Special Achievement in GIS

City representatives were honored this week at the at the ESRI User Conference for Special Achievements in GIS (SAG). GIS stands for Geographic Information Systems and uses computer hardware, software, and data to create a tool for managing and displaying geographic information. GIS links information to geographic locations and is typically associated with a map. The City's Interactive GIS map, which can be found off the www.wdm-ia.com homepage or here, provides zoning, land use, development, parks, and demographic information, as well as utility locations, street and lane closures, and construction information.

The ESRI website provides the following description of SAG award winners: "By embracing GIS technology, these organizations have made extraordinary contributions to our global society and set new precedents throughout the GIS community." Recipients of the Special Achievement in GIS award are submitted by thousands of organizations worldwide.

The press release from ESRI, which can be viewed here, states:

"The City of West Des Moines has become the beacon of GIS in the Des Moines metropolitan area. The City merges data from four counties into their GIS, enhances the exchange of disparate data between internal departments, manages a three-city 911 call center, and hosts, organizes, and provides content for CIAO (Central Iowa ArcGIS Organization) meetings. From traffic modeling and crime analysis to land use and building inspections, the City is successfully leveraging GIS to better serve its citizens and plans to expand its GIS Web sites to deliver more information to the public. West Des Moines is a place of major growth in Iowa, and it is a great example of how GIS can help create transparency in city management and operations."

Congratulations to the City's GIS Steering Committee, which worked hard to develop a credible and valuable tool that our residents and businesses can utilize for geographic information. I encourage you to try it out! As an end user, you can create maps for your own purposes as well.