This year’s ESRI Annual Conference took place once more in the QEII Conference Centre in the heart of Westminster. It was good to meet up with several Newcastle graduates, each making their mark on the GI industry. The major ‘take-away message’ from this year’s conference was the increasing ease by which the traditionally ‘clunky’ ArcGIS desktop can be left behind in favour of developing using ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online, products with regular and frequent update cycles and increasingly comprehensive functionality.
From the perspective of ESRI, David Rix (1976 graduate) and Dominic Stubbins (1995) were amongst the welcoming corporate hosts, contributing to an efficiently-run and informative event, well worth the trip from the north! Nathan Ward (1993) was manning the Leica stall, one of several associated partners exhibiting in the building. Laura Hanson (2003 graduate), now with Arup, and Rachel Oldroyd (2011 graduate), now with the University of Leeds, were ex-staff members spotted, along with Meredith Williams (staff 2000-2010).
Joining Dominic from the 1995 cohort was Ian Moodie, whilst from even further even back, Rob Knight and Helen Durham (both 1985) are both thriving. Clive Surman-Wells (1988) and Andy Hopkins (1996) made their presence known also, along with some 21st century graduates – Bruce Ford (2009), Claire Watkins (2009), Victoria Short and Matt Bowerbank (2010), Matthew Bierton (2014) and Jonathan Hallam (2015).
Next week, the re-unions will continue in London at the GeoBusiness event. There is a formal Newcastle alumni meeting on Tuesday 24 May at 15:00 hrs. Come along to the Business Design Centre in Islington, if you are in town …
You missed Matt Bowerbank (2010) on the Ordnance Survey stand to upsell apis!
Thanks for noticing this! Will update the post. Appologies to Matt.