Community Blog

Meet Christopher Counsell, a Spatial Solutions Manager at Asplundh Australia where he supports utility vegetation management and arboriculture services. Through his work, Chris has plotted millions of trees across hundreds of thousands of miles of utilities that cover a vast swath of Australia’s east coast as well as New Zealand. In this feature, explore how Chris—an Esri Community MVP, former Esri Australia team member, and two-time winner in Esri Community’s annual contest—enriches the Esri user landscape through a ‘receive some help, give some help’ mentality.

Meet Matt Edrich, Product Manager for FieldSync, a data acquisition and technology company using ArcGIS to change the way telecommunication infrastructure is both monitored and maintained. In this feature, Matt describes how his work with ArcGIS Survey123 and ArcGIS Online have allowed him to create maintenance and conditioning processes that significantly reduce the time required for site reporting before transforming that data into thorough, packaged deliverables. Matt credits the resources found in Esri Community for the advances FieldSync has been able to achieve through ArcGIS Survey123, and he discusses how he obtains value from the people-powered platform.

Meet Ken Buja, a Senior Application Developer for the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science at NOAA. Through ArcGIS, Ken Buja develops applications that convert vast datasets into models that better enable scientists and coastal communities to safeguard environmental resources and public health. Ken also covers how this important work has been aided by the Esri Community and why he’s long enjoyed participating in the platform’s MVP superuser program.

Meet Tari Martin, Director of National and Federal at the National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Foundation, (NAPSG). In this article, learn how Tari and her colleagues inject GIS into the operations of public safety organizations across the entire U.S., boosting their ability to protect lives and livelihoods through data-driven decision making. Tari shares how Esri Community is a multi-faceted tool serving that work by providing channels for authoritative disaster data, valuable information on ArcGIS products, and networking for GIS public safety professionals during “blue skies.”

Meet Christian Patton, Director of Professional Services at Esri Partner, GEO Jobe. In this article, Christian explains why he’s relied on Esri Community since his days as a developer and how it continues to serve him while helping solution engineers and software developers use ArcGIS tools in the optimal ways for GEO Jobe's worldwide clientele of over 10,000 organizations.

Meet Mele Koneya, a GIS Analyst for the City of Scottsdale, Arizona. Get a glimpse into how Mele and others on the City of Scottsdale GIS team have has been using GIS to support the city’s operations for decades, including though the management of geospatial data that empowers public safety units like the Scottsdale Fire Department to maintain an exceptional standard for response no matter the conditions. In this article, Mele also discusses why he often turns to Esri Community for support and knowledge-sharing that provides him with valuable guidance and has, at times, helped him resolve some sticky challenges during major city events.

Meet Amanda Huber, a GIS Administrator for Minnesota's Three Rivers Park District. In this article, discover how Amanda and a compact team of colleagues support geospatial needs across a range of departments that manage 27,000 acres of parks and trails. She discusses her strategic use of Esri Community to problem-solve and learn, including using it as a research resource when considering new Esri products to add to Three Rivers Park District’s broad tech stack. As a newly minted member of the Esri Community's MVP program, Amanda also describes what makes Esri Community a safe space for GIS professionals of all levels to ask their questions and why she’s inspired to contribute back as an MVP.

Meet Mervyn Lotter, a Biodiversity Planner and GIS Manager for the Mpumalanga Tourism & Parks Agency in South Africa. There, Mervyn leverages GIS to protect and conserve local biodiversity that includes over 600 species that are either threatened or of conservation concern. This work comes at a time when the stability of worldwide biodiversity is increasingly fragile, making the need for strong preservation measures paramount. In this article, Mervyn discusses how Esri Community has long provided him with an important source of support and the values that drive him to contribute help back to other members. Learn more …

Meet Ellie Hakari, a GIS Analyst III who followed a non-traditional path to her role at the State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. There, she works to protect the integrity of Alaska’s roads and airport pavement by monitoring their condition and evaluating threats—like those from typhoons, earthquakes, and other natural disasters and the impacts of climate change. Learn more …

Meet Doug Browning, a Geospatial Data Systems Architect contractor with the Sanborn Map Company. As the creator and manager of workflows that combine complex ArcGIS Survey123 forms, ArcGIS Field Maps, and ArcGIS Online, Doug is instrumental in supporting the Bureau of Land Management's Assessment Inventory Monitoring team as they monitor natural resource conditions across 245 million acres of U.S. public lands. What’s more, Doug is an Esri Community MVP whose contributions in this platform have and continue to impact many—including by helping shape the development of ArcGIS Survey123. Learn more …