Introduction to the ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro extension

Available with Standard or Advanced license.

Available for an ArcGIS organization with the ArcGIS Reality license.

ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro is an ArcGIS Pro extension that expands ortho mapping capabilities with high-fidelity 2D, 3D, and True Ortho product generation. ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro is enabled with an ArcGIS Pro Standard or Advanced license, together with an ArcGIS Reality license. When the ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro extension is enabled, you can generate the following products from drone and digital aerial imagery:

• DSM—A digital surface model (DSM) of the earth and features above the surface. This is generated from a collection of overlapping images.
• DTM—Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the earth with above ground objects such as trees, buildings, vehicles, and so on, removed. A DTM is also referred to as bare earth elevation.
• True Ortho—An orthorectified image without perspective distortion so that above-ground features do not lean and obscure other features.
• DSM Mesh—A 2.5D textured model in which the adjusted images are draped on a triangulated irregular network (TIN) version of the DSM extracted from overlapping images.
• Point Cloud—3D points representing the ground surface and features above the ground, derived from overlapping imagery.
• 3D Mesh—A 3D textured model in which the ground and above-ground feature facades are densely and accurately reconstructed.

Using satellite imagery, you can generate DSM, DSM Mesh, and True Ortho products. You can also collect, block adjust, and generate various 2D ortho mapping products from drone, digital aerial, scanned aerial photography, and satellite imagery.

Extension requirements

Photogrammetric processing using ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro requires above average computer resources to improve performance. Data, project, and system requirements and recommendations are listed in the sections below.

Data and project requirements

Data and project requirements are as follows:

Data type	Requirement
Sensor data	Drone, digital aerial, and satellite imagery
Image perspective	Nadir or oblique, or a combination of both
Minimum image overlap	60 percent forward, 30 percent lateral
Recommended image overlap	80 percent forward, 80 percent lateral
Recommended minimum number of images	100 nadir images, 300 oblique images
Image preprocessing	Block adjusted source imagery

System requirements

In addition to ArcGIS Pro system requirements, the following system requirements are recommended for optimal ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro performance:

Item	ArcGIS Pro supported and recommended requirements	ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro recommended extended requirements
CPU	Minimum: 2 cores, simultaneous multithreading Simultaneous multithreading, or hyperthreading, of CPUs typically features two threads per core. A multithreaded 2-core CPU will have four threads available for processing, while a multithreaded 6-core CPU will have 12 threads available for processing. A maximum of 48 CPU threads is supported. Recommended—4 cores Optimal—10 cores	Recommended—4 cores or more Optimal—10 cores or more
GPU	Recommended	Minimum—None Recommended—Current high performance CUDA graphics card Note: GPU (CUDA) processing is supported when using a GPU with a compute capability 3.2 or higher.
Platform	x64 bit	x64 bit
Storage	Minimum—32 GB of free space Recommended—More than 64 GB of free space Recommended—Solid-state drive (SSD).	Minimum—500 GB of free space Recommended—1 TB for projects with fewer than 1,000 images Single-node processing—16 TB SSD RAID5
Memory/RAM	Minimum—8 GB Recommended—32 GB Optimal—64 GB or more	Minimum—16 GB Recommended—32 GB–64 GB Optimal—128 GB or more
Dedicated (not shared) graphics memory	Recommended—4 GB or more If using a notebook computer with an integrated GPU, consider increasing the system RAM to compensate for the use of shared memory.	Recommended—4 GB or more If using a notebook computer with an integrated GPU, consider increasing the system RAM to compensate for the use of shared memory.
Visualization cache	The temporary visualization cache for ArcGIS Pro can consume up to 32 GB of space, if available, in the user-selected location. By default, the visualization cache is written to the user profile’s \Local subfolder so it does not roam with the user profile if roaming profiles are enabled by your system administrator.	The temporary visualization cache for ArcGIS Pro can consume up to 32 GB of space, if available, in the user-selected location. By default, the visualization cache is written to the user profile’s \Local subfolder so it does not roam with the user profile if roaming profiles are enabled by your system administrator.
DirectX	Minimum: DirectX 11, feature level 11.0, Shader Model 5.0	Minimum: DirectX 11, feature level 11.0, Shader Model 5.0
OpenGL	Minimum—OpenGL 4.3 with the ARB_clip_control and EXT_texture_compression_s3tc extensions Recommended—OpenGL 4.5 with the ARB_shader_draw_parameters, EXT_swap_control, EXT_texture_compression_s3tc, and EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic extensions	Minimum—OpenGL 4.3 with the ARB_clip_control and EXT_texture_compression_s3tc extensions Recommended—OpenGL 4.5 with the ARB_shader_draw_parameters, EXT_swap_control, EXT_texture_compression_s3tc, and EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic extensions
Screen resolution	Minimum—1024x768 Recommended—1080p or higher	Minimum—1024x768 Recommended—1080p or higher

Frequently asked questions

See the Frequently asked questions (FAQ) topic for more details about the ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro extension.

See the Install ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro topic for details about installing and licensing ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro.