ESRI UC 2022 Day 1

 The UC was back in person this year, but with some strict COVID rules. I opted for the virtual attendance. While initially I was happy to have this option, it quickly became clear that this was intentionally a subpar offering. There were very few classes offered, and majority of them were introductory classes. The Wizardry class that I look forward to the most every year, wasn't even offered virtually. I know this is a super popular class, and to not offer it virtually is a shame.

The Plenary was especially long virtually. This years theme is "Mapping Common Ground." Surprisingly, there were 14,000 people in attendance in San Diego. I saw the virtual numbers peak at 5.9k during the plenary. Here are some highlights:

  • This is the 42nd UC
  • Will.I.Am promotes GIS in his community to encourage kids to go to college and change their path.
  • I have to mention the leaps and bounds cartography have progressed over the past few years. There are some seriously stunning visuals nowadays, which are serious advancements from my early days 21 years ago.
  • There have been over 8,000 dashboards to track COVID, and over 50,000 websites sharing GIS data.
  • There are millions of users, and tens of millions of maps.
  • There have been 1.2 trillion views of the John Hopkins COVID dashboard!
  • Mapping is a strategic activity.
  • Society has a failure to collaborate.
  • There are 382 current active wildfires in the United States.
  • The second most popular app is dashboards.
  • ArcGIS Online has 10 million users.
Jack encouraged everyone to meet 20 new people this week. A bit of an extra challenge, being holed up in my office all week, but I can chat up some people at the gas station and stores.

Ordinance Survey in the UK did a demo, and flexed. They have over a half billion asset feature classes, with over 20,000 updates in a day. I need to talk to them.

The Czech Republic had a beautiful demo showing how they have used GIS to combat rising temperatures with plants, for instant, with planting grass on the train tracks. They have been able to monitor and successfully decrease temperatures. Big props to the Prague Institute of Planning and Development. The speaker ended with, "It's a beautiful city. If you come visit, we get more money for GIS." with a laugh. 

Someone from the White House graced us with his presence, and the first words out of his mouth were to ask us where the tractor pull is? Dude. Know your audience. I stopped listening.

There was continual mention of a new application called ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online. I'm sure at some point during the week this will be explained.

We had a fascinating New York City real time bus demonstration. The speaker showed us their routing and braking data. They average 1,000 buss accidents a day. One intersection over 6 years had 4,844 accidents, with Saturday at 2pm being the most common time. He could dig into the accident stats to see causes and drivers. It was super cool!

Jack said, "You, what you do, and how you do it, really matters. No one sees the world the way you do." He also mentioned that GIS is the marriage of science and technology and art.

There was an awesome demonstration on the Sioux Falls - First Responder Roof Risk Factors Map. It was amazing. This map was used to show roof risks and the tools needed for response, as well as analysis tools by which ladder truck responding to the calls. It was an awesome showing of how to uniquely use GIS to fit their needs. They said they are "dedicated to the art of being curious," and to "innovate for what works." Well done to their Civic Analytics Team!

The Top 10 New ArcGIS Online Features are:
     10. Instant Apps - Interactive legend, interactive charts
     9. Living Atlas updates - 3D buildings, imagery, justice 40 disadvantaged communities
     8. Scene viewer - new weather effects
     7. Enhancements to search
     6. Web editing
     5. Attribute editing
     4. Dashboards updates - user can now download data
     3. Arcade is now available in dashboards
     2. Flow style rendering
     1. Special effects - blend modes online, effect: drop shadow

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation presented on GeoDOT. They have a "GIS Outreach Coordinator." 

The next rendition of updates for Pro include dynamic feature clustering, and animated symbols, for which you can upload gifs.

The livestream then crashed....

It took a minute to get back online. Who knows what I missed, but it came back on with a company call EGIS who has 16,000 employees in 100 countries. They sound like someone I need to talk to about data management.

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