A well-known local slogan encourages people to “Keep Austin Weird.” But when it comes to digital infrastructure, the City of Austin’s Communications and Technology Management (CTM) Department focuses on being thoughtful, stable, and future-ready.
In preparation for the planned retirement of ArcGIS Desktop (ArcMap), CTM began developing a road map for migration to more modern geographic information system (GIS) solutions. ArcMap had long supported hundreds of GIS users across Austin’s municipal departments, but the city recognized the need to shift to more current technology platforms to meet emerging needs and created a proactive, unified approach to modernizing GIS.
“Now that everyone is on ArcGIS Pro, and that’s the default, people have really begun to explore with its capabilities,” said Andrew Rudin, a data architect at CTM. “These include all the things that weren’t in ArcMap that Esri has been developing for many years. It doesn’t seem like a futuristic thing anymore. It’s just a practical thing, and it’s allowing us to kick off a whole new set of projects.”
This graphic illustrates the objectives the City of Austin established to measure success during the migration.
Prior to the migration, there was an Oracle database that served as the locus for all GIS activity among Austin’s municipal employees. CTM called it the “GIS Data Mart.”
GIS analysts published content there. Anyone could connect to it, gather what they needed, and use ArcMap for analysis.
“Whether you were a light viewer, like, say, an environmental scientist, or an engineer looking for data to explore, you’d always go to the database and do a direct connect to it,” Rudin said.
In 2012, some city workers got ArcGIS Online accounts. CTM moved some data there, which was convenient for analysts who wanted to build custom apps. But most users were happy doing their GIS data shopping at the GIS Data Mart.
CTM’s solution was to break the transition down into phases that each lasted about a year. The idea was to show people that although the move to ArcGIS Pro was a necessity, it was also a welcome change.
“The thing that always gets people is the fear of something not being supported in the future,” Rudin said. “We kind of had to angle it to emphasize what’s not going to be in ArcMap versus what is in [ArcGIS] Pro.”
Communication was key throughout the process. A Geospatial Information Management Board held regular meetings with a consortium of GIS analysts from across city government. Dubbed the SPOCS (“single points of contact”), the group communicated concerns that they or their colleagues were having. SPOCs would also bring back useful information that would facilitate the shift and get people excited about the migration from a legacy software to a more modern geospatial platform.
Some GIS users were eager to make the switch. In that first year, at least six city agencies, including the parks, fire, and police departments, transitioned to ArcGIS Pro. Other agencies required a little hand-holding, at least at first. CTM had access to information regarding individual usage, so they could see which agencies were still digging into the GIS Data Mart. This allowed CTM to better understand the situation each SPOC was dealing with.
Fears that ArcGIS Pro would be difficult to learn quickly dissipated when reluctant users received offers of assistance and opportunities to learn the new software. And through it all, the lines of communication were wide open. CTM even began publishing a regular newsletter to keep people aware of the ongoing migration. They made sure to halt any new installations, and that all new employees began with ArcGIS Pro.
CTM’s participation in the Esri Advantage Program was productive, as well. Access to the program’s strategic training allowed the agency to offer several “Migrating to Pro” instructor-led classes during the migration. An Esri solution engineer was easily reachable to answer questions regarding how to accomplish the same tasks in ArcGIS Pro that people were accustomed to doing in ArcMap. Individual departments with custom ArcMap extensions used Learning and Service Credits through the program to consult with Esri Professional Services to determine individual migration paths for their tools. CTM’s technical advisor helped connect them with teams within Esri that could answer niche questions and coordinate small activities between Austin city government offices and Esri technical resources.
This graphic illustrates the step the City of Austin took to get started with their migration.
During phase two, CTM strategically targeted certain agencies.
“In that second year, we aimed for departments that we knew had a really big user base,” Rudin said. “We also looked for departments that we thought might experience technical issues and need a third year to work through.”
One of the early success stories was the city’s Development Services Department, which helps homeowners, business owners, and contractors ensure compliance with applicable city and building codes when they build, demolish, repair, or perform any construction in the City of Austin. They’re now able to explore new ways to improve the city’s permitting system to get more projects online faster and complete city enhancements.
More innovations are on the horizon. Although the migration to ArcGIS Pro has been ongoing for a few years, the city just added ArcGIS Enterprise in early 2025, opening up even more possibilities.
“We’ve gained so much more momentum with our [ArcGIS] Enterprise deployment in the cloud, being able to set people up to use things like [ArcGIS] Indoors and utility mapping,” said Marna McLain, Austin’s IT corporate manager. “It feels like we’re not being held back.”
“Having both [ArcGIS] Pro and [ArcGIS] Enterprise established allows us to modernize our infrastructure and data maintenance workflows,” Rudin said.
In the past, people throughout Austin’s government used ArcMap to edit data directly in a geodatabase, using traditional versioning. Those datasets can now be exposed as feature services in ArcGIS Enterprise, allowing people to edit data through those services. That capability will open features such as branch versioning and editing from ArcGIS Field Maps.
The perceived advantages extend beyond just map-based activities to include all manner of workflow improvements. CTM envisions using the web-based system to make it easier for developers to share Python code. They’re looking into ways to use ArcGIS Workflow Manager to better communicate with Austin residents who need services.
“It’s really re-envisioning how we use Workflow [Manager], using that to somehow engage with our customers,” Rudin said.
What about the GIS Data Mart? Will it close up shop for good? “Do we share it on from [ArcGIS] Enterprise? Do we use AGOL [ArcGIS Online]?” Rudin said. “So that’s the next stage: looking at our on-premises enterprise geodatabases and our standalone ArcGIS services and figuring out what to do next.”
CTM is looking forward to the opportunities modern technology presents. With the migration nearly complete, CTM can advance new projects with greater flexibility. “We’re free to be able to keep moving with updates to the latest products,” McLain said.
Rudin laughed. “It’s true,” he said. “One of the biggest advantages of transitioning to [ArcGIS] Pro is that we no longer have to worry about the transition.”
Taking bold steps to migrate well in advance of the ArcGIS Desktop retirement in March 2026 has paid off, and today it’s clear that the three-phase plan worked. The majority of City of Austin government workers have said goodbye to ArcMap and embraced the future.
ArcGIS Desktop (ArcMap) retires March 1, 2026—step into a modern geospatial platform.
Now that everyone is on ArcGIS Pro, and that’s the default, people have really begun to explore its capabilities. These include all the things that weren’t in ArcMap that Esri has been developing for many years. It doesn’t seem like a futuristic thing anymore. It’s just a practical thing, and it’s allowing us to kick off a whole new set of projects.