Day Two of Geo Week 2024 Provides Inspiration and Insights

Somehow, we are now more than halfway through Geo Week 2024 after the conclusion of day two. Monday was an action-packed day in Denver, Colorado, with a fascinating keynote, a jam-packed schedule on the conference program, and another day on the exhibit hall floor during which the energy was palpable.

The aforementioned keynote kicked off the day in a packed auditorium on hand to watch presentations from Esri’s Este Geraghty and the USGIF’s Ronda Schrenk. The overall keynote focused on all of the ways that geospatial technology is being used to make our world a better place, with examples of usage in the healthcare industry, the fight against climate change, and more. After each speaker gave their own individual presentation, the two came back on stage for a discussion moderated by myself in which they talked about how their individual spaces can learn from the other’s, what the future of the space will look like, and more.

After the keynote, it was time to open up the doors to the exhibit hall and kick off the rest of the conference program. The latter featured a variety of content touching on everything from the importance of bathymetric data along coastlines, how AI is being used in geospatial work, the nuts and bolts in the surveying industry, and so much more. At the Exhibit Hall Theater, sessions looked at NeRFs, how reality capture is being used for accessibility, and the importance of diversity in the future workforce.

Monday also featured a handful of awards being handed out, with the winners of the Lidar Leader and Young Geospatial Professional awards being handed out.

We’d also be remiss to not mention that Monday was the inaugural World Lidar Day, to be held every February 12, for which Geo Week is a founding member. This new event was spearheaded by the United States Geological Survey, with the aim of raising awareness around the importance of lidar data. Learn more at lidarday.com.

There’s just one more day remaining for Geo Week 2024, but if the first two are any indication you can expect plenty of information, and an abundance of excitement and energy.