Another amazing feature and tool from ESRI. They started this year with a huge bang in the game of BIG-DATA as they introduce to you ArcGIS Velocity
What is it?
As they have stated on their website,
ArcGIS Velocity is a cloud-native add-on capability for ArcGIS Online. It enables users to ingest data from the Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, message brokers, or third-party APIs. It also helps users process, visualize, and analyze real-time data feeds; store those feeds as big data; and perform fast queries and analysis. Use this software as a service (SaaS) IoT application to better leverage your real-time spatial data for essential operational decisions such as remote monitoring of assets, predictive maintenance, and process optimization.
ESRI Blog
What is it important?
Well, it’s all about Big-Data. Now imagine having big-data in real-time. Usually a lot of firms and individuals that deal with big-data usually spend time analyzing and interpreting after the whole process or activity is over but ESRI is saying no, we need to deal with this data in real-time.
Imagine deploying a traffic solution within your organization and getting that traffic data and analyzing it all in real-time? Isn’t that great?. Rather than having to spend a whole day collecting and just collecting data and next day our analysts dealing with yesterday’s previous data, this new feature allows you to get real-time insights of this data as it is being collected.
Not ready for Big-Data? Well, now is the time to change game and start coping with the trends.
Let’s just list some of the capabilities that are coming with ArcGIS Velocity:
- integrate real-time data
- monitoring of critical assets
- unlocking spatial insights
- trigger alerts
- working in the cloud
As you can see, all these capabilities are dealing with the current trend and which is why you have to cope.
Working in the cloud? Why should we keep clicking that save button and risk losing our data when our devices crush or get stolen? With a cloud environment all you need is your password and that’s it.
How does it work?
Connect – Connect to real-time, streaming IoT data from multiple feeds and visualize directly in maps.
Analyze – Speed up your analysis and get answers faster when you set up analytical models in the cloud.
Alert and actuate – Take action with your analyses. Share the results and alert stakeholders when it matters.
Below is a simple and basic visual of how the process all works out.

Integrations?
ArcGIS Velocity is closely integrated with ArcGIS. Unfortunately now this new feature is not going to be free, you will need to purchase a license from the ESRI Store and automatically the feature will appear within your ArcGIS Online Organization.
Kumbirai is a GIS & MEAL specialist using geospatial analytics to advance global health and social impact. A certified Data Protection Officer (DPO), an open-data advocate and self-taught software developer, he builds web GIS tools that turn field data into decisions. He lectures in GIS/Remote Sensing and mentors emerging practitioners. Founder of a geospatial startup and nonprofit, he believes, “Real geospatial innovation happens when we empower communities with the right tools and knowledge.” Open to consulting and collaborations.