They know you so well

Esri has opened the doors to make their Tapestry Segmentation more accessible with some interesting online maps and data presentations. The College Towns and Enterprising Individuals who read Places and Spaces may find their description of them eerily correct. The Diners and Miners seems less problematic than Shotguns and Pickups.

With the tagline of, "We are a nation of ZIP Codes and neighborhoods," I don't think that Esri has made Tapestry Segmentation any less creepy than the Claritas Prizm groups.

Maybe they should just go with, "We know what you'll buy before you do." or, "You are from

But will planners use this? Will they trust the data and make decisions at this level? Or do they already have better micro-knowledge internalized?

The NY Times interviews Jack Dangermond

It is amazing to see an interview with the President of ESRI in which he doesn't talk about GIS, cloud computing or new apps.  Instead, the NY Times got him to open up about his management style, his willingness to do whatever is necessary, and the importance of hiring people with good writing skills.

ArcGIS 9.3

Surveys often require IRB approval, but this one is probably sub-exempt.

Which of the following best fits you response to the release of ArcGIS 9.3
a) 9.3 is here!
b) 9.3 is here!!!
c) 9.3 is here.
d) 9.3 is released but who knows when it will be here and even then it will take 6 more weeks before my sysadmin installs it.
e) how am I going to get this data ready for the client before Monday?

While the correct answer is probably "e", that also means you shouldn't be reading this blog right now.

Since you are still reading, yes, ArcGIS 9.3 has been released by ESRI. Since you are probably asking youself, What's New? You might want to read ESRI's What's New? And, to get you ready, there will be three different LIVE online seminars all on Thursday July 24th. Until the start of the Olympics, this is probably the best thing you can watch at the office without a Netflix account.