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Esri Software at ASU

Covering all aspects of accessing Esri's online and desktop software for the ASU community

ASU ArcGIS Online Credit Policy

In service to the Arizona State University geospatial community, the ASU Library Map and Geospatial Hub administers ASU's organizational instance of ArcGIS Online for non-commercial education and research purposes (i.e., ArcGIS Online usage falling under the ASU-Esri academic license agreement).

The ASU community of Esri ArcGIS product users is diverse. ASU users exploit Esri ArcGIS products for a wide range of mapping and visualization, spatial analysis, data management, and related educational and research purposes. The Map and Geospatial Hub strives to maintain equitable usage of our shared ASU ArcGIS Online resources. 

What are credits?

In the context of Esri GIS software products, credits are the currency used to pay for transactions in ArcGIS Online, such as data processing, storage, and other services. Any ArcGIS software that interacts with ArcGIS Online -- such as ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Insights, Collector, ArcGIS Enterprise, etc. -- can use credits.

Follow this link to learn more about Esri ArcGIS Online credits: https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/administer/credits.htm.

Each organizational subscription to ArcGIS Online, such as ASU's enterprise instance of ArcGIS Online, includes a supply of shared credits. All members of ASU's ArcGIS Online organization share a finite supply of shared ArcGIS Online credits.

When are credits used?

Most ArcGIS Online activities consume no credits whatsoever. For instance, no credits are charged when viewing online maps. Three types of ArcGIS Online operations require credit consumption:

  • feature storage, 

  • analysis tools (including geocoding, routing, and geoenrichment), and 

  • premium data (including demographics and lifestyle data). 

Analysis-based tools -- such as geocoding, geoenrichment, and spatial analysis tools -- are charged credits based on the number of records and the generated output. For example, with geocoding, the number of credits you are charged is determined by the number of records you geocode; with geoenrichment, you are charged based on the number of attributes added to your dataset.

Visit Esri's credit capability and cost table to better understand specific credit consumption rates and estimate how many credits you will need to perform specific ArcGIS Online transactions or store data. 

How many credits do I get?

Credits are issued strictly for non-commercial educational and research purposes.

Working in consultation with GIS professionals and stakeholders from across ASU, the Map and Geospatial Hub has created the following system for credit allocation. This system is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changing technology- and user-based circumstances. 

Standard Users

By default, all members of ASU's ArcGIS Online organization have an allocated budget of 1,000 credits. As most ArcGIS Online activities require no credits whatsoever, 1,000 credits is more than most ASU ArcGIS Online users will ever need. 

Power Users

Certain groups of ASU affiliates have been identified as ArcGIS Online "power users". These users exploit and heavily rely on ArcGIS Online functionality to complete their coursework or to perform research. ASU's ArcGIS Online power users have an allocated default budget of 10,000 credits

Who are these so-called "power users"? A couple examples include:

If you would like an ASU-affiliated individual or group to be considered an ArcGIS Online power user with a higher ArcGIS Online default credit limit, please contact the Map and Geospatial Hub by submitting a service request

How do I get more credits?

Credits are issued strictly for non-commercial educational and research purposes. 

Any ASU-affiliated user is eligible to request additional ArcGIS Online credits by submitting a service request. As with all Map and Geospatial Hub service requests, a request for additional credits will be fulfilled within two (2) business days.

Each ASU user can be granted up to a total of 50,000 credits per calendar year. (This is to ensure equity in the distribution of a limited supply of credits shared across a large educational institution.) Under exceptional circumstances, additional credits beyond the 50,000 annual credit limit may be granted after consultation with and review by Map and Geospatial Hub staff.

Credit increases are made in intervals of 500, 1,000, or 5,000 credits at a time, depending on the use case. (This is to avoid an allocation of an unnecessarily large denomination of credits for an activity actually requiring only a relatively small number of credits.)

How can I manage my credit usage?

It is important to self-regulate one's ArcGIS Online activities to ensure they are not unnecessarily expending credits. The Map and Geospatial Hub encourages the following strategies to best manage one's credit usage:  

Actively budget credit usage

You can visit your ArcGIS Online profile page to see the number of credits available to you. Before running an analysis tool in ArcGIS Online, you can use the credit estimator to calculate the expected number of credits that the transaction will consume. Click "show credits" above the "run analysis" button to run the credit estimator. 

Do your own geocoding

Bulk geocoding large quantities of addresses using ArcGIS Online resources is discouraged. There are many ways to geocode addresses without using ArcGIS Online's ArcGIS World Geocoding Service (locator).

Creating your own locator is the most effective way. Learn more about creating a locator at the following link: https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/help/data/geocoding/create-a-locator.htm.

The Map and Geospatial Hub also distributes to all ASU affiliates a composite locator for the entire state of Arizona created by GIS analysts at the ASU Morrison Institute for Public Policy. Submit a service request to access the composite locator and its supporting reference files.

The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.