ArcGIS Online for organisations: essential workflows

Wines, vines and Arc GIS Online – doing more for organisations

It was a full house at the ArcGIS Online for Organisations: Essential Workflows workshop, with the latest features and capabilities of ArcGIS Online. The workshop aimed to help attendees get the most out of their ArcGIS Online organisation site from a configuration and security perspective, as well as providing best practice tips and tricks for publishing content in maps and apps.

During the first part of the workshop we were encouraged hearing how attendees from around the country were using ArcGIS Online to support business operations in a diverse range of fields, from agribusiness and local government through to water utilities and transportation logistics. Incorporating the ‘organic’ Ozri theme of this year’s conference, we employed a model organisation called VineCo to address each of the workshop objectives. It also gave us a chance to showcase the world renowned wine regions surrounding Adelaide, home of Ozri 2014.

New ArcGIS Online courses – hot off the press

We are excited to announce two new Esri Australia Training Courses: ArcGIS Online Subscriptions for Organisations: Publisher Workflows and ArcGIS Online Subscriptions for Organisations: User Workflows. These one day courses represent the first tailored ArcGIS Online training offerings from Esri Australia. As many of you will know, ArcGIS Desktop Users on maintenance are eligible for a free ArcGIS Online account.

At Directions 2014, we learnt that only about 20 percent of Esri users in Australia have activated their free account. With this in mind, these new training courses provide Australian users with an opportunity to kick start their ArcGIS Online account and pick up some useful tips, resources and best practice guidelines along the way.

Directions 2014 – Highlights and insights from Melbourne

Directions 2014 stopped in Melbourne last week at the Langham. More than 200 users attended the event to network, learn and sharpen their GIS skills – as well as hear about what is in store for the future of the ArcGIS Platform.

Attendees were welcomed by Lisa Dykes, Esri Australia’s new Business Development Manager for Victoria and Tasmania. It was great to see so many new people with a show of hands revealing more than half of the users in the crowd were attending Directions for the first time. Lisa discussed the importance of the ArcGIS Platform for Victorian users and I was surprised to learn that only 20 percent of organisations have activated their free ArcGIS Online Subscription Accounts offered as part of ArcGIS Desktop entitlements at 10.2. If you believe your organisation may be entitled to a free ArcGIS Online Subscription Account make sure you check out our recent blog post that outlines how to request your free user credentials here.

I spent the rest of the day as a roving reporter and the remainder of this post is dedicated to highlights from the Melbourne stop on Esri Australia’s Tour de Force, Directions 2014.

A golden ticket to a global audience at the Esri UC

As a recent graduate I can attest to the competitive nature of jobs in the GIS industry – with several hundred applying for the inaugural graduate program here at Esri Australia. I have recently heard several GIS industry experts discuss this challenge at the SSSI Young Professionals workshop, where marketing ‘Brand YOU’ was seen as vital to landing your dream job. While sitting an Esri technical certification exam can be a useful point of difference on your job application, I want to share an exciting opportunity that will truly make you a standout candidate. The Esri Young Scholars Award is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase your research to the largest GIS gathering in the world – the Esri International User Conference (Esri UC).

The Esri UC takes place between the 14th – 18th of July in San Diego this year and brings together more than 15,000 geospatial experts from around the world to learn about real-world applications of GIS, showcase the latest advancements in the ArcGIS Platform and share ideas among like-minded individuals. Esri founder Jack Dangermond will be on hand to meet the Australian university recipient of the Esri Young Scholars Award, an opportunity that last year’s recipient Rodolfo Espada said was, “a truly unique experience and a once in a lifetime opportunity”.

Essential steps to Esri technical certification exam success

With a new year now well and truly upon us you may have found yourself setting some goals recently for the year ahead. It’s crazy to think that it’s been a year since we all started as graduates here at Esri Australia. With this in mind, we want to share one of the most rewarding opportunities we’ve had over the past 12 months and by doing so we hope to convince you to add Esri technical certification to your GIS goals in 2014.

Whether you’re an experienced GIS analyst in an organisation dependent on Esri technology and looking to make a strategic investment at work, or you’re new to the GIS environment and you want to improve your prospects by establishing a point of difference, an Esri technical certification can benefit both you and your employer.

ArcGIS for Server from an Esri Rookie

As part of an ongoing graduate program development pathway I was privileged to recently attend the ArcGIS for Server: Sharing GIS Content on the Web training course offered by Esri Australia. While I’m now comfortable in the ArcGIS Desktop environment after a few months, the thought of attending an ArcGIS Server course was a daunting prospect. Like many Esri users in Australia I have become familiar with the latest functionality of ArcGIS Desktop at version 10.2, as well as publishing hosted services to the cloud based solution known as ArcGIS Online – but what about the ArcGIS platform more broadly? ArcGIS for Server: Sharing GIS Content on the Web builds on foundation knowledge from ArcGIS Desktop and new found workflows used to publish content to ArcGIS Online, utilising server infrastructure within your organisation.

Cowpacity

Agriculture has made a significant contribution to the shared economic and heritage value that is the ‘Great Australian Outback’, yet concerns over the impacts of climate change, economic uncertainty and foreign ownership have become increasingly prominent in discussions over the future of farming here in Australia. These challenges formed the basis of the inaugural Digital Rural Futures (DRF) conference last week in Armidale, regional New South Wales, home to the National Broadband Network (NBN) and the University of New England (UNE). With the emergence of the digital economy, agriculture has often been left off the agenda at major industry and government gatherings. The DRF conference provided a national platform to bring together farmers, consultants and researchers to discuss the key challenges and opportunities a digitally connected agricultural sector is likely to face. Agriculture plays an important role in Australian Government plans to increase the value of agriculture and food exports by close to 50 per cent by 2025, driven by the growth of Asia on our doorstep.

Connections: Many-to-Many

Directions 2013 wrapped up this month with our highest attendance to date. While attending the Melbourne leg of Esri Australia’s nine stop tour, I found myself curious about what brings people back to Directions every year. To my surprise, the attendees I spoke to came from a diverse range of industries, yet their responses were similar: “an opportunity to connect…to connect with GIS professionals from other industries…and…connect with the latest technology at Esri Australia”.

Reflections: Beyond the Scene

I was born in Christchurch, New Zealand to a Samoan mother and New Zealand father. I grew up travelling a lot, playing representative sport and visiting family abroad. So it was at a young age that I became enthralled with two things: maps and National Geographic. Little did I realise that I would rekindle this passion later in life as I studied towards my Bachelor of Science and later Masters in Geography from the University of Otago in Dunedin. Over this period I have spent my summers working as an intern at the Centre for Sustainability (CSAFE) studying a range of geographic issues. Some of my projects included assisting the national energy authority (EECA) establish a GIS for renewable energy generation in New Zealand, engaging with communities about energy behaviour change at the household level, building EIA capacity in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and assessing the public fall out from Project Hayes, New Zealand’s largest wind farm proposal, published as part of a book entitled “Making Our Place”. So what has signified the importance of GIS in my life to date? To answer this question I would like to share two important reflections from my home and homeland: