Esri partners with AWS to advance GenAI integration in geospatial solutions

Esri is bringing its geospatial AI platform, ArcGIS, together with the scalable cloud infrastructure on Amazon Web Services (AWS). This will enable organizations to deploy enterprise-scale geospatial AI solutions with…

Esri is bringing its geospatial AI platform, ArcGIS, together with the scalable cloud infrastructure on Amazon Web Services (AWS). This will enable organizations to deploy enterprise-scale geospatial AI solutions with greater efficiency and reliability. Additionally, they will be able to leverage the advanced cloud capabilities on AWS alongside ArcGIS software’s sophisticated mapping and spatial analysis tools.

With the volume of geospatial data growing rapidly, organizations are seeking more intelligent ways to process and analyse spatial information. Esri, a global leader in geographic information system (GIS) and geospatial AI technology, has recently signed a new strategic collaboration agreement (SCA) with AWS to advance the integration of generative AI (GenAI) into geospatial solutions and workflows. This integration allows organizations to scale operations dynamically in line with their evolving geospatial data needs, ensuring optimal performance and cost-effectiveness.

Improved productivity and user experience

Through the new agreement, Esri will accelerate development and interoperability with AWS. This expanded collaboration will focus on three areas: developing geospatial AI through new foundation models (FMs), scalable training and inference architectures; advancing the next generation of ArcGIS AI assistants to improve user productivity; and building agentic architectures that simplify and enhance the user experience.

“AWS’s cloud capabilities combined with Esri’s geospatial expertise empower customers to solve complex challenges through advanced location intelligence,” said Amy Belcher, AWS director, WWPS global ISV sales and GTM. “This strategic agreement will accelerate the development of GenAI-powered solutions that deliver meaningful business outcomes while simplifying how organizations leverage geospatial data at scale.”

Value across critical customer use cases

The enhanced collaboration delivers significant value across critical customer use cases. In national government, for instance, AI-powered entity detection using ArcGIS satellite imagery and terrain analysis accelerates identification from hours to minutes while reducing false positives. Meanwhile, in infrastructure applications, AI and spatial analysis can predict infrastructure maintenance needs. This helps utilities to prevent failures, optimize costs and extend asset lifespans through ArcGIS software’s advanced modeling capabilities.

Another example is public safety. Thanks to ArcGIS spatial modelling, emergency managers are able to quickly assess disaster risks and plan optimal evacuation routes and safe zones. This reduces response times and also protects communities.

“Our collaboration with AWS advances geospatial AI integration for our joint users,” commented Jay Theodore, Esri chief technology officer for AI and enterprise technologies. “This agreement will enable customers to integrate AI-enhanced GIS – whether they’re protecting communities, maintaining infrastructure, or responding to emergencies.”

Deploying open data models everywhere

“Distribution and deployment still remain barriers in the implementation of generative AI,” said Bruno Sanchez-Andrade Nuño, executive director at Earth observation data analytics nonprofit Clay. “That’s why our current collaboration with AWS and Esri feels like a breakthrough. Esri’s geospatial AI capabilities enable users everywhere to deploy open data models successfully.”

The new SCA builds on Esri’s long-standing collaboration with AWS, having previously integrated ArcGIS with services such as Amazon Redshift, Amazon EMR, and AWS IoT Core. To learn more about Esri’s geospatial AI and how it can modernize workflows with accelerated analysis and problem-solving, see here.