Sustainability was among the key areas of focus at Esri UC 2021.
A very moving video titled “GIS – Creating a Sustainable Future” welcomed the thousands of attendees to the 2021 edition of the Esri User Conference. Highlighting the state and significance of the “drifting, spinning ball that is our home”, the video raised several pertinent issues, the most important being how our very success now threatens our future. Sustainability is by far the biggest concern and challenge of the 21st century, and the world needs to come together and take this up as a common cause. Working in this direction requires, among other things, the knowledge of geography, because geography matters more than ever.
In his opening address, Jack Dangermond, Founder & President, Esri, set the tone for the three-day event by saying, “This year, in addition to all of the activities that are underway, we will also be focusing on creating a more sustainable future for the planet.” Through an insightful presentation, Dangermond shared examples of the incredible work done by the GIS user community, along with his vision for the future and advancements in ArcGIS technology. His audience included over 50,000 GIS professionals from 130 countries representing different backgrounds — from teachers, scientists, government officials to professionals from the social sector. “You are special people. Despite being from different fields, you all have come together to create a Global Geographic Information System Community,” he added.
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Focus areas
Exhibiting the talent and work of GIS professionals from around the world, Dangermond emphasized on the growing significance of GIS not only for development, but also sustainability. Some of the areas mentioned during the Esri President’s address included:
- Environment Monitoring and Assessment
- Natural Resource Management
- Conservation Assessment, Planning and Management
- Managing, Analyzing and Applying Land Information
- Urban Design and Planning
- Building, Facility, and Campus Modeling
- Transportation Planning and Management
- Engineering and Public Works Management
- Water and Wastewater Management
- Energy Utilities
- Telecommunications
- Public Safety and Emergency Management
- Disaster Preparedness and Response
- Census, Demographics, and Statistics
- Social Equity
- Business Analysis and Economic Development
- Imagery and Remote Sensing
- Cartography
Another area that found a detailed mention in Dangermond’s presentation was “COVID-19 Monitoring and Response”. Starting from the dashboard created by the Johns Hopkins University in the early days of the pandemic to the increasing adoption of GIS tools to battle the ensuing crisis, the Esri President acknowledged the efforts of hundreds and thousands of professionals involved in directly or indirectly responding to Covid. “All this great work has interesting stories associated with it,” he said.
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Key highlights
The first day of Esri User Conference witnessed multiple plenary sessions, including “ArcGIS and Microsoft 365: Better Together”; “ArcGIS Defense Mapping: Standards-Based Cartographic Production Using ArcGIS Pro”; “ArcGIS Enterprise: Getting Started”; and “ArcGIS Field Maps: An Introduction & What’s New”. Further, there were discussions around “ArcGIS for Intelligence Professionals”, detailing how the GIS application is used by intelligence professionals to conduct end-to-end threat assessments and provide investigative support.
There was also a session to introduce ArcGIS Indoors, Esri’s GIS for indoor mapping and space planning that provides an occupant experience for workspace reservations, facility incident reporting, location sharing, and wayfinding. The indoor mapping capabilities of ArcGIS Indoors can be applied to several operational use cases, including indoor asset management, safety and security, emergency planning, and building a plan to bring your organizations workforce back to the workplace post COVID-19 lockdowns. The day’s schedule was designed to capture the attention of a very similar, yet varied audience, with several interesting presentations and meaningful insights.
You can click here to get detailed information about the schedule.
