#United States #Charleston #Esri #ROK Technologies #ArcGIS Imagery

ROK Technologies Achieves Notable Recognition from Esri

ROK Technologies, based in Charleston, South Carolina, has made headlines by becoming one of the first organizations to earn the new ArcGIS Imagery Specialty from Esri. This prestigious designation is awarded to partners who showcase a deep understanding of modern imagery workflows, illustrating their ability to manage and process imagery in a way that leverages data intelligence effectively.

As organizations in both the private and public sectors increasingly recognize the strategic value of imagery data, Esri introduced this specialty to acknowledge partners who excel in deploying and maximizing the benefits of imagery within the ArcGIS system. ROK Technologies has established itself as a leader in this field by leveraging cloud-native imagery solutions for over a decade. Through its efforts, the company has assisted state agencies, cities, utilities, and enterprise GIS teams in consolidating large imagery libraries, enhancing publishing speed, and establishing cloud environments that ensure imagery is accessible and scalable.

Beau Legeer, the Global Business Director of Imagery and Remote Sensing at Esri, emphasized ROK's dedication to imagery modernization. He stated, "The Imagery Specialty recognizes partners who help organizations utilize imagery as more than a basic contextual element. It's about transforming imagery data into fundamental insights for GIS systems. ROK Technologies has shown how cloud-based systems can optimize imagery, making it quicker, more affordable, and far more practical for users.”

ROK's journey to attaining this specialty was underscored by impressive client projects that significantly impacted various organizations. Notably, for the State of Ohio’s Geospatial Information Program (OGRIP), ROK executed a major migration of 30 terabytes of imagery from on-site storage to Amazon Web Services (AWS). This transition involved converting the data into Cloud-optimized GeoTIFFs, enhancing accessibility and performance to a remarkable degree. By utilizing a scalable Citrix Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environment, ROK also advanced processing speeds and cache creation, resulting in an efficient and economical cloud imagery solution.

In a parallel endeavor, ROK worked with the City of Chattanooga to upgrade its enterprise imagery infrastructure on AWS. The collaboration yielded significant improvements by scaling the Esri Image Server to facilitate advanced raster analytics and deep-learning feature extraction. The shift from dynamic topographical services to rapid vector tiles in cloud storage addressed prior performance challenges and was later highlighted during the 2025 Esri User Conference.

Jason Harris, CTO of ROK Technologies, shared insights on the implications of the Imagery Specialty designation, asserting, “Imagery is rapidly becoming one of the most crucial datasets that organizations need to effectively manage. Being recognized as one of the first partners to earn this Imagery Specialty not only validates our long-standing efforts but also reinforces our mission to assist GIS teams in transforming this data into actionable intelligence.”

The designation strengthens ROK's position as a trusted partner for organizations aiming to modernize their ArcGIS Enterprise platforms effectively. For clients, this accomplishment signifies that ROK brings validated expertise, proven architectures, and a track record of successful imagery-driven GIS transformations.

To provide further clarity on the significance of this specialty and the accompanying workflows, ROK has released a detailed article titled, "Why Esri's ArcGIS Imagery Specialty Matters and Why ROK Technologies Was Among the First to Earn It," available on their website. This resource outlines the benefits of Esri’s Imagery Specialty and offers insights into how it can assist organizations in transforming sizeable imagery collections into reliable, cloud-ready intelligence.

About ROK Technologies

ROK Technologies specializes in helping organizations migrate, optimize, and scale ArcGIS Enterprise within cloud environments. Acting as an extension of GIS and IT departments, ROK provides fully-managed cloud settings, advanced architectures, personnel support, and expert guidance across platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). As an Esri Platinum Partner, ROK holds multiple recognitions, including the newly acquired ArcGIS Imagery Specialty, positioning the company as a critical player in the GIS cloud ecosystem.