Esri International User’s Conference in San Diego By: Dr. John Wood Esri International User’s Conference in San Diego. The Esri International User’s Conference in San Diego, California is always a blast, and this year was no exception! Dr. John Wood recently attended the conference, as well as the Esri Education Conference in San Diego, California. Esri is the leading GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software producer, and the Coastal and Marine Geospatial Lab (CMGL) uses ArcGIS, an Esri software, to display, analyze and create spatial information. TAMUCC has a site license to all Esri products. At the plenary, Jack Dangermond (CEO, Esri), explained that he has a lot planned for the next few months, including the release of a new version, ArcGIS 10.2. Many users all over campus who will be pleased with the changes. Considered a full release, some significant changes will take place. First, it will run on multiple processors, which should increase performance and allow better multi-tasking functionality. Second, ArcGIS Portal will be a core product, allowing sharing maps, applications and geo-information within internal networks. Third, a whole host of ‘free’ data will be available from Esri to licensed users, through the included online subscription. 16 new geo-processing tools have been added, as well as new conversion tools and support for Excel, improved PDF export, new imagery tools, improved publishing abilities, and mapping within Microsoft Office Applications. Esri has announced a new ‘Esri Oceans’ initiative in the very near future. The keynote speaker was Will-I-Am, who spoke about his initiative to bring GIS to inner-city youth, to help improve their neighborhoods and lives. Dr. Wood made a presentation on the past, current and future of benthic habitat mapping in Texas, during a moderated paper session entitled ‘OCEAN: Seafloor Mapping’. Esri is pursuing a greater engagement with the ocean science community, as complex ocean data is increasingly used to inform the responsible use and governance of the oceans, as well as effective management and conservation.