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MapAI and ArcGIS
ArcGIS manages and maps your data. MapAI turns it, and everything around it, into evidence a planner can inspect and stand behind.
The short answer
If your organisation runs on ArcGIS, keep running on it. ArcGIS is the system of record for your spatial data, and Esri's AI assistants are making ArcGIS easier for the people who already use it. MapAI is for the far larger group who don't: the planners, advisers and infrastructure teams whose decisions depend on spatial evidence but who don't hold a licence or the skills to use one. MapAI connects to ArcGIS services, open data and files, runs the analysis, and keeps the sources, assumptions and steps visible. Your GIS team validates the methods; everyone else reuses them.
Who each is built for
MapAI Explore
- Built for
- domain professionals making place-based decisions, and GIS experts as validators.
- The job
- assemble a trusted evidence base for a place, project or decision.
- The moment you reach for it
- “I need to know what is true about this place and I can't wait for the GIS queue.”
ArcGIS
- Built for
- GIS professionals, analysts and the organisations that manage authoritative spatial data.
- The job
- capture, manage, analyse, map and publish spatial data.
- The moment you reach for it
- “This needs to be done properly, in the system of record.”
Where each sits in the stack
1 Capture
2 Data and infrastructure
3 GIS systems of record
ArcGIS OnlineArcGIS EnterpriseArcGIS ProEsri AI assistants (inside ArcGIS apps)4 Spatial Evidence Layer
MapAI5 Decisions and workflows
Esri's AI assistants sit inside ArcGIS apps and help ArcGIS users work faster in ArcGIS. MapAI sits one layer up, alongside ArcGIS, and serves the people and questions that never reach the GIS desktop. The two are complementary, and the hand-offs between them are ordinary files and services.
Side by side
Built for
MapAI
Domain professionals, with GIS experts as validators
Core strengthArcGIS
GIS professionals and analysts; assistants help ArcGIS users inside ArcGIS apps
Core strengthHow you work with it
MapAI
Plain-English questions; no GIS skills or licence required to ask
Core strengthArcGIS
Desktop and web GIS; AI assistants guide tool choice, write code and recommend workflows for ArcGIS users
Core strengthFinding and assembling data
MapAI
Searches connected open, partner and organisational data, including public ArcGIS REST services, and suggests relevant datasets
Core strengthArcGIS
Living Atlas and organisational content; discovery is within the Esri ecosystem
Core strengthSpatial analysis
MapAI
Joins, buffers, intersections, proximity and demographic cross-tabs on a PostGIS engine
AvailableArcGIS
The deepest analytical and cartographic toolset available
Core strengthThe evidence trail
MapAI
Datasets, currency, assumptions and steps visible for every answer; underlying query viewable by experts
Core strengthArcGIS
Workflows and history recorded for GIS users; not surfaced as an evidence trail for a reader of the answer
AvailableValidated, repeatable methods
MapAI
Common questions routed to methods validated by GIS specialists; new ones flagged until reviewed
Core strengthArcGIS
Models, tools and notebooks built and run by GIS staff
Core strengthWorks with your GIS
MapAI
Connect public ArcGIS REST services; import .shp, .gdb, .gpkg, GeoJSON, KML, CSV; export CSV and GeoJSON back into ArcGIS
Core strengthArcGIS
Is the GIS
Core strengthData residency and security
MapAI
Australian-hosted infrastructure with residency options for government; enterprise controls
Core strengthArcGIS
Enterprise-grade; residency depends on deployment (Enterprise on your infrastructure, or Online)
Core strengthPricing model
MapAI
Capacity, not seats: unlimited users, an allowance of free credits each month, additional capacity in batches when you need more, enterprise capacity on request
Core strengthArcGIS
Per-user types and licences; AI assistants included with ArcGIS Online user types at no additional cost
AvailableAvailability in Australia
MapAI
Available now in Australia · Free to start
AvailableArcGIS
Established, with local distribution and support
Core strengthWhere ArcGIS is the better choice
- Managing authoritative spatial data: it is the system of record, and should stay so.
- Advanced analysis, modelling, imagery and cartography; the depth of the toolset is unmatched.
- Publishing statutory and authoritative maps and services.
- Helping existing ArcGIS users work faster inside ArcGIS: that is what Esri's AI assistants are for, and they are included with ArcGIS Online user types.
- Organisations that need every spatial workflow inside one vendor's governance model.
Where MapAI is the better choice
- The people who don't hold an ArcGIS licence and never will, but whose decisions depend on spatial evidence.
- Questions that draw on data outside the Esri estate: open portals, partner data, spreadsheets, files from consultants.
- When a reader of the answer, not just the analyst, needs to see which data was used, how current it is and what was assumed.
- Making the same question return the same answer across an organisation, through validated methods, rather than depending on who ran it.
- Paying for the analysis your organisation runs rather than for named users. Unlimited users on every MapAI account.
- Much of Esri's AI assistant capability is currently available only in ArcGIS Online, while many Australian government organisations hold their sensitive data in ArcGIS Enterprise.
Using them together
MapAI is designed to sit next to ArcGIS. The hand-offs are standard services and files, so nothing about your ArcGIS environment changes.
- Connect public ArcGIS REST feature services to MapAI with DataConnect and @mention them in a question.
- Export MapAI results as GeoJSON or CSV and add them to ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Online as layers.
- Export File Geodatabase and Shapefile content from ArcGIS and upload it to MapAI alongside open data.
- Private connectors to organisational services are planned for Enterprise committed capacity.
- Your GIS team validates the methods MapAI routes common questions to, so answers reflect your organisation's standards.
Pricing model
MapAI
Pay for capacity and value, not seats.
- Unlimited users on every account
- An allowance of free credits every month
- Additional capacity in batches when you need more
- Enterprise committed capacity on request, with unlimited users, single sign-on, Australian data residency and bring-your-own model account
ArcGIS
Licensed per user type, with capabilities and credits by type.
- ArcGIS Online and Enterprise are priced per user type and deployment
- Several AI assistants are generally available and included with ArcGIS Online user types at no additional cost; others are not yet generally available
- Most assistants are currently available only in ArcGIS Online
- See Esri or your local distributor for current pricing
Pricing checked on 15 October 2026 (pricing and feature availability). Prices in their published currency. See each vendor's pricing page for current details: MapAI pricing · Esri: What's new in AI assistants.
Data residency, security and trust
MapAI
Australian-hosted infrastructure, with data residency options for government work. Your organisation's data is not used to train public models. Single sign-on and advanced security controls on Enterprise. SOC 2 and ISO 27001 programmes underway. Bring-your-own model account supported for Enterprise.
ArcGIS
Esri publishes its security and compliance details through the ArcGIS Trust Center. Residency depends on how ArcGIS is deployed: ArcGIS Enterprise runs on infrastructure you control; ArcGIS Online is Esri-hosted. Esri's AI assistant features have their own terms; check them with your Esri account manager.
Common questions
Can we use MapAI if our organisation is standardised on ArcGIS?
Yes, and that is the common case. MapAI connects to public ArcGIS REST services and accepts the files ArcGIS exports, and it hands results back as GeoJSON and CSV. ArcGIS remains the system of record.
Why not wait for Esri's AI assistants?
If you are an ArcGIS user, use them; they are built to make ArcGIS easier for you. MapAI is for the people in your organisation who are not ArcGIS users and for questions that draw on data beyond the Esri estate. Most of Esri's assistants are currently available only in ArcGIS Online, and they are not designed to produce an evidence trail for a reader who is not in ArcGIS.
Does MapAI replace ArcGIS?
No. MapAI sits alongside ArcGIS. It does not manage authoritative data, publish services or replace the GIS professionals who do.
Does MapAI work with ArcGIS Enterprise?
Public ArcGIS REST services from any deployment can be connected now. Private connectors to organisational services are planned for Enterprise committed capacity.
Is MapAI an Esri partner?
No. MapAI is vendor-neutral and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Esri. ArcGIS and Esri are trademarks of Esri.
Is MapAI available now?
MapAI Explore is available in Australia and free to start. Sign up to get started, or request a structured trial built around a real workflow for your team.
Keep your GIS. Add the evidence layer.
Sign up and start free, or talk to us about a structured trial for your team.
Comparison checked 15 October 2026 from Esri's public documentation, including 'What's new in AI assistants (June 2026)' and 'The Next Era of AI and ArcGIS' (ArcNews). ArcGIS, Esri and Living Atlas are trademarks of Esri. MapAI is not affiliated with or endorsed by Esri. Send corrections to info@mapai.net.
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