SERUG and Charlotte

Due to what was, actually, an unfortunate series of circumstances, I find myself in Charlotte, NC, as I write this blog post. What am I doing here? Well, SERUG is not a German pronunciation of something you'd find on the living room floor. It's the ESRI Southeast Regional User Group Conference. In the GIS world, it's one step below going to San Diego for the national conference. And while Charlotte isn't quite San Diego, I had never been here before this week. So not only was I anxious to attend the conference and get my learn on, but I was also excited (as a good geographer would be) about seeing some place new.

I actually made the drive over from Chattanooga on Sunday. Let me tell you... a roughly 300 mile drive has never taken so long. Seven hours after I left, I managed to make it to the Queen City. That's what happens when the interstate you planned to take is shut down because our esteemed president decided to visit Asheville (which I was driving through since my GPS told me that would be the fastest route). As if I needed another reason to not like the guy. I just happened to take a detour that wound up down about three mountains. Did I mention that the brakes on my car were already starting to go? Oh well. I did get some nice views, as the weather was beautiful.

Charlotte itself is, from what I've seen, pretty nice. Downtown there are several tree-lined streets. The one thing I keep noticing is, everything seems very clean. Now, I don't mean to make it sound like Chattanooga is filthy, but... spend some time in the heart of downtown 'Nooga, and you'll notice it's not the cleanest town in the world. Charlotte is trash-free and (thankfully) beggar free. Those are good qualities. As far as entertainment, the Panthers' stadium looks nice. The Bobcats are actually playing a playoff basketball game here tonight, but I assume it's sold out. There are a lot of restaurants, as you might expect. My dining choice tonight (Monday) was a place called "Fujo Asian Bistro". I ordered a sumo steak and had a desert of cheesecake. Wasn't the best I've ever had of either one, but they were alright. I'm sure there are some better culinary choices.

Now, on to the conference. After Day 1, I feel there is one central theme of what's happening in GIS. Well, two. First, ESRI is dead-set on beating into our heads that ArcGIS 10 will be the single greatest piece of software in the history of mankind. Maybe, but let's wait and see on that. It sounds like 10 will have tools that we use every day - for instance, the toolbox itself - a lot better integrated into the working environment. It sounds good. But I'm a creature of habit, so part of me fears that the changes they make will be just for change sake and will just serve to frustrate me (and others). The guys that I heard speak from ESRI-Charlotte seemed pretty knowledgeable, however. One even invited all of us to follow him on Twitter: @DaleLoberger. Appeared to be a nice guy. Follow him, I did.

The other theme of today's presentations was the ultimate goal to tie what we GIS professionals do in ArcMap or other applications, to the web itself. We saw several websites where local governments have put a gluttony of data out there for the public to digest if they so desire. I was particularly impressed with the City of Greenville, SC. While they DO offer a lot of data to the public on their (somewhat clunky) public GIS site, it's what they do behind the scenes that was way cooler. Their GIS department put together a program used by emergency management officials that allow them to see weather stations around the region, track the movement of fire trucks, see police incident reports - all in real-time, as they happen, and put into an easy to comprehend map layout. It's something that I can see every local emergency management organization eventually latching onto.

So that sort of wraps up the first day of my GIS odyssey. The conference continues until Wednesday. If anything else of note happens, I'll be sure to blog about it.

Of course, me saying that is ironic, since my previous post was Part 1 of what was supposed to be a two-part series. Obviously, I never wrote Part 2. Let me sum it up here: we had a delightful breakfast with an entertaining Australian couple, we attended an Easter service at a mega-church, we ate some good food, and we drove home. If you need more details, just ask.

And oh yeah, more Charlotte pictures can be found in my Picasa album.

Asheville, NC... Part 1

Last weekend, April 3 and 4, my lovely girlfriend and I decided to make the four hour drive to Asheville, NC. We have season passes to the Biltmore Estate and wanted to visit it (for the second time). We also wanted to explore downtown Asheville, since we had heard good things about it but didn't have the opportunity to get down there the last time we went to the Biltmore.

We got into Asheville about 11 on Saturday and quickly got into the Estate. If you haven't been there, once you go into the "Estate" you have to actually travel several miles down the "driveway" to reach the actual house. Once there, the house is... well, beyond words. It is the single largest private residence ever built in the U.S. There are four floors in the house, as well as a basement that is as large as the entire house. The total square footage is over 175,000. In other words... this place is really freakin' big. This picture at left is from our first trip there back in November.

Being season pass holders, we were able to immediately get into the house, for "free". Unfortunately there are no cameras allowed inside the house, so I can't show you just how awesome it really is. George Vanderbilt built the estate in the late 1800s. Today it is still owned by his 86 year old grandson. If you aren't familiar with the estate I recommend you read up on it here.

After leaving the house we drove another few miles across the estate to its newest addition, titled "Antler Hill Village". It was built between the estate's winery and working farm. We were able to do free wine tasting before proceeding down the hill to the actual village. Here you can tour the winery, or several shops and eateries. From there, a short walk up another hill leads to the old farm area. It was here the estate's horses were kept. Today you can view the original barn, see a real blacksmith performing demonstrations, visit a petting zoo, etc. We had a great time, and I would recommend to anyone, but especially families.

Before leaving we checked prices at the Biltmore Hotel. With prices starting at over $300 per night (!) we decided it was just a bit out of our price range.

Leaving the estate we decided to try out downtown Asheville. First, let me say that if you ever get to Asheville and need some info on the area, check out the visitor center. It was extremely modern (including free wifi) and gave us a lot of ideas on places to stay. In fact, it led us to the awesome bed and breakfast we eventually stayed for the night. Neither Amanda nor I had ever stayed in a B&B, so we really didn't no what to expect. And most are pretty pricey. We were lucky to be checking into the Wright Inn about 3:00 in the afternoon, and with only one room left, the owner gave us a reduced rate. It turned out to be a price that was comparable to most boring, "pillbox" hotels. I will say that after staying in an awesome old house like this, I never want to stay in a conventional hotel again.

After checking in we headed to downtown Asheville. Living in Chattanooga, I thought our downtown area was pretty cool. While Asheville is smaller than 'Nooga, the central business district has a lot more to choose from when it comes to dining options. There are a ton of local restaurants. Amanda was in the mood for Mediterranean food. I was apprehensive at first, but we eventually decided on a place called the Jerusalem Garden Cafe. I was impressed. My food wasn't exactly 100% Mediterranean - I had a crab-covered filet with smashed potatoes - but I loved the atmosphere (which included belly dancing!). Amanda loved it as well. I think we concluded that it was certainly worth 4 stars out of 5.

So after an exciting first day in Asheville we were pretty tired. We headed back to our incredibly comfortable room and crashed for the night. We had a great night of sleep and woke up on Easter Sunday ready for a great second day, of which I'll write about soon.

If you're interested in seeing my entire photo album of Day 1, check out my photo sets on either Flickr or Facebook.