TTPod 3.12: Connecting Communities - Reflections from the ESRI South Africa User Conference (Part 1 of 2 episodes)

Talking Transformation

After a welcome break from comms, welcome back to the Talking Transformation Podcast and the first of two episodes recorded at the Esri Southern Africa GIS user conference in the Drakensberg, KwaZulu Natal during the week of the 23rd of October.

As somebody who's used Geographic Information System (GIS) extensively over my career as a town planner - mostly in the municipal or metropolitan planning space - it's almost impossible to imagine a world without GIS being a major contributor to the policies that shape our cities and the evidence base that can convince decision-makers to take well-informed decisions.

In this first episode, we hear from ESRI staff and conference organisers talking about the "Connecting Community" theme of the conference, and the welcome return to an in-person conference arrangement after the COVID challenges.

We'll also hear about advances in technology and specific highlights from the busy program that each of the ESRI team picked.

Our guests on this episode are, in order of appearance:

• Stuart Martin
• Lauren Sweidan and Vassilo Walluschnig
• Adam Carnow - from ESRI Global

Watch out for our second episode that switches attention to two of the younger GIS users reflecting on the YES internship Programme and hackathon competitions run by ESRI. In addition, we'll look at the inspirational STEAM coding for kids initiative: my own highlight of the conference!

Recorded 24th and 26th October 2023