AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude can now work directly with your GIS. On September 30, Michael Lippmann and Chris Messerich hosted a webinar on MCP for ArcGIS Enterprise and the Model Context Protocol, the open standard that lets an assistant search your ArcGIS portal, query your layers and run your geoprocessing tools from a plain-language request.
The centerpiece was a commercial site selection demo. The assistant narrowed 43,032 Regrid parcels in Delaware County, New York, down to two qualifying sites, and it showed its reasoning at every step. Watch the full recording below to follow the demo from the first prompt to the final map.
What the webinar covers
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- What MCP is, and how Esri is applying it across ArcGIS Online, Enterprise and Location Platform
- A step-by-step replay of the site selection demo, from the first prompt to the final map
- How we built a custom geoprocessing tool and made it available to the assistant
- What the first release can and can't do
- Esri's release timeline and version requirements
- How to get your portal and metadata ready for AI
When MCP for ArcGIS Enterprise arrives
Esri expects MCP support for ArcGIS Enterprise in November 2026. Here's the timeline as it stands:
Covers geocoding, routing, static maps, and elevation.
Available on Windows and Linux through the MCP Services component, and built into ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes 12.2.
ArcGIS Location Platform MCP is expected to reach general availability.
Bringing AI Assistants To Your GIS
Blue Raster helps organizations connect AI assistants to the GIS they already rely on. With the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for ArcGIS, an assistant can search an ArcGIS portal, query layers, and run geoprocessing tools from a plain-language request.
In our webinar, our team practicalized this with a commercial site selection demo that narrowed 43,032 parcels to two qualifying sites while showing its reasoning at every step.
As an Esri Gold and Cornerstone Partner with deep experience in custom GIS applications and geoprocessing tools, we help teams understand where AI fits into their GIS and how to put it to work.
Get your portal ready now
The first release is read-only. That gives you time to decide what you want the assistant to see and to clean up your metadata before launch.
Organizations that do that work now will be the first ready to go live. Once you've seen the demo, contact the Blue Raster team to talk through what an MCP pilot could look like for your portal.
