I attended the American Wind Energy Association’s WINDPOWER 2009 in Chicago May 4-7. AWEA WINDPOWER is the premier wind energy conference and exhibition in North America. The North American wind market has been in a steady growth mode for well over five years with a tremendous boom for the past three years. Wind power generating capacity increased by 32% in 2007 and projections for 2009 are trending to be even greater.

The AWEA WINDPOWER Conference and Exhibition is the largest annual wind conference and exhibition in the world, this year featuring over 15,000 attendees and over 1,200 exhibitors. Each year, wind energy professionals gather at this event to learn about the latest industry developments and technologies, review new products and services in the expansive exhibit hall, and network with leading industry decision makers.

LizardTech did not have a booth at this show. As this was our first year at AWEA WINDPOWER we decided to save a little money by only attending rather than exhibiting and I was able to cruise the floor and scout out good leads. We did not spring for the sessions’ access – that would have been an additional $800.00. If you missed the sessions, too, they’re available on DVD for $500.00 at http://www.awea3.org/source/Orders/index.cfm?Section=Store .

I feel that it was better (and cheaper) to be an attendee at this show rather than exhibitor. It was too huge to be stuck in a booth all day. Walking the floor each day and talking with other exhibitors about their GIS needs (most didn’t know what GIS was) I was able to get better leads than I would have at a booth. There is something for everybody at this show and I hope to be back in 2010, when the conference will be held in Dallas. Details about next year’s show are at http://www.windpowerexpo.org/2010/coming_soon.cfm .

Photo courtesy of the American Wind Energy Association.

Last November, together with two co-workers, laptops, projectors, tons of inflatable globes, CD holders, pencils and of course plastic lizards, I went to the Brighton School in Lynwood, WA, to share my enthusiasm for GIS Day with a class of 5th graders. To prepare for the hour-long presentation the teacher had been in contact with us about where the class was at in their current history lesson, the 13 colonies and Revolutionary War, and could we somehow incorporate that into our GIS lesson?

We began with a birdseye view of their school and how far away it was from Seattle’s Safeco Field. They loved it! I was amazed at how many of them quickly made the connection between ESRI technology and Google earth.

To incorporate their current Revolutionary War curriculum I gathered maps of the 13 colonies, Revolutionary War battle sites and other key geographic locations such as the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall and current aerial photos of Philadelphia. I digitized, or overlayed, the current aerial imagery with some of the old maps like the one shown above.

In class I used this to point out the extreme difficulties that individuals such as General George Washington experienced while creating maps during that era.

“The want of accurate maps of the Country which has hitherto been the Scene of War, has been a great disadvantage to me. I have in vain endeavored to procure them and have been obliged to make shift with such sketches as I could trace from my own Observations.”
- General George Washington

After our presentation the kids were really excited to show us some of the tools they had been using to learn about the Revolutionary War and the 13 colonies. One way was by playing Twister with a giant map of the 13 colonies that their teacher had made. They insisted that we play a few rounds. I never realized just how far New York is from Georgia.

I won…twice.

This was a great day with the kids. Many of them asked us to return next year and I have to say I’m looking forward to it. Check out the article about our trip to Brighton (PDF) in the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping’s online publication, ACSM Bulletin.