2011 Exemplary Systems in Government Award Winners

URISA’s ESIG Awards recognize exceptional achievements in the application of information technology that have improved the delivery and quality of government services. URISA is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s ESIG Awards.

ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS CATEGORY

Systems in this category are outstanding and working examples of using information systems technology in a multi-department environment as part of an integrated process. These systems exemplify effective use of technology yielding widespread improvements in the process(es) and/or service(s) involved and/or cost savings to the organization.

2011 ESIG Winner

URA Digital 3D Urban Model System
Submitted by Mr. Peter Quek Ser Hwee, Director Corporate Development, Information Systems - Urban Redevelopment Authority, Republic of Singapore

This solution was deemed exemplary by the ESIG Review Committee because this system was built not only to innovatively serve the needs of the jurisdiction and the community, but to embrace a cutting edge technology. The combination of 3D technology with 2D GIS technology has provided URA staff and their community with the tools to visualize the impact of urban development. The visual analysis provides a value added segment to the evaluation processes supporting the most educated decisions when building a greater Singapore. The use of 3D visualization has become a tool for Singapore’s marketing and communication of their land use plans. Quantitative impacts were given in terms of both “man-days” and monies saved to date, along with estimates of future benefits. Many different groups are now making use of the system and specific examples were given of projects/studies that used the system, along with visual representations for each. This is a unique application in that it presented an innovative system for producing visualizations of Singapore. The videos and images produced by the solution portray the vision of and for Singapore. Projects like these move the GIS and planning industries forward.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is Singapore’s national land use planning and conservation agency. The URA has played a key role in successfully transforming Singapore into one of the most liveable cities in Asia through judicious land use planning and good urban design. To achieve more effective land use planning, URA leverages on the strategic use of information technology. One of the key enterprise systems used is the URA Digital 3D Urban Model System.

The URA Digital 3D Urban Model System is a nation-wide integrated 3D Planning and Visualisation System. The high quality 3D models are created from Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawings which ensure architectural accuracy. These detailed 3D models, together with URA's comprehensive 2D Geographic Information System (GIS), form an integrated 3D-GIS platform. URA’s GIS, called the Integrated Planning and Land Use System (iPLAN), was the winner of 2007 URISA award for Distinguished Enterprise System. This integration facilitates the innovative use of rich information for advanced analysis, simulation and visualisation to support more effective decision making in urban planning and design.

Read the URA Digital 3D Urban Model System Submission

Mr. Peter Quek Ser Hwee and Bryant Tan from the Urban Redevelopment Authority - Singapore with Cy Smith, URISA President 2010-2011

Distinguished Systems in this Category

CAGIS Enterprise County Wide Construction Coordination System
Submitted by Raj Chundur, CAGIS Administrator, CAGIS - Cincinnati (Ohio) Area Geographic Information System

Read the CAGIS Submission

Raj Chundur from CAGIS

City of Calgary Cadastral Management System (CMS)
Submitted by Arne Svedahl, Leader - Land Asset Information & Mapping Infrastructure & Information, Corporate Services - City of Calgary, Alberta Canada

Read the City of Calgary Submission

Arne Svedahl - City of Calgary

iMAPS: Using Collaboration and Technology to Color Outside the Organizational Lines
Submitted by Charles Friddle, Director - Wake County (North Carolina) GIS and City of Raleigh (North Carolina) GIS

Read the Wake County GIS Submission

Anne Payne (Wake County), Colleen Sharpe (City of Raleigh), Charles Friddle (Wake County), Cy Smith

Portage County Enterprise Wide GIS
Submitted by Brian Kelley, CIO - Portage County (Ohio)

Read the Portage County Submission

Brian Kelley - Portage County, Ohio

SINGLE PROCESS SYSTEMS CATEGORY

Systems in this category are outstanding and working examples of applying information system technology to automate a specific SINGLE process or operation involving one department or sub-unit of an agency. The system application results in extended and/or improved government services that are more efficient and/or save money.

2011 ESIG Winner

Philadelphia Stormwater Billing Application - "PhillyStormwater"
Submitted by Joanne Dahme, Watersheds Program Manager, City of Philadelphia Water Department

This solution was deemed exemplary by the ESIG Review Committee because it is an application that has benefited all stakeholders, including both the Philadelphia Water Department staff and the public alike. The System is an application in green storm water management that uses GIS to assess impervious site areas. It gives the public easy access to - and transparency to – storm water charges, and the ability to see the effect on their bills should property owners consider greener strategies. Processes have also been developed to address the data quality and consistency issues as they arise. The PhillyStormwater system has made a substantial impact on the new storm water billing process and saved hundreds of hours for the Water Department staff members per month. The system is the largest of its type in the country and certainly is progressive in the way it charges for storm water management costs.

Stormwater management in urban environments presents particular challenges. Increased stormwater runoff caused by roads, parking lots and other impervious surfaces must be properly channeled and treated in order to reduce its impact on local waterways, and this can be a costly process. The Office of Watersheds for the Philadelphia Water Department leveraged GIS technology to create a billing system based on the amount of impervious surface cover on commercial properties. Stormwater billing based on impervious surface both distributes the cost of managing stormwater more equitably and creates incentives for property owners to implement best management practices for mitigating stormwater runoff on-site.

The Stormwater Billing Application – also known as PhillyStormwater – automatically calculates impervious surface cover based on aerial imagery, displays it as an overlay on the map, and enables users to view its impact on their stormwater bills. The bill calculation process is performed using a series of GIS models assembled using Esri ArcObjects, Python scripts and a geoprocessing queuing system. The resulting datasets are then made available via an ArcGIS Server application.

Read the Philadelphia Stormwater Billing Application Submission

Aaron Fraint, Mike Romankiewicz, Patrick Perhosky, Erin Williams, and Sarah Pierro

Distinguished System in this Category

Clark County Utility Tracker (C-CUT)
Submitted by Dan Kaler, GIS Coordinator - Clark County (Washington)

Read the Clark County Submission

Clark County GIS: Dan Kaler, Steve Long, Matt Deitemeyer, Tyler Gundberg, Jill Heyser

URISA congratulates all of the participants in the 2011 Exemplary Systems in Government Award program.
The Winners in each category and those systems recognized as Distinguished Systems will be celebrated during the Awards Breakfast at GIS-Pro 2011: URISA's 49th Annual Conference in Indianapolis.