US: The Esri User Conference on Tuesday was jam-packed with technological workshops on emerging trends, drones, vector maps and global geocoding. Esri experts shared insights into the business drivers, implementation approaches, and technical capabilities behind their accomplishments. Attendees also received a behind-the-scenes look into success stories from users across the world. Esri’s Product Mnager Chris Andrews introduced the attendees to ArcGIS Earth, a freely available, lightweight, installable desktop app that makes viewing 3D maps instant and easy for anyone in the enterprise. Twitter user Eric Gakstatter quipped that ArcGIS Earth is like Google Earth on geo-steroids with 3D capability. The new app will come out later this year.
In the meantime, a particularly interesting workshop on Tuesday featured Esri’s Living Atlas of the World, which is a topographic map showing boundaries, cities, water features, parks, landmarks, transportation, and buildings. The session provided details on a variety of ArcGIS Online content available today and demonstrated how users can leverage them in their work. Airbus Defense and Space also held a workshop on the ease of accessing precise and fresh imagery for each spot on Earth to support users’ mapping needs. The company also illustrated how Airbus DS satellite imagery and ENVI image analysis software can be used to estimate and identify crop yields, water content, stressed plants, and combat disease in precision agriculture.
NGA Deputy Director Sue Gordon also addressed GIS professionals at the conference. She talked about transforming intelligence for 21st century missions and NGA’s strategy and goals. She also discussed growing relationships with innovative industry and academia partners and advancing excellence in the geospatial intelligence tradecraft. A presentation on the NGA’s State of Data initiative provided insight into the systematic approach to evaluate data. It explained how NGA efforts facilitate GEOINT discovery, accessibility, usability and improvability.
During lunchtime, HERE had everybody’s attention with a session on the mapping unit’s solutions for Latin America. The company gave attendees an inside look at latest advancements in mobile LiDAR data and panoramic imagery work. These should prove quite useful for utilities, transportation and government agencies. Another not-to-be-missed session came from AccuWeather. The presentation talked about weather, GIS and Big Data. Revealing how weather forecasters were among the first to use big data, Dr. Joel N. Myers of AccuWeather elaborated how superior weather data, coupled with GIS Maps, can lead to terrific business intelligence and success.
Source: Our Correspondent
