AI has become an increasingly talked-about topic in the technology world and for good reason. At Esri, we’re exploring ways AI can help make our products more intuitive and efficient for our users. You can read more about Esri’s trust based approach to developing AI in ArcGIS in this blog.
Here, I’ll explore how AI assistants are being introduced across our products and how they can add value to your day-to-day work. From simplifying everyday tasks to helping users navigate complex workflows, AI assistants can provide additional support across a range of ArcGIS products using generative AI.
Without further ado, let’s jump into the world of ArcGIS AI assistants and discover how they can help you along the way.
ArcGIS AI assistants: what are they?
Whether you’re creating maps, running analyses, or exploring unfamiliar workflows, there are times when finding the right tool or next step can take time – trust me, I’ve been there! ArcGIS AI assistants can help users explore data, automate complex geospatial workflows, and generate powerful spatial insights simply by asking questions to the assistant in everyday language.
Rather than offering a single standalone chatbot, Esri has embedded AI assistants directly into individual applications where they can provide product-specific guidance and workflow support. This allows each assistant to focus on the specific tasks and challenges of the product in which it operates.
AI assistants are now available across a growing range of ArcGIS products, including:
- ArcGIS Arcade Assistant (Beta)
- ArcGIS Business Analyst
- ArcGIS Drone2Map (Beta)
- ArcGIS Notebooks (Beta)
- ArcGIS Online
- ArcGIS Pro (Beta)
- ArcGIS StoryMaps
- ArcGIS Survey123
While each assistant serves a different purpose, they are all designed with the same objective: helping you, our customers, work more efficiently and get answers faster through natural-language interaction. There also AI-powered tools that can help translate content into multiple languages, develop arcade expressions and generate item metadata.
At this point, you might be asking yourself: how do I get access to these assistants? Don’t worry, we will come back to how you can enable access of these assistants later in this blog.
How do they work? Examples of the AI assistants in action
ArcGIS Survey123
ArcGIS Survey123 enables data collection through digital forms and surveys, in both field and office environments. The introduction of the Survey123 assistant is intended to help users create surveys faster by turning conversational prompts into structured forms. Rather than building surveys question by question, users can describe their requirements and generate a draft survey that can then be refined.
Moreover, the assistant can also help to translate surveys into multiple languages, as demonstrated below.
ArcGIS Business Analyst assistant
ArcGIS Business Analyst brings together maps, demographics, and market insights to help organisations make informed business decisions. The new Business Analyst assistant provides users the opportunity to move from a business question to the right analytical workflow faster than ever before.
Whether you’re identifying potential store locations or exploring local demographics, the assistant can recommend relevant tools, datasets, and analysis methods. It can help you uncover valuable insights with less trial and error.
ArcGIS Pro
Alongside these releases, Esri have released the ArcGIS Pro assistant into beta. ArcGIS Pro is Esri’s desktop GIS application for mapping, data management, and spatial analysis.
The new ArcGIS Pro assistant, currently in beta, acts as an AI-powered companion within ArcGIS Pro, helping users navigate tasks and generate Python code to streamline everyday workflows. Whether you’ve forgotten a geoprocessing tool, need help troubleshooting an issue, or just want to spend less time writing code, the assistant is ready to lend a hand.
These are just some small examples of what’s new with the AI assistants. You can explore these changes in greater depth in this article.
How to enable access
So now you have seen some examples of these assistants in use; it’s time to discuss how you can access ArcGIS AI assistants within your own ArcGIS Online Organization. Fortunately the process is straightforward.
Opt-in
AI capabilities are managed in the Organization settings and are opt-in. These assistants are only available once an ArcGIS Online administrator has explicitly opted in and enabled their use. Once enabled, members with the appropriate privileges can begin accessing supported assistants across the ArcGIS system.
As outlined in the ArcGIS Online help documentation, an administrator simply needs to navigate to Organization > Settings > AI and enable the Allow use of AI assistants by members of your organisation setting.
Additional configuration
Depending on the assistant being used, some products may require additional configuration, and beta assistants will only be available if the organisation permits the use of beta functionality.
This blog article details the key steps required to support the use of AI assistants, be sure to check it out before getting started.
Some things to be mindful of
Although these tools can be a great help, it’s important to make note of some things before you set off.
Credits
AI assistants do not use credits – however, it is important to note that they may suggest workflows which do consume credits. Therefore, you must check whether any workflows proposed use credits.
Accuracy
Although AI Assistants are efficient and helpful, they aren’t always 100% accurate. It is our job, as users, to check the outputs produced to ensure the information is accurate.
Final thoughts
AI assistants are being developed across many ArcGIS products, helping us spend less time figuring out how to do something and more time focusing on the work that matters. Whether it’s building a Survey123 form, finding the right Business Analyst workflow or generating Python code in ArcGIS Pro, these tools are designed to make everyday GIS tasks a little easier.
Of course, AI isn’t a replacement for GIS expertise. It’s always important to sense-check the outputs, review recommendations, and make sure you understand any workflows before putting them into action. But when used alongside your own knowledge and experience, AI assistants can be a valuable helping hand.
With new assistants and enhancements arriving in release updates, this is just the beginning. It’ll be exciting to see how these tools continue to evolve and support the way we work with AI and ArcGIS in the years ahead.