Liezel Botha and Verosha Naidoo from Esri South Africa spoke to students enrolled in our 3rd year GIS 310 (Geographic Information systems) course on Wednesday, 19 February. The aim of the talk was to illustrate the usefulness of GIS and geospatial technology through applications. Students were also introduced to the annual Esri Young Scholar Award. The winner of this award is awarded with the opportunity to travel to the 2020 Esri User Conference in San Diego, California, and there have been three previous winners from the University of Pretoria.

• The use of Survey123 and QuickCapture for easily setting up surveys and capturing spatial data using your phone; 
• An example of using the Operations Dashboard to assist with decision support and planning; and
• Machine and deep learning for the automatic detection and extraction of swimming pools on aerial photos.

The students enjoyed the talk and appreciated Esri South Africa taking the time to talk with them. It was a great opportunity for them to see practical applications of GI technology and the passion of Liezel, as she talked about the various applications, was infectious.