Reflections on Spatial Data from the 2013 Esri International User Conference

After a week spent with 14,000 people at the annual Esri GIS Education Conference and the Esri International User Conference, it was evident to me that the themes that we examine in The GIS Guide to Public Domain Data not only are relevant to the conversations that the GIS community is having, but actually grow in importance each year.  My observations from this year’s conference include, first, that despite the plethora of spatial data now available, the need for authoritative data remains paramount.  Data provides the foundation for everything we do in GIS.  This data needs to be curated  and provided with sufficient metadata.   Curation is particularly important in this era of cloud-based GIS.  Second, every data consumer is now also a potential data producer.  However, even though citizen science and volunteered geographic information is starting to provide a wealth of data at scales and with details the community only recently dreamed about, the need for data continues to outpace its production.

Joseph Kerski at the Esri UC: Where and Why are Important!

Third, with this avalanche of data and citizen science capabilities comes increased responsibility to use and produce data wisely. Fourth, GIS software and tools have become ubiquitous on just about every electronic device that we use for work and for play.  This familiarity helps the community’s efforts in explaining to stakeholders why GIS is necessary.  However, at the same time presents a challenge because administrators and policymakers can be lulled into thinking that consumer-facing mapping tools equate to a full GIS implementation, and hence may not understand the need to invest in a GIS.  Fifth and most importantly, the world is changing, with pressing issues of biodiversity loss, climate and population change, food security, water quality and quantity, natural hazards, and many others that need to be solved.  We won’t be able to effectively make decisions about these issues and effectively plan for the future unless we understand the spatial data that is behind the GIS tools and the resulting decisions that can be made with these tools.

After being with thousands of people from all over the world gathered at the Esri International User Conference, I am confident that these skilled, energetic, and dedicated people can grapple with and solve many of these issues.  But again, much of it depends upon the data that we are producing and using.