CHICAGO — The ongoing partnership between the American Planning Association (APA) and Esri has been illustrating how the use of GIS enhances planning decisions. Now the partnership brings a greatly expanded array of GIS training opportunities to certified planners.
The 16,000 certified planners maintain their accreditation by participating in educational and training opportunities to demonstrate continued knowledge and skills growth. APA’s professional institute, the American Institute of Certified Planners, oversees certification and approved Certification Maintenance providers. With the addition of Esri’s educational offerings, AICP now has more than 200 Certification Maintenance providers.
“Welcoming Esri as a Certification Maintenance provider is the next logical evolution of our ongoing partnership,” said James M. Drinan, APA’s executive director. “Partnering with industry leaders like Esri helps our members stay current with the latest planning technology advancements that can enrich their work.”
“This new partnership answers the community’s demand and will provide planners with the resources they need to make more data-driven and sustainable planning decisions,” said Shannon McElvaney, community development manager at Esri.
The addition of Esri as a CM provider is one more milestone in the long partnership with APA. Esri leads GIS workshops and sessions annually at APA’s National Planning Conference. Esri and APA leaders also have partnered to share the latest geodesign knowledge through APA’s Planning Advisory Service, in advisory roles on sponsored research and through knowledge-sharing opportunities at the annual Geodesign Summits in Redlands, California.
See all of the learning opportunities eligible for CM credits.
About Esri
Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 350,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world’s mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.
About APA
The American Planning Association is an independent, not- for-profit educational organization that provides leadership in the development of vital communities. APA and its professional institute, the American Institute of Certified Planners, are dedicated to advancing the art, science and profession of good planning — physical, economic and social — so as to create communities that offer better choices for where and how people work and live. Members of APA help create communities of lasting value and encourage civic leaders, business interests and citizens to play a meaningful role in creating communities that enrich people’s lives. APA has offices in Washington, D.C., and Chicago. For more information, visit www.planning.org.
