Yesterday morning I was enjoying my breakfast in the hotel restaurant and perusing the current issue of USA Today, when I came across an insightful article on the role of entrepreneurship in today's economy by Amy Wilkinson. The article describes how our country was founded by entrepreneurs in very troubled times, and how many of today's great success stories like eBay, Google, PayPal, Burger King, FedEx, Intel, and Microsoft were started by innovative entrepreneurs in troubled times and down economies.
I think the article's conclusion really brought the point home: Our prosperity depends on innovative thinking. Instead of bailing out behemoths that are "too big to fail," we must remember that mom-and-pop businesses, garage start-ups and small ventures are the reason we succeed. Read the whole article. . .
Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
ESRI UC Day 3 - A day of Collaboration
Collaboration is a powerful tool! It is an example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. In the Commercial Special Interest Group, we were discussing the need to create vertically oriented tools in Business Analyst to solve specific business problems for different industries. One solution was to rely and expect ESRI to accomplish this task. However, a group of us envisioned a more powerful way to build this capability into BA.
We saw a way the business educators, ESRI business partners, end users, and ESRI developers could all work together to provide these solutions. A specific example would be:
Business problem to be solved
How many sites can a specific market (e.g. Denver) hold, and where should they be located?
The business process that addresses this problem is fairly universal and can be identified and documented by GIS/Business educators. The specific tasks can be created and modeled using Model Builder and Python by users, business partners, and ESRI developers. The model would use parameters and variables to provide the flexibility needed to address different industries and companies. The solution could be posted on the resource site so that educators can make the process and model into an educational tool. Users, business partners, and developers could continuously improve the model. This collaborative approach would provide a timely solution that is flexible, universal, and FREE.
We saw a way the business educators, ESRI business partners, end users, and ESRI developers could all work together to provide these solutions. A specific example would be:
Business problem to be solved
How many sites can a specific market (e.g. Denver) hold, and where should they be located?
The business process that addresses this problem is fairly universal and can be identified and documented by GIS/Business educators. The specific tasks can be created and modeled using Model Builder and Python by users, business partners, and ESRI developers. The model would use parameters and variables to provide the flexibility needed to address different industries and companies. The solution could be posted on the resource site so that educators can make the process and model into an educational tool. Users, business partners, and developers could continuously improve the model. This collaborative approach would provide a timely solution that is flexible, universal, and FREE.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Day 2 of the ESRI User's Conference: A day of Learning
Day two of the 2009 ESRI International User's Conference was a day of learning. Three professors from The University of Redlands discussed their work with using GIS to support small business. They confirmed one of my findings. That is, most small business owners do not understand GIS and are not aware of how it can be used to support their businesses. The issue becomes how to educate small business owners on the benefits, power, and use of GIS.
I met with the ESRI product managers to learn about the exciting and powerful new features that are available in the newest releases of ArcGIS, Business Analyst and Business Analyst Online. We also discussed usefull improvements and features that could be included in future releases.
Retailers from around the country and world gathered to discuss experiences and issues associated with using GIS to support their businesses. There were representatives from Starbucks, JC Penneys, Johnson & Johnson, Target, Walgreens, Culvers, commercial real estate brokers, and bankers. We shared common challenges and thecniques that we use to help retailers select sites that will be successful, performance prediction, customize merchandising to match the spending patterns of the trade area's customers, determine market penetration, competitive intelligence, etc.
The most valuable take-backs were techniques that I can employ to help my retail customers survive and thrive in the down economy, and prepare for more prosperous times.
I met with the ESRI product managers to learn about the exciting and powerful new features that are available in the newest releases of ArcGIS, Business Analyst and Business Analyst Online. We also discussed usefull improvements and features that could be included in future releases.
Retailers from around the country and world gathered to discuss experiences and issues associated with using GIS to support their businesses. There were representatives from Starbucks, JC Penneys, Johnson & Johnson, Target, Walgreens, Culvers, commercial real estate brokers, and bankers. We shared common challenges and thecniques that we use to help retailers select sites that will be successful, performance prediction, customize merchandising to match the spending patterns of the trade area's customers, determine market penetration, competitive intelligence, etc.
The most valuable take-backs were techniques that I can employ to help my retail customers survive and thrive in the down economy, and prepare for more prosperous times.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Today I attended the opening plenary session of the ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute) International User’s Conference hosted by Jack Dangermond, President of ESRI. The conference has been described as the “Superbowl” of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) events. I whole heartedly agree with this assessment. Jack Dangermond is one of the pioneers of GIS technology and a true visionary.
Today we got an overview of the myriad of ways that GIS is building our world. Tim Trainer, the Chief Geographer of the US Census Bureau gave an inside view of how GIS is revolutionizing the 2010 census. He explained how the USCB is counting everyone in the US once, and only once, and in the right location. The results will be available to the public faster than ever before, and the data will be more usable than ever.
Andrew Douglas-Bate received the humanitarian award for his work in founding Map Action. Map Action is an organization that takes GIS and maps to international disaster sites within 24 hours to support relief activities in the affected areas. Best of all, these services are provided for free to the countries that are impacted by the disaster.
Hernando De Soto, author of The Mystery of Capitol: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, and an economist from Peru was one of the keynote speakers. He explained how GIS can be used to help capture the relationship between people and land ownership, and how the legalization and tracking of this relationship can eliminate poverty.
For me the most inspirational moments come when I see young people, school kids, get up in front of an audience of tens of thousands of GIS professionals and present examples of how they are using GIS to make the world a better place. Today two students from the high school class in Maryland, Joey Hightower and Matt Kelly, presented how they used GIS to determine the best location for a new school in their community. What made this possible is an exciting program named GeoMentors. Read More. . .
Today we got an overview of the myriad of ways that GIS is building our world. Tim Trainer, the Chief Geographer of the US Census Bureau gave an inside view of how GIS is revolutionizing the 2010 census. He explained how the USCB is counting everyone in the US once, and only once, and in the right location. The results will be available to the public faster than ever before, and the data will be more usable than ever.
Andrew Douglas-Bate received the humanitarian award for his work in founding Map Action. Map Action is an organization that takes GIS and maps to international disaster sites within 24 hours to support relief activities in the affected areas. Best of all, these services are provided for free to the countries that are impacted by the disaster.
Hernando De Soto, author of The Mystery of Capitol: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, and an economist from Peru was one of the keynote speakers. He explained how GIS can be used to help capture the relationship between people and land ownership, and how the legalization and tracking of this relationship can eliminate poverty.
For me the most inspirational moments come when I see young people, school kids, get up in front of an audience of tens of thousands of GIS professionals and present examples of how they are using GIS to make the world a better place. Today two students from the high school class in Maryland, Joey Hightower and Matt Kelly, presented how they used GIS to determine the best location for a new school in their community. What made this possible is an exciting program named GeoMentors. Read More. . .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
