The Esri Oceans Summit is an initial, onetime event. For the first time in the company's 40-year history, Esri is undertaking a comprehensive ocean GIS initiative. Hence, the summit will be a primary means of advancing this initiative.
The Esri Oceans Summit is a high-level, strategic workshop (it is not a general all-comers conference). We have carefully chosen a select group of ocean GIS analysts and developers to help us move forward in our thinking about our approaches and products. We are literally setting the road map for the future of ocean GIS within the Esri organization and perhaps the future of ocean GIS as a discipline.
This summit represents the first international meeting of the Esri ocean science community that focuses on standardizing ocean-specific GIS solutions and workflows. Within breakout groups, attendees will discuss inconsistencies in ocean data models, formats, standards, tools, services, and terminology. Next, they will collaborate to define and prioritize technology gaps in ocean science GIS. In response, Esri will be better able to extend the reach of GIS tools and data models, improve communication between Esri and the ocean science community, and grow the community of ocean science GIS practitioners.
Attendees will have the opportunity to interact with peers and speak in depth with Esri personnel. Because of its strategic importance, intimacy, and intensity, this opportunity cannot be repeated.
The bulk of the meeting and the most important work to be done will be accomplished in breakout groups that will occur in smaller rooms. Here, face-to-face interaction is absolutely critical.
Every person is required to submit a position paper. These papers will form an important user-based ocean science and management document that Esri staff members can reference as they plan enhancements to software and products.
Every person is expected to verbally share knowledge, perspectives, lessons learned, and GIS vision for the future.
Every person will collaborate with the other participants, add to discussion on highly technical issues, and strive to meet the following objectives:
The Plenary Session will set the stage for work in the breakout groups. Dawn Wright, chief scientist, Esri, and Ben Halpern, UCSB CMAP will give an overview of where ocean GIS technology is today. This will be followed by a panel of scientists and technologists who will discuss current barriers to GIS applications in ocean sciences and management.
