discussion / Geospatial  / 8 January 2025

Data storage and Esri integration with Microsoft Azure

Hello! I'm wondering whether there's anyone on here who would be able to offer me some guidance on storing spatial data in Microsoft Azure, and how to integrate Esri products with Azure.

At the charity I work for, all spatial data are stored in OneDrive or on personal computers/hard drives. As I'm sure you know, OneDrive can have syncing issues and isn't really built for storing spatial data or hosting data that is being edited in ArcPro or QGIS. 

My organisation has moved general data storage to Azure. I firstly want to understand how I can make use of this data storage system, with the hope of having all spatial data stored in an accessible and backed-up system that is usable by all skill levels. I secondly want to understand what we can gain from integrating Esri products with Azure. 

I think it's worth saying now that we don't use Enterprise. I'm noticing a lot of the resources out there reference Enterprise being deployed on Microsoft Azure. If this is a deal breaker for using Azure, then any good resources for spatial data management would be very much appreciated. 

If you or anyone you know uses Azure or just has an organised way for everyone to store and collaborate on spatial data with, I would love to hear from you. Thank you!




Hi Leanne. 

As you mentioned, ArcGIS Pro is not meant to work with cloud storage solutions (

). Although you now can connect to raster and parquet files (

https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-pro/data-management/connecting-to-cloud-storage-in-arcgis-pro-a-step-by-step-guide

).  That is why we use ArcGIS Online to share geospatial data within our organization. You can get discounts for NGOs. Check in with your local ESRI organization (ESRI UK?), they also sometimes host events to help NGOs. While we also have access to Azure and Fabric, this does not seem the best place to store and access spatial data. Rather we push data to Fabric from ArcGIS Online as needed to incorporate into other datasets. 

 

Theresa