ArcGIS Enterprise Connector

Overview#

The ArcGIS Enterprise Connector pipes authoritative service boundaries, network zones, facility footprints, and district maps from your existing ArcGIS Enterprise estate straight into Argus, with no duplication of your GIS data model. Organisations that already run ArcGIS, such as utilities, local authorities, emergency services, and defence, can put those layers to work in operations within minutes of registering a connection.

Operational teams work from the same zone definitions that the GIS team maintains, so the map layer and the operational picture never diverge. Each connection holds its own encrypted credentials, scoped to your organisation, and a connection test confirms reachability before any data moves. Flexible field mapping lets you align ArcGIS attribute names such as SCHEME_NAM, DMA_ID, or FACILITYID to Argus zone fields, so authoritative geography flows in cleanly without bespoke code per deployment.

Last Reviewed: 2026-05-26 Last Updated: 2026-05-26

Key Features#

• Multiple Encrypted Connections: register one or more ArcGIS Enterprise endpoints, each with its own client credentials protected by per-tenant AES-GCM encryption so one organisation's secrets can never be read by another
• Live Connection Testing: confirm an endpoint is reachable and the credentials are valid through a real token round-trip that reports success and measured latency before any sync is scheduled
• Flexible Field Mapping: align ArcGIS attribute names such as SCHEME_NAM, DMA_ID, or FACILITYID to Argus zone fields through configuration alone, with no source-side schema changes and no custom code
• Paginated Layer Sync: pull complete feature sets from any MapServer layer in batches, so large estates of thousands of features load reliably without overwhelming either system
• On-Demand and Scheduled Runs: pull a layer immediately when you need fresh boundaries, or let a configured schedule keep the operational picture aligned with the authoritative source on its own cadence
• Zone Hierarchy Population: route synced attributes into operational zone tiers such as supply zones, district metered areas, and facility-indexed areas, then surface them as infrastructure entities in the common operational picture
• Per-Layer Statistics: track feature counts, last sync time, and last run status for every configured layer, so teams can see at a glance whether a given boundary set is current
• Full Tenant Scoping and Audit: every read and write is bound to your organisation, and each registration, configuration change, and sync is recorded in a tamper-evident audit trail

Use Cases#

Water and Utilities#

Bring water supply zones, district metered areas, and asset footprints maintained in ArcGIS directly into operations. Outage coordinators and network planners work from the same supply-zone and DMA definitions the GIS team publishes, so impact assessment and crew assignment reference one authoritative boundary set rather than a stale copy.

Local Authorities#

Sync electoral districts, ward boundaries, planning areas, and council service areas into the operational picture. Field teams and command staff reference the same official geography that planning and mapping departments own, keeping service delivery aligned to published boundaries.

Emergency Services#

Pull response districts, station catchments, and hazard zones from an existing ArcGIS estate into incident operations. Dispatch and command work from current, authoritative coverage areas without rekeying boundaries into a second system.

Defence and Infrastructure#

Feed facility footprints, controlled areas, and installation boundaries into the operational picture as infrastructure entities. Teams gain a live, governed view of estate geography that stays consistent with the authoritative GIS record.

Integration#

Customers manage the connector entirely through the Argus GraphQL surface, with full tenant scoping and audit logging on every write:

• Connections: list registered endpoints and register or update a connection, supplying a display name, base URL, and client credentials that are encrypted on receipt
• Connection Test: run a live reachability and credential check that returns a pass or fail result with measured latency
• Layer Sync Configuration: define which MapServer service and layer to pull, the target domain, the unique key field, and the attribute-to-field mapping
• Sync Trigger: launch an immediate run for any configured layer, recorded in sync history with created and updated counts

What a customer plugs in is an existing ArcGIS Enterprise endpoint plus a registered application client ID and secret. The benefit is that authoritative geography already curated by the GIS team flows into the operational picture through configuration alone, with credentials encrypted at rest, OAuth2 and JWT protecting the management API, and synced attributes normalised into operational zone tiers and infrastructure entities that every connected workflow can consume.

Open Standards#

• OAuth 2.0 client credentials grant (RFC 6749): tokens are acquired from the ArcGIS Portal token endpoint using the client_credentials grant, so machine-to-machine access follows the standard OAuth2 flow with short-lived, automatically refreshed tokens
• ArcGIS GeoServices REST API: Esri's de facto standard for MapServer metadata and feature retrieval, used here for paginated layer queries against MapServer endpoints; proprietary to Esri but widely adopted across government and utilities GIS estates, ensuring interoperability with the platforms those organisations already run
• JSON: feature attributes and field mappings are exchanged as standard JSON, keeping attribute payloads portable and easy to map to Argus fields
• GraphQL: the management surface is exposed over GraphQL, giving customers a typed, self-describing contract for connection, configuration, and sync operations

Security & Compliance#

• Per-Tenant Encrypted Credentials: client IDs and secrets are stored with AES-GCM encryption bound to the owning organisation, so a ciphertext copied onto another tenant's record fails its integrity check and cannot be decrypted
• Strict Tenant Isolation: every query and write is scoped to the authenticated organisation, so no connection, configuration, or synced feature is ever visible across tenant boundaries
• Authenticated Management API: every connection, configuration, and sync operation requires an authenticated session, protected by OAuth2 and JWT
• Comprehensive Audit Trail: registrations, configuration changes, and sync runs are all recorded, giving compliance teams a complete and tamper-evident history of how authoritative geography entered the operational picture
• Short-Lived Tokens: ArcGIS access tokens are acquired on demand and expire quickly, limiting the window in which any single credential exchange is valid