Esri Young Professionals Network Blog

Hello Esri YPN community!  I’m excited to have the opportunity to tell you a bit about product management and the path that led me here.  

My name is Jill Edstrom-Shoemaker, and I lead the ArcGIS Enterprise and data management product management teams here at Esri.  Every day I work with incredible individuals across Esri, our distributors, and user community.  Before I get into the details of my role, let me take a step back to share how I ended up here in the first place. 

The Esri User Conference (UC) 2026 is fast approaching. For over 11 years, YPN has been fostering community, connection, and career growth for emerging GIS leaders, and this year, we’re marking the occasion with exciting events and activities designed to help you network, learn, and celebrate.

Most maps look good. But do they actually say something? Here’s how I used a population distribution project to create maps that reveal patterns, support decisions, and communicate clearly.

GIS visualizations are an effective tool for communicating with a wide variety of populations, thanks to its scalable complexity and range of presentation outputs. The tool is especially useful for coastal communities, who are heavily impacted by climate change but can be far removed from modern climate predictions.

This blog discusses bridging the gap between coastal zone experts and their research, and coastal communities in Maryland- concepts that can be applied on a broad scale.

GIS is moving beyond mapmaking. For emerging GIS professionals, the field is becoming a way to turn location data, satellite imagery, field observations, and AI-assisted workflows into evidence that communities, planners, and organizations can use.

This article explains how the next generation of GIS professionals can connect data, people, and place to see problems earlier and support better decisions.

My name is Udit Bhatta, and I am a graduate student at Mississippi pursuing a PhD in geospatial technology. Before I enrolled in a master's degree in 2023, I was leading Nepal’s first green school initiative (Vajra Academy) as both the school principal and the director. Apart from what every school does, teach established curricula, we created our own special curriculum, Green Studies, as a completely experiential, project-based learning subject. We created opportunities for students to engage in organic farming, learn about sustainable technologies, pollution, and activities on natural resources conservation, sustainable use, repurposing, and developing energy-efficient solutions for the campus.

Discover how a journey from Ghana’s survey fields led to contributing to school safety and emergency response mapping projects in Illinois through the power of applied GIS.

Water quality research generates datasets, but spreadsheets alone rarely tell the full story. This post explores how GIS brings spatial context to environmental data, helps researchers uncover patterns across sampling sites, and builds in-demand skills for students and early-career professionals entering the GIS and environmental fields.

Hi everyone, my name is Gina and I am finishing up my M.S. GISc degree at the University of Denver in June. My thesis researched how geoAI can be used to understand wildfire-induced building loss, and I think the workflow that was developed can be helpful for emergency management professionals, urban planners, and residents in wildfire-risk zones alike. Thus, I want to share my research with you all to increase accessibility of the subject.  

When considering who to ask for a reference, consider these four things. Relevance, Recency, Relationship, and Willingness. Also think about the ask itself: how you ask, providing explanation, and giving a heads up. Finally, think about how you can build your mentor network and nurture it, perhaps even giving back to your mentors over time.