ESRI CEO Jack Dangermond on the enormous potential of the universal language of geodata.
“The time is yours,” opened Jack Dangermond, founder and CEO of the GIS software company Esri, in his highly acclaimed keynote speech to experts from the fields of geodesy, geoinformation and land management at INTERGEO 2023. Time is on the side of geographers and GIS experts, he said, because they are the foundation of a sustainable future. Geography as a science of the earth teaches people to see and recognize and is the basis for deriving sustainable action. He referred to the now world-famous John Hopkins map on the spatial distribution of coronavirus infections, which over four billion people have used to understand how the virus spread across the globe.
Geography as a universal language is more important than ever because the limits of what is possible have been reached. “We are living beyond our means,” says Dangermond. We now need to develop a common understanding of our planet's ecosystem in order to master the critical challenges of our time. Sustainability starts with geography. GIS as the foundation for digital twins enables people to understand impacts, model scenarios and derive the necessary decisions. No other science can see with such precision what lies ahead.
The enormous potential of geographical data will only be unleashed when the digital twins created from it grow together in a dynamic, living, open system of digital twins. Artificial intelligence will significantly advance the interpretation of images and change many industries. The hope: over 650,000 organizations work with Esri tools alone. More and more players from science, business and administration around the world are relying on geo-based technology to protect the foundations for future generations. He appealed to the audience: “We must act now”.
