---
id: platforms/esri-arcgis
about:
  depiction: platforms/esri-arcgis.jpg
  label: Esri ArcGIS
  description: >-
    Esri's commercial geographic information system; creates, manages, analyses,
    maps and shares spatial data, and is the geographic base of many city and
    infrastructure twin projects.
  tags:
    - GIS
    - 3D
    - BIM
tool:
  form: Commercial platform
  homepage: 'https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/about-arcgis/overview'
open:
  source: closed
  data: unknown
  api: unknown
  participation: unknown
domains:
  - places
provenance:
  origin: agent
  sources:
    - title: Geospatial Platform | ArcGIS GIS Software for Business & Government
      url: 'https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/about-arcgis/overview'
    - title: Digital Twin Technology & GIS | What is a Digital Twin?
      url: 'https://www.esri.com/en-us/digital-twin/overview'
  reviewed: '2026-10-18'
  reviewed_by: 'Claude, from the sources listed'
  status: draft
---
Esri sells ArcGIS to businesses and governments.[^1] It presents the software as the base of what it calls a geospatial digital twin.[^2] GIS layers, 3D models, building information models (detailed digital models of buildings) and sensor feeds are joined in one view that also shows past and future states.[^1,2] The view can cover a single facility or a whole region.[^2]

Esri's digital-twin page names six projects. Three are twins of cities and their infrastructure:[^2]

- Cross River Rail in Brisbane used a twin of infrastructure above and below ground to build the city's first underground railway.[^2]
- The Prague Institute of Planning and Development uses one to weigh development against climate and heritage.[^2]
- A twin of Boston joins zoning, transport and public-safety data for city decision-makers.[^2]

Esri is a member of the Digital Twin Consortium.[^2] ArcGIS is commercial, licensed software.[^1]