Software

The Yale University ArcGIS Online is a cloud-based mapping platform. 

• Mapping your data can help to identify spatial patterns that are not easy to spot with tabular data  
• Allows you to map your data without the need to learn ArcGIS Desktop 
• It allows you to create web applications based on out-of-the-box templates. Explore dozens of Story Maps and find ways to showcase your own project

You can find the steps to log in to Yale University ArcGIS Online here: Getting started with Esri ArcGIS at Yale

Create your own story maps through Yale ArcGIS Online (never use a free public account or you risk losing your data). Yale access provides premium content and advanced tools.

• Create a StoryMap
• StoryMap Examples Gallery
• Getting Started Tutorial

Finished your StoryMap?

Book a consultation for expert feedback before publishing.

The Yale Esri ArcGIS Installation Guide is intended to help standardize GIS Software installations on managed and faculty/staff/student computers across campus. If you have questions or would like to see an application added to the suggested GIS software configuration, please send an e-mail to our team at geospatialhelp@yale.edu.

Lab Managers:

The software is already deployed to all public and library computers in the Software Center. Keep in mind that ArcGIS Pro does not require a license server, Yale users authorize their access with their Yale ArcGIS Online login.

Yale users with personal computers: 

You can find the ArcGIS Pro Installation Guide steps here: Getting started with Esri ArcGIS at Yale

ArcGIS for Desktop (a.k.a. ArcMap): As of July 1, 2024, ArcMap licenses and single-use/concurrent licenses were removed from the education site license. Therefore, as of September 1, 2024, Yale computers and users no longer have access to ArcMap.

As part of the ArcGIS Reality suite, ArcGIS Drone2Map is the desktop app for your drone mapping needs. Use any modern drone to capture high-resolution imagery where and when you need it. Immediately after the flight in the field, process images on your laptop and perform drone analytics on your natural-color, thermal infrared, or multispectral datasets.

Within the ArcGIS system, Drone2Map provides easy access to a range of tools and capabilities for accurate mapping and geospatial analysis. As a 2D and 3D photogrammetry app, Drone2Map lets you create the outputs you need with a powerful processing engine—including true orthos, 3D point clouds, and textured meshes—and then easily share them with your ArcGIS organization for greater collaboration and awareness.

You can find the ArcGIS Drone2Map installation steps here: Getting started with Esri ArcGIS at Yale

Esri offers virtual training courses to help you learn how to publish data and map layers. The 3-hour course “Creating and Sharing GIS Content Using ArcGIS Online” is a great starting point for your web mapping projects.

To learn more about this and other Esri Virtual Training courses — and to find out how Yale members can enroll at no cost — please follow the instructions below or refer to this document: Getting started with Esri ArcGIS at Yale

1. Login into Yale University ArcGIS Online.
2. Display the drop-down menu under your username (top right), and click on “Training.”
3. Once you get access to the Esri training platform, you may browse their virtual course catalog

New to GIS? This list of virtual Esri training will help get you started.

Note: The instructor-led training sessions require a fee. Yale members can get a discounted price.

Students who author content in the Yale ArcGIS Online should make a plan to migrate their content before graduation. The Yale ArcGIS Online is available as long as your Yale NetID is active. Therefore, if you plan to leave Yale, due to graduation or change of employment, you must plan the sustainability of your Yale ArcGIS Online content, including StoryMaps.  

Please reserve a Geospatial consultation or submit a ticket to geospatialhelp@yale.edu to discuss your content migration options. 

The options to preserve your content are to migrate the content to your own ArcGIS Online account, to your course’s client account, or find a Yale sponsor who agrees to keep your project as a collaborator. Please review the following scenarios you may consider:

Esri’s content transfer assistant 

Many of you may have used the AGO Assistant tool to help with workflows such as copying items and content between users and organizations, managing multiple accounts, etc. Esri has developed a new, improved version of the tool, the ArcGIS Assistant which is currently in Beta. More info is in this blog. It is a community-driven project and the team who developed it is looking for feedback – there is a GitHub repo with an issue tracker and discussion forum. 

ArcGIS Online allows teams to create and edit maps authored by several Yale members once they set up a collaborative ArcGIS Online group.  

The team should select a leader who will own the group and will need to: 

• Email geospatialhelp@yale.edu with a request to update their role to “Group Admin” and 
• Create a collaborative ArcGIS Online group. To do so, the Group Admin will need to activate the “Items in this group will be editable by all members of this group” feature, which only appears under the “Group designations” section once their role is set to Group Admin.   

Once the group is created, items should be shared with the group to allow its members to edit them. For more guidance, please reserve a Geospatial consultation or submit a ticket to geospatialhelp@yale.edu

Non-Yale Collaborators? 

Yale ArcGIS Online allows teams to invite members of ArcGIS Online from other institutions, but the group cannot be editable by all its members. To invite a non-Yale member to a group, you will need to create a group without the settings outlined for the editable group. 

If you have a project that requires non-Yale collaborators who need to edit the content of your maps, we highly recommend reserving a geospatial consultation to discuss your use case. Your project may have the following options: 

• Requesting an active NetID for your collaborators, which incurs an expense 
• Requesting special permission to obtain an ArcGIS Online login for your collaborator. This requires a few steps, including filling out a form we will submit to ITS for review. 

What is Geocoding?

Geocoding is the process of taking a list of addresses and matching them to the best possible locations in an address database for your area (city, region, country, or even continent).
Once matched, each address receives latitude and longitude coordinates—allowing you to map them accurately in GIS.

Before You Geocode: A Quick Checklist

✅ Do you already have latitude and longitude?

If your dataset includes coordinates, you may not need to geocode.
Instead, you can map XY data directly using ArcGIS Pro or QGIS.

✅ Do your coordinates have enough decimal places?

If accuracy matters and your latitude/longitude values have fewer than ~5 decimal places, geocoding may provide more precise results.

Handling Geocoding Sensitive Data

If your addresses are confidential (e.g., health, personal, or legally protected data), do not use any online geocoder.

Instead, use an offline address locator such as:

• Esri Address Locator (local processing)
• Texas A&M Geocoder (review their privacy and security policies carefully)

Geocoding Non-Sensitive Data

If you have fewer than 500,000 addresses, you may geocode through Yale ArcGIS Online, which requires Esri credits. Yale members can request additional credits for free.

To request credits, email: geospatialhelp@yale.edu

Geocoding Large Datasets (Global Addresses)

If you need to geocode more than 500,000 U.S. or international addresses in ArcGIS Pro, you will need an address locator. You have several options:

1. Esri StreetMap Premium

• Yale Library maintains a license for Esri StreetMap Premium.
• Check regional data coverage using this map.
• To request access, fill out this form.
  Once submitted, a service ticket will be generated, and our team will contact you to establish a workflow to make the data available. Most requests are processed within 2–5 business days, depending on the data size. As data licenses are limited, access will be granted only for the duration of your geocoding task. 

2. Government or Local Address Locator

• Contact the GIS department in the municipalities or regions you’re studying.
• They may already have an up-to-date locator they can share.
• If you have street or address datasets, you may be able to build your own locator.
  Review this guide to determine whether this option works for your project.

U.S.–Specific Option: Texas A&M Geocoder by Dan Goldberg. Ph.D. (Previously USC Geocoder)  

The Texas A&M GeoServices team offers geocoding services and often provides free research credits for academic, noncommercial projects.

• You’ll receive a small credit quota when you create an account.
• You may request additional credits by contacting their team and explaining your research needs.
• Availability of additional credits is at their discretion.
• Make sure to review their privacy, security and terms to ensure alignment with your project requirements.

Geocoding in ArcGIS Pro requires Esri credits, which are freely available to all Yale members. As of the academic year 2024-2025, the charge is 40 Esri credits per 1,000 addresses.

Understand credits—ArcGIS Online Help | Documentation

You can estimate your credit needs with this formula: (Your Esri credits / 40) x 1,000 = Number of addresses you can geocode

To check your Esri credit balance, follow the steps below or refer to this document: Getting started with Esri ArcGIS at Yale

• Click on your username in the top right corner.
• Select “My settings.”
• From the left-side menu, choose “Credits.”
• If you need additional credits, please provide an estimate of the number of addresses to be geocoded.

If you need additional Esri credits, please email geospatialhelp@yale.edu with the following information:

• The number of addresses you plan to geocode
• Your Esri username (if different from yours)

If you plan to geocode more than 1 million addresses, instead we ask you to use Esri StreetMap Premium to save Esri credits for all Yale geospatial users. To request access to Esri StreetMap Premium, please email geospatialhelp@yale.edu with the following details:

• Approximate number of addresses to be geocoded
• Number of team members performing the task
• Desired dates for geocoding to avoid scheduling conflicts, as some regions have a single license for Yale users