented in ArcGIS Explorer. And the new presentation mode is something you have to see to understand. ESRI did an entire presentation in a 900 beta at a local user group meeting, and it was very impressive.

I give ESRI a hard time on occasion, but ArcGIS Explorer is really a great free product. If you skipped by ArcGIS Explorer because their old free viewer product was nearly useless, you’re doing yourself a disservice. This new release is by far the best yet.