Esri is an American multinational geographic information system (GIS) software company. It is best known for its ArcGIS products. With a 40% market share, Esri is the world's leading supplier of GIS software, web GIS and geodatabase management applications.
Waldo Rudolph Tobler was an American-Swiss geographer and cartographer. Tobler is regarded as one of the most influential geographers and cartographers of the late 20th century and early 21st century. Tobler is most well known for his proposed idea that "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things," which has come to be referred to as the "first law of geography." He proposed a second law as well: "The phenomenon external to an area of interest affects what goes on inside."
A GIS software program is a computer program to support the use of a geographic information system, providing the ability to create, store, manage, query, analyze, and visualize geographic data, that is, data representing phenomena for which location is important. The GIS software industry encompasses a broad range of commercial and open-source products that provide some or all of these capabilities within various information technology architectures.
Michael Frank Goodchild is a British-American geographer. He is an Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara. After nineteen years at the University of Western Ontario, including three years as chair, he moved to Santa Barbara in 1988, as part of the establishment of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, which he directed for over 20 years. In 2008, he founded the UCSB Center for Spatial Studies.
ArcSDE is a server-software sub-system that aims to enable the usage of Relational Database Management Systems for spatial data. The spatial data may then be used as part of a geodatabase.
Roger Frank Tomlinson was an English-Canadian geographer and the primary originator of modern geographic information systems (GIS), and has been acknowledged as the "father of GIS."
The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a non-profit scientific and educational society aimed at advancing the understanding, study, and importance of geography and related fields. Its headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. The organization was founded on December 29, 1904, in Philadelphia, as the Association of American Geographers, with the American Society of Professional Geographers later amalgamating into it in December 1948 in Madison, Wisconsin. As of 2020, the association has more than 10,000 members, from nearly 100 countries. AAG members are geographers and related professionals who work in the public, private, and academic sectors.
GIS Day is an annual event celebrating geographic information systems (GIS) based technologies. The event first took place in 1999. It was initiated by spatial analytics software provider Esri. Esri president and co-founder Jack Dangermond credits Ralph Nader with being the person who inspired the creation of GIS Day. He considered the event a good initiative for people to learn about geography and the many uses of GIS. He wanted GIS Day to be a grassroots effort and open to everyone to participate.
The Society for Conservation Geographic Information Systems (SCGIS) is an international non-profit society with around 1000 members in 80 countries.
Produced by the Environmental Systems Research Institute, the Esri International User Conference is the world's largest event dedicated to geographic information system (GIS) technology. It is held annually in the United States, usually for one week in July at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. The Esri UC dates back to 1981. In 2008, conference attendance grew to more than 14,000 attendees.
Geodesign is a set of concepts and methods used to involve all stakeholders and various professions in collaboratively designing and realizing the optimal solution for spatial challenges in the built and natural environments, utilizing all available techniques and data in an integrated process. Originally, geodesign was mainly applied during the design and planning phase. "Geodesign is a design and planning method which tightly couples the creation of design proposals with impact simulations informed by geographic contexts." Now, it is also used during realization and maintenance phases and to facilitate re-use of for example buildings or industrial areas. Geodesign includes project conceptualization, analysis, design specification, stakeholder participation and collaboration, design creation, simulation, and evaluation.
Launched in 2000, Esri's Education User Conference (EdUC), is organized and hosted by Esri's Educational Programs Team the weekend before the annual Esri International User Conference. Held in San Diego, California, during the month of July, the mission of the EdUC is to support and promote the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in educational research, instruction, administration, and policy. Over the years, it has grown into a sizable and popular event for those involved in using and teaching GIS in the greater educational community. This includes school teachers, youth program leaders, college and university instructors, community leaders, librarians, museum professionals, and administrators of educational institutions. The conference includes user presentation sessions, hands-on training workshops, exhibits, special interest group meetings, and a plenary session including a keynote presentation.
The Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve is a nature reserve in Santa Barbara County California managed by The Nature Conservancy. The land is host to a variety of wildlife species, as it touches two major terrestrial and two major marine biomes. Animals from both southern and northern California mix territories in this area.
Michael N. DeMers is a geographer and Professor Emeritus of geography at New Mexico State University.
Internet GIS, or Internet geographic information system (GIS), is a term that refers to a broad set of technologies and applications that employ the Internet to access, analyze, visualize, and distribute spatial data. Internet GIS is an outgrowth of traditional GIS, and represents a shift from conducting GIS on an individual computer to working with remotely distributed data and functions. Two major issues in GIS are accessing and distributing spatial data and GIS outputs. Internet GIS helps to solve that problem by allowing users to access vast databases impossible to store on a single desktop computer, and by allowing rapid dissemination of both maps and raw data to others. These methods include both file sharing and email. This has enabled the general public to participate in map creation and make use of GIS technology.
George Frederick Jenks (1916–1996) was an American geographer known for his significant contributions to cartography and geographic information systems (GIS). With a career spanning over three decades, Jenks played a vital role in advancing map-making technologies, was instrumental in enhancing the visualization of spatial data, and played foundational roles in developing modern cartographic curricula. The Jenks natural breaks optimization, based on his work, is still widely used in the creation of thematic maps, such as choropleth maps.
Arthur Getis (1934–2022) was an American geographer known for his significant contributions to spatial statistics and geographic information science (GIScience). With a career spanning over four decades, Getis authored more than one hundred peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, greatly influencing GIScience and geography as a whole. The Getis-Ord family of statistics, one of the most commonly used in spatial analysis, is based on his and J. Keith Ord's work and is still widely used in the creation of hot spot maps.
David John Maguire BSc, PhD, PFHEA, FRGS is a British-American academic and IT executive currently serving as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia (UEA)]]. Formerly he was the Vice-Chancellor of the Universities of Dundee, Greenwich and Sussex, and a senior executive at Esri Inc, California for 13 years.
Alexander Stewart Fotheringham, or A. Stewart Fotheringham (1954) is a British-American geographer known for his significant contributions to quantitative geography and geographic information science (GIScience). He holds a PhD in geography from McMaster University, and is currently a Regents professor of Computational Spatial Science in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University. He is a prolific publisher, with over 200 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, and several highly influential books. He has contributed substantially to the literature surrounding spatial analysis and spatial statistics, particularly in the development of geographically weighted regression (GWR) and multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR). GWR an extremely popular statistic in geography, and its development is regarded by some as "one of the most important breakthroughs in Geographic Information Science in the early 21st Century."
Duane F. Marble was an American geographer known for his significant contributions to quantitative geography and geographic information science (GIScience). Marble had a 40-year career as a professor at multiple institutions, retiring from the Ohio State University and holding a courtesy appointment as Professor of Geosciences at Oregon State University afterward. His early work was highly influential in computer cartography and is regarded as a significant contributor to the quantitative revolution in geography. His work on constructing a "Model Curricula" in GIScience is listed as the starting foundation built upon by the Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge.
