2008 Map Gallery
Dear ESRI Users It gives me great pleasure to present ESRI Canada's ninth Map Gallery calendar. It contains a small selection of the many superb maps created by ESRI users across Canada. I want to sincerely thank everyone who submitted an entry for this year's gallery. The many high quality entries made it difficult to choose only a few for the calendar. Maps are one of the most powerful communication tools we have to illustrate the impacts of human activities on our world. We face many daunting issues in the 21st century including climate change, water shortages, rising energy costs, social conflicts, threats of pandemics, poverty, increased traffic congestion, air and water pollution and urban sprawl. Maps help us find solutions to many of these problems by telling stories about our environment, our economy and our society. Geographic information systems (GIS) provide the knowledge base and analytical capabilities that help us address our society's issues and also let us produce the beautiful and informative maps published in this calendar. Maps were submitted that show integrated land management, community green plans, waste management plans, the best walking routes to schools, population density, event plans, natural hazards, well head protection areas, hydro electric potential, underground utilities, geological structures and conservation homes. These maps provide a glimpse of the incredible amount of work that is being done by ESRI users to improve the management of our world. ArcGIS continues to evolve as a tool for modeling our world and publishing ever more sophisticated maps. New cartographic tools help us create better maps for both printing and the web. New tools for workflow and distributed data management ensure that data shown on these maps is up-to-date. New Internet tools for publishing content on the web let GIS users participate in the new world of Web 2.0. In 2008, ESRI Canada will continue to expand the Geography Network Canada portal ( http://www.geographynetwork.ca/), adding free national base maps to the already published base map services of Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Nova Scotia. As we begin another year, my colleagues and I are more committed than ever to serving you by better understanding your needs and helping you understand our products and services. This coming year we will be hosting 17 user group meetings, 30 special interest group meetings, attending many conferences and holding dozens of seminars across the country. GeoConnections is again holding a series of workshops across Canada in 2008 to better understand the needs of those who use Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) as a source of geographic knowledge. I look forward to personally meeting many of you at these events. On behalf of all of us at ESRI Canada, I want to thank you for your support and look forward to serving you for many years to come. From our families to yours, Happy Holidays and best wishes for 2008. Yours truly,
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