ESRI MENA UC 2016

The GIS work of regional users was celebrated across industries including local government, environmental and humanitarian agencies, transportation, utilities and smart cities. It's clear that Web GIS as a pattern of GIS implementation is becoming increasingly prevalent, and organisations are awakening to the value that collaborative GIS brings.

Esri president Jack Dangermond presented Esri's vision for how GIS is becoming a fundamental language for understanding and managing our world. With the on-going and emerging challenges that our planet faces, technology has never been more important. The audience also heard how ArcGIS 10.5, coming later this year, will bring significant changes and improvements. For example, the new GeoAnalytics Server will enable deeper understanding and analysis of big data. Moreover, insights for ArcGIS will empower GIS experts, data analysts and beginners with exploratory tools that provide spatial BI and insights into their data like never before. Furthermore, portal federation will allow users to share data between their organisations and beyond more seamlessly, without any custom development.

More than 650 delegates attended and more than 20 Esri partners and start-ups exhibited at the Esri MENAUC 2016 including ONG-IT and SynerGIS (the platinum sponsor), Cityworks, Leica and DataCapable demonstrated how the ArcGIS platform powers a range of industry and horizontal solutions, many of which are being used across the MENA region today. So, a busy but successful week and an excellent opportunity to network with GIS users doing important work across the region.