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Why should you attend Esri Canada’s 2019 National Security Seminar?

Esri technology provides Defence, Security and Public Safety GIS users with the smart tools to perform spatial analysis, improve situational awareness and make better-informed decisions. Our ArcGIS platform integrates information from multiple sources to support your operations’ planning cycle and decision-making process. On Thursday, May 2, GIS professionals, developers, managers and analysts from the Defence, Security, Intelligence, Public Safety and Law Enforcement sectors will come together in Ottawa to explore innovative geospatial solutions from the world’s leading GIS platform. If you haven’t yet registered for our National Security Seminar, here's why you should.

By attending our seminar, you will learn how to enhance productivity, improve collaboration and make better decisions using geographic thinking and location intelligence to gain insights from your data and solve your complex problems. Take advantage of this opportunity to meet your peers, government colleagues, business partners and Esri Canada staff, as well as share your ideas and discuss your projects with the community. Esri’s ArcGIS platform can provide all the data management, visualization, analytics and mobile tools you need to support your critical operations.  

Our seminar is packed with a series of short presentations and live demonstrations to show you how ArcGIS technology can support your mission through a wide range of desktop, mobile and web-based applications. We have invited speakers from organizations across Canada who leverage GIS to accomplish similar tasks in your industry sectors.

You will discover how to analyze data from multiple sources, gain situational awareness into your operations and share map products quickly with your stakeholders for improved coordination and mission success. You will also hear from our staff on how Esri provides a complete enterprise Web GIS platform with intuitive data management tools, advanced spatial analytics, 2D/3D visualization capabilities and improved imagery exploitation solutions.

View the agenda

The morning agenda will focus on solutions and applications for the Defence, Security and Intelligence user community. Esri Canada’s staff will provide an overview of the ArcGIS platform and give an update on the latest solutions available today to support intelligence analysis and military operations.

Here are some of the morning highlights: Dave Rowlands, geospatial systems engineer with the Department of National Defence (DND), will describe how the Canadian army’s GIS capabilities are configured and tested to get accreditation and meet national and coalition mission network geospatial standards. Bryan Ladds, technical solutions specialist (TSS) at Esri Canada, will demonstrate the latest version of the Intelligence Configuration of ArcGIS Pro (ICAP), a customized GIS desktop application with refined toolbars designed to assist geospatial and intelligence analysts in streamlining their workflows and executing their tasks more efficiently.

 After the coffee break, Milquiades Walther-Rodriguez, national security solution engineer with Esri Inc., will demonstrate the new ArcGIS Excalibur Web App for imagery exploitation and the integration of unstructured data with the new Locate XT Extension for ArcGIS Pro. Chris Patterson, our imagery solution specialist at Esri Canada, will then cover the main capabilities, included with the Image Analyst extension for ArcGIS Pro, to conduct image interpretation and create information products from imagery. Chris will also demonstrate the Full Motion Video (FMV) tool available in ArcGIS Pro for playing compliant video and conducting geospatial analysis of video data.

Before lunch, Karl Swannie and Mike Anderson from Echosec Systems will demonstrate how their latest social media search tools and data aggregation platform can access content from hundreds of sources and provide real-time situational awareness and intelligence for better-informed decisions. Social media is the fastest way to find out what’s happening during an event, and social media mapping tools are essential today for ensuring security, protecting VIPs, managing facilities and mitigating risks.

At lunchtime, there will be a few tables reserved for Special Interest Groups (SIGs) for attendees interested in discussing topics such as defence, security, law enforcement, imagery analysis, and mobile field applications. Look for the signs and join the table for further engagement with our Esri staff and your peers.  

The afternoon agenda will be aimed at the Public Safety and Law Enforcement community. Esri Canada’s staff will provide an update on the latest solutions available to support emergency operations, planning of major events, disaster relief, crime analysis and more.

Here are some of the afternoon highlights:

Joann Fox, GIS program manager with the Edmonton Police, will show how she utilized ArcGIS Online and the new location tracking field app for situational awareness during the 106th Grey Cup last November and how she uses GIS to leverage location intelligence with the Edmonton Police Service. Greg Stanisci, assistant manager of Strategic Services Bureau with York Regional Police, will then demonstrate how to conduct spatial analytics with Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) data and achieve a clear path to community safety.

Esri Canada’s Bryan Ladds will also demonstrate several GIS capabilities through the afternoon including the Special Event Planning solution, the Crime Analysis toolbar for ArcGIS Pro, the ArcGIS Earth desktop application for 2D/3D data visualization and Insights for ArcGIS, a web-based data analytics application for advanced location intelligence and display of spatial and non-spatial data.

In summary, GIS technology plays a critical role in national security by providing intuitive map-based applications to conduct analysis, reveal patterns, solve problems and gain more insights into your operational data. If you use GIS as a geospatial, intelligence or crime analyst, or if you manage people who use GIS, then this national security seminar is for you. If you work for a System Integrator or IT services company interested in leveraging the power of geography in your solutions, then this event is also for you to learn more about Esri’s ArcGIS technology and its API interfaces.

Come and join us to network and collaborate with your peers and industry leaders and to learn more about other use cases and best practices. Discover new focused solutions that will help your organization unlock the full potential of your data and GIS infrastructure. Mark May 2 in your calendar and go to https://bit.ly/2Iztog2  today to register your participation as seating is limited. Note that this seminar is offered at no cost, so feel free to share this event with your friends and colleagues.

I look forward to seeing you.

About the Author

Pierre A. Bilodeau is the Defence and Security Industry Manager at Esri Canada. His efforts are focused on advising customers how to use GIS technology to support their mission planning, situational awareness, and decision making activities. Pierre joined Esri Canada in 2008 after 32 years of service as a Military Engineer Officer, including 18 years with the Defence Geospatial community. Pierre believes that all you need to succeed is a good plan, a “map” to get there, and the courage to press on to your destination. Map on!

Profile Photo of Pierre Bilodeau