Waldo.

for ArcGIS Pro

The AI assistant that works inside your live ArcGIS Pro session — answering questions about your project, building maps and layouts, and running real geoprocessing. You describe the work; Waldo does it, and shows its work.

Launching soon · Bring your own AI provider · Your data stays on your desktop

Illustrative sessions. Every tool call is logged verbatim — the full audit trail stays on your machine.

What it does

Real GIS work, not just suggestions

Waldo drives your open Pro session through Esri's official add-in framework and arcpy — the same surfaces you'd use yourself.

Knows your project

Ask about maps, layers, schemas, joins, projections, and data sources — Waldo reads the live session, not a stale copy of your .aprx.

Builds maps & layouts

Symbology, labeling, legends, layouts, insets, and exports — with the cartographic defaults a 30-year GIS professional would pick.

Runs real geoprocessing

Access to ~1,600 installed GP tools, executed in your session with Pro's own Geoprocessing History. Every run comes with a receipt: the exact parameters used, plus a link that reopens the tool dialog pre-filled.

Automates the repetitive

Field calculations, definition queries, batch layout stamping, data cleanup — described in plain language, done in minutes.

🛡

Won't wreck your project

Outputs auto-rename instead of overwriting, drafts stay out of your deliverables, and anything that spends Esri credits is estimated and confirmed with you first.

Ask or Do — your call

Ask mode is enforced read-only: project intelligence, tool discovery, and guidance with nothing modified. Flip to Do when you want the work done.

“Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things.”
— Waldo R. Tobler, the First Law of Geography

Waldo runs near your data. That's the whole idea.

How it works

An add-in, not a cloud service

Waldo installs like any ArcGIS Pro add-in and talks to the AI provider you choose. There is no Waldo cloud in the middle.

Install the add-in

Double-click the .esriAddinX — Pro registers it, no admin rights needed. IT-managed shops can deploy org-wide from a network share.

Connect your AI provider

Paste an Anthropic or OpenAI API key — or point Waldo at any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, including fully local models via Ollama or LM Studio. New to API keys? Here's what "bring your own AI" means, in plain language.

Open the pane and work

Waldo appears as a dockpane beside your map. Your project data goes only to the provider you configured — run a local model and nothing leaves your machine at all.

Pricing

Buy it once. No subscription.

Waldo is a one-time per-seat purchase — you bring the AI, so we never bill you for tokens or lock you to a vendor.

Ask mode
Free forever

Read-only project intelligence.

  • Ask anything about your project
  • Tool discovery with open-in-Pro links
  • Enforced read-only — nothing modified
  • No license, no time limit
Full trial
7 days free, full-function

Everything unlocked from first run.

  • All Do-mode capabilities
  • No credit card, no sign-up
  • No network calls in trial mode
  • Falls back to free Ask mode after
Per-seat license
One-time price at launch

Perpetual license, per analyst.

  • Everything in the trial, permanently
  • Works offline — 30-day grace, never blocks on network
  • Self-service license moves between machines

Want to be told the moment it's available? Drop us a line.

FAQ

Questions analysts actually ask

Does my data leave my machine?

Only to the AI provider you configure, and only what's needed for the conversation. Waldo has no cloud of its own — there's no Waldo server between you and your model. Point it at a local model (Ollama, LM Studio, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint) and nothing leaves your desktop at all — a real option for government, utility, and defense shops that can't use cloud AI.

The licensed version makes exactly one kind of network call of its own: a background license check to our payment provider carrying a license key, an anonymous machine-id hash, and the add-in version — nothing else. Trial mode makes no network calls at all.

Do I need an AI subscription?

You bring your own: an Anthropic or OpenAI API key (pay-as-you-go, typically cents per session), or a local model at no per-use cost. Waldo never marks up or meters your AI usage. If you've only ever used AI through a chat app, our plain-language guide to bringing your own AI walks you through it in about fifteen minutes.

Will it burn my Esri credits?

Not without asking. Anything that spends credits — geocoding, enrichment, routing — gets an estimate first, and Waldo proceeds only when you say yes.

How is this different from AI assistants built into ArcGIS?

Built-in assistants point you at the right tool. Waldo runs it — executes the geoprocessing, applies the symbology, builds the layout, exports the PDF — in your live session, with a logged receipt for every action. And it's model-agnostic: your choice of AI provider, including fully local.

What if it does something wrong?

Waldo is built defensively: outputs auto-rename rather than overwrite, scratch work stays in a scratch workspace, side effects are disclosed, and the full untruncated tool log is saved locally for every session. Geoprocessing receipts let you reopen any tool dialog pre-filled with the exact parameters Waldo used — verify, tweak, or re-run yourself.

What are the system requirements?

Windows and ArcGIS Pro 3.x (developed and tested against Pro 3.7). A definitive supported-versions statement ships with the public release.

Can IT deploy it org-wide?

Yes — ArcGIS Pro's standard well-known-folder deployment works: point the registry key at a network share and every machine loads it; one drop updates the whole org. Code-signing for orgs that require signed add-ins is planned for launch.

Be first in line

Waldo is in active development with working GIS professionals. Early-access seats are limited.