Miscellaneous goo

Last week I was in San Diego for the ESRI User Conference (makers of the GIS software I use in my research); it was an enormous event with more than 13,000 participants. One of the geospatial blogs I read held a contest to help them cover the event. They invited attendees to submit articles on announcements, tips and tricks discovered, emerging trends, or whatever else came to mind during the various sessions and vendor presentations held at the conference. Not being a bona fide geospatial practitioner I considered myself a long shot but I was really inspired by Stephen Schneider's talk as he launched a new initiative on climate change GIS so I submitted an article. Turns out that my entry struck a chord with the editors and I am currently enjoying 15 minutes of fame.