City of Lawrence and Douglas County, Kansas, Receives Honors for Exceptional Work Using GIS Technology
08/16/2006
NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, August 16, 2006 CONTACT: Nikki Snowhite, ESRI Tel.: 909-793-2853, extension 1-2194 E-mail: press@esri.com San Diego, California-The City of Lawrence and Douglas County, Kansas, was recognized for excellence in the geographic information system (GIS) field with a 2006 Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) award at the Twenty-sixth Annual ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, California. ESRI, the world leader in GIS software, presents the award to organizations and agencies that display dedication and commitment through their use of GIS technology. The winners of the award are chosen out of more than 150,000 organizations worldwide. "The SAG awards celebrate the achievement and vision of innovators in the GIS field," says Jack Dangermond, ESRI president. "Each winner brings benefits to their communities and influences others to do the same." A GIS is a collection of computer hardware, software, and geographic data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. With a GIS, users can link information to location data such as people to addresses, buildings to parcels, or streets within a network. This innovative technology enables users to layer the information and present a visual representation for analysis that leads to more informed decisions and a better understanding of their communities, businesses, and the environment. The City of Lawrence and Douglas County use GIS technology as a tool for mapping and analyzing a range of areas, from infrastructure inventory and maintenance to citizen notification and services. The city and county departments rely on the technology for zoning identification, finding addresses, scheduling maintenance for sewers, routing traffic, and numerous other daily functions. With an increased capability to visualize the relationship between physical locations and particular issues, the city and county are able to provide more information to communities and make more informed decisions. Some of the other organizations honored at the 2006 User Conference include The Royal Court, Kingdom of Bahrain; USGS National Wetlands Research Center; Geological Survey of Austria; City of Philadelphia Mayor Office; Library of Congress; Nova Scotia Community College Centre of Geographic Sciences; Missouri Botanical Gardens; and Charlotte County, Florida. To learn more about all of the 2006 SAG Award winners as well as previous years' winners, visit www.esri.com/sag. Visit www.esri.com for more information about GIS technology and its applications. ###
Related Links:
ESRI - http://www.esri.com
SAG Award - http://www.esri.com/sag
City of Lawrence - http://www.lawrenceks.org
Douglas County - http://www.douglas-county.com
Media Contact:
Rick Miller, GIS Director
785-330-2825
rmiller@douglas-county.com