Boffa Miskell’s GIS on a global stage

Earlier this year, Auckland-based senior GIS specialist Sandeep Gangar decided to submit a stand-out example of his mapping work for the ESRI 2021 User Conference.

Since last year, the annual User conference has gone virtual, making it more accessible to the wider GIS community rather than people who were physically able to attend the conference in Redlands, Virginia. This year, over 50,000 professionals registered for the conference from about 130 countries.

“The call for maps goes out each year, a few months before the ESRI conference. GIS Professionals from around the world are asked to contribute examples of their work across several disciplines. These maps and images are reviewed by ESRI founder and President, Jack Dangermond to be showcased during the Plenary session,” Sandeep explains.

“I would think that several thousand maps are sent in each year.”

At the Conference, Jack Dangermond opened the Plenary session with a 30-minute welcome address. As Dangermond (who was a practicing landscape architect and urban planner, before founding ESRI in the early 1980s) spoke, images of selected maps appeared on the screen behind him. He cited these maps as examples of the most relevant and important work that is being done across the world using GIS tools and methods.

“I was at work,” says Sandeep. “I planned to watch the address at some point in the next day or two, as it was a virtual event and I could access it anytime. I didn’t make a special effort to get up at 3 o’clock in the morning, even though I badly wanted to.

“A day after the conference, I decided to watch the plenary session to see if we had made it to Jack’s presentation. My eyes just lit up as I saw his fourth slide, titled ‘Conservation Assessment, Planning and Management’. There it was — an image of the map I had sent him along with our company’s name.”

The map submitted was created during the development of an Ecological Connectivity Roadmap for the Rodney Local Board, developed in collaboration with Auckland Council and local communities.

And although Dangermond didn’t mention the project specifically, in the world of GIS this was something equivalent to Le Bron James dropping in at the local park for a pick-up game, and choosing you for his team. It didn’t matter if he never passed you the ball.

“Our map was displayed at the Opening Address of 2021 ESRI World conference. People from around the world would have got a tiny glimpse of our work and the name Boffa Miskell,” says Sandeep.

“I imagine this is what a lottery win feels like,” he continues. “I sent a map in, without expecting anything to eventuate. To know that a map I created, and the work we are doing, was relevant enough for Jack Dangermond to include it in his presentation is just unbelievable.”

For further information please contact Sandeep Gangar