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2010 Geocortex User Conference goes virtual

March 9th, 2010 by Darin

You’ll read it here first: registration is now open for the 5th Annual Geocortex User Conference, scheduled to take place June 8-9th, 2010.

Same great content, delivered online.

Due in large part to feedback we’ve received from clients, we’ve moved your event online. With so many organizations straining to justify travel costs for conferences and training, we felt it was appropriate to alter our 2010 conference to cater to these very needs.

As in years past, we’ll open the conference with a plenary session Tuesday morning (PST). From there, the conference splits into technical and business tracks, combining live and pre-recorded content, with live Q&A throughout. The conference concludes Wednesday afternoon with a wrap-up session and panel Q&A. Feedback from previous years tells us you derive significant value from user presentations, and these are certainly included.

If you’re thinking about a tranistion from ArcIMS to ArcGIS Server or considering the implications of ArcGIS Server version 10, join us for a pragmatic look at the present and future of Geocortex technology, as it relates to your own organization’s needs.

Hope you can make it!

Posted in Business, Clients, Conferences, General, General Discussion, User Conference | No Comments »

4th Annual Geocortex User Conference Concludes

April 30th, 2009 by Darin

Although there are hands-on workshops continuing for the next couple of days, the core Geocortex User Conference concluded yesterday for many attendees and most Latitude staff.

I think things went well. I leafed through the feedback forms this morning, and most attendees seemed glad they came. Next year, we’ll concentrate on providing more user presentations for conference goers.

Sometimes it’s all a bit exhausting on the logistics side of things, but as Steve said during the wrap-up session yesterday, there’s nothing like this event to inspire our team and remind us why we do the work we do. Our users and partners are doing some incredible stuff with the technology.

Attendance was definitely a bit lower (-5%) than last year, but given that lots of conferences out there have seen attendance drop by half this year (travel is one of the first things to get frozen during a recession), I’m pretty happy with the turnout.

We’ve actually contemplated holding the event in Seattle, which I figure might triple attendance compared to holding it here. Travel to Canada is a barrier for lots of our US customers. I guess the international aspect sometimes risks an optics issue for some organizations even though travel/accommodation costs are the same. Of course, we’d have to transport a bunch of Latitude folks down there for a week. Like with most things, there’d be advantages and disadvantages.

Thanks to everyone who joined us!

Posted in Business, Events, General, User Conference | No Comments »

Ursus americansus as Elephant in the Room

January 12th, 2009 by Darin

More on the 2009 Geocortex User Conference… we had a planning meeting back in December, and the topic of mascots/motif came up (2006 was the Blue Heron, 2007 was the Orca, 2008 was the Glaucous Winged Gull ).

Someone joked about selecting Vancouver Island’s iconic Black Bear, and everyone quickly agreed that given the current state of the economy, it was probably about the worst motif for a conference happening in 2009. But then we all decided that to address the ‘elephant in the room’ head-on and in a humorous way would be very Geocortex.

So we picked it. Because no matter what happens in life, we don’t want to lose our sense of humor. Besides, we’re designing a 2009 Geocortex User Conference that’ll represent an even smarter investment given the prevailing economic winds.

Posted in Anecdotal, Around the office, Business, Conferences, Events: Travel, General, User Conference | No Comments »

Happy Holidays from Latitude Geographics

December 23rd, 2008 by Steven Myhill-Jones

Though there will be some people around most days, our office will be quiet over the next week or so as the majority of Latitude staff enjoy some holiday time with their loved ones.

Unlike last year, Victoria actually has snow on the ground. It is quite rare for Victoria to have a white Christmas, so it’s rather exciting (unless one has to drive somewhere). I live near Beacon Hill Park, and as Heidi and I were scraping ice off the car this morning we could hear the screams (of joy, presumably) of kids tobogganing down the slopes of Beacon Hill.

Anyway, from all of us here at Latitude, have a happy and safe holiday season.

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The 2008 ESRI Southwest Users Group Conference

November 3rd, 2008 by Rob Lenarcic

Laramie, WY October 22-24, 2008

For the last six years, Latitude Geographics has attended every Southwest Users Group (SWUG) conference. From Jackson Hole in 2003 through to Laramie in 2008, the SWUG conference brings together GIS users from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. This year’s high plains geospatial roundup offered up blowing snow and chilly temperatures – a big departure for a guy like me accustomed to Victoria’s moderate climate. But the warmth of the SWUG organizers (kudos to the entire organizing committee for an awesome job!) allowed the attendees to quickly forget about the cold temperatures, and settle into a dose (actually, many, many doses) of Wyoming hospitality!

The SWUG event is not your regular, regional GIS conference. John Calkins, ESRI’s “Corporate Technical Evangelist” kicked things off with an interactive keynote session that engaged the group in a geographic approach to problem solving. Plenty of great user and vendor presentations followed, topped off with an evening keynote by Wyoming historian Bruce Blevins. Aside from all the interesting work-related stuff, I’d have to say that the highlight of the conference was the BBQ, Bluegrass, and Broncs event (disclosure: we were also a sponsor). This was not my first rodeo – but it was undoubtedly one of the most unique I’ve seen. The University of Wyoming Rodeo Team put on a presentation just for us, and we got to enjoy steer wrestling, calf roping, barrel racing and bull-riding. Yee-Haw! Later in the evening, we two-stepped to music served up by the Zarks, a local country-western band. I reckon the user sessions were a little subdued the next morning, but attendees (AKA SWUG-uhs) seemed to be wearing a collective grin.

It’s events like these that make me appreciate the industry we work in, given its great mix of knowledge sharing, professionalism, and appreciation for local cultural activities!

Posted in Business, Conferences, ESRI, Events, Events: Travel, General, Photos, User Conference | 1 Comment »

The first Geocortex user group

September 15th, 2008 by Darin

Our customers and partners have long asked us to kickstart Geocortex user groups where there were a concentration of users around them. A combination of busyness (building the technology) and platform penetration have hindered this before, but no longer…

We (and more importantly, our users) are pleased to announce the first Geocortex user group – California. The Golden State is home to the largest pool of Geocortex users anywhere, and based on ongoing interest, its time to bring them together.

Our first meeting is scheduled for Thursday October 16, 2008 in Los Angeles, and Los Angeles County has generously offered to host this event. So far, our draft agenda includes introductions, a “Geocortex Technology Update” section (courtesy of me!), user presentations, Q&A and more.

If you’re a customer or partner and think you should be home to user group #2, contact your account manager!

For more information about the California User Group, please contact me. Hope to see you there.

Posted in Business, Clients, Events, General, Geocortex | No Comments »

The Monk and the Riddle

July 7th, 2008 by Darin

Speaking of the “Latitude Library“, I just finished reading an interesting book recently added to our inventory, “The Monk and the Riddle“. Written by Randy Komisar, self-described virtual-CEO and technology entrepeneur, the book is quick to reveal the roots of its unusual title (no clues here though!), but slow to reach its point: its the journey that matters, not the destination. Set within the context of new technology ventures, Randy presents the central premise of his book (and the driving force behind new arrivals to Silicon Valley and the so called SPDs at Bear Stearns) as the “Deferred Life Plan”; dedicate every waking hour to work today in order to enjoy life later with all the commensurate toys. Having lived the Silicon Valley lifestyle for several years, I could immediately relate.

Overall, I found the book largely readable due to its intriguing anecdotes about Randy’s numerous technolgy ventures – I’m a sucker for business non-fiction. Dissecting the successes and failures for technology ventures is infinitely more interesting than anything fiction writers could come up with! Conversely, I felt the premise of the book missed its mark – the “Deferred Life Plan” is a well worn cliche. Or is it? For those reading the book, perhaps it will beg the question: “Am I doing what I’m truly passionate about?” Regardless, I recommend checking it out.

Posted in Around the office, Business, Clients, General, Ideas | No Comments »

Well, it’s all downhill from here

June 20th, 2008 by Steven Myhill-Jones

Today is the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; the longest day of the year. At our latitude it starts getting dark around 10PM and gets light again at 4:30AM.

Growing up in Sechelt on the beautiful Sunshine Coast, we had a family friend with an ironic sense of humor. Whenever anyone wished Eddie a happy solstice or commented on it being the first day of summer, he’d solemnly lament, “Well, it’s all downhill from here.”

Technically, the days do start getting shorter from now on, but this is beside the point (we have more daylight than we know what to do with and in the next few weeks we start to enjoy the best few months of weather all year). I now enjoy saying this too, and never tire of the exasperation from those on whom the irony is lost.

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New Webinars Scheduled

January 14th, 2008 by Darin

We put together a number of webinars for the launch of Geocortex IMF 5.2 a little while ago, and got some great feedback from clients. So, we’ve added a few more and hope to offer them on a recurring basis. Topics vary from new products to new releases to technology we feel clients and prospective customers should keep their eyes on. Check out our Learning and Education page for more information and to sign up.

Posted in Business, Clients, General, Geocortex, Ideas, Products | No Comments »

Adventures in Portrait Photography

December 22nd, 2007 by Steven Myhill-Jones

As a web-centric company that does predominately remote work, we have lots of customers we’ve never actually met face-to-face. Back in 2003 when we redesigned our website, we decided to use staff photos on our websites (www.geocortex.com, www.latitudegeo.com). It’s proven very popular with customers. We always hear about people hitting F5 a bunch of times to see the people they work with. We’ve even had job interviewees come in knowing everyone’s name (that always kinda weirds everyone out, actually).

Anyway, the studio photo shoots are a hassle to set-up so we hadn’t done one in a while, which meant many staff didn’t have a photo up and the posted photos were getting outdated (Drew barely looks old enough to drive a car in his old photo). A few months ago I was browsing a photography store and had the bright (but dumb) idea of buying a whole prosumer lighting kit so we could do these photos in-house. I reasoned; I love photography and it’ll be so easy to just snap a shot of new staff when they start! Easy, right? Wrong. Anyway, most of the new photos are up. I think they look okay given that we still haven’t got the flash synched properly with the digital SLR we’ve been using.

Posted in General, Photos | No Comments »

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