ESRI invites surveyors, engineers, and GIS users to enhance current practices, expand opportunities, and stay up-to-date with the latest GIS technology and the new markets it creates by attending the 2009 ESRI Survey & Engineering GIS Summit, July 11-14 at the San Diego, Calif., Convention Center. The event begins with a plenary session covering "hot" topics in GIS and tools for surveyors and engineers. ESRI representatives will share recent advances in ESRI technology, and a panel of thought leaders from surveying, engineering, and GIS organizations will discuss important issues and trends, as well as answer questions.

Juliana Blackwell, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Geodetic Survey, will share her story during the keynote address. During her career with NOAA, Blackwell has managed hydrographic survey operations, collaborated among organizations to collect and use height information accurately and cost-effectively, and maintained the nation’s spatial reference positioning system.

Attendees will also hear from Joseph W. Betit, P.L.S., survey manager for Dulles Transit Partners in Virginia. Betit has been working on the large-scale civil infrastructure Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, which has included scanning and feature extraction, data-intensive work, and digital imagery for the 6,600-foot-long Virginia Route 7 portion of the 23-mile extension of the existing Washington Metrorail.

During the summit, attendees will be able to select from a number of user-led sessions and ESRI-led technical workshops on topics such as GIS in the field, as a business tool, for accuracy, and with GPS. The summit EXPO will offer the opportunity to engage with ESRI staff and colleagues and take a look at GIS products and services provided by a wide range of organizations. Participants can also drop by a Hands-on Learning Center to try out ESRI software and various GIS courses for free.

Summit registration also includes the first two days of the 2009 ESRI International User Conference. For more information and to register, visit www.esri.com/segsummit.