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Esri Collaborates with Microsoft to Bring ArcGIS Users New AI Enhancements

By: via Business Wire

Collaboration Will Integrate Microsoft Azure AI Foundry, Further Democratizing Geospatial Understanding and Workflows

Esri, the global leader in geographic information system (GIS) technology, is integrating Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service into ArcGIS. This powerful collaboration equips users with all new AI assistants to simplify work with geospatial data, maps, and analytics. In addition, the AI’s natural language interaction will enable users to quickly understand complex spatial problems.

By automating spatial analyses, AI-enhanced GIS can enable organizations of all sizes to harness its full power. This democratization of GIS can help everyone from city planners and policy makers to businesses, research groups, and constituents make better decisions faster. The integration of Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models builds on a longstanding collaboration between Esri and Microsoft in the field of AI. This most recent collaboration serves as an augmentation to Esri’s cutting-edge geospatial AI.

The new integration will improve problem-solving and productivity in numerous ways for users, including:

  • Actively employing GeoAI to streamline problem-solving with enhanced data analysis, pattern detection, and change tracking. Intelligence organizations can automate event analysis; agriculture and forestry organizations can detect invasive species; the oil and gas sector can monitor assets; public safety agencies can use predictive analytics for traffic and emergency response; and insurance companies can use data to expedite claims and recovery processes.
  • AI assistants available as a resource to help GIS analysts boost productivity and make information products more accessible to everyone. Embedded AI assistants across ArcGIS products help analysts create content, introspect and summarize data, provide suggestions and recommendations, and even write code.
  • ArcGIS for Teams features a Declarative Agent for Microsoft 365 Copilot, which provides AI-driven search and discovery of authoritative maps, apps, and location data directly within Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft 365 portal pages. Users can efficiently find and access essential data within the information about people, infrastructure, and the environment. It supports searches for both publicly available ArcGIS content and private organizational geographic data.

"Our collaboration with Microsoft and the integration of Microsoft Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models into ArcGIS is a game-changer for geospatial technology," said Jay Theodore, Esri Chief Technology Officer for AI and Enterprise Technologies. "By democratizing geospatial understanding, we are removing barriers and empowering users to unlock the full potential of location intelligence. This collaboration represents a major milestone in our journey to make spatial analysis more accessible and impactful for organizations of all sizes."

Emphasizing the significance of the collaboration with Esri, Jason Graefe, CVP, Worldwide ISV & Digital Natives team at Microsoft, said, “It is not merely about technology integration but also about establishing a new benchmark for innovation in the geospatial field. This collaboration aims to empower people and organizations worldwide by combining Esri's leadership in geospatial technology with Microsoft's expertise in cloud and AI.”

A comprehensive enterprise geospatial platform, ArcGIS is built on an advanced AI technology framework. One of the cornerstones of this platform, GeoAI enhances organizations’ ability to analyze and interpret spatial data. Alongside Esri’s own integrated AI assistants designed to improve user experience, efficiency, and productivity, ArcGIS improves decision-making, boosts productivity, and delivers unparalleled user experiences. The Azure infrastructure will be available as a compute resource empowering users to leverage over 90 pretrained deep learning models with the GeoAI toolbox.

Explore how Esri is revolutionizing geospatial technology by unlocking AI-driven insights: esri.com/en-us/geospatial-artificial-intelligence/overview.

About Esri

Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping, helps customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Founded in 1969 in Redlands, California, USA, Esri software is deployed in hundreds of thousands of organizations globally, including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, nonprofit institutions, and universities. Esri has regional offices, international distributors, and partners providing local support in over 100 countries on six continents. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial technology and analytics, Esri engineers the most innovative solutions that leverage a geographic approach to solving some of the world's most complex problems by placing them in the crucial context of location. Visit us at esri.com.

Copyright © 2025 Esri. All rights reserved. Esri, the Esri globe logo, ArcGIS, The Science of Where, esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products or services mentioned herein may be trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of their respective mark owners.

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