---
path: docs/owl-ai/getting-started-with-owl-ai
title: "Getting Started with Owl AI"
desc: "Use natural language to analyze, query, and extend your maps."
date: "Apr 2, 2026"
---

# Getting Started with Owl AI

Owl AI is GISOwl's built-in AI assistant. It understands spatial data and natural language, letting you analyze your maps, generate queries, build extensions, and populate feature popups — all by typing a prompt.

## Opening Owl AI

Press `Ctrl/Cmd + J` or click the **Owl AI** icon in the toolbar to open the assistant panel. A text input appears at the bottom of the screen where you can type your request.

## What Can Owl AI Do?

### Spatial Queries

Ask questions like:

- "Show me all parcels within 500 meters of a school"
- "Which fire stations have the longest response times to the downtown area?"
- "Calculate the total area of wetlands in the selected county"

Owl AI translates your question into a spatial SQL query, runs it against your map data, and highlights the results on the map.

### AI Extensions

Build interactive widgets powered by AI. For example:

- "Create a bar chart showing population by district"
- "Add a radius search tool that lets users click a point and see all features within a custom distance"

Extensions are rendered as dashboard components and can be shared with the map.

### AI Popups

Auto-populate feature popups with contextual information. When you enable AI popups on a layer, clicking a feature generates a summary based on its attributes and nearby features — no manual configuration required.

### AI SQL Queries

If you prefer to write SQL but want AI assistance, Owl AI can generate, explain, and debug PostGIS-flavored SQL queries against your datasets. It understands your schema and suggests joins, spatial functions, and aggregations.

## Usage Limits

Owl AI is available on all plans. Free plans include 50 AI requests per month. Pro and Team plans include 500 and unlimited requests respectively. See [Billing](/docs/administration/billing) for details.

## Next Steps

- [AI Extensions](/docs/owl-ai/ai-extensions) — Build interactive widgets.
- [AI SQL Queries](/docs/owl-ai/ai-sql-queries) — Generate PostGIS queries.
- [Prompting Tips](/docs/owl-ai/prompting-tips) — Write better prompts.