The 2026 Esri User Conference took place July 13-17 at the San Diego Convention Center, under the theme "GIS — Creating a More Intelligent World." More than 18,000 attendees from over 100 countries gathered in person, with thousands more joining virtually, making it the world's largest GIS conference.
The week brought together geospatial professionals for the Plenary Session, hundreds of technical sessions and user presentations, the Map Gallery, and an Expo floor featuring more than 200 organizations alongside Esri's own experts.
The Blue Raster team was in attendance as an Esri Gold and Cornerstone Partner, engaging with clients, peers, and the broader GIS community throughout the week.
Kicking Things Off: Plenary Presentation Highlights
The week opened with the Plenary Session, hosted by Esri founder and president Jack Dangermond. It set the tone for the conference, leaving the Blue Raster team energized about the direction of the platform and the breadth of problems GIS is being applied to solve.
One highlight that resonated with our team was Esri's Top Ten List, a rundown of the most requested features and improvements from the user community. For Stephen Ansari, co-founder and principal of Blue Raster, it was a standout moment. The list spoke to something that matters to us as a partner: Esri listens to its users and takes their feedback seriously. Seeing the platform evolve in direct response to real frustrations from real practitioners is a good sign for everyone building on top of it.
The session also gave significant attention to AI assistance and agentic AI capabilities coming to the ArcGIS platform. The tone was optimistic, and the possibilities are genuinely exciting. What struck us most, though, was how Dangermond framed it: AI is a powerful tool, but GIS professionals remain essential. The people who understand the data, the geography, and the problems are the ones who will determine whether these tools deliver real impact. That is a perspective we share, and it was good to hear it stated plainly from the stage.
The Map Gallery
The Map Gallery was a great opportunity to showcase some of Blue Raster’s work from the past year, as well as get to view some incredible projects from our colleagues and geospatial community.
This year, Blue Raster had five posters accepted to the gallery, showcasing work we were able to do with City of Longmont, PepsiCo, M.A. Mortenson, Baltimore National Heritage Area, and OpenOceans. These posters showcased our work with clients from StoryMaps and Experience Builder for public exploration of metro areas and conservation efforts, to custom geoprocessing tools for wind power plant builds, to custom applications built on the ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript.Â
In the Spotlight: Presenting At the Esri User Conference
The Blue Raster team had the honor of supporting clients for two presentations and a panel during the conference. Ben Masters presented on the Elections Solution we deployed with San Patricio County, Texas, to transform manual reporting into modern GIS workflows that increase public transparency, supporting easy voting and voting access, and reduce a technical burden on poll workers.Â
Ben and Summers also presented alongside Jori O'Hanley from Atlanta Beltline on the Affordable Housing Dashboard project, showcasing how we utilized GIS as a source of truth and system of record to streamline ABI's access to data and provide the public a transparent, data-driven view of affordable housing progress, built for the community it serves.Â
Mary Bracho joined the Historic Preservation User Group Meeting hosted by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, widely discussing uses of GIS for historic preservation initiatives. Mary also gave a lightning talk on the work we have done with the Building Opportunities on Main Street BOOMS Tracker.Â
Connecting with our Friends, Clients and Partners
The Blue Raster booth was a hit this year. With swag ranging from tape measures to chip clips, many conference attendees came away with something Blue Raster themed.
Beyond the merch, Blue Raster’s booth was the site of many conversations between team members and current and future clients, and office hours with XR Navigation CEO and co-founder, Brandon Briggs who demonstrated the capabilities of Audiom, his flagship application that is changing the way ADA and accessibility compliance is approached in GIS. These meetings let Blue Raster discuss potential future projects and demo current applications.Â
Work Hard, Play Hard
After long, rewarding days in the convention center, the Blue Raster team spent time enjoying San Diego and catching up as a collective. With team members based all over the country, the User Conference was a chance to bond in person and get to know one another better.
The Blue Raster team also attended the Padres baseball game. Our team made sure to explore Old Town San Diego for dinner options and the conference party at Balboa Park. These outings were some of the highlights of the week and helped lead to a more close-knit team.
Key Takeaways From the 2026 Esri User Conference
- GIS as a force for change: The plenary and user sessions reminded us why we do this work. Seeing how GIS is being used to solve real world problems and enact change left the whole team energized about how we can continue moving forward for our clients and our geospatial community
- In-person connections matter: Getting to meet in-person with our clients and Esri network reinforced relationships that often happen over email and virtual calls. The opportunity to swap ideas, celebrate wins, and talk about what's next in person always strengthens ties and helps spur new ideas.Â
- Esri and its Community:Â It was inspiring to see how Esri balances constant innovation with genuinely listening to users. A reminder to us that great GIS work is as much about responsiveness as it is about pushing into new capabilities.
- Momentum for the year ahead: Every conversation at our booth, with current clients, future partners, and folks passing by, left us more excited about where our network and community are headed next.Â
Let's Keep the Conversation Going
It was great connecting with clients, partners, and friends from across the GIS community at Esri UC 2026. Whether we crossed paths in San Diego or not, we are always glad to talk about what is new in the geospatial space and how we are putting the latest innovations to work for our clients.
If you want to hear more about our takeaways from the conference or explore how GIS can move your organization forward, contact us today.
