ArcGIS On Macs, Virtualization - Providing Access to Non-SaaS ArcGIS applications

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09-30-2021 06:05 AM
GeriMiller
Esri Regular Contributor
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As GIS has become ubiquitous for all disciplines and has been made widely available across academic campuses, we have seen many questions in terms of various deployment options. When it comes to desktop GIS applications (such as ArcGIS Pro), we often get questions such as “How can I use ArcGIS on Mac”, or “How do I virtualize ArcGIS”? The answers could vary, and the purpose of this blog is to provide considerations and options for providing access to ArcGIS.

OPTIONS FOR PROVIDING ACCESS TO ARCGIS

  • SaaS (Software as a Service)
  • Install ArcGIS on student/staff/faculty computers (Macs or Windows PC)
  • Virtualization (managed and provided by institution)

SAAS

ArcGIS Online as SaaS provides an easy to access standardized environment, where the requirement is simply having a browser.   The technology has grown immensely over the years - many capabilities are possible with ArcGIS Online and Apps, potentially eliminating the need for locally installed client software. The key question to ask, before going down the road of desktop-only GIS applications, is:

  • Can you achieve your course objectives using SaaS (i.e., ArcGIS Online and Apps), instead of ArcGIS Pro?

Some more advanced objectives (most likely in advanced GIS course work), however, may still require desktop GIS; in some these cases, blend of SaaS and Desktop GIS could be appropriate.  

Below are quotes from peer institutions on their approaches when it comes to SaaS.

JHU: "Where we can, especially for undergraduate courses where faculty are interested in doing some GIS work (but where it’s not a focus area), we’ve switched many over to a fully ArcGIS Online model."

Clemson University: "We encouraged faculty to move instruction to ArcGIS Online. This is our advice if institutions haven’t virtualized yet, or have little experience with it, as students might not have the right computer/access/space), etc."

NC State University:  "If our in-house virtual environment were to become overloaded for some reason and all else fails, we would look for ways to supplement our instruction with more ArcGIS Online examples where we can, particularly at the undergraduate level."

INSTALLING ARCGIS ON STUDENT/FACULTY/STAFF COMPUTERS,

VIRTUALIZATION PROVIDED BY INSTITUTION

The GIS applications that could be installed on student/faculty/staff machines, or virtualized (managed and provided by institution), are the following:  

  • ArcGIS Pro
  • ArcMap
  • ArcGIS CityEngine
  • ArcGIS Insights
  • AppStudio Desktop
  • Survey 123 Connect

For the purpose of this blog, we’ll focus on ArcGIS Pro.

Providing Access to ArcGIS Pro

It is important to recognize that while there are various approaches of providing access to ArcGIS Pro, they differ in user experience (i.e. varied versus standardized/consistent environment), as well as time/resources to setup.

Two broad categories are below:

  • Install ArcGIS on student/staff/faculty computers (Macs or Windows PC) - BYOD, varied environment
    • Macs require extra virtualization setup
  • Use an institution-managed solution - standardized environment
    • Campus computer lab
    • Virtual environment (on-premise, cloud)

One has to manage expectations for user experience and for support workload. The "correct" choice is one where the institution/department is able to fund and provide available expertise to support. Institutional landscape is a key factor in finding the best solution for your organization, after considering what environments already exist, where expertise lies, complexities of people, units and budgets, among other considerations. 

Typically, we have seen that standardized environment (institution-managed virtual environment), provide higher ROI (return on investment), after considering resources (time, costs) spent on setting up and managing an environment. In other words, generally takes more time to support individual users install on their own computers, compared to collaborating with IT colleagues to provide a standardized one.

Additional benefit of standardized environment is that everybody gets the same user experience, versus varied environments which may provide a different experience.

A standardized environment provided by the institution will address the needs of all Mac users, which is an important consideration, given many students have Mac computers.

It is also useful to note that the value and usability of a virtualized GIS desktop application in a standardized environment can be increased when certain ancillary applications are made available in the same environment, (Notepad++, Windows Explorer, Excel, etc.)  This is possible using both application-centric delivery methods like AWS AppStream, and desktop-centric virtualization patterns like AWS Workspaces, AWS EC2, etc.

Below is a quote from Yale University GIS instructor, after utilizing their institution-managed virtual environment (built and managed by Yale ITS End Point Engineering, in collaboration with University Library GIS Services, and School of Environment).

“The remote virtual desktop has been absolutely terrific.  It’s been wonderful to have all of the students ready to go on the first day of class in a reliable and predictable environment.

I teach live from the remote virtual desktop, do all of my own work there, and support students using it.  It’s been indispensable!”

Lessons Learned

Below are a few observations shared by peer institutions.

  • Collaborate with your IT colleagues, as they do this for many other applications other than GIS!!! This is probably the most important lessons learned of all.
  • Get virtual environment right (Mac, cloud, or on-premise virtualization) - for ArcGIS Pro to work at a useful level, one must dedicate time in the beginning to plan and size the environment properly.
  • Follow system requirements from the start – considering graphics resources, not just GPUs, will save time/headaches in the long run.

An anecdote from Virginia Tech, signifying the importance of reaching out and collaborating with IT colleagues, who were already running cloud virtual desktops for other applications:  “After months of work preparing ArcGIS Pro AWS AppStream for a production launch, we discovered that another unit in our Division of IT was offering a “Cloud Virtual Desktops” service to the campus via a third party SaaS provider, Apporto.  After evaluating the performance of the Apporto solution for common GIS workflows, and finding that it was comparable to a g4dn.2xlarge EC2 instance, we realized that for the use case of a “computer lab replacement” for general purpose project work, the Cloud Virtual Desktops solution met the need and we could direct our users to them.  Doing so will help to broaden their user base as they work to establish their service as the  “standard” virtualized desktop platform for the university, avoids offering a competing service, and takes an advantage of a service that someone else is already running. We will still have AppStream as a tool in our toolbox for specialized use cases. “

Virtualization Resources

There are many resources to help with virtualization (whether cloud or on-premise), and below are a few.

 We welcome any feedback to enhance this blog and help peer institutions make informed decisions.