ArcGIS for Desktop Basic

ArcGIS for Desktop Basic (formerly called ArcView) is the entry-level license of ArcGIS Desktop, a geographic information system software product produced by Esri.

ArcView 8.x, 9.x and 10.0
ArcView 8.x and 9.x are part of the ArcGIS Desktop software suite. ArcView is the name of the entry-level of licensing offered in these releases of the software, able to view and edit GIS data held in flat files or, through ArcSDE, view data held in a relational database management system. It was intended by Esri to be the logical migration path from ArcView 3.x.

ArcView 10.0
ArcView 10.0 is part of the ArcGIS Desktop 10.0 suite, released in June 2010. With ArcView 10.0 (and the ArcGIS Desktop 10.0 suite in general) a new user interface and new functionality in the area of mapping and visualization was introduced. ArcView 10.0 users now find it easier to add new features through the use of feature templates, for example. The ArcGIS 10.0 release is the final version where the entry-level license is sold by the name ArcView. The current version of ArcView sold by Esri is 10.1, renamed to "ArcGIS for Desktop Basic".

ArcGIS for Desktop Basic
With the 2012 release of ArcGIS 10.1, ArcView was renamed to ArcGIS for Desktop Basic. . ArcGIS for Desktop Basic is the entry-level of licensing offered with ArcGIS for Desktop and provides data visualization, query, analysis, and integration capabilities along with the ability to create and edit simple geographic features. Other licensing levels in the suite, namely ArcGIS for Desktop Standard and ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced have greater functionality. All components are installed on the system, with only those that are licensed being made functional. It is available for the Microsoft Windows XP, 7 and Vista 32- and 64-bit operating systems, as well as Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2008 R2 operating systems.

The ArcGIS for Desktop Basic software is split between ArcMap and ArcCatalog. ArcMap is used for map composition and geographic analysis. ArcCatalog is used for geographic data management.