Answers to common questions about ArcGIS for Microsoft Planetary Computer are provided.
Overview
Licensing
Getting started
Overview
ArcGIS for Microsoft Planetary Computer is a capability that brings hundreds of ready-to-use analysis tools from ArcGIS to Microsoft Planetary Computer so you can observe, analyze, and monitor the earth. ArcGIS for Microsoft Planetary Computer spins up an ArcGIS Pro virtual machine on demand in the cloud. It offers all the capabilities you have licensed for ArcGIS Pro, including raster analytics tools, geoprocessing tools, publishing tools, and any extensions you have purchased.
You can use ArcGIS for Microsoft Planetary Computer to apply image processing and analysis tools to imagery datasets cataloged on Microsoft Planetary Computer. You can develop and run image processing chains and models, using geoprocessing tools and raster function templates, on datasets staged in the Microsoft Planetary Computer catalog. All the capabilities available to you using ArcGIS Pro and Image Analyst are available on the virtual machine including the following:
- Change detection to locate areas impacted by disasters, identify new urban development, monitor sea level changes, and update trend forecasts
- AI and machine learning workflows such as land cover classification and object detection
- Susceptibility analysis to identify areas at risk of fires, floods, landslides, and other disasters
- Suitability assessment to find the best sites for land-use prescriptions, conservation, and agriculture
Licensing
ArcGIS for Microsoft Planetary Computer uses a bring-your-own-license model. You need licenses for ArcGIS Pro and the ArcGIS Image Analyst extension to access the full extent of this offering (advanced image analysis, deep learning, feature extraction, time series analysis, radar analysis, and more). Other extensions such as ArcGIS Spatial Analyst and ArcGIS 3D Analyst extension may be helpful depending on your workflows.
ArcGIS for Microsoft Planetary Computer provides direct access to the Microsoft Planetary Computer data catalog from the ArcGIS Pro interface so you can immediately start analyzing petabytes worth of data. You also receive proprietary tools for querying by space, time, and cloud cover.
Note:
These tools are currently available for Landsat, Sentinel, and NAIP with more available to come.
Getting started
The data and the offering reside on the Microsoft Azure infrastructure, so you need an Azure subscription. Based on your organization’s IT and legal policies, you may need to consult your IT department to set up an Azure account. However, if your organization does not have policies related to this, you can follow the instructions on the Azure Get Started page. Once you have an Azure account, refer to Configure ArcGIS for Microsoft Planetary Computer.
The github site provides information and various resources that aid the usage of AMPC. It includes cloud storage connection files that allows you to access data on MPC, scripting tools that helps you find and retrieve data on MPC as well as Jupyter notebook examples that guides you to accessing data, performing analysis, and more.