I entered the San Diego Convention Center last Monday to participate in Esri’s annual User Conference and was struck by the organization’s international appeal and awed by the magnitude of nearly 17,000 users from all over the world gathered together to share ideas and information related to their use of Esri products and services. The user enthusiasm was matched by that of the Esri leadership, staff and employees who hosted the event.
As the fourth-largest privately held software company in the world, Esri is one of the most iconic and successful companies in the Inland region. Recognized for the integration of its positioning expertise in global positioning systems (GPS), laser, optical and inertial technologies with application software, Esri offers the most powerful mapping and analytics software available.
Esri founder and President Jack Dangermond set the table for the week-long experience with his official welcome and keynote address. During opening remarks, Jack explained the meaning behind Esri’s term “the Science of Where.” It is used by the company to summarize, in as few words as possible, the science of geographic information system (GIS) technology. It is a data-driven approach that uses geography to unlock understanding. Jack told stories using his Story Map approach, with unbelievable graphics, and kept the audience on the edge of their seats. As a professional geographer myself, it was right up my alley.
During the conference, I learned more about how Esri systems support the Science of Where and how to apply them to achieve desired results. I attended several sessions lead by Esri staff that were targeted to my specific areas of interest.
One of my most thought-provoking experiences was the Science Symposium I attended, hosted by Esri’s chief scientist, Dawn Wright. The keynote speaker, Jonathan Foley, executive director of the California Academy of Sciences, challenged me to think about the impacts of climate change on our Inland area communities and a possible nexus with the Science of Where.
Foley spoke of collapsing resources and how we are pushing the planet to its breaking point. The problem, he said, is that people don’t hear each other and people have lost hope. We must have a plan to reverse global warming and not just focus on the problems — but offer solutions. We must address the hopes of people on the other side, he said, and noted how extreme rural and extreme urban people are more alike than we think. He suggested we use stories to build community and noted how geography can help bring cultures together.
Throughout the conference, I was struck by the universality of Esri technology and its ability to bring the world together in an exchange of ideas and information.
I left San Diego inspired by the possibilities of “Mapping Black California,” a partnership project involving Dangermond; Black Voice News publisher Paulette Brown-Hinds; myself, as founder of the Inland Leadership Alliance, and other leaders of the inland area.
The enthusiasm I experienced during the conference, as projected by users from around the world and the professional networks they represented, made me more certain than ever that exposing, training and building confidence in the use of Esri technology among minority students in the Inland Empire can have lasting and rewarding results — not only for them personally, but for the region over all.
Cheryl Brown of San Bernardino represented the 47th District in the California Assembly from 2012-2016.