Corporate & Business Member News

August 19, 2008

GIS Users Experience Geography in Action at the 2008 ESRI UC
Attendees Gain Valuable Knowledge from Technical Workshops, User Presentations, and Keynote Speaker Dr. Peter Raven

Redlands, California—More than 14,000 professionals from across industries convened August 4–8 at the 2008 ESRI International User Conference (ESRI UC), the largest geographic information system (GIS) conference in the world. Attendees acquired new skills, built relationships, learned about the latest technology, and shared their GIS experiences. Participants from more than 110 countries traveled to the San Diego Convention Center in California to attend.

The conference kicked off with an inspiring Plenary Session, starting with a visionary speech by ESRI president Jack Dangermond and the presentation of a Making a Difference Award to Dirk Kempthorne of the U.S. Department of the Interior. In his acceptance speech, Secretary Kempthorne clearly outlined how GIS helped him make some difficult decisions regarding America's resources. He concluded with the statement, "We do not inherit the earth from our parents; we borrow it from our children."

Other highlights from the plenary included a discussion on how organizations can use ArcGIS products to reduce fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions as well as a moving presentation by the Keynote speaker Dr. Peter H. Raven. A renowned botanist and environmentalist and president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Raven discussed the importance of biodiversity in sustaining the earth. He illustrated the problems we confront with growing populations, altered landscapes, overconsumption, and climate change. These are rapidly transforming the face of the environment.

"Technological tools, such as GIS, bring to bear a proper understanding of these problems and a proper solution," said Raven. "It helps us in our endeavors to develop love and concern for other people. These tools equip us to turn from passivity toward active engagement in developing much-needed solutions."

A wide variety of sessions and activities were available for all members of the GIS community. Technical keynotes, given by ESRI directors, gave users insight into implementing GIS on the Web, scientific context for GIS analysis and modeling, and meeting customer needs. Users also attended technical workshops to learn detailed technology and solution tips on topics ranging from an introduction to ModelBuilder to mobile GIS solutions. Additionally, attendees gleaned information from presentations by other users detailing their GIS experiences in everything from electric and gas distribution solutions to county emergency preparedness and response programs. This year, the ESRI UC included a new track that explored GIS solutions for managing the impacts of climate change.

"This year, there has been a directional swing toward ArcGIS Server, and ESRI has really followed through with that by having technical sessions directed toward [its] use," said Lacey Summers, a GIS analyst for Butte County, California. "I've been doing GIS work for a while, and it keeps becoming more and more integrated—the ESRI UC offers the opportunity to learn about a variety of different solutions."

The Special Displays and Map Gallery showed the accomplishments of organizations worldwide putting GIS to use. Engaging and visually stimulating exhibits included one from The Nature Conservancy, which revealed how information and experience can be integrated with GIS to advance conservation efforts, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security exhibit, a mixed-media representation of its geospatial-intelligence analytic tool that is used to prevent, respond, and recover from natural and man-made disasters.

ESRI business partner exhibits, social events, panel discussions, and special interest group meetings also enabled attendees to form personal and professional relationships that will aid in their future endeavors.

The 2009 ESRI UC will be held July 13–17 at the San Diego Convention Center.

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City of Philadelphia Receives Prestigious President’s Award at ESRI’s 2008 User Conference
Innovative Applications Improve Services, Provide Greater Collaboration, and Enhance Efficiencies

Redlands, California—The City of Philadelphia was presented with the President’s Award in front of 14,800 attendees at the 2008 ESRI International User Conference. Jim Querry, director of enterprise GIS, City of Philadelphia, accepted the award from ESRI president Jack Dangermond. The city received the honor for its leadership and innovation in developing enterprise geographic information system (GIS) deployments that improve numerous government functions and city services.

"We’re honored to be recognized with such a prestigious award and thankful to Jack Dangermond and everyone at ESRI for helping to make GIS so successful in Philadelphia,” says Querry. “GIS is enabling city leaders to make better decisions and achieve numerous goals as an information framework. We’re looking forward to future applications and the benefits it will provide both city employees and the public in carrying out Mayor Nutter’s plan to improve public safety, education, economic development, community health, and services to citizens.”

"The work of Jim Querry and the City of Philadelphia is truly remarkable,” says Dangermond. “They have a long history of innovation. They’ve shown how government agencies can operate in an efficient, flexible, and customer-focused environment. Their use of GIS not only helps the City of Philadelphia, but it serves as an example for other government agencies on how GIS fosters sharing, collaboration, and cooperation among people and organizations.”

Since its first foray into GIS in 1990, the city has been a leader in applying the geographic approach to government. It implemented enterprise spatial data access in the mid-1990s that included a complete basemap of aerial photography. The city built a spatial data warehouse in 2000, followed by enterprise geospatial Web services in 2001. More recently, the city created a land records system that links property-specific data among departments using a common address model. The city also began using an advanced online economic development application. The city airport’s GIS Services Unit developed a mobile computing system that uses GIS software to manage operations, assets, and projects in a real-time digital map environment. GIS provides the city’s Streets Department with a geocentric asset and work-order management system. In addition, the Philadelphia Police Department expanded its public Web site (www.ppdonline.org) to make it faster and easier to see where and what types of crime are occurring throughout the city.

Several new cutting-edge enterprise GIS endeavors are under way. These include the development of a single, easy-to-use geospatial portal for accessing large volumes of diverse spatial data and information stored in numerous locations; a GIS-based customer records management system; and a new approach to accountability and transparency in city government services—known as PhillyStat—that grew out of the New York City Police Department’s CompStat program.

The President’s Award is a special recognition of an organization that is a model for others to follow in implementing GIS successfully as well as making a positive impact on the environment and society. Previous winners include the U.S. Department of the Interior, the City of New York, the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development, and the Hong Kong Information Center.

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August 13, 2008

Frankfort, Kentucky, Signs ESRI Small Government ELA
IT/GIS Department Will Deploy Unlimited ArcGIS Software throughout Organization

Redlands, California―The City of Frankfort, Kentucky, population 28,000, has signed an ESRI Small Municipal and County Government Enterprise License Agreement (ELA). This agreement allows all staff in the capital city's government to access geographic information system (GIS) software that will improve productivity and enhance service to citizens.

"Now the new GIS office in the IT department can deploy desktop, server, and mobile GIS software quickly and uniformly throughout the enterprise without worrying about software license procurement," said Julsun Pacheco, IT manager, City of Frankfort. "Without this program, we would be unable to deploy GIS to all of our departments and develop the GIS-based applications we need."
The city is currently using GIS in the police, fire, and E-911 dispatch departments. In addition to providing more departments with GIS software and applications, Pacheco is looking forward to extending GIS capabilities into the field so staff can collect data and edit the GIS database in real time. He also plans to use GIS and GPS to allow dispatchers to view real-time locations of transit buses, maintenance crews, and recycling and sanitation trucks to track the progress of work throughout the day.

"I would like to showcase what GIS can do to enhance operations and the running of the city," Pacheco said.

The ESRI Small Municipal and County Government ELA program is available to municipalities and counties in the United States with populations of 100,000 or less. The program provides access to ESRI GIS technology with a straightforward, tiered pricing schedule. Advantages include updated versions of GIS software for a consistent platform; flexible deployments to desktops, servers, and mobile devices; and the ability to incorporate GIS into mission-critical applications and workflows.

ESRI's ArcGIS software is an open and interoperable technology platform that provides advanced visualization and cartographic capabilities, spatial analysis, geographic data management, and more. ArcGIS software is a complete system to author, serve, and use geographic information. The technology gets geographic information to those who need it including analysts, decision makers, field staff, and the public.

For more information, contact the nearest ESRI U.S. regional office (contact information is available at www.esri.com/locations), call 800-447-9778, or visit www.esri.com/smallgovela.

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August 1, 2008 - St. Charles, IL – Clark County, Nevada recently committed to the modernization of their internal land records and mapping operations to support accurate GIS analysis and ease of maintenance. The County needed to improve the efficiency of their operation and their ability to better serve a greater number of users within the jurisdiction. Clark County selected The Sidwell Company, of St. Charles, Illinois, for this important project based on Sidwell’s experienced geodatabase migration team, and their expert understanding of the complexities of land records and land records management workflows. Sidwell is an employee-owned provider of geographic information systems, aerial photography, and photogrammetric and mapping services.

In the initial phase of the project, Sidwell will work with the County to thoroughly define a target workflow, and establish a new Geodatabase design which will streamline the process of restructuring their existing Geodatabase to optimize it for cadastral editing. Sidwell’s team will provide a county-wide geodatabase with restructured cadastral data, a parcel inventory database with both current and historical parcel records, all necessary plotting files, and on-site installation and configuration of the completed geodatabase. Clark County has also chosen Sidwell’s industry-acclaimed Parcel Builder™ software as their map maintenance solution of choice; Sidwell will install and provide training to County staff on this ArcGIS®-compliant mapping productivity toolkit and on cadastral map maintenance. Additional project components will center around custom workflow integration tools designed specifically to enhance Clark County’s GIS experience.

 

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Myanmar’s Cyclone-Damaged Rice Production Regions Monitored with GIS

Redlands, California—Subsequent to Cyclone Nargis, a category 3 tropical storm that struck the low-lying and heavily populated coastline of Myanmar on May 2, 2008, the Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) began producing a series of geographic information system (GIS)-based maps of the damaged agricultural areas to accompany its commodity intelligence reports. Published on the FAS Web site, these maps are created using geospatial data and the technology found in ESRI’s ArcGIS Desktop software.

The mission of FAS is to improve foreign market access to U.S. agricultural products, build new markets, improve the competitive position of U.S. agriculture in the global marketplace, and provide food aid and technical assistance to foreign countries. FAS achieves a part of this mission by analyzing global crop production capacity with remote-sensing and GIS tools and by issuing commodity intelligence reports highlighting current international crop conditions. GIS-based maps, available in PDF format, provide a visualization of the analysis performed and often serve as each report’s basis. The commodity intelligence reports issued for the country formerly known as Burma focus on Myanmar’s major rice-producing areas, which have suffered saltwater flooding and heavy rainfall as a result of the cyclone.

The project included satellite imagery obtained from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite to delineate the postcyclone flooding region. This imagery was combined with rice land-cover classification data from the Landsat satellite program. FAS used ArcGIS to perform spatial analysis and create maps of the damaged rice production regions of Myanmar. These maps revealed the cyclone’s effect on cropland and livestock, the severity of flooding, and the rate of cropland recovery. The United Nations and nongovernmental organizations (NGO) are using the maps to evaluate the scope of the cyclone’s impact. The information is also been of great interest to the international agriculture industry for determining market impacts.

“Our GIS maps and flood classification data show that the areas originally inundated by the storm account for approximately 1.7 million hectares of rice, 24 percent of the national rice area, or roughly 2.5 million tons of rice production on a milled basis,” says FAS international crop assessment analyst Michael Shean. “The core region most severely damaged by the tidal wave and high winds, however, accounted for approximately 900,000 hectares of rice land, 13 percent of the national rice area, and roughly 1.35 million tons of milled rice production. In addition, field reports from inside the affected region indicate that within these rice production areas, large numbers of villages were destroyed along with much of their food stocks, livestock, and farming supplies.”

A commodity intelligence report and maps issued June 10, 2008, demonstrate that approximately 80 percent of the original inundated rice production area is still affected by some degree of flooding, though conditions in the core damage zone had improved considerably, with only 418,000 hectares, or 46 percent of the original area, still showing flood effects. FAS will continue to produce reports and maps and perform analysis of Myanmar’s rice production regions as new data becomes available.

As a complete GIS, ArcGIS allows organizations such as USDA to author data, maps, globes, and models on the desktop; serve them to a GIS server; and use them through Web, desktop, and mobile clients. The ArcGIS family of products includes desktop, server, mobile, and online GIS as well as ESRI data.

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SANBORN TO TEST NEW APPLANIX MOBILE MAPPING SYSTEM

Colorado Springs, Colo., July 9, 2008—John Copple, CEO of Sanborn, today announced that the company’s St. Louis office will test a commercial, off-the-shelf state-of-the-art mobile mapping system known as Landmark™ for three months beginning in July. Sanborn will use the system, which can be tailored for use in a wide range of mapping applications, for asset collection and LIDAR imaging to map highways, bridges, college campuses and cities. At the end of the trial period, Sanborn will provide feedback, including recommendations for new project applications, to Landmark’s manufacturer, Ontario, Canada-based Applanix, with whom Sanborn has a longstanding relationship.

Public works, transportation, public safety and other entities use mobile mapping to acquire and characterize information vital to infrastructure management. The systems are most commonly used for LIDAR imaging, urban asset collection, trackside inventory for rail applications, sign database construction and pavement condition assessments, right of way data collection, pole and transformer inventory and property assessment for taxation records.

Introduced in January, Landmark is designed to increase user productivity. The system integrates hardware and software in a comprehensive bundle that includes LIDAR technology with an Applanix-derived processing workflow, a digital camera, industrial computers, a multiplexer and proprietary real time operating, image processing, feature extraction and post-processing software. Landmark can be customized, modified as application needs grow, and easily moved between vehicles. Data can be exported into multiple formats.

Unique to Landmark is its POS LV positioning system, which increases the reliability of data capture even in adverse GPS conditions, eliminating the need for repeat data acquisition.

anborn will use the system’s LIDAR sensors, which blend imagery and point cloud data to provide automatic feature extraction, to collect high-resolution data of assets, pavement, bridges and other points of interest. (LIDAR, or light detection and ranging, is a technology that uses laser beams fired from airplanes to gather digital elevation model data.)

In addition, Sanborn will use the Landmark system to combine airborne and ground products for a variety of situational awareness and mapping/visualization applications, which gives the user the ability to view street level imagery and an overhead view of the precise location of an area of interest. “From the air we get the planimetric images and LIDAR,” explains Jim Peterson, a vice President with Sanborn. “From the ground we get the oblique to completely vertical view of images and LIDAR.” After capturing the imagery, the system performs semi-automatic feature extraction, such as highway sineage, and then creates a database of the inventory which is geospatially referenced.

Sanborn plans to use the system on two specific projects: to scan a bridge and tunnel below the city of St. Louis, Missouri, and to capture trolley system assets for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

“Sanborn regards mobile mapping as an integral component of its future growth strategy,” said Peterson. “We have chosen to work with Applanix to develop custom solutions using its Landmark system, which meets all our requirements. Applanix has a wealth of experience applying mobile LIDAR and photogrammetry expertise in a number of applications, which makes them an ideal partner.”

“Partnering with Sanborn and adapting our solutions to their operations highlights the differentiation and flexibility of the Landmark product, which is unique in the marketplace,” remarked Louis Nastro, Director of Land Products for Applanix. “We are pleased to have been chosen by Sanborn to develop a solution which will provide them the opportunity to launch new services and have the product capabilities grow as their business needs change.”

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Merrick & Company Awarded Contract Regional Independent Corporation Bogota, Colombia

June 24, 2008 - Aurora, CO USA – Merrick & Company, a world leader in LiDAR, digital ortho imaging, photogrammetry, and geospatial solutions was awarded a contract to provide the Regional Independent Corporation (Corporación Autónoma Regional (CAR)) with LiDAR, digital color orthophotography, a DEM, and a DTM for a 600-meter corridor along 200-kilometers of the Bogotá River. In addition,
Atlas Engineering (Atlas Ingenieria LTDA) (Bogotá, Colombia), Merrick’s local partner, is providing flight operations and ground control support. Atlas will also provide a bathymetric survey of the riverbed for the entire project corridor. Awarded in February 2008, final delivery of data products is expected in February 2009.

CAR controls the water resources in the State (Departamento) of Cundinamarca, which includes the country’s capital, Bogotá. The project section of the Bogotá River is densely populated along its levees. The new data will be used for hydrology studies, erosion analysis, potential levee leak identification, and water quality and usage research. For the first time, CAR, who has been
using conventional photogrammetry products, will use LiDAR and digital geospatial for some of their Bogotá River programs.

Geospatial professionals will use Merrick’s MARS® software to create derivative data products such as 1-metercontours and streambed profiles which will be used as input for analyses.

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Learn What's New in ArcGIS Desktop 9.3 No-Cost Live Training Seminar Will Show How Software Enhancements Improve Workflow and Productivity

Redlands, California—The user-friendly features of ESRI's soon-to-be-released ArcGIS Desktop 9.3 and the software's many enhancements will be demonstrated during an online training seminar in June.

What's New in ArcGIS Desktop 9.3 will air on ESRI's Training and Education Web site at www.esri.com/lts on June 19, 2008, at 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., and 3:00 p.m. (Pacific daylight time).

Feedback from ESRI software users drove the development for ArcGIS 9.3. This seminar will focus on the improvements and enhancements to the tools and functionality the users requested. These advanced features will streamline day-to-day tasks and simplify workflows.

The presenter will discuss
• The new Convert graphics to features function
• Improvements to bookmarks
• Raster export enhancements
• Enhancements to joins and relates
• Improvements to layers and layer file handling
• The new ArcGIS Desktop Resource Center
• New HTML pop-ups

Seminar attendees should know how to work in the ArcGIS 9.x environment, navigate and use the ArcMap and ArcCatalog applications of ArcGIS Desktop, work with tables and labels, symbolize data, and use ArcCatalog to manage GIS data.

A broadband Internet connection and an ESRI Global Account are needed to watch the seminar. Creating a global account is easy and free: visit www.esri.com/lts, click Login, and register your name and address. A few weeks after the live presentation, the seminar will be archived and available for viewing on the ESRI Training and Education Web site.

For more information about this free live training seminar, as well as upcoming classes, visit www.esri.com/training.

 

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May 30, 2008 GOLDSBORO, N.C. – Geographic Technologies Group® (GTG®) was selected for multiple software contracts including: Montgomery County, Tennessee—upgrading from LGdispatch to LGdispatch Community Connect and upgrading from LGmobile to LGmobile Community Connect. City of Lacey, Washington—migrating to the ArcGIS Server environment. City of Jacksonville, North Carolina—purchased the upgrade of nine (9) seats of LG Geo Blade Dispatch and 25 seats of LG Geo Blade Crimes. City of Alexandria, Virginia—purchased 105 additional seats of LG Mobile Community Connect. County of St. Clair, Michigan—purchased eight (8) seats of Geo Blade Dispatch. City of West Sacramento, California—purchased one (1) seat of GeoManager. Town of Nags Head, North Carolina—purchased on-site training. City of Suffolk, Virginia—updating existing GIS software.

The City of Blue Springs, Missouri and Calvert County, Maryland chose GTG to launch a new Web portal using ArcGIS Server.

The Town of Davie, Florida chose GTG to implement GIS services suggested in their three-year implementation plan.

The City of Jacksonville, North Carolina chose GTG to perform a Rec Trac upgrade to ArcGIS Server.

Visit GTG’s website at www.geotg.com for the latest on upcoming GIS conferences. GTG will be present at the upcoming International HUG in Orlando. Visit their booth to win free prizes and software products.

GTG is pleased to announce the release of Geo Blade Community Maintenance, one of the blades, or additional functionalities, incorporated into the Geo Blade software suite. The Community Maintenance blade provides a mapping interface to visualize code inspections, community projects, and other activities related to community maintenance. Geo Blade Community Maintenance is ideal for local government planning and zoning professionals. For more information on Geo Blade Community Maintenance, as well as other available blades in the Geo Blade series, visit www.geotg.com/geoblade.html.

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May 29, 2008 - Bentley Named No. 2 Provider of Geospatial Software
in Second Consecutive Daratech Study
BALTIMORE – Bentley Systems, Incorporated today announced that it has been named the world’s No. 2 provider of geospatial software in a second consecutive Daratech research study.

Bentley’s successful strategy of advancing GIS for infrastructure has resonated with the user community and enabled this fast-growing provider of software for the world’s infrastructure to once again secure the No. 2 position in our geospatial software study,” said Charles Foundyller, president and CEO of Daratech, Inc. “And, Bentley has reinforced its commitment to the geospatial community with the recent release of Bentley Map, Bentley Geospatial Server, and Bentley Cadastre.”

Said Styli Camateros, Bentley vice president, Civil and Geospatial Products, “The entire geospatial team is proud that Bentley has been named the No. 2 geospatial software vendor in the world in a second consecutive Daratech study. We’ve listened closely to our users in developing our technologies, and the new capabilities in our growing range of advanced geospatial products are all based on that invaluable input.

For some time now, we have been executing on our strategy of advancing GIS for infrastructure and I am pleased to say that all of the key products in our planned portfolio are now shipping and being adopted quickly by our users. Our goal is to continue to deliver GIS technology seamlessly within engineering workflows and to ensure that users enjoy enhanced productivity through preconfigured yet customizable data models for land parcels, water, electric, gas, and so on. Our vision is also to do away with the traditional divide between GIS specialists and the engineering community.”

Bentley’s products to advance GIS for infrastructure range from Bentley Map on the desktop to Bentley Cadastre, which supports advanced parcel management workflows, to the Bentley Geospatial Server for enterprise access to GIS data, configurable enterprise workflows, a spatial interface to heterogeneous engineering documentation, and enterprise printing, plotting and publishing. Bentley Map forms the basis of a number of new products with configurable industry data models, including Bentley Electric, Bentley Gas, and Bentley Water. Bentley also delivers products that support the use of GIS and engineering data in the field and the publishing of spatial and nonspatial data to intranets, extranets, and public websites.

 

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May 15, 2008 - IBM Names ESRI a 2008 Public Sector Top Star GIS Leader Acknowledged as "Best of the Best" Two Years in a Row

Redlands, California―For the second consecutive year, IBM Global Public Sector recognized ESRI as one of IBM's Public Sector Top Star business partners. ESRI was one of only 17 partners to receive this honor during the 2008 IBM Business Partner Leadership Conference.

"IBM and ESRI are committed to improving the health, education, security, and prosperity of citizens and nations around the world," said Pamela Kaplan, vice president of marketing, IBM Global Public Sector. "We are grateful to ESRI for the work they are doing. Together, we are making a difference in people's lives by delivering innovative solutions to the world's greatest challenges."

IBM's Public Sector channel sales teams and industry executives selected from nominations of business partners in government, education, and health care/life sciences who consistently demonstrate "best of the best" qualities that help ensure a successful partnership with IBM as well as success in the marketplace.

Top Star partners have
• A unique, innovative solution
• Significant wins in 2007 that have been or can be replicated
• Demonstrated loyalty to IBM and strong adoption of IBM platforms and open architecture
• A commitment to partnership with IBM and significant involvement and help in closing strategic deals

A significant win that IBM and ESRI shared in 2007 was the award of the Data Access and Dissemination II contract from the United States Census Bureau.

"We have worked with IBM for more than 20 years to bring innovative and cost-effective GIS [geographic information system] solutions to the public sector," said Jennifer McCarthy, ESRI's Global Marketing Alliance representative for IBM. "It's gratifying to work with a partner like IBM who recognizes the value of our geographic approach in helping government organizations meet the challenges of serving the public in the most effective ways. We are very pleased to be recognized as one of IBM's Top Stars for these efforts."

For more information on ESRI and IBM solutions, visit www.esri.com/ibm.

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May 5, 2008- GOLDSBORO, N.C. – Geographic Technologies Group® (GTG®) was selected for multiple software contracts including: Henry County, Georgia—purchased five (5) additional seats of LGcrimes. Emerald Coast Utilities Authority, Florida—migrating to the ArcServer environment from their existing platform. City of Missouri City, Texas—purchased six (6) additional seats of LGviewer. City of Milton, Florida—purchased LGroute and five (5) seats of LGviewer. City of Gainesville, Florida—purchased 20 seats of GeoBlade Web. Fort Bend County, Texas—purchased ten (10) seats of GeoBlade Viewer and one (1) seat of GeoBlade Web. City of Merced, California—purchased ten (10) seats of GeoBlade LGviewer, one (1) seat of GeoBlade LGaddress, and one (1) seat of GeoBlade LG Work Orders. City of Titusville, Florida—purchased GeoBlade Viewer for ArcGIS Server.

The City of Champaign, Illinois chose GTG to install and train on the ArcGIS Server system.

GTG offers free webinars featuring their new enterprise software solution, GeoBlade. To sign up for a free GeoBlade webinar, visit www.geotg.com/webinars.

GTG is pleased to announce the release of GeoBlade Dispatch, a department-specific plug-in, or “blade,” of the GeoBlade software suite. GeoBlade Dispatch is a mapping interface that provides E-911 dispatchers with an interactive map displaying the location of emergency calls. The application offers a clear return on investment—saving time, money and lives, as well as improving the quality of customer service.

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April 15, 2008 - City of Aspen/Pitkin County, City of Midland, and City of Albany Sign Up for New ESRI ELA

Redlands, California―Governments of cities or counties with 100,000 residents or less continue to enter the new ESRI Small Municipal and County Government Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) program to support their visions for strong, organization-wide geographic information systems (GIS). The City of Aspen/Pitkin County, Colorado; the City of Midland, Michigan; and the City of Albany, Oregon, are a few of the latest to join the program. The benefits of this ELA include

• Easier GIS software administration
• Delivery of unlimited ArcGIS software and specified extensions including Spatial Analyst and 3D Analyst
• Access to the most updated versions of ArcGIS software
• Ability to shift focus from GIS software procurement to GIS implementations
• Opportunity to develop mobile GIS for improved support of departments such as fire, police, and building

City of Midland
With a population of 42,000, the City of Midland, Michigan, is in the last year of a three-year implementation plan for building its GIS from scratch. The first and second years involved data development and deploying custom intranet applications for city staff. Now, the city is working to deploy GIS across the Internet and better serve the public.

"Over the last several months, our user base has grown so rapidly that I had to start asking people who were not using ArcGIS for critical operational purposes to please close out and free up the license for someone else," related Tony Foisy, GIS manager, City of Midland. "When I saw this ELA, I knew it would be a really good time for us to get into it. The cost-benefit analysis made it a no-brainer."
In times where budgets are being cut, this will allow the city to do more with less, Foisy noted, adding that the ELA will also allow the city to meet the GIS goals in its implementation plans, better allocate resources, keep the capital budget low, increase the accessibility of GIS to staff in the field, and leverage new technologies.

City of Aspen/Pitkin County
The approval process was especially rapid for the City of Aspen/Pitkin County, with a population of 13,000. Decision makers clearly recognized the flexibility the program provides and the benefit of delivering more GIS tools to users.
"Now we can get everyone on the same version of ArcGIS software, making administration and support easier; that's a big advantage," said Mary Lackner, GIS manager for the City of Aspen/Pitkin County. "Traditionally, determining a budget for the upgrades, getting everyone on maintenance, and getting all of the departments to individually invoice and pay for it required a lot of time and administration."

City of Albany
In the City of Albany, Oregon, with a population of 47,000, data systems manager Pete Brandstetter also noted the benefit of removing GIS software administration from their workflows. "Whatever we decide we want to pursue, we are able to do that now," he said. "I think this will be really conducive to allowing new people to come to the table and take off on application development and data creation without any kind of roadblocks in their way."

ESRI's Small Municipal and County Government ELA program provides access to ESRI GIS technology with a straightforward, tiered pricing schedule. ESRI's ArcGIS software is an open and interoperable technology platform that provides advanced visualization and cartographic capabilities, spatial analysis, geographic data management, and more. ArcGIS software is a complete system to author, serve, and use geographic information. The technology gets geographic information to those who need it including analysts, decision makers, field staff, and the public.

For more information, contact your ESRI United States regional office (contact information is available at www.esri.com/usa), call 800-447-9778, or visit www.esri.com/smallgovela.

 

 

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GOLDSBORO, N.C. – Geographic Technologies Group® (GTG®) was selected for multiple software contracts including: City of Bentonville, Arizona—purchased three (3) seats of LGaddress. City of Sierra Vista, Arizona—upgraded to LGdispatch Community Connect from LGdispatch. City of Naples, Florida—migrating to the ArcServer environment from their existing platform.

Carteret County chose GTG to perform an assessment and report of the County’s current GIS environment.

GTG is pleased to welcome Jessica Susich as a GIS Specialist.

GTG has added locations to their GIS Manager’s Workshop series, including Olympia, Wash. and West Sacramento, Calif. For more information or to register, visit us online at www.geotg.com/training.html.

GTG is pleased to announce the release of GeoBlade AVL, one of the many “blades” incorporated into the GeoBlade software suite. GeoBlade AVL takes GPS data from vehicles and places a moving map symbol on the GIS map interface that corresponds to the vehicle’s actual location. The application is significant in tracking public safety and work crew vehicles. For more information on the GeoBlade toolset, visit www.geotg.com.

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Tele Atlas and ESRI Team Up to Support GIS Education Scholarships Awarded to Share Geospatial Technology with Educators

March 31, 2008—ESRI and Tele Atlas, a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location-based solutions, are working together for the sixth year in a row to offer five educators scholarships to attend the ESRI Education User Conference (EdUC). The grants awarded will give each recipient $400 for travel expenses and complimentary admission to EdUC, being held August 2–5, 2008, in San Diego, California, at the Marriott Hotel & Marina.

EdUC is an inspiring forum for discovering how geographic information system (GIS) technology enhances learning and provides solutions throughout the education community. Educators, administrators, researchers, librarians, and museum professionals are invited to explore the power of spatial thinking at this one-of-a-kind event, where attendees from around the globe come to learn firsthand about GIS in education. Visitors can check out the latest technology in the hands-on computer labs and the EdUC EXPO as well as learn and share with their peers during Special Interest Group meetings and user-led presentations. EdUC is where the education community can find out everything they need to know to launch or grow GIS activities and programs.

"With maps increasingly becoming part of the fabric of our everyday lives, whether they are being used for navigation, conservation, engineering, commerce, or dozens of other vital applications, GIS education is more important than ever," says Don Cooke, chief scientist, Tele Atlas. "Tele Atlas is proud to continue its long-standing support of this important event and the enthusiastic, dedicated educators who are teaching the next generation how to use GIS to help solve some of the world's most pressing issues."

We are grateful to Tele Atlas for its support of education," says Charlie Fitzpatrick, K–12 education industry solutions comanager, ESRI. "Educators touch the future every day. The individuals who attend EdUC will affect hundreds of learners in the next year, and literally generations to come, by bringing GIS into their activities in powerful ways."

To review the guidelines and apply for a scholarship, please visit www.esri.com/educ. Full-time educators worldwide are eligible to apply. All applications must be received by April 30, 2008. To learn more about EdUC, please visit www.esri.com/educ.

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March 24, 2008 - Surdex Corporation, of Chesterfield, Mo., was recently awarded a contract to provide digital orthoimagery services over the Western half of the State of Missouri.

The award is for three years with funding from the State of Missouri as well as $100,000 from the United States Geological Survey. Surdex recently provided digital orthoimagery services over the Eastern half of the state in 2007.

"This award is the culmination of our relationship building with the state, as well
as the successful completion of the bidding requirements. We look forward to
continuing our work with the State of Missouri, as well as many of its counties and
municipalities,” said Ronald C. Hoffman, president of Surdex.

The process included a team structure comprised of two subcontractors: ABNA
Engineering headquartered in St. Louis; and M.J. Harden (MJH) Associates, Inc., located in the greater Kansas City area. ABNA will be responsible for providing help with surveying and quality control. MJH will provide help with digital image capture and production.

The team assembled and lead by Surdex in response to our state’s needs for
continuing the acquisition of imagery is wonderful. The applications that will be
supported, at both state and local levels, will provide better information and context for decision making across all governmental sectors. We are looking forward to the outcomes of this successful partnership,” said Timothy L. Haithcoat, Geographic Information Officer for the State of Missouri.

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Manatron Announces CAMA Contract With Santa Fe County, New Mexico

Tuesday March 4, 2008 - Manatron, Inc. the nation's leading provider of integrated, enterprise-level property tax solutions for state and local governments, announced that it has received a contract from Santa Fe County, New Mexico for its Manatron CAMA solution. The contract includes GIS integration utilizing Sidwell's Parcel Builder, related professional services for the County Assessor's office and four years of annual software maintenance and support.

Santa Fe County was looking for a new state-of-the art assessment software solution to replace our old system which was running on old technology and ended its life-cycle years ago," said Assessor Domingo Martinez. "After an extensive search and review of the available CAMA products in the market, we found that Manatron CAMA offered what we were looking for. We're looking forward to utilizing this product and leveraging its capabilities to help our staff deliver tangible value to Santa Fe County residents."

"This is a great win for Manatron," said Bill McKinzie, Manatron's President and Chief Operating Officer. "Santa Fe County is one of the largest jurisdictions in New Mexico and provides Manatron with a nice platform to increase our market share in that state. We look forward to serving the Santa Fe County Assessor's Office for many years to come."

 

 

 

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February 21, 2008- ESRI Ushers in New Era of GIS for Small Governments in the United States Agencies Cite Immediate Benefits from ELA Program
Redlands, California—Geographic information system (GIS) software leader ESRI recently announced an enterprise license agreement (ELA) program that provides local governments in the United States with populations of less than 100,000 with wide access to GIS software at an affordable price. Several government agencies have already taken advantage of this program since it was announced last month.
The Small Municipal and County Government ELA Program makes available deployments of ESRI's full complement of ArcGIS software and extensions. The three-tier pricing schedule is based on population.
The city of Hillsboro, situated in the center of Oregon's Silicon Forest, and Wayne County, located in the rural northeast corner of Pennsylvania, are distinct in character and location, but both quickly recognized the potential savings provided by the program.

Comments Chris Cappelli, ESRI's director of sales, "The program was developed because we know that small governments in the United States have limited budgets but can really benefit from the use of GIS technology. And you do not have to be an existing ESRI customer to take advantage of the ELA. It is available to all small governments in the United States of populations less than 100,000."
According to Chris Thomas, ESRI's industry manager for state and local government, "The average-sized jurisdiction in the United States is around 10,000 people. While there is a notion that GIS is more appropriate for a large metropolitan area, that really isn't the case. The challenges faced by a small jurisdiction are the same as those faced by a larger one. It's just a matter of scale. Today, there are literally thousands of small jurisdictions throughout the United States that are using our software."

City of Hillsboro, Oregon, Increases Software Access while Reducing Costs
With more than 25 core users working in public administration, utility management, water operations, mapping, Web applications, mobile applications, and land management, Hillsboro's well-established GIS department needed to grow but lacked the financial means to do so.

While it held ArcGIS software licenses that provided ArcInfo, ArcView, and ArcGIS Server capabilities, it didn't have some of the powerful extensions provided with the ELA that would help with its expanded GIS workload.

Comments Sarah Barnes, sales associate at ESRI's office in Olympia, Washington, "When we first spoke about the ELA program with Jay Leroux, the GIS specialist for Hillsboro, he was very excited. He understood how much money the city could save, and it didn't take him long to convince the city manager to sign the papers. The ArcGIS software maintenance fee for the city was almost 20 percent higher than the cost of the annual ELA agreement."

With the availability of unlimited access to most of the software found in the ArcGIS suite, costs can be significantly lower than purchasing individual licenses and maintenance agreements, because not only are the software costs lower but maintenance is included in the ELA. Continues Barnes, "Hillsboro plans to implement multiple ArcGIS Servers for both internal and external work, and the ELA will help them achieve that goal."

Wayne County, Pennsylvania, Anticipates Expanded Use of GIS
Wayne County took advantage of the ELA program shortly after it was announced at the beginning of January 2008. Aaron Lankford, GIS coordinator for Wayne County, oversaw the implementation of the county's enterprise-wide GIS in 2005 and the subsequent centralization of its data silos.

"Implementing an enterprise GIS and centralizing the data storage necessitated the increase in users and, subsequently, more software licenses for our system," he says. "The ELA allows us to add new users when we need them. Also, the ArcGIS Server extensions that are available will help us with such things as county emergency operations. For example, if there was a potential flood event, we could generate a model with ArcGIS Spatial Analyst and run iterations of it on the server side of our system. We could then use ArcGIS 3D Analyst for visualization purposes and distribute those results to the relevant agencies.
"In the future, I believe that the ELA will allow us to fully centralize our GIS and involve all county agencies and municipalities in its use."

Brad Songer, sales associate in ESRI's Philadelphia office, says, "As I speak with staff at local governments in our region, users consistently appreciate how the ELA eliminates incremental spending on technology. Instead, this agreement allows them to approach decision makers one time for funding. The predictable annual fee opens the conversation for long-term strategic planning without the inevitable question, 'What will it cost?' Another strong suit of the ELA is that ESRI includes ample Virtual Campus training credits, which renew annually. Unlimited access to technology is great in and of itself, but the ability to continuously educate new and existing users is equally valuable."

For more information concerning the Small Municipal and County Government Enterprise License Agreement Program, contact your ESRI U.S. regional office (contact information is available at www.esri.com/usalocations) or call 1-800-447-9778.

 

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February 11, 2008 - Surdex Corporation and Ascent GIS Finalize Business Alliance

Surdex Corporation, of Chesterfield, Mo., and Ascent GIS of Spokane, Wash., recently formed a strategic business alliance. Under the agreement, the two companies will jointly pursue work in the Northwest United States, focusing on photogrammetric and LiDAR mapping projects, as well as value-added services in geographic information services and geospatial data.

“This formalizes a relationship that has demonstrated its benefits for the last two years,” said Ron Hoffmann, president of Surdex. “The local knowledge of the Northwest provided by Ascent GIS further leverages our presence in this geographic region. The synergy and complementary services of the two companies has been outstanding, and we look forward to a bright future.”

Russ Martin, president of Ascent GIS, said that the relationship with Surdex has already allowed Ascent GIS to add to its portfolio and will allow the company to diversify its business model. “We are truly excited to be associated with a top-notch mapping organization with an interest in our own backyard,” said Martin.

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January 28, 2008 - Data Transfer Solutions, LLC has been selected by the Florida Department of Transportation (Central Office) to provide community characteristics inventory tool enhancements for the DOT’s Environmental Screening Tool. This new analysis tool will be part of the process that considers every new project that has the potential to become a transportation project in the state. The tool will provide a web-based GIS capability for the identification of communities that may be affected by the impacts of the potential transportation project.

FDOT also awarded DTS the development of a new online multimedia-based sociocultural effects training course that will be utilized by all FDOT departments to help FDOT become more sensitive to the potential impacts of transportation projects on the human environment.

Finally, DTS has been selected as part of the Marlin Engineering Team to support the FDOT Central Office Statistics Contract, and will be providing GIS support, remote sensing, asset management – data collection, and straightline diagram support services.

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January 28, 2008 - Merrick & Company, a world leader in LiDAR, digital ortho imaging, photogrammetry, and geospatial solutions began a $580,000 contract with Henrico County, Virginia this week. This project is an update to geospatial data compilation contracts performed by Merrick in 1998 and 2003 and includes LiDAR data collection for the first time. The County will take final delivery in October 2008 of digital aerial photography, planimetric features, breaklines, a DTM, and 2-foot contours generated for the entire County using the new LiDAR data.

Merrick won this contract in a qualifications based competition. According to Alfredo Frauenfelder, Geographic Information Systems Coordinator for Henrico County, “Merrick proposed simultaneous LiDAR and digital orthophotography collection using multiple sensors on a single aircraft. This approach offers significant flight mission cost savings in comparison to performing two separate flights.”

 

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Data Transfer Solutions Announces New Fort Collins Regional Office

Data Transfer Solutions (Data Transfer Solutions) is pleased to announce the opening of its newest regional office in Fort Collins, Colorado. The new Fort Collins office will focus on GIS Application Development as well as Agile Consulting and Coaching. Key staff in the Fort Collins office are Chris Spagnuolo (Senior Project Manager and Office Manager), Dave Bouwman (Senior GIS Software Architect), Jeff Germain (GIS Software Engineer), U.G. Viswanath (GIS Software Engineer), and Mike Juniper (GIS Software Engineer), all of whom were formerly with the Sanborn Mapping Company.

The new Fort Collins development team brings an unparalleled depth of experience, know-how, drive, and excitement to our growing GIS Application Development Team. They also bring in-depth first-hand knowledge of Agile practices and the Scrum methodology to our organization.

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January 11, 2008 - Merrick & Company, a world leader in LiDAR, digital ortho imaging, photogrammetry, and geospatial solutions was awarded a $569,000 contract with the City of Chihuahua to deliver aerial photography, 3-meter LiDAR data, 20-centimeter pixel resolution digital orthophotos, a DTM to support 0.5 meter contour extrapolation, planimetric data, and delivery of Merrick’s MARS® software. Awarded in June 2007, final delivery of all data products is planned for March 2008.

Chihuahua, population 758,791, is increasingly relying on geospatial data as a key input to decision-making. In order to support the needs across various municipal agencies, a work team was established and included representatives from the Systems Department, the Municipal Treasury, the Cadastral Office, the Department of Urban Development and Ecology, and the Municipal Planning Institute to examine the procurement processes and use of geospatial data. The team ultimately defined the municipal data needs and selected Merrick in a competitive proposal selection process.

The City agencies will use the updated geospatial data in a variety of applications including the inventory of pavement, green areas, public space, and urban infrastructure; poverty detection by area; urban water studies; and as input to the Urban Management Plan.

December 18, 2007 - Colorado CustomWare, Inc. (CCI) is delighted to announce that long time customer, Adams County, has added the administrative package to their assessment software. This complete solution will provide Adams County with the added benefits of a streamlined system that resides within one database. This will reduce duplicative tasks, while increasing productivity and efficiency.

"We are honored to have the opportunity to provide the Adams County Assessors Office with a complete solution," stated Lori Schlotter, CCI's President and CEO. "We have enjoyed an excellent working relationship with Adams County over the past 12 years. They have been an integral part of CCI's success as they have provided us with invaluable feedback, development ideas, and support as we have grown to what we are today."

Adams County has 178,874 parcels and began using CCI's mass appraisal software in 1996. They also use CCI's GIS software GeoWare and field collections software FieldWare. When Adams purchased the software from CCI in 1996, the administration piece was not complete, which resulted in the need for two systems. Since 1997, CCI has had one integrated product that encompasses both mass appraisal (CAMA) and administration, providing one comprehensive system.

"We chose to move to CCI's integrated system because of the accuracy of the CAMA product," stated Gil Reyes, Adams County Assessor. "When I took office I promised my staff that I would not make any software changes unless it had 150% more functionality than our current solution. I did extensive market research and found that switching from CCI's CAMA system to anything else would result in a loss of functionality, while moving to their admin system would increase functionality by over 150% due to the integration between their CAMA and GIS systems."

Employees in the Adams County Assessors Office now need only one place to call for customer support as they utilize CCI's team of appraisers who are dedicated to making their transition a success. "CCI's products are user friendly, which enhances existing functionality. If the appraisers can learn new functionality, the likelihood of them using it increases," commented Reyes.

 

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December 17, 2007 - Fugro EarthData, Inc. has been selected by the Florida Division of Emergency Management to develop a statewide GIS strategic plan. The project supports the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Fifty States Initiative, an effort led by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) and the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) to align public and private stakeholders at the state level for greater return on geospatial investments.

“This is an important step for Florida,” said Martin Roche, general manager of Fugro EarthData’s Solutions Division. “GIS touches nearly every facet of state and local government. Adopting a strategic plan that includes input from and coordination among all stakeholders means smarter use of taxpayer money. This project speaks to the very goal of the NSDI Fifty States Initiative and we are honored to partner with Florida on the effort.”

Serving as the state’s GIS consultant during this contract, Fugro EarthData is facilitating steering committee meetings, performing stakeholder outreach, and collecting existing datasets to assess statewide GIS needs and expectations. This information will be used to create a strategic plan that clearly defines the criteria, characteristics, and activities required for sustainable statewide GIS coordination in Florida. The final plan is scheduled for completion by March 2008.

November 19, 2007 - Geographic Technologies Group® (GTG®) was selected for multiple software contracts including: Greenville County, South Carolina EMS- purchased five (5) seats of LGmobile Community Connect, and one seat for LGroute. The City of Lake Charles, Louisiana- purchased five (5) seats of LGcrimes. GTG was awarded several contracts including: The City of Elgin, Illinois- to perform land file normalization and address cleanup services. Goochland County, Virginia-GIS services convenience contract. Campbell County, Wyoming- to utilize GIS for airport infrastructure management.