Performance Issues with Poor Internet Connection

Question

Hello,

I am an ArcGIS Pro user working in an area with very poor and unstable internet connectivity. I've noticed a significant performance issue when I am online, even if I am not actively using any internet resources within ArcGIS. For example, when I attempt to run a simple GPX to Feature conversion, it takes an excessive amount of time—around 10 minutes or more—before it completes. However, when I disconnect from the internet, the same geoprocessing task finishes in about 10 seconds.

I need to be connected to load some online background layers, but the overall performance when I am connected is very poor. Simple actions like CTRL + Z take multiple minutes to respond, and editing a feature can take an eternity.

My question is: Why does ArcGIS Pro's performance seem to rely so heavily on an internet connection, even for straightforward processes that should not require online resources?

Thank you for your assistance

Best regards,

ShaneONeill_144 · Answer

Hi @Alex_gis, if you see better performance while offline then it might be worth taking your ArcGIS Pro license offline to see if performance stabilises.

* Authorize ArcGIS Pro to work offline

Alex_gis · Answer

Thanks for your answer.

I already went through the troubleshooting performance issue process and it remains the same. To me, the bottleneck is known; it is the internet connection. When I'm offline, performance is good for standard use (such as geoprocessing, editing, etc.). When I'm online, the same actions, which, in my opinion, do not need any internet connection, show very poor performance.

I try to work offline as much as I can, but more and more layers are online and need to be downloaded frequently to have updates or to push updates online. Does ArcGIS offer an option to automatically download online layers frequently?

Currently, ArcGIS doesn't offer an offline option (or I'm not aware of one). My solution is to add a rule in the firewall to block arcgis.exe, but it means disabling the rule and restarting ArcGIS Pro each time I need to work online. It is a bit of a pain.

Why does ArcGIS slow down so much for actions that do not need an internet connection?

Thank you

danretired · Answer

Troubleshooting Performance Issues in ArcGIS Pro (esri.com)

several possible reasons, if you haven't seen the above (eg anti-virus)

you can use the performance assement tool to monitor what the bottleneck is

If you can download your data locally, you can work offline completely if you want