August 8th, 2023
2023 URISA Exemplary Systems in Government Award Winners Announced

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The URISA Exemplary Systems in Government (ESIG) awards were first presented in 1981 to recognize outstanding achievement by government agencies in the use of geospatial information technology. This exemplary achievement is defined as the effective application of geospatial technologies and data that result in improved government service delivery and increased benefits to citizens. The award competition is international in nature and open to all public agencies at the local, regional, state/provincial and federal levels.

Nominations are made in one of two categories: Enterprise Systems which are used by multiple agencies, and Single Process Systems which are used by one agency. Nominations are required to address specific award criteria associated with system design and implementation, organizational impact, and use of resources to create the system. The number of nominations received varies from year to year and in 2023 a total of eleven nominations were received, five entries in the Single process category and six in the Enterprise Systems category.

A volunteer ESIG Awards Committee is formed each year, tasked with the entry judging and this year there were 14 people serving on the committee. They were Dianne Haley (chair); Alice Wilson; Asher McNicol; Chris George; Curtis Pulford; John Nerge; Kristen Johnston; Matt Shade; Megan Nehrbas; Nicole Dogan; Patrick Baber; Rachel Parrinello (Associate Chair); Rafael Hernandez; and Kim McDonough. URISA extends its thanks to the committee members for the time and effort they have put into the judging of this year’s ESIG submissions.

In the first round of judging, all entries were independently reviewed by three assessors, and the highest scoring entries in each category then progressed to the second round of the competition where they were each reviewed by a further four to six assessors. As a result, by the end of the competition each entry in the final round of judging had received seven to nine independent scores, which determined the winning exemplary systems in each category and the close runners-up, which would receive a distinguished system prize.

Accordingly, the final results of the 2023 ESIG Awards are:

Single Process Systems

Winner: City of South Lake Tahoe, California: “Defensible Space Inspection System”
Submitted by: Ryan Malhoski, GIS Analyst, City of South Lake Tahoe, CA

Distinguished System: Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission Ohio: “2019 Tornado Recovery Monitoring System”
Submitted by: Martin Kim, AICP, GISP, Director of Community & Regional Planning, Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission, Dayton, Ohio

Enterprise Systems

Winner: King County Washington: “King County Smart Building Management System”
Submitted by: Tamara Davis, King County GIS Center Manager, King County, Seattle, Washington

Distinguished System: Pulaski Area Geographic Information System – Arkansas: “PAgis Damage Assessment and Emergency Response Program”
Submitted by: Alex Harper, PAgis Manager, Central Arkansas Water, Pulaski Area GIS, Little Rock, Arkansas

Distinguished System: Cuyahoga County Ohio: “Cuyahoga County Fiscal GIS Hub”
Submitted by: Dan Giersz, Senior GIS Analyst, Cuyahoga County, Cleveland, Ohio

Judges’ Comments on the Two Winning Entries

The following summaries of the two winning entries are taken from the judges’ comments on the respective entries.

Single Process Winner
City of South Lake Tahoe, California – Defensible Space Inspection System
Following the passage of CA Senate Bill 896 and CA Assembly Bill 38, and the Caldor Fire, the defensible space inspection process for the City of South Lake Tahoe was modernized. The updated system improved the Defensible Space Inspection process by increasing accuracy and timeliness and reducing duplication of work. GIS was used to leverage commercially available off the shelf software to devise an optimal solution for the inspectors, inspections, and community engagement. Inspections of defensible spaces have tripled in efficiency with the use of the system, enabling the community to be safer and the city government more effective. South Lake Tahoe citizens benefit from personalized reports suggesting measures to improve defensible space, enhancing property safety and the community. The system’s success has led to collaboration with other fire protection districts, demonstrating inter-agency cooperation and a unified approach to community safety. Overall, the system’s organizational impact is exemplary, resulting in productivity gains, cost savings, and improved employee morale and community awareness.

A few judges’ comments:

• For a number of reasons, the system’s design can be regarded as exceptional. First off, it responds to a critical demand for standardized defensible space inspections, streamlining the procedure and boosting productivity. Second, by effectively leveraging already purchased software licenses, expenses are reduced, and technologies that are already in existence are used. The system’s design also displays innovation and adaptability by solving design issues and introducing fresh elements, including the inclusion of the ArcGIS reporting service.
• Love it when these projects eliminate paper and save so much time!
• Testimonials clearly show the impact and appreciation the organization has for this process improvement.
• A worthy application making a significant impact with a well thought out and implemented system.

Enterprise System Winner
King County Washington – King County Smart Building Management System
The King County Smart Building Management System (the System) was designed and implemented to address several county government facility management and utilization issues exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing the need to rethink how buildings and space within buildings are optimized. Before the pandemic, virtually all county employees worked in a traditional dedicated workspace. Once the pandemic impact on the health of employees working in a traditional office environment was clear, in 2020 about 7000 county employees transitioned overnight to remote work. In 2023, many employees transitioned to a hybrid environment, working various proportions of time at home or on-site. The design is extremely precise, and the bonus of consolidating staff in ways that made for more streamlined services means the design was more than just a simple use of existing Esri products. Of note was the collaboration aspects that made the system so successful, especially how the agencies were structured together to ensure each had their own ‘voices’ heard during design and implementation. There was also a great deal of care put into documentation and training, making the system accessible to a wide variety of end users.
By default, Enterprise-wide systems affect a large amount of people within an organization. However, this system is exemplary because it affects and integrates so many different tasks, users, and spaces into one system in a way that is meaningful for all. Considering the county was able to shutter two buildings as a result and take advantage of spaces that otherwise were not used efficiently, is deemed exemplary.

A few judges’ comments:

• Absolutely massive scale, I can’t even comprehend trying to manage that many employees, brilliant to use ArcGIS Indoors to help! This is a truly creative and inspiring use of GIS tech to support a modern workforce!
• I have not otherwise seen a platform that manages building space so efficiently – with a bonus that other departments can use the system in the future. It’s a scalable system that will continue to make positive impacts in the future.
• This submission has greatly illustrated what potential ArcGIS Indoors can bring, which is I think another benefit of the exemplary nature of the system – it makes one consider how other GIS tools can be pushed past their standard use, and to also push past standard thinking in how systems are implemented.
• The shear amount of integration and data in this system is astounding. There was a time component, a huge population of customers and a sizeable amount of information to integrate. An amazing feat.
• This is building management, personnel, public services, and social engineering wrapped up into one great package. This system maneuvers over 7,000 workers and serving 2 million residents in over 625K sq ft on 21 floors.

The accomplishments will be recognized during GIS-Pro 2023. In addition, each system may be highlighted in an upcoming “Excellence in GIS” URISA webinar series. Visit URISA’s ESIG Award web page to read the winning submissions and celebrate previous winners.