Tag Archives: Explorer Online

With only a week to go before the start of the Esri International User Conference, we asked Rupert Essinger, a member of the ArcGIS development team who lives a few blocks from the Convention Center in downtown San Diego, to give us some insider tips about San Diego. (These recommendations are Rupert’s alone and are not official recommendations or endorsements from Esri).

Using the free ArcGIS Explorer Online web client, Rupert has made an ArcGIS web map containing his recommended places to go. You can also view this map in presentation mode, so click here to get the tour now! (Note: If you are viewing this blog with a device like the iPad which doesn’t support Silverlight, then click or tap this link to open the map, or this link to view it in presentation mode using the non-Silverlight ArcGIS.com map viewer).

All the ‘map’ links next to the locations mentioned below launch Rupert’s ArcGIS map and take you directly to those locations (through the magic of extent parameters) in the ArcGIS.com map viewer.

You’ll also find all the places mentioned below, and more, on the “A Place Where…in San Diego” map on the official Esri website for the UC. That’s a wiki map created using Flex that lets anyone add their own favorite places and discoveries onto the map too, so feel free to add to it if you have any recommendations to share.

Places to go in the evening
The Gaslamp Quarter (website) (map) along Fifth Avenue between Convention Center to the south and C Street to the north is the entertainment, dining and partying hub of San Diego, and everyone usually heads there first. Check out the famous Victorian commercial buildings. Martha Rodgers has meticulously mapped every establishment in the Gaslamp.

Immediately east of the Gaslamp Quarter is the East Village neighborhood (website) (map) where you’ll find some neighborhood style bars and restaurants with a local crowd that are less hectic than the ones in the Gaslamp. On G Street, try the inexpensive Zanzibar Café, The Neighborhood (with its own secret reservations-only speakeasy inside, called the Noble Experiment), and the popular French bistro Café Chloe. Closer to PETCO park, BASIC is a thin crust pizza place in an airy converted warehouse with a boat-like curved wooden ceiling typical of the industrial buildings in this area.

Top tip for place to go in the evening is the Little Italy neighborhood (website) (map) north of the Convention Center on India Street between Ash to the south and Hawthorn to the north. You can walk there or take a rickshaw, and it also has its own trolley station. This is a quieter, more relaxed alternative to the Gaslamp with some great modern architecture and many restaurants and cafes reflecting the area’s Italian heritage. Some recommended restaurants are Bencotto, Buon Appetito, Sogno Di Vino, the Indigo Grill, and, further south, the Karl Strauss Brewery. To the east of India Street be sure not to miss the amazing bakery/café Extraordinary Desserts where you can take your whole GIS team for a treat in a restored industrial building.

Places to go for breakfast or lunch
Here are some inexpensive places that are close to the Convention Center:

• Brickyard Coffee and Tea is a relaxed neighborhood coffee shop with a large shady European-style patio that doesn’t get crowded. Freshly baked fruit muffins and breakfast burritos, and quiches, wraps etc for lunch. Opens 6am.
• Café 222 has a full, eclectic menu in a quirky modern building by local architect Rob Quigley. Opens 7am.
• The Mission a few blocks east beyond PETCO Park offers beautifully presented food and fresh baked goods in a historic building with an arty urban crowd (awesome cinnamon bread). Opens 7am.
• Panera Bread in Horton Plaza is a reliable choice with free Wi-Fi. Opens 6am weekdays. 7am Sat/Sun.
• Broken Yolk is a large diner on 6th Avenue. Opens 6am.
• Richard Walker’s Pancake House offers huge breakfasts and lunches of pancakes, crepes, waffles, and omelets. Opens 6.30am.
• There’s also Ralphs Supermarket which everyone who attends the UC tends to find eventually for snacks and to-go food and its large deli counter, salad bar, ready-made sandwiches, etc. Open 24 hours.

Places to go on a spare afternoon or day off
You’ll want to spend as much time as you can at the conference but here are two top tips for free time in San Diego.

La Jolla (website) (map) has the most beautiful coastline in San Diego and is your best bet for an afternoon or day at the beach or exploring the coast. La Jolla Shores beach is all-round the nicest beach in the area with excellent swimming, changing rooms, easy parking, harmless leopard sharks (at the south end of the beach on incoming tides), kayak and surf/SUP board rental shops one block away, etc. You can explore the rocky La Jolla Cove with its coastal trail, sea caves, and baby seals at Children’s Beach. You can also browse the shops, galleries and restaurants in trendy upscale La Jolla Village, or visit the excellent Birch Aquarium which is part of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. A little further north the adventurous can find the Knoll at Scripps Coastal Reserve, a hidden gem with awesome views from the top of the 350ft+ sea cliffs (the highest in Southern California) and Torrey Pines State Reserve for hiking and exploring.

Mission Beach (website) (map) is the epicenter of beach culture in San Diego. It’s a peninsula with the ocean and lively boardwalk on one side, and peaceful Mission Bay Park on the other. Charming alleyways with tiny beach houses cross the peninsula. Mission Bay has a great bike/jogging path around the lovely Sail Bay in its northwest corner. Just to the north is the busy Pacific Beach commercial area and Crystal Pier, and just north of there is the quieter Pacific Beach, with its mellow surfing scene. This area is not as swimming friendly as La Jolla Shores because of the heavy shore break. A nice place to eat with a sea view is JRDN restaurant in the strikingly modern Tower 23 Hotel. You can rent sailboats, kayaks, and SUP boards, for use on Mission Bay, at the Mission Bay Sports Center. Belmont Park in the south part of Mission Bay is touristy and not recommended. For the adventurous a lovely long walk is to head north along Mission Beach, go up the steps at the far north end of Pacific Beach, and then walk through the Bird Rock neighborhood with its hidden coastal access paths to Windansea Beach.

How to get to La Jolla and Mission Beach without a car: A yellow cab can work especially if you have a group. Or take bus route 30 which leaves downtown San Diego up to 4 times an hour and goes to Pacific Beach, La Jolla Village, and La Jolla Shores. Alternatively take the Blue line trolley north from downtown or Green line trolley west from Mission Valley to the Old Town Transit Center. At Old Town, bus route 8 goes to Pacific Beach via Mission Beach, bus route 9 goes to Pacific Beach via SeaWorld San Diego, and you can also pick up bus route 30 to Pacific Beach and La Jolla. A $5 day pass is good for all trolleys and bus routes.

Note: shuffle your feet while wading at La Jolla Shores or Mission Bay to avoid treading on a sting ray. They are  common in the summer.

Have a great time at the conference!