Latest Contributions by KarenRichardson

Learning about ArcGIS for Collector at last year’s User Conference led Arizona State Lands to implement a major program. Find out more about the value of the Esri UC to this senior executive who he doesn’t even log on to ArcGIS every day. Meet Evan Brom, the first person to register for the Esri UC 2015. Mr. Brom is the Chief Information Officer for the Arizona State Land Department.  Brom directs the GIS and IT departments and oversees the State Cartographer’s office. Originally from Tempe, Arizona, he has both a B.S. in the technology industry and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Arizona State University. He is also a Project Management Professional (PMP).  Do you want to know a secret? Brom doesn’t use Esri software himself that often, but he finds the UC so valuable, that not only was he first in line when registration opened, this will be his fourth conference. I sat down with Brom to talk a little bit about his experiences at the conference and learn what he finds valuable about this event. So you confessed that you are not a regular user of GIS, but you work with those that do? To be honest, I personally do not frequently touch ESRI’s products, but with my direction, my talented GIS team uses Esri software to accomplish great things including: tracking of land ownership and rights of ways and leases; performing complex analysis of the impacts of proposed actions; and - with Collector for ArcGIS - my users are now able to take Esri on the road with them to collect data at its source. How long have you been involved with GIS? Personally I have been involved with GIS related projects in some capacity for the past eight years. The Arizona State Land Department has a single digit user number and has made use of Esri since the early days.  Some employees attend the UC as far back as 1982. How many UCs have you been to? This will be my fourth UC. What is the most rewarding part of the UC? Seeing the different ways people can and are using the vast suite of products.  Also networking with other senior executives is another great benefit of the conference. Do you have a big take away from the conference that you can share with me? Last year learning about Collector for ArcGIS and its offline capability led to a major deployment for our people that work in the field. What do you look forward to the most from the UC? Learning about the new products, services and techniques that will help me bring better, faster more cost-effective solutions to the business. Have you always liked maps? From when I was a small child I liked globes, maps and any visual representation of data. Why is location important to what you do? Not that this needs much explanation, but land is not a commodity. Each square foot we manage has its own unique features such as waterways, minerals, slope, habitat and more. Location is the only true way to organize this data. How will you use what you learn from this year’s conference? That is hard to say as I do not know specifically what I will learn, however I think learning about the roadmaps for ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS for Desktop will help with some of our future plans. ... View more

Did you know that the early bird rate for the Esri UC ends on January 16?  Not a lot of time if you haven't registered, but totally worth registering early if you are planning on coming to the UC. Registering early means you save $400 off the regular fee. It also allows you to select a hotel room now, when the hotel room getting is good. Trust me, you don't want to hoof it back to a hotel that is a few miles away after spending a day at the UC. How many steps did you record last year on your fitness app? Did your fitbit go up in flames from all the walking to and from sessions, across the Expo and Map Gallery? The UC is a physically and mentally challenging conference! Be nice to yourself and get a hotel room now. If you register early, you can also grab a seat at one of the preconference seminars before they sell out. Here's what's on the menu: A Framework for Geodesign ArcGIS Enterprise Systems: Performance and Scalability ArcGIS Enterprise Systems: System Architecture Design Strategies Building the Basemap for the Community Maps Program Building Web Applications Using ArcGIS API for JavaScript Esri Technical Certification: Skills Review for ArcGIS Desktop Associate Esri Technical Certification: Skills Review for ArcGIS Desktop Professional Implementing an Enterprise GIS Project Introduction to Geoprocessing Scripts Performing Geospatial Analysis Planning and Managing a GIS Real-Time GIS using ArcGIS GeoEvent Processor for Server Introduction to ArcGIS Pro for GIS Professionals Seriously, there will be so much at this conference, you won't want to miss it. Here's what else you can look forward to: Birds of a feather can flock together - Meet up with others in your industry, in your country, in your region, or those using the same apps, maps, data, tools,... you can meet a lot of people. Sponsors are special - Remember what I said about the fitbit? The Expo area is huge and chock full of interesting companies to meet. Just share it - Continue to check the UC web site for ways to get involved - there are lightening talks, the Map Gallery, slides for the Plenary - all sorts of ways for you to share the work you have been doing. GIS is child's play - Esri hosts a kids camp where the next generation of geographers and cute cartographers can learn about how spatial the world is. Do yoga. Run a 5K. Attend a party - The Esri UC is fun! All work and no play,.. well that's no fun. But you can't register for one of these, until you register for the UC. Haven't registered? Go here and feel good about completing one of your resolutions this year! ... View more

Did you know that the early bird rate for the Esri UC ends on January 16?  Not a lot of time if you haven't registered, but totally worth registering early if you are planning on coming to the UC. Registering early means you save $400 off the regular fee. It also allows you to select a hotel room now, when the hotel room getting is good. Trust me, you don't want to hoof it back to a hotel that is a few miles away after spending a day at the UC. How many steps did you record last year on your fitness app? Did your fitbit go up in flames from all the walking to and from sessions, across the Expo and Map Gallery? The UC is a physically and mentally challenging conference! Be nice to yourself and get a hotel room now. If you register early, you can also grab a seat at one of the preconferences before they sell out. Here's what's on the menu: A Framework for Geodesign ArcGIS Enterprise Systems: Performance and Scalability ArcGIS Enterprise Systems: System Architecture Design Strategies Building the Basemap for the Community Maps Program Building Web Applications Using ArcGIS API for JavaScript Esri Technical Certification: Skills Review for ArcGIS Desktop Associate Esri Technical Certification: Skills Review for ArcGIS Desktop Professional Implementing an Enterprise GIS Project Introduction to Geoprocessing Scripts Using Python Performing Geospatial Analysis Planning and Managing a GIS Real-Time GIS using ArcGIS GeoEvent Processor for Server Introduction to ArcGIS Pro for GIS Professionals Seriously, there will be so much at this conference, you won't want to miss it. Here's what else you can look forward to: Birds of a feather can flock together - Meet up with others in your industry, in your country, in your region, or those using the same apps, maps, data, tools,... you can meet a lot of people. Sponsors are special - Remember what I said about the fitbit? The Expo area is huge and chock full of interesting companies to meet. Just share it - Continue to check the UC web site for ways to get involved - there are lightening talks, the Map Gallery, slides for the Plenary - all sorts of ways for you to share the work you have been doing. GIS is child's play - Esri hosts a kids camp where the next generation of geographers and cute cartographers can learn about how spatial the world is. Do yoga. Run a 5K. Attend a party - the Esri UC is fun! All work and no play,.. well that's no fun. But you can't register for one of these, until you register for the UC. Haven't registered? Go here and feel good about completing one of your resolutions this year! ... View more

And now is the time to register - Early Bird Registration has opened! This is a great opportunity for you to save money and secure your spot: Save $400 off the registration fee Get first choice at the most popular hotels Reserve a seat to popular preconference seminars Apply your 2014 budget to  the 2015 UC United we map! ... View more

Don't miss out! Here is what you need to be doing: Submit an abstract - if you haven't completed your abstract yet, THERE IS STILL TIME! You have until tomorrow, November 7, to submit. Submit your abstract HERE. Do it! We want to hear from you! Vote for the look - Let's make this the Esri "You C"! Vote for the look of the conference. You can vote until November 18 and you can vote every day - so get to it! Vote HERE. Get ready to register - Registration opens December 9. You can sign up for a friendly reminder HERE. We are looking forward to seeing you in July! ... View more

Apollo Teng, the GIS Manager at Montgomery County, Maryland,submitted a paper abstract that discusses how the County enhanced their website with StoryMaps. Apollo Teng, the GIS Manager at Montgomery County Montgomery County is one of the most populous Counties in the National Capital region of the United States with over a million people across 507 square miles. The County is home to many federal Government agencies, universities, and biotechnology firms including Johns Hopkins University’s Montgomery County Campus, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and United Therapeutics. Teng holds a Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He heads the County’s Department of Technology Services’ GIS team. His staff provides consulting, training and app development for different departments in the County’s Executive Branch.  Some of the projects the GIS team handles include maintaining the County’s street centerline, building and places of interest files. They also develop GIS apps and Websites that provide better access across the County enterprise and to the general public.   Mr. Teng’s team has been awarded several national awards in recognition of its excellent work. Additional information about these awards can be found here. Teng’s abstract discusses how his staff has enhanced the content of the County GIS website with Story Maps.   For an example, check out this Story Map that deals with a couple of those important projects – maintaining information on buildings and places of interest, as well as providing access to people interested in this data. This Story Map allows anyone to easily search for recreational facilities that are operated by the County, major development/redevelopment projects within the County, and other activities. Teng  is looking forward to being selected to share the department’s experience in constructing these Story Maps for the revamped website. He is an experienced presenter, sharing papers at other conferences including Towson GIS, Esri MUG, URISA, NACo and ASPRS. This will potentially be his first paper presentation at the Esri UC, although he has been attending the UC  off and on since the conference was held in Palm Springs – and the last time this gathering of amazing geopeeps could fit in the Palm Springs convention center was 1996! How about you? Are you going to submit an abstract like Mr. Teng? The deadline is coming up quick – this Friday, October 31. We are looking forward to seeing what you have to share with the community! Don’t wait – submit your abstract now! (there’s still plenty of time to get that paper written!) ... View more

With less than two weeks left to get your paper abstract infor the 2015 Esri UC, I thought it might be interesting to look at some statistics from last year. Number of papers submitted by the final deadline: 1367 Number of tracks: 100 Paper submissions from different countries: 80 Countries leading in paper submissions: The United States Canada Brazil India Australia Germany Italy Tie: South Africa, The United Kingdom New Zealand The Netherlands Colombia Tie: Japan, Norway, Portugal, Saudi Arabia It’s time for you to submit your abstract - the deadline is October 31, 2014.  What are you waiting for? Become a part of this truly international conference! ... View more

With the UC Call for Papers deadline fast approaching I thought I’d get some insight from a past presenter on why he submitted an abstract this year. I cornered Jonah Adkins who works with Esri Platinum Partner Geographic Information Services, Inc..  Jonah was one of the first to submit an abstract for this year’s Call for Papers. Jonah Adkins: Might be afraid of monster movies, but not of presenting in front of his geopeers. Here is how our conversation went down: Jonah, first, thanks for chatting with me. What do you do at GISinc? I’m a Senior Geospatial Analyst, primarily doing cartography, graphic design, UI/UX and traditional GIS tasks for both public and private sector clients. What is your educational background? I wasn’t sold on the Marketing degree I was pursuing and the late nights I had working as a bouncer were tiring to say the least. I got lucky and landed a part-time job in 1999 as an Engineering Technician at my local city. I got a lot of on-the-job education in how cities work and how location is central to that. My first GIS tasks involved digitizing storm sewer lines from mylar plans into ArcInfo Workstation. I like to say that I grew up with the industry, even though GIS had kind of been around – it seemed to start really taking off then. How many papers have you presented at the UC? I’ve presented two or three paper sessions at the UC over the years, two lightning talks, and displayed over 40 maps (!!) in the map gallery since attending my first UC in 2003. Do you present papers at any other conferences? I’ve presented several papers over the years at the Federal Users Conference, and usually present at local and state GIS events whenever I get the chance. Why are you presenting a paper at the UC? My teammate and I  have a great story to tell on behalf of our client, and we want to tell the world! Getting that story out there is key to creating new relationships, and finding new ways to improve our work. You never know who might be in the audience. And really, what better place to practice your public speaking skills – in front of your colleagues and peers. What is the topic of your paper this year? Big Data, Reporting, And Visualization for Navy Shore Energy Program – I know that may sound like a lot of buzz-words, but it’s pretty spot on. In partnership with the Navy, we are managing current and historic monthly consumption data for Navy Shore facilities across the world. All of that data is at the core of how we get that information out through a Web-Mapping Portal. A major piece of that is reporting – showing different metrics and analysis in an easy to understand page that can be used to make better decisions about energy usage. Finally, in special cases we create striking visualizations to capture the attention of readers on any number of energy related metrics. And yes – we can tell this amazing story in about 20 minutes! What did you present on in the past? For previous employers I’ve spoken about the Role of GIS in Military Gaming and Simulations, and some work I was doing at the time for a local government. Do you like speaking in public? Yes! I still get nervous every time – and always go through phases of “why am I doing this” – but to me, it’s very rewarding. If public speaking isn’t your worst fear, what is your worst fear? Definitely something to do with creatures that may or may not exist from too many late nights watching scary movies. What do you like the best about the EsriUC? The social experience from gathering thousands of geo-peeps from all backgrounds. It’s great to attend with co-workers or colleagues, but the opportunity to meet and trade stories with complete strangers that totally get what you do is pretty awesome. And that pours over into every event – paper sessions, map gallery, exhibit hall.  I’d give second place to the map gallery – because I’m a cartographer and that’s kind of my thing. And honorable mention to the Esri technical islands in the exhibit hall – how many times do you have the chance to say “hey, why is this like this” and someone say “well here’s the person that wrote that tool – they can help you”. What can we improve on? Hmm…. Besides teleportation between rooms at the convention center? I really like the demo-theater sessions because they provide a detailed and focused look into a particular topic, a side effect of that is they were popular and often crowded last year. What was the one big take away you got from the last Esri UC you attended? For me, it would be the growth of Open Source and the dedicated community behind that. The fact that a demo about Open Source tools and data made the big stage in the plenary says a lot. And it seemed that there was finally that commitment to that from Esri. How many years have you attended the EsriUC? My first UC was in 2003 and I have been seven times since then. Have you always liked maps? I remember regularly exploring the pages of AAA map books we had in our car as a kid – and when I started being able to create maps with my first GIS job, it was like “Yeah, I really love this” Why is location important to what you do? it’s central to virtually every industry.  On some scale, location matters. It can be as small as one dot on a map, connecting two dots, all the way to analyzing a pattern in billions of dots. I’ve done a variety of projects since 2003, and it’s always been about leveraging the best technology to put “it” on the map. What’s your story? Tell us by submitting a paper!  And do it soon – submissions end on October 31, 2014. Don’t get spooked – send us your abstract! ... View more

The abstract deadline is October 31, 2014. Each year, the Esri UC features inspired ArcGIS solutions, insightful best practices, time-saving apps, and game-changing maps. Your work could share that spotlight. You have an opportunity to stand tall amid the world's most innovative and influential GIS work. This opportunity won't last for long. The Esri UC call for papers deadline is October 31. So get going on your abstract and send it on in. ... View more