Dispatches from the 2024 Esri Partner Conference & Developer Summit

The dymaptic team is looking forward to attending a number of upcoming conferences (Look for us at the MidAmerica GIS Consortium Symposium in Omaha, the Esri Energy Resources GIS Conference in Houston, Visual Studio Live in Chicago, and ORURISA’s GIS in Action in Portland) – but we also took some time to reflect on one of our favorite weeks of the year. Last month, dymaptic staff members traveled to Palm Springs, California to attend the Esri Partner Conference (EPC) and the Esri Developer Summit (DevSummit).  The EPC provides an opportunity to connect directly with the leaders at Esri, and to learn from others in the Esri Partner Network (EPN). Our team’s highlight of this year’s EPC was seeing dymaptic CEO Mara Stoica and CTO Christopher Moravec take the stage during the opening plenary as a featured innovation partner. Mara and Christopher presented on how we helped one customer reimagine how their GIS, along with AI, could be used to help local officials make data-driven decisions about accessible resources, with a goal of increasing social equity, improving safety, and raising the quality of life for citizens. Mara issued a call to action at the end of the presentation, for Esri partners to work together to use AI for good, in a joint effort to create equity through GeoAI. We had many responses throughout the rest of the conference, with old and new friends wanting to explore ideas to make this happen. 

 Seven other innovation partners shared their stories on the plenary stage. Listening to what other partners have been working on, one thing is clear – the applications for GIS technology are endless! For us, making connections with other Esri partners makes good sense. Our team focuses on custom development. We have a deep knowledge of ArcGIS products, like ArcGIS Hub, ArcGIS Dashboards, ArcGIS Experience Builder, and Survey123, to name a few. We work with out-of-the-box ArcGIS tools, commercially available and open-source software, and custom code to build solutions that allow our customers to work more efficiently. We work across a broad range of industries and companies, but there are areas that our customers may need assistance with that do not precisely align with our focus. In those cases, we will gladly partner with, or refer our customers to, another trusted EPN member.  

As the EPC wrapped up, our technical team members arrived in Palm Springs for the DevSummit, ready to explore the latest in ArcGIS technology!  

GIS Developer Juliette Batemen was attending her second DevSummit and took away some information she can implement for dymaptic clients right away: “I was most intrigued by the Maps SDK for JavaScript sessions and learning about different ways to visualize and handle data. We have some clients who have large datasets, so I’m very excited to try some new ways to visualize big data using what I learned! I was also able to chat with the Maps SDK and Experience Builder folks, and they helped me think through ideas and gain a better understanding of how to use Esri products efficiently and effectively to solve client project needs. This may be old news, but it was cool to learn about web components and see them in action during the demos.” 

This was also the second DevSummit for Software Engineer Ande Bell (fun fact: Ande traveled to the 2023 DevSummit during his very first week on the job at dymaptic last year!). Ande’s takeaways were learning about the move to Web Components for ArcGIS Javascript SDK and the introduction of Flutter APIs for mobile development.  

Everyone was busy attending different sessions and tracks, but team dymaptic all gathered together on Thursday afternoon to hear Ande’s presentation on ArcGIS Pro and ChatGPT: Making your Workflow Smart. Ande shared to the packed room how to create an ArcGIS Pro Add-In using the ArcGIS Pro SDK, .NET, and ChatGPT.   

For Engineering Manager Tim Purdum, any gathering of fellow developers is a chance to talk about GeoBlazor, dymaptic’s open-source tool that provides developers access to the ArcGIS SDK for JavaScript, without having to write a single line of JavaScript. Tim and team have been hard at work lately on the beta version of GeoBlazor Pro! The beta period is still open (sign up here!), but we’re getting ready to launch version 1.0 soon. We are excited about how GeoBlazor is helping more developers put maps into their Blazor apps. We were happy to give out GeoBlazor buttons at DevSummit, but we’re even happier to hear stories about GeoBlazor in action! 

Of course, it wasn’t all work and no play! Some of us had the chance to take in the views from the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, and there were several trips throughout the week to team favorite Sherman’s Deli! As a fully remote team, we try to make the most of any opportunity to get together in person and connect and make memories.  

If you want to talk more about using GeoAI for good, GeoBlazor, or other ways to work together, don’t wait for the next conference! Contact us to start a conversation.