Every last Friday in April, Arbor Day asks us to plant trees. But where trees land matters as much as how many. The Arbor Day Foundation's new Forest-Water Impact Map shows where planting trees and restoring forests absorbs more water. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
OpenOceans Global is piloting its Ocean Plastic Pathways Initiative in Ecuador, tracing how plastic moves from land to sea through rivers and watersheds. Stop it upstream and you never have to clean it from the ocean floor. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
UK law now requires new development to leave nature 10 percent better off. Ordnance Survey built the data. Linckia built the tool. Wessex Water put it to work. Read how on the Esri Blog. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
The Swedish icebreaker Oden had a 1-in-5 chance of reaching Victoria Fjord. No ship had ever explored it. Marine geologists Martin Jakobsson and Larry Mayer made it—and what they found at the glacier face raised more questions than it answered. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica as the strongest storm on record. 626,000 people displaced. Roads buried. Power out.
Team Rubicon's response—59 volunteers, 2,221 patients treated, 90 Greyshirts clearing debris—was guided by maps the whole way. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
A flesh-eating parasite is moving north through Central America at the speed of trucks because it's traveling with illegal cattle. The origin story of the New World screwworm crisis isn't being told. Until now. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
Chattanooga mapped its way to National Park City. Irvine tracks every bench and tree to stay atop park rankings. Boulder has taxed itself for greenbelt preservation eight times. Three cities, one lesson: green space is infrastructure for health, connection, and growth.. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
Virginia Beach emergency managers have four CAD systems and had 14 system logins when an EF3 tornado hit during a busy weekend. They fixed that — one watch desk, every feed, one view. Read how they did it. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
On the season's biggest snow day, Jackson Hole ski patrol set charges, triggered avalanches, and logged every result before first chair—using a GIS-based system built by Earth Analytics on ArcGIS. Operational intelligence that keeps the mountain safe and open. mediaspace.esri.com/media/t/1_ae...
The "R" in PDRF used to stand for Recovery. After Super Typhoon Haiyan, the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation changed it—and rebuilt this network of private-sector aid around preparedness, prevention, and mitigation. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
AI researchers are racing to teach machines how the physical world works. The geospatial community has been building that foundation for fifty years, with decades of encoded knowledge that is exactly the asset the AI industry needs now. www.linkedin.com/pulse/gis-or...
South Carolina has 28,000 miles of streams and scientists are still discovering what lives in them. A new GIS tool models aquatic biodiversity through the year 2100—protecting species before we know everything we'd lose. #AquaticConservation #GIS www.esri.com/about/newsro...
Heritage is inseparable from place. The Abuelas Project maps the oral histories, photos, and memories that Latinx grandmothers have carried for generations—before those places disappear. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
When back-to-back hurricanes hit Tampa Bay 14 days apart, Hillsborough County's GIS team worked around the clock — powering real-time damage assessments, guiding residents to shelters, and helping secure FEMA disaster declarations. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
Patagonia's endangered huemul deer were disappearing into isolated pockets. Now, thanks to Rewilding Chile, they're finding their way back—guided by maps that turn field data into action. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
Alabama's State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) captured detailed habitats and species status across one of the most biodiverse places in the world. Interactive GIS maps replaced spreadsheets, letting 140+ experts guide conservation decisions in days instead of weeks. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
Downtown Chattanooga: 112°F. Three miles away: 90°F.
That 22-degree gap explains why the city mapped 5.3 million trees with AI to guide strategic planting where heat hits hardest.
City-university collaboration turning data into shade: www.esri.com/about/newsro...
The Gulf Coast has lost 85% of its historical oyster reef. Learn how CV Carbon is paying oyster fishermen to bring it back. Each acre filters billions of gallons and blocks hurricane surge. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
California fire managers always knew fuel treatments worked. Now they document it with GIS to prove it with data—including what works best in different environments. The insights are transforming wildfire prevention. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
24 hours to plan Oklahoma City's largest celebration ever—500,000 fans for the Thunder's first NBA championship parade. The Oklahoma City Police Department used GIS to coordinate 1,200 personnel, a system tried and tested for years at the OKC Memorial Marathon. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
Missoula was zoned like Los Angeles—75 percent single-family homes. That one map comparison sparked the "Montana Miracle": bipartisan housing reforms that legalized duplexes statewide, encouraged ADUs, and restructured land use planning. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
Utah's housing crisis: families priced out, workers unable to afford homes near jobs. Governor Cox's response? 35,000 new starter homes by 2028—backed by data that shows where to build and how to accelerate results. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
The 10 most-read Esri Blog stories of 2025 share how the geographic approach returns measurable results. From digital twins resolving conflicts to crisis teams coordinating through shared maps. They're stories of transformation.
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Archaeologists used drone imagery and GIS to share the story of Rapa Nui ingenuity on Easter Island. Now anyone can explore the statue quarry and island in 3D. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
A guitar needs an elephant. Mapping proved where elephants vanish, ebony saplings decline 70%. Taylor Guitars partnered with Congo Basin Institute to rewild the forest—planting 65K trees that sustain both ecosystems and livelihoods. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
America's downtowns are being reborn—and cities aren't guessing anymore. They're building digital twins to test every scenario before breaking ground. Three cities show how GIS turns faded Main Streets into economic engines. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
Noise is invisible—until you map it. Across Europe, GIS is turning a silent killer into something cities can see, measure, and fix. From Dublin's freeways to Paris's real-time sensors, maps are driving quieter, healthier communities. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
Italy leads the world in high-speed rail innovation—and now in reimagining stations as community hubs. RFI mapped 18,000 km of rail lines plus 400 data layers around every station, revealing how to turn transit nodes into economic engines. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
Montgomery Parks rebuilt their Atlas tool and reimagined their amenities based on what people told them they needed. Now everyone can find the right park and access the nature within it. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
GIS professionals are building a planetary nervous system. That's the vision of Esri president Jack Dangermond. He notes how we're moving from static deliverables to living systems by applying GIS and the geographic approach. www.esri.com/about/newsro...