ESRI User Conference 2009

Walking out the back door of this year’s ESRI user conference the BMW/Oracle sailing team’s trimaran was prominently positioned to steal my gaze. An amazing display of engineering and design… wow. It really impressed me with its elegant lines and high tech equipment. Looking at it right in front of me, my mind struggled to understand how huge this boat really is. Rather than accept how big it was my mind tried to force me to see the crew on the trampolines and hoisted up working on the mast as Lilliputians (tiny people). The man suspended on a boson’s seat rocking in the wind on the top of that 150+ foot mast was normal sized! The people on the sailing team were tuning that machine to make it work for them. They were preparing to set out into the ocean to battle the wind, weather, waves and the competition. People design, build and endeavor to do some truly amazing things!

It was great to meet many of you in San Diego this year. You provided us with a wealth of feedback that will really make a difference in the direction and priorities of GIS and CAD interoperability development at ESRI. I hope that you also were able to use the information we shared to make a positive difference in your work. Spending a week with people like you and hearing what you accomplish and endeavor to create is an awesome thing to experience.