Day Two

I am going to be away this week attending the ESRI Federal Users Conference in Washington DC this week. These blogs this week will reflect my time away from home and my experience there. Enjoy

I am in day two of the Federal Users Conference and this may be a longer day than yesterday.

There is a short keynote session this morning, but then it's going to be a day full of me sitting in classrooms and learning a few new tricks and seeing what is new and what is going to be introduced in the near future. I have already went through and made a number of sessions favorites and put them on my calendar.

This evening there will be a meet and greet at the Smithsonian History Museum. Usually at the end of every big conference there is a big meet and greet session and I've always missed them. I intend on making an appearance this year and see if I can run into an old friend or co-worker or two.

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Day One

I am going to be away this week attending the ESRI Federal Users Conference in Washington DC this week. These blogs this week will reflect my time away from home and my experience there. Enjoy

I go in this morning and get my conference credentials and free gifts that they give us (usually a map book, an awesome pen, a notebook and a nice carrying bag) for attending. It;s day one of the conference and it's going to be a long one.

Jack Dangermond, the founder of ESRI will once again be the keynote speaker at the Plenary session as well as Vice Admiral Robert D. Sharp, Dr. Healy Hamilton.

This will consume our morning until lunch, then after lunch it will be either me speaking with vendors or setting in on a few classes until this evening when the Department of Energy User Group will have their semi-annual meeting with the other being in San Diego.

It's going to be a full day for me, that's for sure. Watch Facebook as I'm taking my 360° camera with me this trip.

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Away I Go

I am going to be away this week attending the ESRI Federal Users Conference in Washington DC this week. These blogs this week will reflect my time away from home and my experience there. Enjoy.

Today I start my journey to Washington DC and more specifically Arlington, Virginia where my hotel  The Holiday Inn Rosslyn is located.

This is the hotel that I usually stay at when I go to DC on business, on personal travel I usually stay in Gaithersburg, but this is just a couple quick metro rides and I'm inside the building of where I need to be. I can literally walk out of my hotel, across the street and a couple blocks up and I don't have to step outside again.

Weather permitting, I'm going to try to make it to the Arlington Cemetery this trip. The last two times I was there it was bitter cold, hopefully I can get in and settled early enough that I can take a trip over there.

Have a great day, I will

Hi ho hi ho

Coming Home

All good things must come to an end, and for me that means that our wonderful Federal Users Conference is over with and I will be returning to West Virginia and will be in the office for at least part of the day.

I'm going to try to get out of here before traffic gets too heavy on I-495, I was fortunate enough to do that a few years ago, today I won't be leaving the hotel at Midnight and will be heading back at a time when more people will probably be commuting to work. Washington DC is a very busy area, and now that the Government is back open, it's just going to be that much more chaotic.

I will however be back home sometime today, and most of my time today will in fact be travel time as I'll be fighting with DC traffic. Good thing I brought a Federal Car rather than my own, I have a 5 speed and that could be a pain in the butt especially if I get stuck in traffic.

Have yourselves a good day today, I'll be cruising home and listening to some music on my road trip home.

Hi ho hi ho

Conference Day 2

Well day one of the ESRI Federal Users Conference is in the books, and now we are on day two of the conference which could be just as long as yesterday.

Today is going to be a day filled with Professional Development Workshops and visiting the Expo exhibits to see what new and innovative things companies are trying to sell to the GIS Community. Hopefully Trimble will be there as I just got a Geo7X a few months ago and would love to talk to a few people about it now that I am more familiar with it. I know Nearmap is going to be there, and it is a subscription we are considering buying, but our area is so specific, I'm not sure that they could provide anything more detailed than I pull in from WVU.

There is a get together this year after the Conference is over with at the Museum of History (Smithsonian). Three years ago I had to be back in Morgantown in the early morning hours as Michelle was going to have surgery that morning, so I went back to the hotel and got some sleep before I made it back to NETL to drop off the car and pick up mine, then come back home and pick up Michelle and have her at the hospital by 5:00 AM. Tonight I don't have to rush so much and I can go and network a little bit and learn what types of projects others are doing.

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Conference Day 1

Here is where I will be for much of this morning, I'm at the ESRI Federal Users Conference and will be in the Plenary Session all morning watching and listening to new innovations from Jack Dangermond, who is the father of GIS. He is the Bill Gates of Microsoft and the Jeff Bezos of Amazon, the self made multi-billionaire founder of ESRI and GIS.

I got to meet the man three years ago as he was getting out of his cab on the second day of the Conference a few years ago. He's very approachable, very kind and friendly and one heck of a nice guy. I can say in my profession, I have met the founder and the innovator.

After the Plenary Session this morning, we will break into training, where you can go and sharpen your skills with the new technologies that are being developed. Last time I went and picked up quite a few tips and tricks that I use to this day still.

After the Conference is over with, the Department of Energy will have their GIS Users gathering. This is mostly some people from the other national labs discussing what they are doing. I was in on the original meeting three years ago, so it will be nice to see how this has developed. I can also speak with a couple of my old bosses who are in Oregon and talk to them about how I had the software installed on a very locked down LAN and how it is working. I was the Guinea Pig, and made it happen. I should be downtown DC until later tonight.

Have yourselves a great day, I plan on it .

Hi ho hi ho

And I'm Off

It's been three years since I have attended, but I will once again be going to the ESRI Federal Users Conference again this week, woo hoo this is like Disney World for GIS Geeks like myself.

 I'll be heading out from my office later this morning to head to Arlington Virginia where I will be staying at the same hotel I stayed at last time I went down. I usually stay north on 270, but a couple years ago I stayed here and really liked the hotel. I was very close to everything, and could easily get to the National Mall with no problem.

I'm leaving later this morning to avoid the heavy traffic that goes with the Washington Beltway I-465. I'm going to be traveling at non-peak hours just after everyone gets to work and before the chaos when everyone will be trying to get home from work.

Have a great day and wish me safe travels.

ESRI Federal Users Conference.

Well I'm here in Washington DC getting ready to attend my first National ESRI User's Conference. I have attended a couple of the smaller state and regional ones before, but this is my first multi day Conference on a National Level. This is not the biggest one, that occurs in San Diego, but this one is one of the bigger ones other than that one.

I have a full itinerary of sessions that I want to sit on and get up to date with the technology that I make a career out of. This is the opening day and the first half of the day will be filled with registration, the mass meeting where everyone attends as well as the expo where I can see so many new and exciting developments before they are released. The afternoon I have a few sessions penciled in that I want to see. As a Geographer I am going to be like a kid in a candy store both today and tomorrow.

Tomorrow is going to be the busy day, I have 7 sessions that I will be sitting in on, as well as a DOE Users Group Luncheon and the networking reception tomorrow evening at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Have yourselves a Great day, I'm going to.

Hi ho hi ho