On April 23, 2025, we held a webinar on Improving Operational Efficiency with Real-Time Mapping Solutions.
Organizations often grapple with challenges that hinder their efficiency, such as lack of real-time updates, inability to communicate progress to public, and inefficient route planning. These issues can significantly impact productivity, decision-making, and response times, especially during emergencies. This webinar covers how implementing real-time mapping solutions, organizations can improve seasonal program planning, streamline operations, increase public trust, and enhance overall efficiency, ultimately providing better services to their communities.
You can now watch the webinar recording and explore our Q&A from the live session in this blog. If you cannot find the answers you were looking for, please post your questions on the ArcGIS Velocity Esri Community.
Can Winter Weather Operations, Street Sweeping Operations, and Mowing Operations be deployed in an ArcGIS Enterprise environment instead of ArcGIS Online?
Currently these solutions are only supported with ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Velocity. In saying that, if you have ArcGIS GeoEvent Server then you could build something similar to these real-time solutions using ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS GeoEvent Server.
For elements requiring ArcGIS Online, are there credit costs associated with utilizing these tools?
ArcGIS Velocity is accessed through a yearly subscription and does not consume credits. The only credit usage costs for these real-time Solutions comes from the associated storage of data in standard hosted feature layers.
Can the Winter Weather Operations, Street Sweeping Operations, and Mowing Operations, consume on-premise hosted GIS layers? Or do all the layers need to be hosted on ArcGIS Online?
ArcGIS Velocity can ingest layers from ArcGIS Server, and update existing layers in ArcGIS Server, but not create new layers in ArcGIS Server. All three Solutions can be configured with on-premise layers but configuration steps will differ based on your system architecture. Some of the analytics will have to be altered to publish, ingest and write to your on-premise data. Reach out to your Esri account team for clarification and guidance on how best to proceed.
Do our plows need equipment to capture their location data?
Yes, typically organizations use Automated Vehicle Location (AVL) sensors which are located on the plows to capture their location information. If you don’t have an AVL provider, you can use ArcGIS Location Sharing on mobile devices.
Is ArcGIS Velocity an add-on? Could you provide information on its additional cost?
ArcGIS Velocity is a premium add-on subscription for ArcGIS Online with three subscription levels available based on an organization’s needs which you can learn about here: https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-velocity/licensing
What is the difference between ArcGIS Velocity and ArcGIS GeoEvent Server? Would you recommend one over the other?
Velocity differs from GeoEvent Server in several ways, including product capabilities and business model. At a high level, GeoEvent Server is self-hosted software, while Velocity is a software as a service (SaaS). Velocity is also different in the following ways:
- It has built-in high availability and disaster recovery.
- It is deployed automatically, requiring only 30-60 minutes from activation to get access.
- Data stored by Velocity is stored in the cloud.
- It is not directly extensible due to its nature as SaaS.
- It is geared toward operations and geospatial analysts as opposed to GIS administrators.
It is hard to recommend one over the other as it depends on an organizational needs and security requirements. However, Velocity is the next generation of real-time GIS and these solutions are only supported out-of-the-box with Velocity.
Can you deploy these solutions without ArcGIS Velocity?
The Winter Weather, Street Sweeping, and Mowing Operations ArcGIS Solutions require a Velocity subscription to deploy.
Does Velocity need to be deployed in a Solution?
ArcGIS Velocity can be used and deployed outside of an ArcGIS Solution and many customers have successful implementations. ArcGIS Solutions are built from common deployment patterns.
How can I get an evaluation for ArcGIS Velocity?
To inquire about an evaluation of ArcGIS Velocity, please contact your Esri Account Manager or fill out a form, here: https://www.esri.com/en-us/webinars/contact-sales.
Can this also be used for traffic road closure and detour, for events or road work?
The Winter Weather Operations, Mowing Operations, and Street Sweeping Operationssolutions do not use traffic, road closure, or events out of the box, however, they can be customized with ArcGIS Velocity to bring in this type of data, such as live traffic data from the ArcGIS Living Atlas. Generally, Solutions are extensible and allow for users to deploy and integrate with content in ArcGIS and other solutions.
Additionally, we have a Special Event solution and a Road Closures solution.
Will there be a new version of the Winter Weather solution?
Yes! There is an update for the Winter Weather Operations solution scheduled for the June release.
Is there a way to multi-purpose avl vehicles that are part of multiple operational activities. For example, we have mowing and brush cutting programs. Within the mowing operation could we split which function the vehicles are purposed for? For example, we just setup the street sweeping operation and cloned it for a similar purpose. We were wondering if there was a way to do both.
Mowing Operations and Street Sweeping Operations solutions deliver shared resources utilized by both solutions to help you ingest and manage vehicle information shared between the two solutions. This shared data model helps streamline vehicle information used by both solutions and helps reduce the amount of running resources in ArcGIS Velocity to support these solutions. In this shared data model, a single asset (vehicle) can support more than one operation, however, it can only be assigned to one operation at a time. Currently, there are two supported operations that utilize this shared data model, mowing and sweeping. Future solutions designed to support real-time vehicle operations will be added to this shared data model, including the update for Winter Weather Operations solution planned for our June 2025 release.
Can you explain how the roads in the sweeping dashboard are split with left/right side?
Street Sweeping routes have attribute fields that store schedule information for left and right side of the road. The ArcGIS Pro Project shipped with the solution helps you build schedule information that can be unique (or the same) for the Left, or Right, side of the road, depending on your organizations needs. Left and Right is determined by the digitized direction of the segment, which enables us to display West or East side of the road to the end user in Street Sweeping Operations solutions popups, for instance.
Do you have any examples of customers who have successfully implemented these solutions?
We recently published an article detailing the successful implementation of the Winter Weather Operations solution by the City of Syracuse. Here is a link: https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/blog/syracuse-tracks-maps-snowplows
For more details about additional customers and their experiences, please reach out to your account manager.
I am an academic interested in monitoring street conditions, such as when streets are plowed during winter events. Is there a role these solutions play in archiving data, or is there historical data available through ESRI for city winter maintenance or street maintenance?
Organizations can store this data as part of the solution or export it into feature layers in ArcGIS Online. You would have to check with the city or county specifically for access to that data, as it would be maintained by the government entity. Esri does not have access to the output data from these analytics and workflows.
Is network analyst required to develop something like street sweeping routes?
Network analyst is not required for this solution. We help you transform basic street centerline data using ArcGIS Pro so it can be used in the Solutions analytical workflows.
How do the Street Sweeping and Mowing Operations solutions calculate percentage complete? Most operations require multiple passes to complete the operations.
In Street Sweeping Operations, a road’s sweep schedule goal is considered complete if the road was passed in both directions (if both sides of the road are scheduled for that given day).
In Mowing Operations, the deck width of the mower is extrapolated out in the Mowing Operation Analytics Big Data Analytic to calculate a mowed path area. This area is calculated as an attribute in a dissolved polygon showing the mowed path. The acreage/area of the mowed path is compared to the acreage of the intersected mowing area to calculate a percentage mowed threshold. This threshold is set to 25% by default but is configurable so that the solution can be fine-tuned once deployed and tested for your organization. Once a mow is beyond this threshold, the Big Data Analytic will automatically calculate metrics on to the Mowing Area Inventory layer, including Last Service Date, Mowing Status, Current Cycle Count, and Next Service Date which is extrapolated from the Number of Days Between Mowing value and Last Service Date metric.
The Winter Weather Operations, Street Sweeping Operations, and Mowing Operations solutions are designed around ArcGIS Velocity, but can they use ArcGIS GeoEvent Server for those who are using ArcGIS Enterprise?
Currently these solutions are only supported with ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Velocity. In saying that, if you have ArcGIS GeoEvent Server then you could build something similar to these real-time solutions using ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS GeoEvent Server.
One presenter mentioned that these solutions can be built without having AVLs installed. How is this possible?
Mobile apps delivered with these solutions support Location sharing. Location sharing is an organization-wide capability that allows you to record where mobile workers are and where they have been. Drivers of vehicles without an AVL installed can use these apps to share their real-time vehicle location, which is then ingested into ArcGIS Velocity using a feed, which is similar ArcGIS Velocity connects to AVL devices. Location sharing is an organization-wide capability that allows you to record where mobile workers are and where they have been.
When will ArcGIS Velocity be supported in ArcGIS Enterprise?
We are continuing to advance the next generation of real-time visualization & analytics and are in development of a self-hosted offering of Velocity to be available in Windows & Linux with a target availability of 2026. If you have any questions, please reach out to: hmiller@esri.com
How does velocity scale with current hosting and processing capacity? For example, my company serves municipalities and DOTs across 70 locations.
ArcGIS Velocity is limited by number of running items, scaling capacity, and storage. If you have analytics processing many features across different regions, that would likely require a higher subscription tier, such as a dedicated subscription. The Advanced and Dedicated subscription tiers can be expanded with compute add-ons. For more information on the ArcGIS Velocity Subscription tiers, visit our licensing page: https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-velocity/licensing.
Can the winter operations also incorporate weather monitoring?
The Winter Weather Solution does not come preconfigured with weather monitoring. That being said, Velocity can be used to customize the solutions and bring in real-time weather data. For an example of using data from Baron Weather, watch this video: https://mediaspace.esri.com/media/t/1_gdrr44fo?st=137520
The Velocity interface looks a lot like Data Pipelines, does it have a similar Editor Mode that consumes credits? If so what’s the rate?
Although the ArcGIS Velocity user interface looks similar to ArcGIS Data Pipelines, they are different products that offer a different set of capabilities. ArcGIS Velocity does not consume credits.
ArcGIS Velocity subscriptions are licensed per ArcGIS Online Organization subscription. Customers can buy the license level that supports the velocity and volume they need for their real-time and big data use cases. The subscription levels are Standard, Advanced, and Dedicated, each with different processing speeds, storage capacities, and computation capabilities
Are you using Experience Builder to create a site where multiple Dashboards are available via the Header Bar?
Yes, Experience Builder is used to create a centralized site where users can access multiple dashboards via header bar or navigation menu.
I’m new to ArcGIS Velocity, are there online courses?
We have many resources that address all skill levels of Velocity users. A good place to get started is our ArcGIS Velocity Learn Path. This contains several articles, videos, and tutorials to help you get started with Velocity.
There are some areas within my county that do not have wifi or internet capabilities. Can the Winter Weather Operations solution run without access to the internet?
Internet connection is required for ArcGIS Velocity in order to connect data feeds from Vehicles. If your AVL/data provider supports storing vehicle movement data locally until a data connection is established, the solution could potentially be extended to ingest this data in bulk for processing in the Solutions analytics and dashboards. For instance, if Location sharing is used with the Winter Weather Operations QuickCapture project, location tracks are stored locally on the device and uploaded in bulk once a data connection is established. This bulk upload could then be used to calculate last service information on snow routes. At this time, this workflow is not supported out of the box with the solution, but the solutions apps and analytics can be extended to support this workflow.
Is ArcGIS Velocity an App in the ArcGIS Online portal?
ArcGIS Velocity is an add-on subscription to ArcGIS Online. Once an organization purchases Velocity, it will appear in the App Launcher with your other ArcGIS Online apps.
For more details on ArcGIS Velocity, visit the product page. For information on the Velocity-powered solutions, go to our Velocity Use Cases page. Can’t find your answer? Join us on the Esri Community to ask your questions there and share your ideas.
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