Every summer, devoted fans of the Environmental Systems Research Institute’s GIS and mapping software beat a path to sunny San Diego and our waterfront convention center for the annual International Users Conference. Our city’s reputation as an advanced technology hub, our visitor friendly downtown, our beautiful weather and our eco-friendly building with its panoramic bay views are among the many reasons San Diego is such an appealing destination for these attendees and their families.

ESRI’s five-day convention and tradeshow in June marked the 10th consecutive year that the world leader in geographic information system (GIS) software technology has hosted this event at the San Diego Convention Center. The International Users Conference is currently booked into our building through 2015.

The International Users Conference has nearly quadrupled in size from about 4,000 people in 1997 to over 14,500 attendees this past June.

Headquartered in Redlands, California, ESRI moved its Users Conference (UC) to San Diego in the summer of 1997 after outgrowing its Palm Springs venue. ESRI was the first client to use Halls D and E when our convention center expansion opened in summer 2001, enjoying not only the spaciousness of San Diego’s 2.6 million-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, but also the way the new space flowed seamlessly into the original building.

For several years now, the Convention Center’s 90,000-square-foot, glass-enclosed, column-free Sails Pavilion has proven to be the perfect location for the conference’s impressive Map Gallery, a high-tech exhibition for thousands of map posters and exhibits illustrating the latest uses of GIS in ESRI’s global community.

According to ESRI officials, on any given day, more than 1 million people around the world use the firm’s GIS solutions to improve the way their companies, organizations and government agencies do business.

So it should come as no surprise that over the past decade, the International Users Conference has nearly quadrupled in size from about 4,000 people in 1997 to over 14,500 attendees this past June. While nearly a quarter of UC attendees reside within California, another 16 percent are international delegates, representing 123 different countries.

“ESRI is a long-time and valued client that we are pleased to welcome back year after year,” said SDCCC President and CEO Carol Wallace. “Our goal with all of our clients is to provide an outstanding experience and impeccable service that will be remembered long after they leave our city and that will make them and their attendees want to return again and again."