ArcReader

By using ArcGIS for Desktop, an ESRI-developed product, you can create high-quality maps; and by using ArcGIS Publisher, another ESRI-developed product, you can publish your maps. I bring this up because the functionality ArcReader has to offer is linked with these software products. You see, you can use ArcReader to open, view, and print maps created and published with the aforementioned software. ArcReader allows you to load and view any map in .PMF format.

The system requirements for running ArcReader are: 2.2GHz processor or better (Hyper-threading or multi-core recommended); at least 2GB of RAM memory; 500MB minimum swap space; 1024 x 768 screen resolution or more; 24-bit color depth; graphics card with 256MB of RAM recommended; about 1GB of free disk space; Windows or Linux operating system.

The ArcReader setup wizard will ask you to choose between a Complete and a Custom Installation. Pick the Complete Installation and all application features will be installed; this option is selected by default. Pick the Custom Installation and you will get to choose which application features you want to be installed on your PC.

Some tutorial data comes bundled with ArcReader. In the tutorial folder you will find several ArcGIS-published maps. Load one of these maps and ArcReader’s interface will be populated with info. By doing so you will figure out the interface a bit faster. This is not to say that ArcReader’s interface is difficult to use. Quite the contrary! You won’t have any problems figuring out the interface.

ArcReader’s purpose is to let you view and print maps created with ESRI software and published with the .PMF Published Map Files extension. Once you load a map into the application, you can analyze it, zoom in and out, find an address, access a map bookmark, copy the current map view to the clipboard, print out the map, or export it as a BMP file.

ArcReader is free software.

If you have a .PMF file, a map created with an ESRI product, you can view it with the free ArcReader tool.