Heading to San Diego....

Many of you know that we at Esri have our User Conference in San Diego every July.?This event draws roughly twenty thousand of our users from around the world, for a week of learning, sharing best practices, and meeting new friends.?

Over the years, I have been a customer, a business partner, and for the last 18 years, part of Esri itself. ??And while I have always come away exhausted after a full week of hiking back and forth between the convention center, the various main hotels, and the Gaslamp District, I have always come away reinvigorated by all the energy, and the amazing ways in which geospatial technology is used to address complex problems.?I’m sure this year will be no different.

Since I do have a small role in determining the content of the UC, especially in the transportation area, I thought it would be a good idea to identify a few “don’t miss” events and sessions at the UC.

Esri and Autodesk – Most of you are probably familiar with Esri’s growing partnership with Autodesk.?Recognizing that our customers (as well as the industry) are expecting greater interoperability between the major infrastructure technology vendors, we have been working closely with Autodesk to facilitate the more seamless exchange of data between our two platforms.?This partnership has transformed the construction and AEC community, and we will be highlighting the effects of this partnership at the Highway Special Interest Group meeting on Tuesday, 11:30-12:30 in Room 9 of the Convention Center.

You will be able to see real world examples of this partnership as we bring together three of the leading examples from the State Departments of Transportation (DOT) engaged in what is often called digital delivery.?Digital delivery refers to the process of gaining greater efficiencies in the project delivery process, particularly the hand-off from design into construction management and ultimately to the delivery of a digital as-built for use in asset management.

This digital delivery process is a strong focus for the Federal Highway Administration, as well as almost every DOT.?To discuss their experiences, we have Caltrans, Montana DOT and Pennsylvania DOT along with Infotech for a one-hour session.?This session will be of interest not just to highway agencies, but airports, rail and public transport agencies as well.

In addition, Autodesk will have daily presentations in their Demo Theater in their booth, #1619 in the Exhibition Hall.?I would encourage you to attend several of these sessions to see how far we have come together.

Embracing the Era of Transportation with Real-Time Capabilities – Increasingly transportation agencies are leveraging real time information to both better understand changing mobility patterns in our cities, but also to better manage traffic and congestion, and increase mobility based on real time data. ?Across all segments of transportation, agencies are coming to rely on real time information, whether in aviation, maritime, or rail, to gain greater control of their operations, with the ability to make better, data-driven decisions to impact the bottom line.

The Transportation Team will be presenting the latest in Esri based real time data capabilities at the Demo Theater # 8 on Tuesday afternoon at 4PM.?You will see live demos from across the transportation industry and have the opportunity to have many of your questions answered.?I encourage you to attend.

Sunday Evening Transportation Exchange – We always kick-off the UC week with the Transportation Exchange, where everyone in the transportation community is invited to attend for drinks, hors d'oeuvres, and great social interaction.?In past years it has always been at the Hilton Bayfront, but this year moves to The Marriott Terrace from 6:30 to 8:30.?We look forward to reconnecting with everyone in the transportation community and kicking off UC week in style.

Finally, the Transportation Team will be in the Transportation Island in the Exhibit Hall, Tuesday through Thursday, from 9AM to 6PM except Thursday, when the Exhibit Hall closes at 4PM, to allow everyone to prepare for the Thursday Evening Party in Balboa Park.?You can find answers to almost all your questions from the assembled Sales Engineers, Account Managers and Industry Managers who will be in the Island.?In addition, we have a full line-up of sessions across all of the transportation segments.?You can find all the activities for each mode here:

Roads and Highways: https://community.esri.com/t5/user-conference-documents/roads-and-highways-sessions-and-activities-uc23/ta-p/1291818?attachment-id=75767

Public Transit: https://community.esri.com/t5/user-conference-documents/public-transit-events-and-activities/ta-p/1291816?attachment-id=75388

Airports: https://community.esri.com/t5/user-conference-documents/airports-sessions-and-activities-uc23-flier/ta-p/1291815?attachment-id=75389

Ports:?https://community.esri.com/t5/user-conference-documents/ports-events-and-activities/ta-p/1291891?attachment-id=75387

Rail: https://community.esri.com/t5/user-conference-documents/railroad-sessions-and-activities-uc23-flier/ta-p/1291817?attachment-id=75386

We look forward to seeing you in San Diego!