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ArcGIS Explorer includes a wide range of out-of-the box functionality that allows you to explore and ask questions about the geography in your map. It is possible to increase the range and complexity of questions you can ask by using tools within the Analysis Gallery. In the Analysis Gallery are tools which offer a greater level of analytical capability by applying GIS operations to manipulate spatial data.

##### To run an analysis tool:

On the Home tab in the Map group, click Analysis to expand the Analysis Gallery.

Click the tool you would like to run.

A new dialog will appear which indicates all the information you need to enter in order to successfully run the tool. This information will differ between individual tools and was determined when the tool was authored and published on the server.

Fill in each input with an appropriate value and click Run to execute the tool.

Note: There will often be a default value already populated to indicate the type of information required. Alternatively the label for an individual value may contain an example of what to enter. If you are still uncertain about what to enter please click the help link to see the help published by the tool author.

Occasionally, the tool may not require any user input. In this case the tool window will simply require you to click Run to execute the tool.

##### What happens after you click Run...

After clicking Run, the inputs on the tool dialog are replaced by a progress bar and a message displaying the tool status. You will also see the Run button has changed to Cancel. The tool dialog will stay like this until either:

- The tool completes successfully and returns the result(s) - these will be added to the Contents Window
- You click Cancel to cancel the tool execution
- The tool fails to complete successfully

You can also view the status of this tool, and any other analysis tools you have run in this session in the Analysis Tools History window opened from the Analysis Gallery.

##### The tool completes successfully

When the tool has completed successfully the results will appear in the Contents Window. The results will be labelled with the tool name and will contain both the result(s) produced by the service plus the original input information you specified. This allows you to run the tool again with different parameters then compare the results. The icon for each output will indicate what type of output it is and how you can interact with it, as follows:

- Feature layers (, , and ), raster layers (), Layer Packages () and map service layers () support the interaction normally associated with these layers, such as double clicking the layer to zoom it its extent. Map service layers may have additional sub-layers which can be accessed via the layer's properties dialog.
- Tables returned from an analysis tool will have a table icon () and you can view the data in the table by right clicking and choosing Show Popup from the context menu.
- Some tools return files and content to which a link is provided, indicated by the link icon (). Double click the result or right click and choose Open from the context menu to view the contents of the result. ArcGIS Explorer and/or your operating system will try to determine the correct application in which to open the link.
- Other non-spatial types such as text, numbers, true/false values, and dates and the linear unit type (for example, "1000 meters") will be indicated by a note icon (). The actual result value is displayed by the item in the Contents window (e.g. "Days: 150") and there is no additional interaction available for these result types.

##### You click Cancel to cancel the tool execution

If you realise you have entered incorrect parameters after selecting Run you can stop the tool by clicking Cancel, modify the parameters and reselect Run. Clicking Cancel before the tool has returned a result will tell service to stop processing, and the tool dialog inputs will become enabled again. If you click either Hide or Close in the upper right corner of the tool dialog the dialog will be pinned to the side of the ArcGIS Explorer application or will disappear from view, but the processing will continue. To view the tool window again double click the tool in the Analysis Tools History window.

##### The tool fails to complete successfully

In some cases the tool may fail to complete successfully. There are a number of possible reasons for this. Perhaps ArcGIS Explorer cannot reach the GIS server that provides the geoprocessing service. Or it is possible that the information you entered was incomplete or did not match the type of information expected. Click OK to return to the tool dialog then review your inputs and re-run the tool.

Note: Return results as layer package:
When analysis tools are published, the publisher chooses the maximum number of features that can be returned in the result. If you receive a message indicating that your results have exceeded the limit, click OK to return to the tool dialog and review your inputs. If you believe the inputs are correct you may check the option on the tool dialog to download the results as a Layer Package. Using the Layer Package option will ignore the maximum feature limit on the server. This option is also available for services which return raster data.