ArcGIS Experience Builder vs VertiGIS Studio: Reporting & Printing

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Anyone who develops Web GIS applications has encountered this situation: a map alone is rarely enough. Operational teams need printable site plans, project stakeholders expect meaningful PDF reports, and external partners require documented results in a professional format. The quality of printing and reporting functions therefore often determines whether a GIS application merely displays information or supports an end-to-end business process.

Why Modern GIS Must Deliver More Than Map Printing

In practice, reports rarely consist ofjust a map. Especially in areas such as infrastructure management, utilities, land administration, environmental management, and local government, requirements go far beyond that.

Typical requirements include:

Cover pages with logos and corporate design
Multiple maps at different scales
Tables with attribute data
Photos or drone imagery
Charts and key performance indicators
Consolidation of multiple data sources
Multi-page documents and map books
Automated generation for many assets at once

ArcGIS Experience Builder offers several ways to provide data, maps, and analysis results from web applications, ranging from raw data exports and map layouts to simple reports. For many standard applications, this is sufficient. Users can print maps, export data extracts, or generate simple PDF reports.

However, when custom layouts, complex document structures, or the combination of different information sources are required, organizations often reach the limits of these options. Professional report templates frequently need to be created outside the web application, for example in ArcGIS Pro, and then published. This is where VertiGIS Studio comes in.

VertiGIS Studio: Printing and Reporting for Complex Requirements

VertiGIS Studio extends the ArcGIS platform with specialized printing and reporting tools designed specifically for business-critical GIS applications. Rather than providing simple export functions, VertiGIS Studio focuses on creating professional documents.

With VertiGIS Studio, users can:

Design complex print and report templates using drag and drop
Combine any maps, tables, photos, and domain-specific information
Create reports for individual assets or multiple assets
Bring data from different sources together in one document
Generate automated batch reports
Produce large-format, high-resolution maps
Create map books and print series

The result is not simply a printed map, but a complete business or project document.

Practical Example: From Hydrant to Maintenance Report

Infrastructure management is a good example. While a standard report might simply output the attributes of a selected hydrant, VertiGIS Studio can generate a complete maintenance report at the click of a button, including:

Overview and detailed maps
Asset data
Inspection records
Photos
Technical key figures
Signature fields
Corporate branding

Create and Manage Report Templates Directly on the Web

Another difference lies in how reports are created. With ArcGIS Experience Builder, professional print and report templates are often prepared in ArcGIS Pro and then integrated into the platform. VertiGIS Studio additionally takes a different approach: print and report templates are created and managed directly in specialized web-based designers. This makes layouts easier and faster to update, and business users can often make changes themselves without relying on developers, desktop GIS specialists, or additional licensed products.

Predictable Costs, Even with High Reporting Volumes

In addition to functional differences, the cost structure also plays an important role. Organizations that generate large numbers of maps or reports need a cost model that remains predictable as usage grows..

VertiGIS Studio supports usage-neutral licensing, including when used with ArcGIS Online, with no credit-based charges per print or reporting operation. This keeps costs predictable even when thousands of documents are generated. For regularly produced maintenance reports, condition documentation, or automated batch outputs, this can provide a significant economic advantage.

ArcGIS Experience Builder and VertiGIS Studio: Side-by-Side Comparison

In many situations, ArcGIS Experience Builder is more than sufficient. However, for organizations that want to use GIS information not only for visualization but also as part of their operational business processes, we recommend VertiGIS Studio because of its specialized design tools, flexible report templates, and economically predictable usage model. The following table summarizes the differences between ArcGIS Experience Builder and VertiGIS Studio for printing and reporting.

Feature	ArcGIS Experience Builder	VertiGIS Studio
Map printing	✅	✅
Raw data export	✅	✅
Simple PDF reports	✅	✅
Multi-page reports	✅	✅
Combination of maps, tables, images, and domain-specific information	Highly limited	✅
Map books and atlases	Highly limited	✅
Report template designer	Partly through external tools	✅
Consolidation of multiple data sources	Highly limited	✅
Batch reports	Limited	✅
Usage-neutral report generation	Depends on the infrastructure used	✅

Would you like to learn more about the differences between the two solutions? Find details on the page VertiGIS Studio or Esri’s Experience Builder: Which is Right for Your ArcGIS Apps?.

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