UC 2022: Mapping Common Ground
Greetings from User Conference 2022!
It’s a thrill to be here in San Diego, meeting with and hearing from some of the very best minds innovating in GIS. In particular, many of those individuals that UC attendees have already been introduced to – from Deanne Criswell, Administrator of FEMA; to Jill Tiefenthaler, CEO of National Geographic; to David Hayes, Special Assistant to the President for Climate Policy – are leaders for whom GIS is an indispensable ally in addressing some of the greatest challenges humankind faces today.
The opening day’s plenary flowed from a theme of no small importance in meeting those challenges: Mapping Common Ground.
In his opening remarks, Jack Dangermond, Founder and President of Esri, reflected on these three words and what they mean to him. They’re a call for us all to come together in shared understanding on our most critical issues so that we can face them with the full force of an aligned community. Mapping, he and we believe, is a powerful tool for transforming data into a bridge to shared understanding.
Here in Esri Community, one of our key purposes is to maintain a space where shared understanding and the paths to collaboration are within easy reach. We want you to have access to the power of a connected, intelligent network of peers and professionals as you advance your own GIS work – and perhaps even share some of your own knowledge back with others.
We invite you to embrace that. Give what you can and accept what’s offered when you need it. Strengthen the networks here with your thoughts and ideas, contributing to shared understanding as we work in this amazing space of mapping to tackle challenges big and small, personal and collective.
And, if you witnessed the plenary, share your thoughts and reflections with us in a comment below – we’d love to hear!