Latest Contributions by Suzanne-Boden

For thirty years, Esri Academy has been a favorite destination for top-notch GIS learning resources. Housing hundreds of training options that are envisioned, created, and delivered by experts, the website supports students and professionals who want to grow skills that support immediate project needs while advancing career aspirations. Born of ColdFusion Markup Language, the website has evolved significantly since its 1997 christening. The newest version—launching August 15—uses the latest web technologies, accessibility best practices, and visual design principles. The redesign goal was straightforward: make it even easier to find, share, start, and complete GIS training that boosts productivity and expands geospatial horizons. A strong effort was made to collect, analyze, and activate user feedback. We’re grateful to all who shared their time and experience-based recommendations. The new website is more responsive, tailored to common patterns of use, and sets the stage for future enhancements. It’s also pretty. Here are some changes to know about: Existing Bookmarks: The main website URL has slightly changed to https://www.esri.com/en-us/training, and extensive testing shows that current site bookmarks will redirect correctly. Given the high number of Esri Academy visitors, it’s possible that some may experience bookmark issues. If so, we apologize for the inconvenience. Training Catalog: The new catalog design is quite different, in the best way. If you have used the current site’s Save Search tool to create links for a set of filtered catalog search results, those links will need to be recreated. The good news is that, in the new catalog, search parameters will display in the page URL. From your browser’s address bar, you can easily copy the URL to share a set of filtered training options. Learning Plans: You can continue to create, assign, and share tailored learning plans directly from the catalog; however, the community learning plan space has been discontinued. What is not changing: The catalog includes hundreds of options spanning multiple learning formats with time commitments ranging from minutes to days to weeks, with new options added weekly. You can explore anonymously to your heart’s content, but you’ll need to sign in with your ArcGIS public or organizational account to enroll in, bookmark, or assign training. All individuals and organizations with a current Esri software maintenance subscription enjoy unlimited e-learning access. You’re invited to stop by on August 15 (and every day after) and help us welcome in Esri Academy 2026. It will be sporting a new look, but the mission remains the same—it is, and always will be, your trusted destination for lifelong GIS learning. ... View more

  The Esri UC Plenary is known for electric moments when the crowd reacts with collective “wows” while watching jaw-dropping demos on stage that redefine the boundaries of what ArcGIS can do and the challenges that organizations with enterprise geospatial capabilities can solve. Months in the making, the Plenary session is intentionally designed to showcase innovations and spark ideas that attendees can build on after the conference. Use the tailored agendas below to quickly find sessions on the tech and topics featured in the Plenary this year. Explore the innovations and the design thinking involved while engaging with experts throughout the week. Bring back the information your organization needs to solve its challenges using ArcGIS…and then start turning the week’s inspiration into reality. Top 10 in ArcGIS Explore these sessions ArcGIS and Artificial Intelligence Explore these sessions Mapping and Analytics Explore these sessions Enterprise Business and Mission Systems Explore these sessions Living Digital Twin Explore these sessions   Explore all livestream sessions on these topics ... View more

Without a doubt, utilities are essential services—we all rely on the water, electricity, gas, and telecommunications services they deliver. For utility organizations, GIS has long been essential infrastructure. And for many, ArcGIS is the GIS infrastructure of choice.  Since the introduction of ArcGIS Utility Network, a lot of organizations have migrated their enterprise GIS infrastructure to capitalize on powerful capabilities to model data in detail never before available, more quickly detect network disruptions, and easily share network visualizations and status in real time. Because adopting ArcGIS Utility Network can require a significant level of effort, others have opted to remain on the legacy geometric network model. Delaying the migration, however, has also delayed reaping the business benefits of an ArcGIS Utility Network deployment.    With ArcGIS Utility Network migrations expected to surge this year and next, Esri has a variety of training resources to help organizations manage the effort and prepare their GIS and IT staff for new workflows. For a complex project, instructor-led classes are the most efficient way to prepare your teams and gain confidence that skills are in place to leverage the new capabilities. Instructors have a wealth of GIS and ArcGIS experience, hold Esri technical certifications, and are a trusted resource for attendees to ask questions, get answers right away, and pick up tips and techniques to work smarter and faster. In a private class setting, instructors can even tailor the learning experience to the group's specific needs, providing guidance and practical experience applying course concepts to daily workflows and data. These instructor-led classes were specifically designed for utility organizations, focusing on commonly used ArcGIS workflows and tools: Configuring Utility Networks in ArcGIS — a two-day class for GIS administrators and technical leads who are planning and deploying ArcGIS Utility Network. Get hands-on experience building a utility network, adding data, and tailoring options to fit your organization's requirements. Working with Utility Networks in ArcGIS — a two-day class for the GIS editors and other professionals who will be maintaining network data over time, performing analysis, and quickly identifying the source of network disruptions and locations of impacted customers. Configuring Branch Versioning in ArcGIS — a one-day class that prepares GIS database administrators to implement the modern multiuser editing model for ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Pro (branch versioning). The class covers best practices to establish branch versioning workflows that will keep your authoritative geospatial data accurate and up to date. Are you planning an ArcGIS Utility Network migration this year? Make sure you have a robust training plan to complement your technology plan—together they'll help bring your modern utility vision to life.  ... View more