| From the Publisher
By Roland Mangold ESRI Conference Provides a Glimpse of the Future
Daniel J. Boorstin, author of The Discoverers: A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself wrote, "This is a story without end. All the world is still an America. The most promising words ever written on the maps of human knowledge are terra incognita-unknown territory."
Unlike other trade shows and conferences, the typical attire for attendees to the biggest conference in the GeoTechnologies involves loose-fitting Hawaiian shirts, Bermuda shorts, and hiking boots or Birkenstocks. In a way, the ESRI International User Conference is mindful of a giant Grateful Dead concert, with an entire industry growing up around the near-charismatic draw of one group, one company. It has certainly become the pinnacle event in the GIS industry, with 11,000 attendees, 92 special-interest-group meetings, 129 technical workshops, and more than 360 paper presentations and panel discussions within 43 categories that range from agriculture to business, from banking and insurance to national defense, from intelligence to mining, from the geosciences and petroleum to telecommunications and water resources. The ESRI conference serves up the most comprehensive view of everything that is GIS today, and it furthermore gives us a glimpse of what GIS might be in the future.
This year there were more than 180 exhibitors showing products and services including, but not limited to, aerial photography, data servers, DEMs, DBMS, field mapping, feature extraction, GPS, image processing, network systems, photogrammetry, satellite imagery, 3D visualization, and many more. Everything one could possibly imagine at a GIS show was there, along with every conceivable application, process, technique or philosophy, serving as an ocean in which thousands of disciples could be immersed.
It may appear that I come here simply to praise the empire that Jack Dangermond has built. With success inevitably comes a long line of detractors as well as sycophants. However, count me as a member of neither camp. Among those critics of the ESRI phenomenon, numerous GIS products and service providers will clandestinely denounce ESRI's business practices. As dinner guests may criticize one's host while seated at his table, these providers nonetheless see nothing wrong with participating in, and taking advantage of opportunities provided by these conferences.
An infamous cavil that portrays ESRI users and employees as cult-like because of their zealous devotion and dogmatic view of GIS, is a view enviously propagated by their detractors. And there are certainly plenty of competitors-both former and current-who claim that ESRI does not have the best technology, and that there are plenty of better products on the market.
But these remarks I personally chalk up to "sour grapes," not unlike some of the complaints directed at Bill Gates and Microsoft. We cannot fault the lion for hunting down the gazelle. The nature of business is to defeat one's competition, and it is inherently good business practice to block opportunities for one's competitors. I am tired of listening to the complaints of ex-CEOs who have lost out to the likes of ESRI or Microsoft.
This phenomenon is a function of what might be termed the "geekification" of North American business. We are becoming a techno-geek society and, even with the economic downturn, this sector continues to dominate the economy. Nowhere in professional sports do we see losers suing winners over unfair play. But in business-especially today where business increasingly means technology-engineers, scientists, technologists and computer specialists have become so enamored of the technologies they developed-and the companies they built around them-that they cannot fathom a situation where they are not wildly successful. They whine when they fail, whether before or after filing suit. Well, I say, "Get over it!"
In spite of his success, Jack Dangermond does not come across as a bloodthirsty, bottom-line-driven corporate executive. Instead, peering down through oversized owlish glasses upon the thousands of faithful gathered to hear his opening address at this users conference, Jack appeared to be a benevolent, professorial uncle. He focused on the users of his software and the great things they are doing, rather than on the products themselves. He spoke of how GIS users from around the world, and from countless disciplines, have become a community-a community where the common denominator is GIS. And with the proliferation of GIS and mapping on the Internet, this industry has indeed gone "mainstream."
Consistently altruistic, Jack expressed deep concern for the environment and imagined a future where GIS could evolve into the Earth's central nervous system, taking the pulse of the planet by means of GPS and other sensing systems to ensure "better management of our Earth and its resources."
Not only is it exciting to witness Jack's vision for the future of GIS, but also to hear from many of the other leaders in the GeoTechnologies who hail from industry, academia, and the public sector. Some have much in common with Jack, while others are antithetical. I have not always personally agreed with each of his positions. The sharing of GIS data is one concept which I have a hard time embracing. The notion of sharing something that has commercial value flies in the face of a capitalistic, free enterprise system. However, it is hard to argue with success. We cannot deny the contribution one man and one organization has made to this industry.
Yet, there are countless individuals out there who would vehemently disagree with many of the statements I have made here, and they are banking on a scenario much different from the one that Jack espouses. From the lofty heights of the ESRI conference, we were treated to a glimpse of many possible scenarios. One or more of these visions for GIS may very well lie just over the horizon. But, more than likely, what truly lies ahead is the unknown future of terra incognito. Until next time, cheers!
Roland Mangold Publisher, EOM
E-mail: [email protected] Back |
