The VertiGIS Global Partner Summit 2023
Author: Chris Wright, Managing Consultant VertiGIS
Another year goes by and it’s time for the VertiGIS Partner Summit.
This year, however, things were different. We were not in Victoria and this wasn’t just a VertiGIS Studio Partner Conference. This was the first Global Partner Summit. With around 68 attendees from 33 different worldwide partners, this was truly going to be a very different Partner Summit from what we had been used to.
A packed agenda ensured that Aled and I had plenty to take away. Before the main conference began, there was a hackathon for those who wanted to take part. It was located in the VertiGIS offices. Aled and I were in separate teams.
There were 4 teams in all and we were given the task of coming up with an app that was sitting in an iframe and having the app talk to the iframe and vice versa. Ryan Cooney and Colin Doak of VertiGIS gave some introductions on the approach we should take. This involved creating command chains to string together a set of commands under a single event.
My team consisted of myself, Nico Burgerhart from SWECO, Wouter D'hollander from SIGGIS and Martin Bjørkenes from Geodata. My Team (Team Lost and Found) created an app for tracking lost dogs. Users can report a missing dog, report that a dog has been seen, report that a dog has been found and report that a dog has been returned.
Unfortunately, my team did not win. The winners produced an app showing electrical distribution. All in all a fun and educational day.
Aled’s team consisted of Koen Boschman from Tensing, Jostein Svegården from Geodata and Jurgen Van Hecke from SIGGIS. The team created an app that showed the risk categories of quick clay in Norway, which be a cause of flooding. Once a risk area has been identified, users are then shown the population of those areas that are at risk.
The full Partner Summit was held in the KA10 Floating Experience on the Mittelkanal. Wednesday covered The VertiGIS Global Strategy given by Andy Berry, who is the CEO of VertiGIS. This was followed by Drew Millen CTO, who delivered a solution overview.
Cam Barnard followed with a VertiGIS Technology Update, covering all the products in the VertiGIS Studio suite. Cam Barnard and Ryan Cooney then did some product deep dives, which were followed by some partner solution spotlights. The day was rounded off by Colin Doak talking about Professional Services
Thursday covered some VertiGIS solutions rather than products. We were introduced to Solutions for Utilities, which were presented by Drew Millen, Gerald Kreuwel, Silvia Ryter and Anne Thieme. Florian Brandi-Dohrn then spoke about VertiGIS Integrator. Drew Millen rounded the day off by describing a Telecommunications Solution.
The final day, Friday was a half day. It started with Julie Schrady, Vice President, Global Partner Management. Julie outlined the strategy for partnering with VertiGIS and outlined a 3-tier Partner Program, Bronze, Silver and Gold.
Drew Millen then gave a Road Ahead for VertiGIS Verticals, including VertiGIS Networks, VertiGIS FM, and ConnectMaster. Following a break there were talks regarding Partner Marketing and Partner support given by Melanie Meuter and Eric Straalman respectively. Finally, Vince Wruck, Florian Brandi-Dohrn, Eric Straalman, Udo Knips and Peter Rowand then gather some summit feedback. Julie Schrady, then thanked the audience, and the presenters and the event was closed.
