ESRI Store: The Spatial Outlet

I was pleased to find materials from the Jane Goodall Institute available at the ESRI Spatial Outlet. If you're interested in learning more about the Jane Goodall Institute, visit the Spatial Outlet in Hall D of the Convention Center. Of course, you'll also find award winning books, t-shirts, mousepads, and other User Conference memorabilia for GIS lovers on sale, too.
--DVG

Washington State kids wowed me and the LBS summit was a blast!

Hi ESRI bloggers! I also found the keynote sessions to be simply amazing. The story about the Washington State 4th graders was awesome and makes me want to go and adopt a teacher. When school starts this fall I'll be following up with my son's school for sure in my search for a teacher to champion a project. Given the level of GIS expertise in my home town of Nanaimo, British Columbia, I'm confident that the resources and help that I need will be readily available. We have Malaspina University with a fine GIS program and now part of UniGIS, the local governments, regional district, and provincial government agencies will all likely be very helpful. I'm also quite confident that Charlie Fitzpatrick et al will be a great help as well as he is always eager to lend me a hand and offer up advice and assistance. On a side note, the LBS Summit on Sunday was a great event as usual and hearing from Nextel, Sprint, and Bell Canada reaffirmed to me what I already knew--LBS is coming on strong! This year's Navteq LBS challenge taking place at 3GSM and CTIA Wireless will be an amazing event and I'm already drooling at the applications that will be on display at that event. Kudos to Jonathan Spinney and the ESRI LBS team! I have a short report from the event on our ESRI UC home page at GISuser.com and am looking forward to also pushing loads of stories to the site direct from San Diego. Cheers to the ESRI UC blog crew...keep up the great work! Gotta go now as the Map Gallery is getting ready to open.

--Glenn (editor@gisuser.com)

ESRI Software Application Fair

The ESRI Software Application Fair represented a fine collection of tools and applications built by ESRI software users.

Applications were built using assorted ESRI software and ranged from analysis-heavy tools to lightweight viewers that enable users to efficiently discover and view traditionally large, resource consuming datasets.

One such project was the free viewer and data bundle from NASA. The application is built using MapObjects LT and is bundled with assorted layers of remote sensing imagery going back as far as 1972.

The satellite data and a free viewer delivered via CD and DVD and is intended to help users look at and select data without any of the hassles associated with dealing with larger datasets.

Users are able to zoom in and out through layers of satellite imagery, and preview tiles prior to exporting them into their mapping applications. Simple analysis tools including area measurement tools, the ability to add layers, pan, and zoom.

NASA hopes to encourage other government agencies to take the free viewer and make it available to the public.

--Kelly

GIS for Disaster Management

This exhibit, located in the Sails Pavilion at the San Diego Convention Center, focuses on the efforts of GIS users in the field by showcasing maps, images, screenshots, and lessons learned from the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster. Other displays include the Niigata, Japan earthquake; the 2004 hurricane season; rail disasters in Los Angeles and Graniteville, South Carolina; agricultural and health issues such as Mad Cow and Newcastle disease; and the devastating fires, floods, and mudslides in California.

First Time Attendees

Did you get your yellow ribbon? If not, you can still stop by the registration desk in the Grand Lobby, SDCC, to add one to your badge.

Remember, you only get to be first once, so it truly is an honor and we salute you!

Map Gallery

Monday night is a big night for UC attendees. After an awe-inspiring plenary and keynote address, the Map Gallery opens to show you hundreds of posters and multimedia displays that bring to life the themes and messages expressed during the day.

The posters show the work you, our users, having been doing throughout the year to help manage your world...Disaster management, environmental management, land records, conservation, education.

The maps you see are beautiful on two levels: First, they are colorful, well-designed, and true works of art. But this beauty goes beyond the visual. The data, analysis, and solutions to critical decisions theses maps represent is where the heart of these maps lie.

The Map Gallery is open all week. Take the time to look at the posters, study the maps, and read the presentations that accompany the displays. You'll be amazed and maybe you'll just get some ideas on how you can make a difference in your corner of the world.

ArcWeb Services Challenge Winners Announced

The ArcWeb Services Challenge Winners were demonstrating their applications during the Map Gallery Evening Reception last night. Chosen out of 29 contenders, Argo Navigation, Ecology and Environment, and Sportsim were selected for the usefulness, ease of use, and originality of their applications based on ESRI's ArcWeb Services products.

The first-place winner, Argo Navigation, a business solutions company focused on enterprise location-based services, created Fleetspy3. Fleetspy3 allows organizations of all sizes to manage their mobile workforces and fleets with an easy-to-use online software application.

Ecology and Environment, an environmental engineering firm, won second place with its Greenride application. Greenride is a Web-based application designed to reduce automobile dependency and promote the use of alternative transportation. It helps users find car pool partners by searching for other persons who live nearby them and have similar travel schedules and needs.

Third-place winner, Sportsim, created a free global GPS application that allows users to analyze their outdoor activities by replaying them on a map. These activities can be viewed along with time-stamped pictures, points of interest with hyperlinks, and personal comments. For athletes, heart rate information can also be displayed.

Special Interest Group Meetings

Join your peers at these unique networking sessions. Special interest groups (SIGs) are organized according to a particular industry, field, or area of interest. Meetings are held throughout the conference week, usually during lunch breaks or in the evening.

For a list of all of the SIGs, visit the Online Agenda/Planner.

Regional User Group Meetings Tonight, 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Join colleagues and meet new friends in a Regional User Group meeting. These meetings are facilitated by users for users, and offer an excellent opportunity to share your ideas and concerns on a wide range of topics. ESRI regional office and international division staff will be on hand to answer questions.

Regional User Group meetings will take place tonight from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the San Diego Convention Center, Mezzanine and Upper Levels. For a list of all of the Regional User Group meetings, visit the Online Agenda/Planner.

Tennis Tournament Tonight at 5:30

The 2005 ESRI User Conference Tennis Tournament starts at 5:30 tonight at the Marriott Hotel and Marina Tennis Courts, located on Level 4.