Using GeoAnalytics Tools in combination with ‘regular’ tools in a workflow

[DalindaDamm]

How common is it to use ‘regular’ Toolbox tools in ArcGIS Pro 2.1.1 along with GeoAnalytics Tools (GeoAnalytics Server 10.6) within the same workflow?

I have seen the combining of GeoAnalytics tools and ‘other’ tools within a workflow in an Esri demonstration online, but I am still wondering about the effectiveness of using the GeoAnalytics Server (along with ArcGIS Pro) with a workflow that contains several geoprocessing steps, only one or two of which can be accomplished using a tool in the GeoAnalytics Toolbox. I would think that the advantage of the faster processing afforded by the GeoAnalytics Server could be outweighed by the time it takes to move data up to the appropriate Data Store and then back down to continue to be processed with the ‘regular’ tools in ArcGIS Pro. Has anyone faced a workflow situation like this, or have some input on the "worth it" factor of such a workflow set-up?

[SarahAmbrose · Accepted solution]

Hi Dalinda, 

Another great question! We aren’t able to tell how much of our users are mixing traditional desktop tools with GeoAnalytics tools. But, I can give you some general best practice guidelines and recommendations of when to use a mix of regular Pro GP tools and GeoAnalytics tools.

When we run GeoAnalytics tools with regular desktop tools (talking about Pro specifically here) we mostly do it in the following scenarios:

• When we start using GeoAnalytics and use it to summarize, aggregate or analyze the data so that it becomes a more manageable size. Then we chain Pro tools on using the smaller, more manageable result.
• When we’re analyzing data that’s of a size we could analyze with Pro tools, but we’re hoping to take advantage of capabilities only available in GeoAnalytics (like time steps in Aggregate Points, tools unique to GeoAnalytics, accessing data in a big data file share).

Let me know if you have any more questions on a specific use case or workflow. With more details on the type of data, data location and planned analysis, I can help figure out the best place to stage your data, and recommend how to take the most advantage of analysis on ArcGIS Enterprise. 

Sarah Ambrose
Product Engineer, GeoAnalytics Team

[DalindaDamm]

Thanks for this information!

I do have a somewhat tangential follow-up question. My understanding is that GeoAnalytics Server 10.6 (and previous versions) cannot directly communicate with an Oracle database, but that might be a capability with future versions. Is that true?