ESRI User Conference July 2009

I'm at the ESRI User Conference in San Diego this week. I'm helping Jean-Yves Lauture with the Geneq booth. The primary product that we are promoting is the SXBlue II GPS unit. Jean-Yves is the design engineer who developed the SXBlue. His knowledge of this GPS unit is phenomenal. He is also very good at selling it; because he knows so much about the SXBlue and the competition.

Jean-Yves was asked what the next really big breakthrough will be in GPS. His answer... the new satellites with the L5 code. The L5 code will allow us to get 15 centimeter accuracy with the SXBlue and WAAS. Unfortunately, it will be 4 or 5 years before enough L5 satellites are in orbit.

The ESRI User Conference is down in attendance about 30% this year. There are still 10,000 people here, so we have been very busy. Last night I went to a dinner sponsored by Laser Technology. It was a grand event and a lot of fun. The president of Laser Technology, David Williams, was there as was most of the senior management. What a great bunch of people!

Last week's trivia question: What rhymes with the words "Month" and "Purple"? Answer: Nothing. No normal word rhymes with either one.

All for now!

Jon Aschenbach

BIA Log Scaling/Timber Cruising Conference

Hi Everyone. I'm in Lincoln City at the BIA Log Scaling/Timber Cruising Conference. It's a great group of scalers and timber cruisers from all over the Northwest and Alaska. Attendance is down, but enthusiasm is up! Everyone is committed to learning as much as they can over this 3 day meeting.

Chamile, a master log scaler from the USFS gave a great presentation on the difference between board foot log rules and Cubic Feet. She did a great job of showing how bad board foot rules like Scribner, Doyle, 1/4 inch are and how good Cubic feet is. Guess what the USFS uses? Scribner. They were going to switch to Cubic and local industry people complained so much they went back to Scribner. Too bad because cubic feet is so much better.

Next week, I will be at the ESRI User Conference in San Diego. This conference has several thousand attendees. I'm helping with the Geneq Booth, promoting the SXBlue II GPS unit.

Trivia Question.... What real words rhyme with the word Month? With the word Purple? Answer next week.

Have fun!

Jon Aschenbach