"},{"ID":8992,"user_firstname":"Raymond","user_lastname":"Bunn","nickname":"Ray","user_nicename":"rbunn","display_name":"Raymond Bunn","user_email":"RBunn@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2019-02-15 17:46:51","user_description":"Ray is an Architect with the Technology and Innovation Team. He leads an initiative to design and test ArcGIS systems with a focus on user experience.","user_avatar":"
"},{"ID":415897,"user_firstname":"Sarah","user_lastname":"Sibbett","nickname":"Sarah Sibbett","user_nicename":"ssibbett","display_name":"Sarah Sibbett","user_email":"ssibbett@esri.ca","user_url":"","user_registered":"2025-10-24 12:57:52","user_description":"Sarah Sibbett manages the Land Information Solutions team at Esri Canada. She works with customers across Canada to enhance their parcel mapping in order to better support key business activities.","user_avatar":"
"}],"related_articles":[{"ID":2938860,"post_author":"280142","post_date":"2025-09-18 08:14:42","post_date_gmt":"2025-09-18 15:14:42","post_content":"","post_title":"Network Latency Costs More Than You Think, and We Have the Data to Prove It","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"network-latency-costs-more-than-you-think-and-we-have-the-data-to-prove-it","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-12-15 08:43:18","post_modified_gmt":"2025-12-15 16:43:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2938860","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"4","filter":"raw"},{"ID":2926611,"post_author":"280142","post_date":"2025-08-12 06:14:35","post_date_gmt":"2025-08-12 13:14:35","post_content":"","post_title":"Seven Ways You Should Be Using Test Studies to Support Your ArcGIS Systems","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"design-test-optimize-using-test-studies-for-more-successful-arcgis-systems","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-12-15 08:44:24","post_modified_gmt":"2025-12-15 16:44:24","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2926611","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"short_description":"Learn how to reduce network latency between clients, like ArcGIS Pro, and other system components","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In our previous network latency blo<\/a>g, we looked at the quantitative impacts that network latency to the database can have on an ArcGIS system. But what about latency at other tiers?<\/p>\n Network latency can happen anywhere distributed system components exchange data. This includes when a client, like ArcGIS Pro, connects to the services tier, like ArcGIS Enterprise, for tasks like editing data. As organizations continue to shift to the cloud and support a distributed workforce, they must employ thoughtful design choices to ensure they deliver not only functional, but also highly responsive experiences for end-users.<\/p>\n The latency users notice, called perceived latency, can arise from a variety of sources, ranging from network performance to application misconfiguration, to insufficient system resources. However, this blog specifically looks at reducing network latency impacts at the client tier to improve user experience and efficiency.<\/p>\n","image_reference":false,"layout":"standard","image_reference_figure":"","snippet":"","spotlight_name":"","section_title":"","position":"Center","spotlight_image":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" In cloud-hosted environments, understanding how network latency impacts users, and mitigating those impacts through careful design, is critical to maintaining performance and usability. You can reduce network latency between clients (e.g desktops, laptops, mobile devices, and remote desktops) and other system components in several ways. While not comprehensive, this list highlights some key considerations:<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Physical distance between users, the clients they access, and the services they use increases latency and can create lag that\u2019s detrimental to user efficiency and experience. Consider:<\/p>\n VPNs can introduce noticeable perceived latency that appears as lag to end users in several ways. For example, they:<\/p>\n To help mitigate some of these impacts, consider:<\/p>\n Major cloud providers offer services to route user requests to the nearest edge location, onboarding traffic to their high-speed networks. This can help reduce latency between the client and services tiers through faster and more efficient networking, similar to taking a freeway between two cities rather than local roads.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Choose the optimal client connection for your organization\u2019s needs. For example, RDP (Microsoft\u2019s Remote Desktop Protocol) provides a general-purpose protocol commonly used for remote access to Windows environments. Meanwhile, the AWS DCV remote display protocol is often used to access AWS instances.<\/p>\n However, if users connect via remote desktop in conjunction with a VPN, latency will likely increase due to VPN overhead. This could make even simple UI interactions seem sluggish. VPNs provide significant security benefits. Still, it\u2019s important to measure and optimize the latency they introduce so users can be productive, as well as secure.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Remote users connecting to cloud infrastructure can also experience poor performance as a result of their own internet connection. For example, limited bandwidth, excessive network hops, or otherwise slow internet speeds can delay map rendering and data transfer.<\/p>\n We know all these design and configuration choices can impact performance and user efficiency – but by how much? Well, let\u2019s review some results from a recent trouble-shooting activity. The measurements shown in the graphics below help quantify how significantly these choices affect the system\u2019s behavior and user experience.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" The green lines represent connections between components inside the Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). They have very low latency because they sit close together, physically and on the network. Each diagram highlights one of the three scenarios we tested to understand the network latency between different points. From there, we identified the best path for mappers to perform their work for this organization.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Scenario 1 : remote workers connect with VPN to a virtual desktop that is collocated with ArcGIS Enterprise in the VPC<\/strong><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2945056,"id":2945056,"title":"clientlatencyscenario1","filename":"clientlatencyscenario1-scaled.png","filesize":88495,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario1-scaled.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/administration\/tackling-network-latency-at-the-client-tier-of-arcgis-systems\/clientlatencyscenario1","alt":"Diagram showing remote workers connecting with a VPN to a virtual desktop that is collocated with ArcGIS Enterprise in a VPC","author":"280142","description":"","caption":"","name":"clientlatencyscenario1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2944659,"date":"2025-10-23 14:19:05","modified":"2025-10-23 14:27:27","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2560,"height":983,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario1-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario1-scaled.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":178,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario1-scaled.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":295,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario1-scaled.png","large-width":1920,"large-height":737,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario1-1536x590.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":590,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario1-2048x786.png","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":786,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario1-826x317.png","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":317,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario1-1920x737.png","wide_image-width":1920,"wide_image-height":737}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Workers connect to virtual machine instances with AWS DCV from their remote offices and laptops. They establish a VPN connection and launch ArcGIS Pro on a virtual desktop to edit map features. Network latency between the virtual desktop and ArcGIS Enterprise stays low – less than 2ms. And the latency between ArcGIS Enterprise and the geodatabase drops below 1ms. However, latency up to 220ms between the user and the virtual desktop creates a serious problem.<\/p>\n This latency is caused by the geographic distance between the user and the VPC, the VPN, and the user\u2019s Internet provider (the number of hops in the route and the speed of the service). \u00a0The result is graphics-related lag, like a sluggish cursor that can\u2019t quite keep up with the user. The system overall is performant because components within the VPC have very low network latency. However, the graphics- related lag impacts user experience and productivity. And because user efficiency impacts the bottom line, helping users be productive is in everyone\u2019s best interest, and ultimately helps maximize return on investment.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Scenario 2 : r<\/strong>emote workers connect to desktops in the office, with ArcGIS Enterprise components deployed in a VPC<\/strong><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2945057,"id":2945057,"title":"clientlatencyscenario2","filename":"clientlatencyscenario2-scaled.png","filesize":87691,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario2-scaled.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/administration\/tackling-network-latency-at-the-client-tier-of-arcgis-systems\/clientlatencyscenario2","alt":"diagram showing remote workers connecting to desktops in a corporate office, with ArcGIS Enterprise and the enterprise geodatabase deployed in a VPC","author":"280142","description":"","caption":"","name":"clientlatencyscenario2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2944659,"date":"2025-10-23 14:19:23","modified":"2025-10-23 14:27:35","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2560,"height":983,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario2-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario2-scaled.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":178,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario2-scaled.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":295,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario2-scaled.png","large-width":1920,"large-height":737,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario2-1536x590.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":590,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario2-2048x786.png","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":786,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario2-826x317.png","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":317,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario2-1920x737.png","wide_image-width":1920,"wide_image-height":737}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Workers use a VPN connection from their laptops and RDP into desktops located in the corporate office, launch ArcGIS Pro, and then connect to ArcGIS Enterprise services in the cloud. This scenario produces some latency between the remote laptop and the office (75ms) as well as between the office and ArcGIS Enterprise (55ms).<\/p>\n This scenario has less total latency than scenario 1 (about 130 ms vs 220 ms) because the worker sits closer to the corporate office (which has a better connection to AWS). Overall user experience may be better because the users enjoy more responsive mouse clicks and movements. However, ArcGIS Pro may take longer to process some requests waiting for data transfer. But, that processing isn\u2019t experienced by the user in the same way (e.g screen latency or mouse sluggishness.) Any perceived latency in this scenario likely results from processing slowness due to the data transfer distance.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Scenario 3 : remote workers connect directly to a virtual desktop that is collocated with ArcGIS Enterprise in the VPC<\/strong><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2945058,"id":2945058,"title":"clientlatencyscenario3","filename":"clientlatencyscenario3-scaled.png","filesize":87402,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario3-scaled.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/administration\/tackling-network-latency-at-the-client-tier-of-arcgis-systems\/clientlatencyscenario3","alt":"diagram showing remote workers connecting directly to a vietual desktop (without a VPN) that is collocated with ArcGIS Enterprise in the VPC","author":"280142","description":"","caption":"","name":"clientlatencyscenario3","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2944659,"date":"2025-10-23 14:19:41","modified":"2025-10-23 14:26:46","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2560,"height":983,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario3-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario3-scaled.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":178,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario3-scaled.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":295,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario3-scaled.png","large-width":1920,"large-height":737,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario3-1536x590.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":590,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario3-2048x786.png","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":786,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario3-826x317.png","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":317,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/clientlatencyscenario3-1920x737.png","wide_image-width":1920,"wide_image-height":737}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Workers connect directly to virtual machine instances (no VPN) with AWS DCV from their remote offices and laptops and launch ArcGIS Pro on a virtual desktop. Latency between the user and the virtual desktop, which ranged from 69-151 ms depending on which user was testing, created the problem here. Eliminating the VPN reduced network latency as compared to scenario 1, but not enough to eliminate lag for all users. This scenario is impacted by the geographic distance between the remote office and the virtual private cloud, as well as each individual user\u2019s Internet service. Ultimately this is not an acceptable solution in this situation because there is no VPN, which is necessary for security purposes. Further, this scenario didn\u2019t produce consistent results for all users.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Tools<\/strong><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" To monitor and evaluate network latency at the client tier, you need to collect certain kinds of measurements. For example, in this case we collected telemetry using the PsPing utility<\/a> which measures network performance, including bandwidth and latency. We also used tracert (trace route), a Windows network diagnostic command-line utility, which maps the path data packets taken from a client to a destination.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Whether presenting as graphics-related lag or slower data processing, high network latency negatively impacts user experience, their ability to work productively, and consequently, the bottom line. Therefore, doing what you can to reduce network latency across a system’s tiers is a worthwhile pursuit.<\/p>\n While what we’ve shown here is just one possible deployment scenario, we can gather some broadly applicable insights to help you make design decisions that reduce network latency and provide a positive end user experience:<\/p>\n \u27a1\ufe0f You can also find our full catalog of test studies and blogs here<\/a><\/p>\n\n
How to reduce latency between clients and other system components<\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
Reduce physical distance between users, desktops, ArcGIS Enterprise, and the enterprise geodatabase. <\/strong><\/h4>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
\n
Mitigate VPN impacts when possible<\/strong><\/h4>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
\n
\n
Leverage cloud services <\/strong><\/h4>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
Choose or advocate for the right remote display protocol and VPN<\/strong><\/h4>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
Optimize client internet connections <\/strong><\/h4>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
\n
Quantifying the impact<\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
Summary of results<\/h3>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
\n
Recommendations<\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
\n
\n