|
SpatialNews.com Press Release
City of Prince George Receives Award for Their Innovative use of GIS Technology
 Printer Friendly
Prince George, BC - The City of Prince George was presented with an Award of Excellence at ESRI Canada's annual ESRI Regional User Conference in Prince George. Myron Doherty, Pacific Region Manager, ESRI Canada, presented the Award in recognition of the City of Prince George's innovative use of GIS technology for data collection. More than 100 GIS professionals were on hand for the presentation, which was one of the highlights of the conference.
"The City of Prince George began their implementation of ESRI technology in 2001, and since then has become one of the most advanced GIS users in the Northern BC," said Mr. Doherty. "The City utilizes GIS for many business functions including the collection and management of their assets."
To assist with their data collection activities, the City has developed several custom ArcPad applications. Their first ArcPad initiative included the collection of all primary, secondary, and tertiary land uses for the 32,000 parcels within the city. "By utilizing ArcPad and HP Ipaqs the data collection project was completed in considerably less time than was originally planned," said Wendy Nordin, GIS Coordinator,
City of Prince George.
"By collecting land use information we were able to model existing conditions against proposed zoning to gain a clear understanding of the potential land use non-conformity that may be created with a particular regulatory regime," said Dan Milburn, Manager of Current Planning and Development. "The data revealed situations of 'non-conformity' and illegality with respect to permitted land use. Thus, this data is used in enforcement actions to seek compliance with current Zoning Bylaw land use regulations. Furthermore, this data will assist future enforcement actions where non-conforming rights are claimed by land owners without supporting evidence. The validity of the land owners' claim can then be tested against the data collected."
In 2004, the City of Prince George completed an evaluation of the municipal pedestrian network. The project included the inventory and condition rating of 170 km of sidewalk and 11 km of walkways. To facilitate this large assignment, staff downloaded the City GIS maps onto a handheld computer, and evaluated each link digitally using pre-determined menu-based criteria. Data was uploaded daily onto the GIS system for technical evaluation, deficiency identification, improvement prioritization, and mapping. "With the success of the pedestrian study, we are now considering other applications for this technology," said Glenn Stanker, Transportation Engineer, City of Prince George.
ArcPad is used by the City in a variety of departments including Utilities and the Environmental Services Divisions to support their asset management system. Staff are using custom built ArcPad applications to collect location and condition data associated with a variety of assets. Operations staff utilize Trimble GeoXT field computers with ArcPad to record the location of uninventoried assets such as storm recharge tanks and park equipment, and correct the locations of inventoried assets such as catch basins. The resulting data is then incorporated into the ArcSDE database by the GIS division.
In another application, cadastral, underground infrastructure and the City's archive of water, sanitary, and storm drawings are loaded on a Tablet PC and accessed through ArcPad. This replaces a system whereby hardcopy versions of those records were accessed through the central archive at City Hall. Having this data in the field has also proven invaluable in emergency situations.
About the City of Prince George:
City of Prince George is the largest Municipality in Northern BC and is often referred to as BC's Northern Capital. Prince George is a bustling city of over 77,000 situated at confluence of the Fraser and Nechako Rivers. As a major City of the Pacific Rim, Prince George is firmly tied to the global market.
About ESRI Canada:
Established in 1984, ESRI Canada is a Canadian owned company specializing in geographic information systems (GIS) solutions. We distribute the world's leading GIS software solutions from ESRI Inc., NovaLIS Technologies, Miner and Miner, Telcordia, and Azteca. In order to provide organizations with complete industry-specific solutions we have established an extensive business partner program that includes more than 100 Canadian organizations. ESRI Canada also provides professional services including consulting, training, technical support, and enterprise GIS implementation. We are leaders in providing world-class enterprise GIS solutions for many industries including local government, utilities, public safety and defence, business demographics, education, natural resources, and transportation. ESRI Canada has twelve regional offices across the country, with headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. For more information, please visit www.esricanada.com or call 1-800-447-9778.
|
