Jack Dangermond is the unrivaled king of GIS technology, the specialized software used for creating digital maps. He founded his company, Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), in 1969. Dangermond founded ESRI to perform land use analysis; however, its focus evolved into GIS software development, highlighted by the release of ARC/INFO in the early 1980s; the development and marketing of ARC/INFO positioned ESRI with the dominant market share among GIS software developers.
Today ESRI is the largest GIS software developer in the world and its flagship product, ArcGIS, traces its heritage to Dangermond’s initial efforts in developing ARC/INFO. Esri currently dominates the industry, with over 40% of global GIS market share and more than $1 billion in annual revenue.
