Esri User Conference 2026

Esri officially announced the 2026 conference theme and speakers on June 25, 2026. Jack Dangermond, President and Founder of Esri, and Kristine Tompkins, President and Co-founder of Tompkins Conservation, will be the keynote speakers in the Plenary Session, under the theme GIS, Creating a more intelligent world.

Kristine Tompkins, President and Co-founder of Tompkins Conservation, joins the Plenary Session to share her mission to create a more wild, beautiful and equitable world, bringing a conservation and rewilding perspective to the conference's GIS and AI programming.

Esri's official press release confirms more than 18,000 attendees from over 100 countries are expected in person in San Diego, with thousands more joining as virtual attendees, continuing the conference's position as the world's largest GIS event.

Standard registration at $2,600 runs through May 29, 2026, after which Late and On-site registration rises to $2,900. Early Bird registration at $1,900 closed January 16, 2026. Digital access remains available at $99 or no cost for qualifying attendees. See the registration page for current rates.

Esri has confirmed that registrants who cancel after June 15, 2026, forfeit 50 percent of their registration fee. Confirmed registrants who cancel or do not participate after June 29, 2026, forfeit their entire registration fee, and registrations received after that date are not eligible for refunds.

The Defense and Intelligence Symposium runs as a dedicated co-located track within Esri UC 2026, addressing threat identification, risk prediction and resilience building through real-time mapping and analysis for defense and intelligence audiences.

The 2026 closing celebration, the Esri UC Party, will be held at Balboa Park, featuring international cuisine, live entertainment and family-friendly activities. Registration includes access, with wristbands required and additional wristbands available for purchase for guests.

The central technical thread of the 2026 conference is how ArcGIS is being enhanced with AI to accelerate insight, automate workflows and broaden access, empowering more people to turn complex data into geographic intelligence, measurable impact and actionable understanding. This builds directly on the AI framework, computer vision and natural language capabilities introduced across the ArcGIS platform at the 2025 conference.

The Plenary Session and technical programme showcase real-world success stories from organisations operationalising location intelligence at scale, connecting authoritative content with real-time and operational workflows across government, energy, transportation and education.

Sessions address enterprise-wide GIS strategy for organisations moving from static mapping tools toward cross-functional data platforms, covering cloud migration, data standardisation and change management challenges that many enterprise GIS teams continue to face.

Whether attendees are just starting their GIS journey or advancing enterprise-wide strategies, the conference offers immersive learning tailored to every skill level, from expert-led technical sessions exploring new tools and techniques to practical insights shared directly by peers in user presentations.

With Kristine Tompkins joining the 2026 Plenary, conservation, rewilding and environmental resilience join the conference's long-standing coverage of GIS applications for climate change, redevelopment, urban forestry and infrastructure services.

The Plenary Session is the conference's centrepiece, where Jack Dangermond shares his vision for creating a more intelligent world alongside keynote speaker Kristine Tompkins and real-world case studies from organisations using geospatial tools to address local and global challenges.

Over 150 technical sessions give in-person attendees the chance to learn the latest tools and gain practical tips they can apply directly to their own projects. Digital access includes 75-plus live-streamed sessions, with more than 100 additional session recordings available for replay in August 2026.

The Expo connects attendees with more than 200 organisations showcasing GIS-powered products and services. The Esri Showcase gives attendees one-on-one access to Esri product, service and industry experts to give and receive direct feedback.

The Map Gallery features hundreds of printed and digital map displays during the Monday night reception and throughout the week in the Sails Pavilion, celebrating the most compelling GIS storytelling from the global user community.

The Defense and Intelligence Symposium is a dedicated co-located event within Esri UC 2026, focused on threat identification, risk prediction and resilience building for defense and intelligence professionals using real-time mapping and analysis.

The Esri 5K Fun Run/Walk and morning yoga sessions run throughout the week for attendees aged 18 and over. The Esri Kids Fair, themed Continents for 2026, runs July 14-16 for children aged 5-14, alongside KiddieCorp childcare services for younger children.

The week closes with the Esri UC Party at Balboa Park, featuring international cuisine, live entertainment and activities for the whole family, included with conference registration with wristbands required for entry.

Technical sessions spanning every skill level, from introductory training to advanced enterprise architecture, give GIS professionals a direct path to deepen their expertise across the full ArcGIS platform, with practical tips they can apply immediately to their own projects.

Real-world case studies covering government, energy, transportation and infrastructure give enterprise and government technology leaders a direct view of how leading organisations are operationalising location intelligence at scale, including cloud migration and data standardisation strategies.

The dedicated Defense and Intelligence Symposium gives this audience a focused track on threat identification, risk prediction and resilience building through real-time geospatial analysis, separate from the general conference programme.

As spatial intelligence becomes inseparable from AI, sessions on the ArcGIS AI framework, computer vision, and natural language interfaces for geographic data give AI and data teams a direct view of how location context is being built into AI systems and agents.

The Expo, with more than 200 participating organisations, gives solution providers and technology vendors direct access to a concentrated audience of active GIS decision-makers and practitioners evaluating new tools and partnerships.