Key Takeaways from the 2023 Esri User Conference

The 2023 Esri User Conference (Esri UC) has come and gone. But don't worry if you weren't able to make it to San Diego—you can still log in and watch some of the sessions online.

Emergency managers across the country have reached out and asked for key conference takeaways that are relevant to our industry. Coupled with the Safety and Security Summit @ Esri UC, the conference week included six full days of technical demonstrations, workshops, and presentations. And while many of them showcased technology updates that I could write about for days, there were several big-picture, strategic themes that I feel are important to share with my colleagues.

GIS Is Modernizing Emergency Management Programs

Gone are the days when ArcGIS was only used to plot a map. In fact, communities and states around the country are leveraging ArcGIS to modernize their emergency management programs. The theme of the 2023 Esri UC was GIS—Creating the World You Want to See, and it's growing increasingly clear that emergency managers see geographic information system (GIS) technology as mission critical for building a more resilient nation. Two presentations brought this concept to life: one was focused on the Florida Division of Emergency Management's (FDEM) state hazard mitigation plan update, and the other was a demonstration of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security's (IEMA-OHS) coordination site.

Last month, I published a blog post on how the FDEM used ArcGIS Hub to create a hub site for the state hazard mitigation plan update. The FDEM mitigation and GIS teams attended the conference to present. Leveraging ArcGIS technology, FDEM has fully migrated away from paper-based (or even PDF-based) hazard mitigation plans and transitioned to a virtual platform. The FDEM hub site provides a navigable, easy-to-use, and visually appealing way to publish a hazard mitigation plan, and the site promotes public engagement and government transparency.

Like FDEM, the IEMA-OHS has leveraged ArcGIS to transform data sharing across the emergency management enterprise. The organization's geospatial resource center acts as the collaboration site for the IEMA-OHS's watch desk; nuclear safety and response teams; situation awareness team; and, of course, the state's GIS practitioners. In creating this site, IEMA-OHS has found an effective way to make its data and GIS work for its staff in real time. The site has been so successful that its next phase will include collaboration with the private sector, along with an integration with ArcGIS Velocity for real-time asset tracking with location event notifications.

GIS Is Embraced at the Executive Level

More and more emergency management executives are engaging with ArcGIS. Notably, several directors attended the Esri UC themselves, bringing along their GIS specialists. Directors from the County of San Diego, California; Town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Harris County, Texas, and others, spent their time exploring technology solutions throughout the week and left the conference inspired to do more with GIS.

Why is this a key takeaway? Executives see the value of GIS, and they are asking the right questions. If you, as a GIS professional, aren't directly engaging your executives on GIS and data sciences now, just know that they are finding their own way to the technology. And I can assure you that when I was a deputy director, I would have appreciated proactive briefings from my GIS specialist on how new technology could improve my program, rather than having to find out on my own.

Data Governance Is a Thing—Do You Have a Plan?

Data, data, data everywhere. As the shepherds of community preparedness and resilience, emergency management organizations ingest dozens of datasets, and during emergencies, we're often asked to create a story to share that data with our stakeholders. Whether it's during a response or for preparedness activities, sharing across jurisdictional boundaries—or across organizations—can prove to be a challenge without adequate policies and governance in place. In fact, if you are currently in negotiations with a partner organization that doesn't want to share its data, perhaps governance and policies are the missing link.

Creating a data governance strategy, complete with policies and working groups, mimics planning processes that emergency managers are familiar with. But while we're used to writing about capabilities and functions, managing data seems a little more intimidating. What I'd like to offer you is a change in mindset. Consider your data to be an asset—you should plan and care for it like you do all other assets.

What I heard on the Expo floor at the Esri UC was an increased awareness of the need for a strategy. Attendees asked for best practices—or connections to others who have gone down the same road—as they begin their planning process. These questions and conversations proved to be a pivotal change in the way emergency managers have traditionally managed their data. This signals a growing understanding of our role in data management and governance relative to situational awareness, information sharing, and our mission space. If you haven't started thinking about your own data governance strategy, I would strongly encourage you to pencil it in near the top of your to-do list. And next year, plan to come to the Esri UC so that you can share your experiences with others.