Learning and Sharing At the Esri International User Conference For the 29th consecutive year, thousands gathered for the Annual Esri International User Conference (Esri UC), a weeklong event that supplied information, recognition, and inspiration for GIS professionals from more than 100 countries. Held July 13–17, in San Diego, California, the Esri UC was the centerpoint of a constellation of industry-specific conferences: the Esri Education User Conference, 2009 Esri Survey & Engineering GIS Summit, Esri Remote Sensing and GIS 2009 conference, Homeland Security Summit, and 2009 Esri Business GIS Summit. Information During the Plenary Session on July 13 and throughout the week, attendees learned about current trends in GIS technology, plans for Esri software, best practices, and innovative applications of the technology. The Next Big Thing: ArcGIS 9.4 The Plenary Session highlighted not only what GIS users have been doing in the last year but also previewed GIS technology and Esri software developments. This year, the dramatic improvements in usability, performance, and functionality that will be available with the ArcUser Fall 2009 upcoming release of ArcGIS 9.4 were in the spotlight. Improvements in editing, the integration of the Python scripting language, the availability of additional analysis tools, and the substantial 3D enhancements are just a few of the ways ArcGIS 9.4 will make GIS a lot easier. ArcGIS 9.4 will make editing easier, not only for traditional GIS users who do compilation and editing but also for a whole new class of Web editors—users who collect data and share a common map. Python, the open source scripting language that is evolving into a scientific programming language, will be integrated inside ArcGIS. ArcGIS 9.4 will extend the quantitative methods available with new spatial analysis tools such as fuzzy overlay modeling and an ecological sampling tool. Math/algebra integration and raster performance for analytic operations will greatly improve. Time will be integrated throughout ArcGIS with the ability to manage time-based data, animate temporal datasets, and publish and query temporal map services. With this release, ArcGIS is a complete 3D GIS with a more powerful visualization environment for things like virtual cities and support for a complete 3D vector data model. It will support 3D editing, terrain editing, and the integration of real-time video. For more detailed information on ArcGIS 9.4, visit www.esri.com/whatscoming. www.esri.com