Latest Contributions by KarenRichardson

  Take advantage of early registration for the Esri UC. Not only will you save $400 off the regular registration fee, you can reserve the hotel rooms you want and grab a seat at a popular preconference seminar, before any of them sell out.   The Esri UC brings together a global audience of Esri GIS users from across all organization sectors to learn, network and share their experiences. The conference is held each year in San Diego in the summer to take advantage of this beautiful Southern California city’s balmy weather. Plan to attend each year and learn what’s new in GIS technology and data, network with your peers, and stay connected to the pulse of this exciting, vibrant industry.    Register now and get the early bird rate!   Here is what is waiting for you:   Make the Esri UC Your UC Submit a paper, a map or an app and showcase your work at the conference.  Compete in a variety of contests to stretch your skills. Talk with an Esri cartographer about your map designs.  There is no better way to improve your skills and learn new techniques than to take an active role in the experience of the Esri UC. Check EsriUC.com for the latest due dates so you don’t miss a deadline.   One-on-one education at the GIS Expo More than 300 exhibitors representing companies and organizations at the forefront of geospatial technology are on the show floor and ready to meet you. Esri product islands, demo theaters and Esri staff from training, professional services, data health checks, and UX/UI are also located here, so you can ask specific questions or sit in on a short presentation about a particular area of interest. Don’t miss your opportunity to meet one-on-one at these areas.   A GIS Conference Made for Experts like You Step one: attend the Esri UC. Step two: apply geography everywhere by learning about: focused solutions for your industry from Esri,partners and other users The ins and outs of the ArcGIS platform including Online, desktop and Server Information on specific extensions from Esri , Esri partners and start-ups How to take advantage and integrate new technology into your existing implementation   Sessions, sessions and more sessions You can choose from more than 900 different user presentations, Esri-led technical workshops, and software demonstrations including: Hundreds of paper presentations from users just like you; Technical sessions presented by the Esri software product teams; Road Ahead sessions that will provide insight into the direction of Esri’s solutions; Overview sessions providing a look at Esri technology you might not be using today; In-depth sessions about the ArcGIS platform.   Make Lots of Connections And we aren’t even talking about the topology on your map. Network with people who hold your interest and get the most out of your time at the conference: Special Interest Groups – Get to know users in your industry. Regional User Groups – Meet others from your geographic area. Partner sponsored events – Talk with the people behind the solutions you use every day. Industry-specific events – Learn about solutions and use cases you can implement in your organization.   Experience the UC, Don’t Just Attend All work and no play isn’t fun for anyone. At the Esri UC you have plenty of time to digest everything you’ve learned by participating in all sorts of activities: run a 5K, do some yoga, bring the family to family night at the GIS Expo, bring the kids to the Kids Fair and let them experience your love of all things geo, and then top it all off by celebrating your accomplisments at the Thursday night party.   What are you waiting for? Register now and get the early bird rate! ... View more

That’s right folks. It’s time to get your abstracts submitted for next year’s amazing conference. Time flies when you are having fun, and we want to hear all about it in your paper submissions! What have you been up to while we’ve been away? What amazing maps have you made? What incredible discoveries have you unveiled? Tell us and 16,000 of your closest friends all about it at Esri UC in San Diego, California. We’ll be getting together once again June 27 – July 1, 2016 to discuss GIS and what fantastic things you have accomplished with yours. Submit your abstract now! ... View more

Here it is - a top ten that I think John Calkins would approve. Mosey on over to Esri's monthly online magazine ArcWatch and see what the editor had to say about this year's Plenary. If you don't already receive this in your inbox, sign yourself up for this e-zine that is chock full of software info and interesting news. What did you think? Anything we missed that should have made the top ten list? ... View more

Take a peak at some creative cartography - the winners of the Map Gallery are now posted here. Esri ICA and IMIA Excellence in Cartography Winner: 3D Model of Kauai. Esri ICA and IMIA Excellence in Cartography Winner:Grand Canyon National Park. And check back - Esri's Mark Harrower will be sharing insights from the judges in the next couple of weeks. ... View more

Water, air, earth, and fire—the four elements that constitute the Earth and the four focal points of user presentations at the 2015 Esri User Conference. Esri’s Lauren Bennett and John Calkins led roughly 15,000 attendees on a journey from the cornfields of Midwestern America all the way to the Australian wilderness during the plenary session July 20. The purpose was to show how comprehensive and innovative GIS solutions can foster better understanding and bring about more informed decisions and actions. More than 15,000 Esri users attended the EsriUC Plenary in San Diego, California, listening raptly to a day's worth of presentations from organizations around the world. The excursion began with a team from the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) demonstrating how it revamped its GIS infrastructure to open it up to more uses and users. Although SWFWMD had been using GIS to balance agriculture, development, and the environment for 30 years, the agency saw that it needed to do more to support Florida’s water needs. So, as SWFWMD bureau chief Steve Dicks explained, the agency implemented Web GIS to streamline workflows and bring together industry, agriculture, environmental organizations, and Florida residents. Kris A. Kaufman, Leigh Vershowske, and Steven Dicks, PhD, GISP take the main plenary stage to discuss how GIS helps to improve water quality throughout the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Dicks demonstrated how Web GIS helps manage a range of water issues, from keeping Florida’s strawberries growing in the winter to analyzing how new housing developments need to be planned to avoid flood zones. SWFWMD GIS database and server analyst Leigh Vershowske then showed the audience the agency’s “most important map,” as he put it: an online form that makes it easy to apply for well, water use, and construction permits to plan future water development. To wrap it up, SWFWMD senior environmental scientist Kris Kaufman illustrated how the district used GIS to clean up a very polluted Tampa Bay and bring back ecologically vital seagrass in record numbers. From Florida’s warm waters, the audience traveled northwest to Atlanta’s bustling Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which, according to Esri founder Jack Dangermond, “is really taking geography into a different dimension.” Managing 250,000 passengers per day, 200 aircraft gates, five runways, 115 taxiways, 16,000 slabs of concrete, and more than 18,000 airfield lights requires a robust enterprise GIS solution. GIS manager David Wright and GIS analyst Anthony Vazquez took the audience on a tour of how the airport uses ArcGIS Online and a handful of mobile ArcGIS apps to inspect and maintain runways, taxiways, green space, street lights, and much more. The duo also demonstrated how ArcGIS Pro’s 3D capabilities helped them determine which trees were growing tall enough to penetrate airspace near the runway so the airport could ensure that they stay trimmed to Federal Aviation Administration regulations. Modeling data in 3D with ArcGIS Pro helps the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport conform to Federal Aviation Administration regulations. Then it was off to another Atlanta—in the state of Indiana—to see how Beck’s Hybrids, a seed and technology company, uses GIS for precision agriculture and business needs. As presenter Craig Rogers made evident, farmers do geodesign every day. Rogers demonstrated Beck’s Hybrids’ FARMserver, a map-enabled web application that helps farmers maximize their yield and keep costs low. Using maps, spatial analysis, and big data from live sensors and farm equipment, software users can monitor data such as soil composition and weather to ensure that their Beck’s Hybrids corn and soybean seeds thrive. More recently, the company rolled GIS out to its marketing, sales, and leadership teams. Beck’s Hybrids’ GIS director Brooke Gajownik showed the audience how the company, which sells its seeds all over the Midwest, uses GIS to do detailed analyses of customer issues to cut down the time between incident and action. She also revealed how a suite of ArcGIS tools, including Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS and Explorer for ArcGIS, is helping Beck’s Hybrids identify—in very visually appealing ways—opportunities for business growth by conducting spatial and temporal analyses of sales and competition trends. Hot spot analysis helps Becks Hybrids visualize seed sales. From earth to fire, the audience headed down under to the state of Victoria, Australia, to learn about Black Saturday, a day in February 2009 when more than 400 wildfires raged. As Anthony Griffiths of Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water, and Planning said, fire is not always destructive; it can renew and rejuvenate—which is exactly what the Black Saturday fires did for the department’s mapping and firefighting capabilities. The State of Victoria realized that it needed to be ready for the next wildfires before they happened, so agencies across the state worked together to create eMap, a system centered around cross-departmental collaboration and awareness. Using one map, built on a common database and accessible on any device, the State of Victoria is now able to proactively respond to and manage wildfires using predictive technology. To demonstrate how the application works, the department’s eMap architect, Anthony Burgon, showed the audience all the fires going on in the State of Victoria at that very moment, as well as where weather changes were occurring. Using near-real time imagery and a fire modeling and prediction system called Phoenix Rapid Fire, responders and incident commanders from various agencies can predict where a fire might go and forecast potential impact zones. Getting ahead of the game like this—via a GIS-enabled system of engagement—improves safety and situational awareness all around. And, even though the fire count in the State of Victoria is up this year, there hasn’t been nearly as much devastation. “More fire, less impact,” said Griffiths, driving home the point. The Black Saturday bush fires that burned across Victoria, Australia on February 7, 2009 are thought to be Australia's worst bush fire catastrophe. Up to 400 singular fires were recorded and 173 people lost their lives. Openness, continuity, collaboration, and engagement: Those four themes unified the stories told during the plenary session user presentations—in much the same way that the four elements of the Earth coalesce. And, no doubt, they will unify the stories we hear from users throughout the week at the 2015 Esri User Conference. ... View more

The videos from the Plenary Session on Monday, July 20, 2015, are ready for viewing and sharing! Relive the Plenary and share the experience with others. Keynote from Jack Dangermond R&D at Esri Southwest Florida Water Management District - A Mission-Critical Approach to Water Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport - Web GIS Delivers Safety and Efficiency Beck's Hybrids - Feeding the World: Precision Agriculture Simplified State of Victoria, Australia, Government - Proactive Rejuvenation: Ignite Your Potential World Health Organization - The Battle against Ebola and Polio National Geographic Society - Understanding Geography Mentoring the Next Generation - Connecting GIS with Education Watch the videos! ... View more

Love was in the air at the Esri User Conference Plenary session on Monday. Love for mapping apps, that is. Following the technology demos and before the lunch break, the audience had a chance to flirt - from a distance - with all of Esri's ready-to-use apps during a high-energy App Speed Dating pitch on stage. Esri UC attendees are encouraged to vote for their favorite app. The winning app will be unveiled at Thursday night's Party by the Bay. "How much do you know about ready-to-use apps in ArcGIS?" asked Ismael Chivite from Esri.  "Finding the right app can be challenging. You need to know what the app can do for you." The apps, played by Esri staff with a flair for acting, rapping, and singing, touted  the reasons they would make a great mapping mate. A cool and confident Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS, played by Tif Pun, said if it's real-time information for any situation that you need, "I'm the app you want! I will constantly measure, share, and alert you. With me, you'll track your goals and know where you stand. Need a widget I don't provide? That's not a problem. I have an API ready for you. So don't wait! Pick me!" Is ArcGIS for Collector the right app for you? Also alluring were Collector for ArcGIS, Esri Maps for Office, Explorer for ArcGIS, ArcGIS Pro, Navigator for ArcGIS, GeoPlanner for ArcGIS, Survey123, Crowdsource Reporter and Manager App, and many others. A real sweetheart and possible heartbreaker, though, was Story Map. A natural storyteller with a dramatic streak, Story Map (played by Natalie Feurerstein) rapped about her hidden and not-so-hidden talents: "I'm a story map, and I'm full of great stuff. I'm the one you call to pump your map up! Ain't nobody gonna give your data a look, Unless you throw in some context, give it a hook. I'm talking photos, talking video, too. Heck write in some words, if that's how you do. I got all kinda apps,with all kinda flow, Like Journal and Shortlist and Map Tour, Yo Is it hard? Naw! Ain't nuttin to it. With my builders, even your moms could do it. So pick me, Story Map, I'm the bomb and I'm free. At ArcGIS dot Kizzom. Story Map in front of the app crowd, singing her heart out. We heart you, Story Map. But still, make thatArcGIS.com. Don't forget to vote for your favorite app! ... View more