Des Plaines – URISA Is pleased to announce the recipients of 2016 Exemplary Systems in Government (ESIG) Awards. Since 1980, URISA’s ESIG Awards have recognized extraordinary achievements in the use of geospatial information technology that have improved the delivery and quality of government services. The award competition is open to all public agencies at the federal, state/provincial, regional and local levels. Applications were submitted within Enterprise and Single Process System categories.
ENTERPRISE SYSTEM CATEGORY – Systems in this category are outstanding and working examples of using information systems technology in a multi-department environment as part of an integrated process. These systems exemplify effective use of technology yielding widespread improvements in the process(es) and/or service(s) involved and/or cost savings to the organization.
The 2016 Enterprise System Category Winner is “Think Outside the Map” submitted by John Nerge, GISP, GIS Coordinator for the City of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.
System Summary: The City of Brooklyn Park’s project “Think Outside the Map” is a major system upgrade that not only focused on bringing systems to current standards, it also took advantage of the opportunity to exploit mobile platforms to facilitate citizen engagement. The new system, built primarily on out of the box functionality, maintained the name of the previous systems to limit the impacts of change on the organization. In doing so, it not only benefited the organization, but it is also building a strong community. The data management principles applied in this project were kept as simple as possible and this has enabled the system to be sustainably maintained with limited staff resources. Because of the significant impact the City of Brooklyn Park’s “Think Outside the Map” project has had on the organization and its community, it is deserving of the 2016 Enterprise Exemplary Systems in Government Award.
Distinguished Enterprise System: North Carolina Parcels, Integrated Cadastral Data Exchange
Submitted by:
Thomas W. Morgan, PLS, Land Records Manager, NC Department of the Secretary of State , Raleigh, North Carolina
Jeffrey P. Brown, GISP, Coordination Program Manager, NC Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, Raleigh, North Carolina
SINGLE PROCESS SYSTEM CATEGORY – Systems in this category are outstanding and working examples of applying information system technology to automate a specific SINGLE process or operation involving one department or sub-unit of an agency. The system application results in extended and/or improved government services that are more efficient and/or save money.
The 2016 Single Process System Category Winner is the “ City of Hamilton’s Spatially Indexed Engineering Records System (SPIDER)” submitted by Gord McGuire, Manager of Geomatics & Corridor Management, and Charlie Lauricella, Senior Project Manager, for the City of Hamilton Public Works, Hamilton, Ontario.
System Summary: The City of Hamilton’s Spatially Indexed Engineering Records System (SPIDER) is a legacy system upgrade which has transformed how internal and external stakeholders query and access documents of varying data structures. The SPIDER system provides the users with an interface which searches multiple databases, consisting of over 250,000 records. Not only can users search by keyword, they are able to conduct spatial searches and discover information. The SPIDER system is one that has been scaled to meet the needs of internal and external users and its ability to effectively serve these users will save the organization $130,000/year. Because of how effective the City of Hamilton has made searching unstructured engineering datasets for users through the implementation of the SPIDER, it is deserving of the 2016 Single Process Exemplary Systems in Government Award.
Distinguished Single Process System: Pitkin Maps & More
Submitted by: Mary Lackner, GISP, GIS Lead, Pitkin County, Aspen, Colorado
The accomplishments will be recognized during the Awards Ceremony at GIS-Pro 2016 in Toronto, Ontario, October 31-November 3, 2016. The recognized systems in each category will be discussed in featured sessions during the conference.. In addition, each system may be highlighted in an upcoming URISA webinar series. Thank you to all who participated and congratulations to all of the winning submissions!
To review all four of the winning submissions for this year’s ESIG Awards, click here.
For details about GIS-Pro 2016, visit www.gis-pro.org.
