2006 August 11
Contents
- Editor's Introduction
- ESRI User Conference Fills the San Diego Convention Center
- Kids Think GIS is Cool
- Briefly Noted
Departments
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Editor's Introduction
I spent this week at the Twenty-Sixth Annual ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, California. I attended all of the plenary sessions, many technical workshops, and a few social events (aka parties!) and conducted a dozen interviews. Then, just as I was starting to write it all up, I got sick. So, in this issue you will find my report on Monday's plenaries and an interview with a great bunch of kids. In the next few issues you will find several more reports and interviews.
— Matteo
ESRI User Conference Fills the San Diego Convention Center
This article outlines the conference and reviews its first day. You will find one more story on the conference in this issue and several more in the next few issues.
"Good morning, my name is Jack Dangermond." So began the Twenty-Sixth Annual ESRI International User Conference at the Convention Center in San Diego, California, this week, attended by about 15,000 people. Dangermond, ESRI's founder and president, began the opening plenary promptly at 08:30 on Monday morning, outlining his vision for the conference, the company, and GIS technology. This conference, he said, is mostly about "meeting people, building relationships, and sharing what we know" and its main purpose is to "meet each other and learn from each other."
As in past years, Monday's program was dedicated entirely to plenary sessions—while 380 technical workshops filled the agenda all day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, plus Friday morning. Pre-conference seminars, the Education User Conference, and the Survey and GIS Summit took place on Saturday and Sunday, while 17 regional group meetings took place on Tuesday and 78 special interest group meetings took place throughout the conference. Many social events, receptions, and parties—including a huge one on Thursday evening—completed this very full week.
In parallel to these events, the Map Gallery featured more than 800 maps produced by ESRI users around the world and the 240,000-square foot Exhibit Pavilion hosted booths from 285 geospatial companies (including GIS Monitor's publisher, GITC America), public agencies, and non-profit organizations.
Kids Think GIS is Cool
4H clubs in 14 states have formed GIS Technology Teams that encourage young people to understand and contribute to their communities and environment by using GIS and GPS. For the past four years this voluntary program has gained substantial support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), ESRI, other major corporations, universities, and local communities across the nation. Tom Tate, national program leader for the USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) Economic and Community Systems Unit, and Jim Kahler, program specialist with the CSREES Families, 4-H, and Nutrition Unit, provide national leadership to the team.
At this year's ESRI User Conference, a group of 4H kids presented their work during the plenary session. They were Kaitlyn Kilpatrick, 10, Lauren Kilpatrick, 10, and Shelby Kilpatrick, 12, from Denton County, Texas; Emmaline Long, 15, from Genesee County, New York; Billy Swift, 16, from Livingston County, New York; and John Trammell, 18, from California. I caught up with them shortly afterward and asked them a few questions. (Unfortunately, I lost track of who gave me a few of the responses. I apologize!)
Matteo Luccio, Emmaline Long, Lauren Kilpatrick, Billy Swift, Kaitlyn Kilpatrick, John Trammell, and Shelby Kilpatrick
Briefly Noted
According to The Guardian, "The Ordnance Survey has finally stopped falsifying Britain's maps, almost 80 years after the government first ordered cartographers to delete sensitive sites in the hope of thwarting German bombers." Read the entire article!
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Matteo Luccio, Editor
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