2008 ESRI User Conference - Report 1 From the Plenary
Written by Glenn Letham
04 August 2008
From San Diego, CA - Finally, an update, albeit a brief one, from the ESRI user conference. This morning at the San Diego Convention Center, Jack Dangermond took to the stage to welcome more than 14,000 attendees to this year’s event.
These GIS users came from more than 120 countries around the Globe to share and learn about what the millions of ESRI software users around the Globe are doing and how ArcGIS and related applications are helping to solve problems and make the World a better place.
As he does every year, Dangermond kicked things off by asking us all to meet our neighbors and ask how GIS plays a role in their lives – I met a woman from Calgary (in the petroleum industry) and a gentleman from Pennsylvania. We then heard about just a few innovative uses of ESRI solutions that got Dangermond’s attention. We saw brief examples of ArcGIS being used for suck applications as: Municipal mapping Law enforcement Emergency response Business geographics Earth sciences Natural resources Health and medical geography And more!
Always eager to show his appreciation for excellence in GIS, Dangermond then commented how some 160 agencies recently received SAG awards. Several other “special” awards were then pointed out: The President’s Award – The City of Philadelphia for an enterprise GIS application and supporting website. Making a Difference Award – To Rosario and Ramon Perez for their work on GIS in planning and poverty.
The second Making a difference award was presented to Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Director of the USDA – recall the USDA is responsible for managing some 20% of lands, national parks, and more. Kempthorne made a point of thanking Dangermond for everything he and GIS has done for all of us. He also made a point of reminding us that yes, the government gets it and yes, they do indeed use GIS! An impressive graphic shared with us during the presentation revealed how imagery and analysis has shown the disappearance of the polar ice cover during the past 2 years… the lack of snow revealed from the study simply amazing!
Kempthorne then took the stage for about 10 minutes to share GIs tales from the DOI. Of interest, he noted that the USGS is now proudly making available, for free, the entire 35 year catalog of LandSAT imagery via the web… applause!
The rest of the morning was devoted to seeing GIS in action and hearing all about the 9.3 application suite, including details of what’s new in all the popular apps and extensions – more on this later.
Something I always enjoy is hearing John Caukins way cool Top 10 list and today he delivered once again. So, the following Top 10 ArcGIS 9.3 Time Savers that “you” asked for were presented as follows (in reverse order): Bookmarks and bookmark manager Pause label redraws Keyboard shortcuts Clip a raster from a shape (sweet!) Transparent legends Advanced table sorting, aliases and joins Reverse geocoding (nice!) Convert graphics to features Identify shortcuts and html popups Error reporting to help fix and report crashes
Numerous demos were presented by power users and all delivered as the crowd was lively in sharing their enthusiasm and applause. Interesting demos (live) presented included: Michael Parkin of MIT who shared how the campus is using 3D analysis to model and analyze various planning scenarios including how the campus will be affected by a proposed transportation route through the campus. A fun and useful app he also shared is how parking permits are better allocated to staff so that people are able to park closer to their offices.
One of my favorite demos came from Paul Ross of The City of Fort Collins. Ross shared a story of how the city uses Arc Logistics for fleet management and in the process has realized some amazing ROI, particularly with fuel consumption – they managed to reduce fuel usage by 30% by optimizing routes, enhanced scheduling, and navigation. His examples were definitely a worthy model for any utility of local government to look at, particularly while we have $4+ per gallon fuel at the pumps!
Some notable quotes (Dangermond) from the morning include: This is only the beginning of the geospatial era Soon, everyone will be able to access and use GIS!
For a take away tip, those of you interested in getting help in describing the benefits of GIS, you might consider a new book from ESRI Press titled “The Business Benefits of GIS, by David MacGuire.
More on ArcGIS 9.3 and ArcGIS Server at 9.3 to come later
Top iPhone related GIS and Geo Tech news stories from 2009 - At the end of the year its always interesting for us to look at some of the stats and results to identify trends and more important, to see what our readers think is hot! In the "news" category it seems that iPhone related geo tech items were extremely popular.
Geo Social Location Checkin to Twitter from iPhone - With the cool SXSW event taking place Austin, TX, everyone who's anyone in social and social location seems to have rolled out updates this week, making your choice for how to check-in to your social media bookmarks even tougher to decide on!
10 Awesome GIS and Mapping apps for the iPhone - I recall last year at the ESRI UC when an iPhone was on stage showing a prototype app (think ArcPad on iPhone). It was then that I realized the iPhone platform is going to be BIG in mapping and there's a ton of opportunity for developers.
Nokia Booklet 3G, unboxing video and image gallery... Those of you in the USA who pop in to BestBuy occasionally, you may have seen a stand showing off the Nokia Booklet 3G. A sleek, 3G enabled, SIM slot (AT&T) sporting netbook.
Interesting Tweeple - 10 Geo Technology & Geo-Social Women of Twitter - given the growing love for geospatial and location-aware technologies, I’ve decided to hype 10 women that I feel make a significant contribution to the Geo-Twittersphere. If you’d like to add 10 knowledgeable and useful Twitter contacts to your Geo following list I highly suggest the following: (in no particular order)
10 Geo Social Location-Aware Apps Making Waves... With Twitter's opening of their location API to developers there's going to be a ton of third party apps that will enable Twitter users to share location-aware information via their Twitter accounts.
Signs that indicate you may be a GeoGeek (aka. GeoNerd) and some suggested Geo blogs - Chances are good that if you are a Geo Geek then you already know it and likely refer to yourself as one. However, there’s many of you out there that may be on the fence and wondering… “am I a Geo Geek?" Read on for a comprehensive list of signs you might be a GeoGeek followed up by some suggested Geoblog reading.
Real-time GPS Mapping and GIS Solution Aids Efficient Disaster Management - Saturday, February 7, 2009 will forever be known as Black Saturday in the State of Victoria, Australia. In the midst of a 10-year drought, a record breaking heat wave descended upon the state, with temperatures exceeding 45 degrees C (110-120 deg F), breaking all-time record highs in some cities - Victoria Police Use Trimble Juno SC Handhelds to Speed Assessment of Damage Caused by Bush Fires.
2010 ESRI Federal User Conference February 17-19, 2010, Washington D.C. Walter E. Washington Convention Center - The FedUC is the largest geospatial conference for federal agencies. Connect with other leaders, decision makers, and GIS professionals.
The International LiDAR Mapping Forum 2010 - Tenth Anniversary Event! ILMF 2010 will be held from March 3 - 5, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency in Denver at Colorado Convention Center.
The NAVTEQ 2010 Global LBS Challenge Awards Ceremony will be held during Ignite at O'Reilly Where 2.0. Be among the first to hear as NAVTEQ announces the winners for the North America region. Participants will be competing for a global prize pool of $10 million and growing by showcasing pre-commercial location-enabled apps using NAVTEQ map data & products. March 30, 2010, during Ignite Where, 7:30pm - 9:00pm, at the Marriott San Jose, CA
WHERE2.0 2010 - Now in its sixth year, the Where 2.0 Conference is where the grassroots and leading edge developers building location-aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge. For 15% use Discount Code: whr10lbs
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