Avenza User Conference Speakers

Ted Florence

President, Avenza Systems

Ted Florence is the President of Avenza Systems and directs the company in coming up with innovative solutions to the problems that plague the map-makers and map users of the 21st century. He is a professional engineer, who spent seven years as an international executive for a major pharmaceutical company followed by two years in the toy industry before joining Avenza in 1997 as an investor and vice president. Ted took over the ownership and presidency of Avenza in 2000 and has seen the company grow annually under his watch with a number of exciting and innovative products.

Opening remarks

Steve Lauterbach

Chairperson, Arnold Rim Trail Association

Twenty years ago, Steve retired and moved to the Arnold, California, area so he could finally call the Sierra Nevada mountains his “home”. Since his youth, he has loved bicycling, backpacking, cross-country skiing, fly fishing, and rock climbing. In retirement, he has been honored to help in the founding and building of the Arnold Rim Trail.

Avenza Maps is Invaluable on the Arnold Rim Trail

Fifteen years ago, a small group of local all-volunteer community folks envisioned the Arnold Rim Trail, a single-track multi-purpose trail in the Stanislaus National Forest around our beautiful Arnold community. Working hand-in-glove with our wonderful land managers at the Calaveras District, the trail grew from a concept to a fully realized twenty-three-mile single-track trail with three additional loop trails where we celebrate that equestrians, mountain bikers, hikers, and trail runners share the trail harmoniously. Without the passion and commitment from the Calaveras District at every step of the way, there would be no Arnold Rim Trail. Without the community support, again there would be no Arnold Rim Trail. Because the Arnold Rim Trail is crossed by so many informal side trails, paper maps simply do not work. That’s why the Arnold Rim Trail map on Avenza Maps is so incredibly valuable; folks know exactly where they are every minute they are out on trail.

Hamza Salman

Associate Product Manager, Avenza Maps

Hamza is a Product Manager for Avenza Maps. His main areas of focus are optimizing developer operations, prioritizing features, and user research. He currently manages product development and release planning across the Android and iOS platforms.

What’s New in Avenza Maps?

Avenza Maps has had a productive year! Hamza and Tristan from the Product Team will update you on all the exciting new features that were delivered since the last Avenza UC as well as sharing updates on what’s coming next.

Tristan Lyttle

Senior Product Manager, Avenza Maps

Tristan is a Senior Product Manager for Avenza Maps. His focus is on understanding the wants and needs of Avenza Maps users ranging from the recreational to the professional. He currently scopes and delivers features based on this feedback to development teams for integration into the app as well as manages the Avenza Maps QR Code Program. 

What’s New in Avenza Maps?

Avenza Maps has had a productive year! Hamza and Tristan from the Product Team will update you on all the exciting new features that were delivered since the last Avenza UC as well as sharing updates on what’s coming next.

Paul Edwards

Account Manager, Avenza Systems

Paul has been a part of the Avenza Systems Inc. sales department for over three years.  He graduated with a degree in geography and a post-graduate certificate in GIS along with 15+ years of experience in the geospatial industry.  This knowledge and experience help him understand and connect users with the solutions they need to be successful.

Your Top Avenza Maps Questions Answered

We’re tackling the most pressing Avenza Maps questions and making sure you’re a pro at using every feature! Still have questions? Reach out to our team live during the Avenza UC!

Rebecca Bennett

Publisher Success Coordinator, Avenza Systems

Rebecca has an Hon BA from Wilfrid Laurier University in Classics, and a postgraduate certificate from Fleming College in GIS with cartographic specialization. Passionate about cartography and communication, she helps elevate the Map Store publisher experience by working extensively with publishers around the world to promote content, grow an audience, and grow sales. Rebecca loves to travel (and collect tourist maps) and recently spent two years teaching abroad in Okinawa, Japan.

Your Top Avenza Maps Questions Answered

We’re tackling the most pressing Avenza Maps questions and making sure you’re a pro at using every feature! Still have questions? Reach out to our team live during the Avenza UC!

Rebecca Sherwin

Digital Mapping Specialist, Avenza Map Store

Rebecca has a B.Sc. in Zoology from the University of Guelph and a GIS Applications Specialist postgraduate certificate from Fleming College. She works with Map Store publishers around the world to get their maps in the Map Store. Rebecca enjoys hiking, birdwatching and drawing in her free time.

Showcasing the New Avenza Map Store

The redone Avenza Map Store brings new and improved features, tools and search functionalities. In this presentation, Rebecca will share the ins and outs of the Map Store and how it benefits both users and publishers. 

Bridger DeVille

Sales and Marketing Director, Benchmark Maps

Bridger is the Sales and Marketing Director for Benchmark Maps, a publisher of recreation atlases and maps of the American West with offices in Santa Barbara, California and Medford, Oregon. Bridger has worked at Benchmark for 13 years, leading their efforts in sales, distribution, e-commerce, marketing, and business development from his remote location in Denver, Colorado. An active member for many years, Bridger currently serves as president of the International Map Industry Association (IMIA).

Publishing a Digital Recreational Map for the Avenza Maps App

Robert Simmon

Senior Data Visualizer, Planet Labs

Robert is a cartographer and science communicator who specializes in visualizing imagery from satellites. He is currently approaching a decade working for Planet, where he helps create near-daily medium-res imagery of the Earth, maps Planetary Variables and designs bespoke graphics for media. Before that, he co-created the NASA Earth Observatory, a website dedicated to communicating Earth and remote sensing science. His work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, and websites, including the front page of the New York Times and the cover of National Geographic. He is also known for crafting the Blue Marble featured on the original Apple iPhone.

Satellite Color Correction with Geographic Imager and Photoshop

In this presentation, Robert will demonstrate his workflow to import high-bit-depth scientific data into Photoshop and transform it into accessible & readily displayable imagery. These techniques rely on Geographic Imager’s unique capabilities to exploit the georeferencing embedded in common data formats. This unlocks Photoshop’s powerful image processing tools which can produce higher-quality output than typical GIS and image processing software, all while maintaining the precise location of every pixel.

Riley Sweeney

Desktop QA Specialist, Avenza Systems

Riley is a passionate outdoors enthusiast who loves nothing more than exploring the natural world around her. Through many years of hiking, camping, and exploring remote areas, she has grown a passion for maps and GIS technologies. Riley has a Forestry Technician Diploma and a postgraduate certificate in GIS from Fleming College and has been with Avenza since 2021. In addition to Quality Assurance, Riley enjoys helping customers improve their technical skills and streamline their workflows through MAPublisher training. 

Vector Basemaps in MAPublisher!

The future of MAPublisher is exciting with our upcoming Vector Basemaps feature. This presentation will spark new ideas through a demonstration of the functionality and workflow possibilities Vector Basemaps holds.

Hans van der Maarel

Owner, Red Geographics

Hans van der Maarel is the owner of Red Geographics, a long-time partner of Avenza and user of MAPublisher and Geographic Imager. He uses the products for a wide range of cartographic projects for international clients and offers training courses and consultancy projects aimed at developing workflows for clients. In addition to that he is currently a board member of NACIS.

Mapping in the Wild

Getting started with MAPublisher can be a daunting task, especially if you don’t have a background in cartography. But that’s exactly what the staff at Safaribooking.com, the largest marketplace for African safaris, was facing. By using MAPublisher together with open data we were able to quickly get them up and running with producing maps. Red Geographics offered them a personal training plan and helped them source data allowing them to start producing their maps in a short amount of time.

Sophie-Anne Olivier

Head of Training, Technical Support and Research, Géom@tique

Sophie-Anne, also PhD in geography, is in charge of training, technical support and research at Géom@tique. Géom@tique is the French partner of Avenza Systems Inc. and Blue Marble Geographics. The company distributes the software for which it provides technical support. It also provides certified training. A vast knowledge of geomatics and a high level of services (technical support and training) have proven themselves to many French-speaking customers around the world since 1998.

Géom@tique, in Privileged Contact with the Diversity of Cartographic Art Professions in the French-speaking World

Géom@tique was founded at the end of the 1990s by introducing, for France and French-speaking countries, the distribution of the wonderful map publishing solution MAPublisher for Illustrator. Through its position as a Value Added Reseller (VAR) of Avenza Systems Inc. products, Géom@tique is in contact, on a daily basis, with a wide variety of users with multiple uses, but all of whom have the desire to produce beautiful maps. Sophie-Anne and Alain will present the various actions that Géom@tique implements in France and, above all, will highlight the productions of some loyal and talented users of MAPublisher and Geographic Imager.

Alain Olivier

Chief Executive Officer, Géom@tique

Alain, PhD in geography and agronomy engineer, is the creator and the CEO of Géom@tique. Géom@tique is the French partner of Avenza Systems Inc. and Blue Marble Geographics. The company distributes the software for which it provides technical support. It also provides certified training. A vast knowledge of geomatics and a high level of services (technical support and training) have proven themselves to many French-speaking customers around the world since 1998.

Géom@tique, in Privileged Contact with the Diversity of Cartographic Art Professions in the French-speaking World

Géom@tique was founded at the end of the 1990s by introducing, for France and French-speaking countries, the distribution of the wonderful map publishing solution MAPublisher for Illustrator. Through its position as a Value Added Reseller (VAR) of Avenza Systems Inc. products, Géom@tique is in contact, on a daily basis, with a wide variety of users with multiple uses, but all of whom have the desire to produce beautiful maps. Sophie-Anne and Alain will present the various actions that Géom@tique implements in France and, above all, will highlight the productions of some loyal and talented users of MAPublisher and Geographic Imager.

Michael Aben

Mobile QA Lead, Avenza Maps

Michael comes from a background in GIS, receiving a GIS Applications Specialist postgraduate certificate from Fleming College. He has been working on the Mobile QA for Avenza Systems Inc. for over 5 years and has been directly involved with several releases of both our mobile application and associated servers. He has extensive knowledge of the Avenza Maps app and has a strong understanding of how to deliver products to meet our customer’s needs.

Your Top Feature Questions… ANSWERED!

We’re tackling the most pressing Avenza Maps questions and making sure you’re a pro with using every feature! Still have questions? Reach out to our team live during the Avenza UC!

Chelsea Foucault

Application Specialist, Avenza Systems

Chelsea has an Hon BA in Geography with a Geographic Information Systems minor from McMaster University. She has several years of experience in various customer service settings and employs this daily in her role with the Support Team.

Your Top Feature Questions… ANSWERED!

We’re tackling the most pressing Avenza Maps questions and making sure you’re a pro with using every feature! Still have questions? Reach out to our team live during the Avenza UC!

Tom Patterson

Cartographer, U.S. National Park Service (Retired)

Tom worked as a cartographer at the U.S. National Park Service, Harpers Ferry Center, until retiring in 2018. He has an M.A. in Geography from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Presenting terrain on maps is Tom’s passion. He publishes the ShadedRelief.com website, and is the co-developer of the Natural Earth dataset and the Equal Earth projection. Tom has served as President and Executive Director of the NACIS. He is now Vice Chair of the International Cartographic Association, Commission on Mountain Cartography.

Importing XYZ Tiles into MAPublisher Documents (With a Little Help from QGIS)

We’ve all faced this dilemma: Your map needs an extra bit of vector information, such as a missing road, but adding it would involve finding, importing, and sifting through huge datasets. This demo introduces an easy way to add satellite images and raster reference maps, available as XYZ tiles, to Illustrator/MAPublisher documents. The imported images will register with your map regardless of which projection it uses. Using the imported XYZ tiles as a guide, you can then manually digitize that missing road in just a few minutes. Tom’s procedure involves going back and forth between MAPublisher and QGIS, from which the XYZ tiles are exported. He will provide links for obtaining a variety of tile types, including Google and Bing satellite images.

Rebecca Bennett

Publisher Success Coordinator, Avenza Systems

Rebecca has an Hon BA from Wilfrid Laurier University in Classics, and a postgraduate certificate from Fleming College in GIS with cartographic specialization. Passionate about cartography and communication, she helps elevate the Map Store publisher experience by working extensively with publishers around the world to promote content, grow an audience, and grow sales. Rebecca loves to travel (and collect tourist maps) and recently spent two years teaching abroad in Okinawa, Japan.