Blue Raster Exhibits and Presents at the 2023 North Carolina ArcGIS Users Group Conference

The North Carolina ArcGIS Users Group (NCAUG) 2023 conference brought together GIS professionals, industry leaders, and innovators within the North Carolina GIS community. Hosted annually by NCAUG, the event showcases a wide array of topics, from advanced spatial analytics to the practical applications of GIS in various industries. This year, the event’s theme was "Sparking Innovation: Energizing GIS Technology for the Future.”

Blue Raster Gets Involved in North Carolina

From September 26 – 29, Project Managers Chris Gabris and Ben Masters represented Blue Raster in Asheville, NC—marking our organization’s first time attending the NCAUG fall conference—where they showcased the ways our team implements innovative GIS solutions for our customers. The week began on the Reem’s Creek Golf Course for the pre-conference tournament, where Ben connected in person with other conference attendees and learned how each of his teammates utilize GIS in their day-to-day roles.

Ben and his teammates at Reem’s Creek Golf Course in Asheville, NC.

The following day kicked off the opening of the conference, exhibit hall, and plenary session. As a platinum sponsor of the conference, Chris and Ben were given the opportunity to introduce Blue Raster to the community and present company information during the Vendor Parade. The opening of the exhibit hall allowed them to connect with current customers like the Town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina businesses, and state and local government GIS professionals to understand their current GIS needs and showcase Blue Raster’s latest solutions and services.

Ben sharing information about Blue Raster at the Vendor Parade.

Chase Barnard of the Town of Chapel Hill stopping by the booth to reconnect with our team.

DEM data converted to a CNC file used to carve Watauga Lake out of wood.

Presenting at NCAUG

Chris and Ben presented Blue Raster’s work with the City of Manassas Park, VA, in support of the conference’s theme of innovation in GIS. The presentation told the story of how Blue Raster helped Manassas Park transform their GIS practices, bringing modern solutions to multiple departments and highlighting GIS as an authoritative source of information for city workflows. Chris and Ben covered the history of the engagement, how GIS has grown and been adopted by city employees, and how GIS integrated and improved existing systems. One highlight of the presentation was the deep dive into Manassas Park’s ArcGIS Velocity deployment for public safety and public works vehicles. The topic of real-time data in GIS was a persistent theme at the conference and Blue Raster is excited to support organizations looking to add these capabilities to their GIS practices.

Chris and Ben presenting Blue Raster’s ongoing work with the City of Manassas Park, VA.

Parting Thoughts

NCAUG’s fall conference was a great way to connect with GIS professionals and get more involved in the North Carolina GIS community. Both Chris and Ben enjoyed getting to meet new people and reuniting with old customers and colleagues. Blue Raster looks forward to the next NCAUG event and working with those we met at this year’s conference to help solve their GIS problems with advanced solutions.

Blue Raster and the local North Carolina Esri team continuing to build a strong partnership.