Summary: Last week, Editor in Chief Joe Francica covered Esri’s Federal GIS Conference in Washington, D.C. ArcGIS 10.1 and the company’s ever-increasing emphasis on moving its solutions to the cloud took center stage. Here is a summary of the reports posted from the conference.

Esri’s Federal GIS Conference Kicks Off with Call for Better Maps

Jack Dangermond, president of Esri, kicked off the Federal GIS Conference (formerly Federal Users Conference) by extolling the need to think more carefully about how maps are created and presented in order to communicate more effectively. "We need to remind ourselves that our maps communicate; [they need to] connect with the visions of others, especially those at the executive level," said Dangermond. He urged the audience to make sure their maps answer this question: What do we want to tell our leaders?

ArcGIS 10.1 “Biggest Release Ever”

Esri's president, Jack Dangermond, speaking at the company's Federal GIS Conference, said that ArcGIS 10.1, "is our biggest release ever" in which users will find enhancements in quality and a focus on usability to empower geospatial professionals across more organizations. Dangermond said the company spent $300 million in development.

Esri has its Head in the “Cloud”...And its Products Too

While at the Esri Federal GIS Conference in Washington, D.C. this week I attended two sessions on Esri's strategy for cloud computing. The first was a private session hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS); the second was a public forum conducted by Esri's ArcGIS Server product managers.

ArcGIS for National Government: What is it? Is it New?

Today, Esri launched ArcGIS for National Government at its Federal GIS Conference. What is it and is it anything new for ArcGIS users?

ArcGIS for National Government, as best I can discern from the presentations, is composed of data services, combined with pre-assembled workflow templates that also include pre-configured model builder workflows, resulting in a specific "information product." If you happen to be working in an intelligence agency, there are specific templates/workflows called "ArcGIS for Intelligence."

DOI’s Hayes Calls Geospatial Technology “Front and Center” in Federal Government

David Hayes, the deputy secretary for the U. S. Department of the Interior (DOI), was the keynote speaker for the Esri Federal GIS Conference this year. He called GIS the most important tool in the federal government.
"Geospatial technology is finally front and center," said Hayes. "The reason I'm so excited about geospatial technology is that it provides us with a much needed mechanism to break down the silos."
 

Dangermond Presents “Making a Difference” Award to David Schell, OGC founder

Jack Dangermond opened the Esri Federal GIS Conference by presenting the "Making a Difference" award to David Schell, the founder of the Open Geospatial Consortium.