Text Message

The Text Message output in ArcGIS Velocity allows you to send a text message using an externally accessible SMTP server. You can configure the subject and message body of the text message to use attribute values. A text message is sent for each output feature sent to the output.

Examples

The following are example use cases for the output:

• An analyst configures a real-time analytic to filter events ingested by a feed and sends a text message for any features that meet the filter criteria.
• After performing analysis in a big data analytic, a researcher wants to summarize attributes of the results and send the resulting information in a text message.

Usage notes

Keep the following in mind when working with the output:

• When using the Text Message output, it is important to understand the velocity of the data. Each record sent to the output generates a separate text message. This could quickly overload the capacity or rate limiting settings of an SMTP server. As a best practice, do not configure the Text Message output to send more messages than your SMTP server can handle.
• Text messages can be sent to a single recipient or to a set of recipients using a comma-separated list.
• Text message recipients can be configured from an existing field or by entering phone numbers for each carrier.
  • If configured from a field, the addresses should be in the format: number@carrier_domain. For example, for a phone number of [phone] using the carrier AT&T, the corresponding recipient address is (123) [e-mail].
  • If you're entering recipients by carrier, provide the phone numbers for each carrier selected in the Carrier drop-down menu.
• Phone numbers can be formatted as [phone] or as 1234567890. All extraneous characters are deleted in processing.

Parameters

The following are the parameters for the output:

Parameter	Description	Data type
SMTP server	The SMTP server that sends the text message—for example, smtp.HOST-NAME.com.	String
SMTP server security	The type of SMTP encryption to use on all outgoing messages. Options are as follows: STARTTLS SSL/TLS	String
Username	The username for the SMTP server.	String
Password	The password for the SMTP server.	Password
Sender's address	The address that appears as the sender of the text message—for example, (123)[e-mail].	Email
Recipients (optional)	The text message recipient or recipients. These can be supplied by an attribute in the outgoing data, or manually when configuring the output. If you're using an attribute from the data and sending text messages to more than one recipient, use a comma-separated list. Single-recipient example: (123)[e-mail] Multiple-recipient example: (123)[e-mail],(234)[e-mail],(345)[e-mail] If you're configuring manually, provide the phone numbers for each carrier selected from the drop-down menu. Multiple recipients can be entered in a comma-separated list. Single-recipient example: [phone] with @txt.att.net selected from the Carrier drop-down menu. Multiple-recipient example: [phone],[phone],[phone] with @txt.att.net selected from the Carrier drop-down menu.	Email
Subject (optional)	The subject of the text message. The subject can be configured in a single-line Arcade expression.	Arcade Singleline Text
Message body (optional)	The body of the text message. The message body can be configured in a multiline Arcade expression. Access a feature attribute value by enclosing it in the following token sequence: $${$feature.any_attribute_name}. Use an Arcade expression by encoding it in the following token sequence $${functionName}—for example, $${TextFormatting.NewLine}.	Arcade Multiline Text

Considerations and limitations

Consider the following when using the output:

• It is recommended that you use the Text Message output for incidents expected to occur relatively infrequently.
• The SMTP server must be externally accessible on the internet.

Note:

The carrier must support the email-to-text service to send or receive texts. As of June 17, 2025, AT&T no longer supports email-to-text messages. This means you cannot send a text message to an AT&T customer from an email address, but you can still use SMS (text), MMS, and standard email services to communicate with them.

Learn more about the end of AT&T email-to-text service