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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-20-08 City of South Bend Public Works Receives Special Achievement in GIS Award for Leadership with Geospatial Technology Office of the Mayor NEWS RELEASE Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Noon Contact: Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications & Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564 City of South Bend Public Works Receives Special Achievement in GIS Award for Leadership with Geospatial Technology South Bend, Indiana – The City of South Bend’s Department of Public Works has received the Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award from ESRI – Environmental Science Research Institute. ESRI presented the award during the 28th Annual ESRI International User Conference (ESRI UC) in San Diego, California earlier this month. ESRI recognized South Bend Public Works’ “passionate approach to applying GIS solutions and for demonstrating vision and leadership, using geographic information system (GIS) technology to better serve the world. Deb Martin, Director of South Bend’s GIS Department accepted the award on behalf of the city (see photo attached). She explained that “the City of South Bend began working with GIS in 1997 and soon established a consortium with other government units. The City accumulated street, address, utility, and boundary data in 1998 as part of a project establishing a Storm Water Master Plan. Through the City’s Web site, residents now enjoy access to GIS mapping and better communication with city officials on property matters. With GIS, all city departments have the advantage of comprehensive planning and analysis, timely decision making, reduced engineering costs for construction projects, improved mobility for public-safety personnel, and an increased ability to target resources to high-crime areas.” "At ESRI, we are always deeply impressed by the innovation of our users," says Jack Dangermond, ESRI president. "We want to recognize the efforts of these individuals with our Special Achievement in GIS Award. This recognition is well deserved for how they've applied geospatial technology to address the needs of their industries and communities. They are defining GIS best practices." GIS combines computer hardware, software, and data to create a tool for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographic information. Virtually any information can be linked to a geographic location, allowing users to see that information as part of a complete picture to be analyzed and applied to a problem or issue. With GIS, people can see firsthand how the world works and changes, view and manage information about locations, analyze spatial relationships, and visualize processes. From underground mine modeling to air traffic control, more than 300,000 organizations worldwide rely on GIS to better analyze their environments and make smarter decisions. Other organizations honored at the ESRI UC included Chesapeake Energy, the City of Austin, Forsyth County Schools, Greater New Orleans, Inc., the Marine Advanced Technology Center, the Navajo Department of Transportation, the City Planning Department in Bangkok, Thailand, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, the United Nations Joint Logistics Center, Qatar Petroleum, and more. To learn more about the 2008 SAG Award winners and to view their photos and project descriptions and images, please visit www.esri.com/sag. ### About ESRI Since 1969, ESRI has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS, ESRI software is used in more than 300,000 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 www.esri.com. ESRI, the ESRI globe logo, GIS by ESRI, www.esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.