Category: General Updates

It was fantastic catching up with so many of you last week at the New Zealand Spatial Excellence Awards and great to see how well the industry is doing.

It is also vital to acknowledge the individuals and organisations making such valuable contributions to our industry – here at Eagle we’re especially proud of those within our team involved with or receiving awards.

Claire Thurlow was announced as the winner of the Educational Development Award for her amazing efforts with the GIS in Schools programme. A demonstration of this programme’s success is the fact that as of last week, there are now 250 schools using ArcGIS Online to teach GIS in the classroom – well done Claire! 

Another one of the team who was part of the winner’s circle is Ed Cook – a member of the NZGIS4EM Committee which was represented on the night by Ed along with Susan Shaw from LINZ, Kate Waterhouse from BoPRC and Craig McAlpine from FENZ. The NZGIS4EM is a group made up of individuals from well over one hundred different organisations from across NZ, all using GIS to better prepare for, and respond to emergencies. The group received the People and Community organisational category award for their vital role in responding to events such as the Pigeon Valley Fire, and to top it off they were also declared as the winners of the Supreme Award for 2019 – an outstanding achievement for the NZGIS4EM team.

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees for 2019 – keep up the awesome work!

To complement our catalogue of training materials and courses, Eagle Technology recently launched a new series of webinars to offer insight into the latest additions and updates to the Esri ArcGIS Platform.  

These 30 to 60 minute webinars are hosted online via GoToWebinar and cover focussed specialist topics such as ArcGIS Urban or How GIS used used with Gaming Engines, as well as latest updates to the core products such as ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online. You can look forward to concise overviews, real-world software demonstrations, and tips and tricks discovered by Eagle’s webinar hosts, along with the opportunity to hear questions from your colleagues and ask questions of your own.  

These webinars are FREE for anyone to join, so all you have to do is register online, sit back with a coffee and learn! 

If you can’t tune in for a webinar at the given time, then simply register your interest for another date or view previous recordings on our website. So far, we’ve hosted webinars covering “What’s new in ArcGIS Pro” and “ArcGIS Urban” with awesome feedback but don’t worry if you misssed then as you can find these recordings on the website too Ilinked in the previous pages).

Check out the list of upcoming Webinars and make sure you keep up with the ArcGIS latest technology.

Upcoming Webinars Listing

Also, if there are other topics you’d like to hear more about then please let us know by email: gistraining@eagle.co.nz.

We hope to see you online soon!

Eagle is the Esri Official Distributor for New Zealand and this year we celebrate 50 years of being in business and as well as having been a close partner of Esri for many decades. Our company is highly successful and we need skilled GIS consultants to.join our growing team.

Our team do all kinds of GIS work: mainly ArcGIS Enterprise implementations, Enterprise upgrades, ArcGIS configuration or custom coding and integrations with other systems such as ERP Systems, document management systems or transportation systems etc. Due to the fact that Eagle is the Esri Official Distributor we serve a huge variety of different types of clients, which keeps things interesting; everything from government and city/local government agencies, defence, emergency services, utility organisations, environmental protection organisations, Maori organisations right through to non-profit organisations.

What qualities are we looking for with these roles:

• Ideally, we want all-rounders (‘full stack’ people). ArcGIS people that also know about general IT, databases, security, scripting, complimentary and competing software options and that understand at least the basic concepts of coding.
• You must have good knowledge of large sections of the ArcGIS platform. While we recognise that ArcGIS is very broad in its scope and typically individuals focus on key areas, you will need to have sufficient knowledge of a useful subset. In our experience, candidates who have worked recently for other Esri distributors or business partners in a consulting role are often a good fit for the skills needed within our team.
• You should speak and write English as well as a native English speaker. These roles will involve talking to our clients and writing documentation and emails, for which we need to have near-perfect English all the time and rapidly. If you don’t speak or write business level English extremely well then your application will not proceed.
• You should have good ‘soft skills’ such as good communication skills with clients and other team members.
• If applying from overseas then you must qualify through NZ immigration rules. For many countries this is a relatively straight-forward process and for the right candidates Eagle can assist you with this. However if you have a criminal record or any other background that would concern our immigration agencies then we will not hire you.
• We have of course looked for many months within our own country in the first instance to seek people with the above skills, and we have hired many kiwis prior to considering looking for overseas applicants, and we still welcome any suitable applicants from New Zealand and they will have precedence over overseas applicants, however the skills mentioned in the top two bullet points above in particular are in short supply (I think they are around the world actually if you are looking to enhance your skills!)

One of the highlights of the year working at Eagle is when we organise and host the NZ Esri User Conference. This conference attracts 600+ attendees, and as well as the informative talks from Esri, Eagle and people using our software we also let our hair down with an awesome costume party!

Note: Unlike most GIS teams in NZ, we have a focus on enabling others to be successful using GIS technology and we are not looking for traditional ‘GIS Analysts’ i.e. those mostly familiar with making maps or doing the actual analysis using ArcGIS software. Rather we are seeking individuals who understand ArcGIS for Server, Portal for ArcGIS, Datastore etc and who are able to design, build and configure the systems for our customers to use.

For more information about the roles we are currently looking to fill as well as how to apply, please see the below:

3 x Auckland full time GIS consultants

Auckland or Wellington GIS consultant with Utility focus

Full time technical advisor (Auckland)

It was great to see so many of you at last month’s NZ Esri User Conference, some of you first-timers as well as many familiar faces. For those who attend each year, you will have noticed how our numbers are growing, reflecting the increasing use of geospatial technology. For those who could not make it, we have included some of the highlights below…

Esri & Eagle Plenary Presentations
Below is a link to videos of the main Day 1 Plenary Technical Demonstrations:
2019 NZEUC Plenary Videos

User Presentations
Thanks to all the presenters who go above and beyond to share their work at the conference, there were so many Great User Stories told that we wanted to share as many as we could – see the below link to those which we can make publicly available:
2019_NZEUC Users Presentations

Competition Winners
Congratulations again to the winner of the Storymap Competition, Elizabeth Butcher from EOS Ecology. Her “Engaging Kids Where They Learn” StoryMap won over the Judges and her seat is booked to the 2020 Esri UC in San Diego.
Congratulations also to Quenten Higgan from AsureQuality who won the inaugural Best Presenter Award and a day charter for six on Eagle Magic, a 42′ Riviera out of Westhaven, Auckland.

Feedback & NZEUC 2020
Thank you to everyone who filled in our conference surveys, we’ve been reviewing the content and will build on this for NZEUC 2020.
This was our final year at SkyCity as the convention centre is retired ahead of the New Zealand International Conference Centre opening in 2021. A new venue is being confirmed for 2020, and we’ll let you know soon.

Thanks again to eveyone for making it an amazing event!

The Eagle & Esri teams. 

Digital technology is transforming our world at an accelerating pace through rapid innovation and adoption. At the same time Geography, the science of our world, provides both the content and context as well as a Common Reference System. This enables us to see Complexity, Relationships, Patterns and Associations within the countless and diverse sources of data now available to us. 

This powerful combination of Technology and Geography known as GIS, allows us to bring it all together, understand and intelligently respond to both opportunities and challenges that we face at a local, national and global scale.

This is not some abstract idea or future vision in a far-off land.

This is Your Work, in New Zealand, today.

This year at the NZ Esri User Conference, around 600 Managers, Executives and GIS professionals will gather to learn, share and connect on the topic of GIS.

One of the key compoents of the conference is the Monday Plenary session where Esri Director, Jim Higgins will begin with an overview of Esri’s ArcGIS as well as the vision which drives its ongoing development. the team from Eagle and Esri will then focus on sharing some of your own work which showcases the latest capabilities of ArcGIS reflecting the varied applications and domains where it is used in New Zealand:

• Exploring the latest advances in ArcGIS Online including Smart Mapping and Analysis;
• Working with the brand-new ArcGIS Story Maps to combine mapping and narrative to tell the story of saving New Zealand’s Unique wildlife;
• Learning how we can combine Science and GIS through the new Python Notebooks within ArcGIS Enterprise;
• Working to engage communities and promote biosecurity, including Kauri dieback, around Auckland using ArcGIS Hub;
• Learning how NZ users are creating stunning maps and visualisations using the next generation of Vector Basemaps and other Living Atlas content;
• Using ArcGIS Pro to analyse school locations and their accessibility in relation to public transport networks;
• Analysing and exploring location feeds from e-Scooters in Christchurch;
• Applying Artificial Intelligence to automatically draw spatial layers from traffic cameras;
• Using Imagery and Machine Learning to identify critical locations during forest fires;
• Combining ArcGIS Apps for the Field to automatically support sophisticated field workflows for Emergency Management on the West Coast;
• Using 3D Cities to visualise and model the impact and costs of sea level rise in Wellington;
• Showing how NZ Electric and Water utilities are working with the latest Utility Network technology to design and manage their vital network assets;
• Looking over the Tasman to the City of Melbourne to learn how they are working with ArcGIS Urban to plan and collaborate in 3D.

We’re excited to share these stories and much more with you and are looking forward to having you join us at the 2019 NZEUC Plenary.

If you have not already done so then register online here.

The Eagle Technology and Esri teams.

Eagle Technology is proud to support the New Zealand Biosecurity Awards. What work are you doing that you may consider entering?

It takes all of us to protect what we’ve got but there are a few champions worth celebrating.
 
The New Zealand Biosecurity Awards recognise and celebrate outstanding contributions to protecting our country. 
 
Much of what we do to protect our biodiversity in New Zealand is through biosecurity activity – from trapping rats in backyards to washing and disinfecting footwear when visiting our kauri forests.  
The Awards acknowledge people and organisations across New Zealand who are contributing to biosecurity – in our communities, businesses, on-farm, on-orchard, iwi and hapū, government, in the bush and in our backyards. 
 
If you or someone you know is doing great work to protect New Zealand against pests and diseases, it’s time to shine a light on their achievements. 
 
Entries for the Awards are open until 5pm 24 July 2019. Visit ThisIsUs.nz/biosecurity-awards to find out more and enter. 
 

• New Zealand Biosecurity Award categories are:  
• Department of Conservation Community Pihinga Award 
• Department of Conservation Community Kahiwi Award  
• Te Puni Kōkiri Māori Award  
• GIA Industry Award  
• Eagle Technology Local and Central Government Award  
• Bio-Protection Research Centre Science Award  
• Mondiale Innovation Award  
• AsureQuality Emerging Leader Award (open to nominations)  
• Minister’s Biosecurity Award (open to nominations)  
• Supreme Award (awarded to one of the category winners)  

 
You can enter more than one category and it’s easy to enter online. Visit ThisIsUs.nz/biosecurity-awards

Small Islands Use Location Intelligence to Guide Climate Action

Why is climate change a top prioriity for Fiji? This question is part of a conversation with Nazhat Shameem Khan, Fiji’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva and Fiji’s ambassador to Switzerland and  took place at the GIS for a Sustainable World Conference where Ambassador Khan delivered a keynote that focused on sustainable development goals and climate action. В Африке бывает такое, что куда не пойди кругом одна пустынная саранча. Саранча собирается в огромные стаи съедает всё на своём пути. Read the full Esri blog

What have you been working on in the last year? Think you’d like to show it off a little bit to the wider world?

Or maybe you’ve been admiring others work and think that this is worthy of greater recognition.
The NZ Spatial Excellence Awards are a great way to celebrate excellence with Geospatial tools, data and skills. They are open for entries now and are completely free to enter.
There are six individual awards and six organisational awards open for entry, with the judges also selecting a Supreme Award winner from the organisational entries.

We know that many of are doing great work and we think that this is the chance to show (just a little bit).

Finally, if you truly have the wider world in your sights then remember that all NZ winners go on to compete in the Oceania Regional Finals in 2020.
Entries close 30 June 2019 – Good luck!

Learn more and enter online at teh NZSEA Website: https://www.nzsea.org/

Are you or someone you know heading to the amazing Fieldays event 12-15 June at Mystery Creek?

If so, come and say hello to the Eagle team at stand CM8 in the Central Marquee. Pop-in to get hands on with some cool tech and see how ArcGIS has become the Mapping Platform for AgTech across New Zealand.

In the last few years there has been real growth (no pun intended) in the use of geospatial tech in the Agricultural sector from mobile mapping to the use of IoT solutions and from machine-learning and GeoAI to logistics for people and vehicles. We have seen this as taking advantage of the developments in the core of ArcGIS technology and applying them to one of NZ’s largest industries with some amazing results for organisations from the smallest to NZ’s largest Agricultural players.

Динозавры бывают разные, в том числе и летающие ящеры - птеродактили.

Finally, if you're visiting, then also be sure to check out the Fieldays WebMap and App created by Esri partners GPS-it which has lots of handy features including routing to your favourite exhibitors and finding your car at the end of the day.