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News Roundup – May 2023

What are the judges looking for in submissions to the 2024 Map Calendar Contest? How is the City of Ottawa using digital twin technology in its official plan? How is the County of Lennox and Addington using technology to solve business problems across multiple departments? Learn more in the News Roundup for May 2023.

Feature Stories

Map of the Month: Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve
The Map of the Month for May 2023 is “Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve”, by the City of Chilliwack. The purpose of this map is to show whether the tree canopy in the study area is less or greater than 4 m, as the latter is the preferred nesting choice for the great blue heron. The tree canopy was calculated by extracting two surfaces from a LiDAR point cloud and subtracting the values of the ground from those of the trees.

Geographical Thinking: Season 3 | Episode 15: Geographical thinking caps: I.M.G.D.B.
Lights! Cameras! Geo-glory! This feature presentation of the funcast podcast goes to the movies. Join Maggie Samson and Michelle Brake as they guess film titles based on short descriptions. The twist? Each film title contains a geographic place name. This game promises to be everything everywhere all at once (with an emphasis on the where). And be sure to stay for the dramatic conclusion where we will make a shocking announcement! Spoiler alert: it’s “spatial”!

Listen to the latest episode of Geographical Thinking here. 

Want to have your map seen by thousands? Enter the 2024 Map Calendar Contest
Been working on a beautiful map that only a handful of people will see? Get it in front of thousands of GIS fans and map lovers by entering Esri Canada’s 2024 Map Calendar Contest. Winners will be featured in our 2024 print calendar and Map Calendar Hub. They’ll also receive a copy of Dawn J. Wright and Christian Harder’s GIS for Science, Volume 3: Maps for Saving the Planet. Contest closes on Friday, June 30 at 11:59 PM ET, so don’t wait—submit your map now!

What makes a winning map, according to the 2024 Map Calendar Contest judges
Want your map to be what people see when they sit down at their desks or check their calendars? Then enter the 2024 Map Calendar Contest for a chance at countrywide recognition for your hard work. But what are the judges looking for when reviewing submissions? Find out in this blog post.

Embracing the City of Ottawa’s Official Plan with new Geospatial Solutions
The City of Ottawa is building a 3D geospatial foundation for a digital twin using Esri's enterprise GIS software. This 3D visualization environment will eventually host a new ecosystem of applications and services driven by the users and clients who will in turn benefit from this living digital copy.

County of Lennox & Addington uses GIS to improve organizational services
The County of Lennox and Addington relies heavily on a geographic information system (GIS) to manage and solve business problems across its many municipal departments. These business problems involve everything, from roads & bridges to long-term care and beyond.

How GIS Supports Telecommunication Fulfillment and Operations
How can an operator streamline the as-built process? How can an operator build their own serviceability application quickly and easily? Can equipment and device monitoring be enhanced using location? In this blog post by telecom industry expert Sergio Palladini, he discusses activities that happen on the operational side of a telecom operator's business that illustrate the need for an enterprise GIS solution.

Streamline workflows with tasks in ArcGIS Pro
Spring is in the air! Take a break from spring cleaning and consider learning a new ArcGIS Pro skill. How about saving time and ensuring consistency by streamlining your team’s workflows with tasks?

Powerful GIS Solutions for Law Enforcement – Part 1
In this blog post, Esri Canada public safety industry manager David Hamilton and John Beck, director of law enforcement solutions at Esri, talk about some of the challenges that law enforcement agencies and their crime analysts are currently facing.

Powerful GIS Solutions for Law Enforcement – Part 2
In this blog post, Esri Canada public safety industry manager David Hamilton and John Beck, director of law enforcement solutions at Esri, talk about some of the ways that GIS can be used to support crime control strategies.

Advancing Urban Wildlife Tracking and Public Education
Following gradual year-on-year increases in coyote incidents, inquiries and personal safety concerns, Mississauga Animal Services expanded its use of ArcGIS software to better understand its wildlife population. Through the Coyote Sightings Interactive Map, over 1,200 coyote sightings were recorded in Mississauga in 2021 and over 1,400 in 2022.

How Codesign Drives Digital Modernization in Canadian Government
The Esri ecosystem makes it possible to transform how government services are delivered by using a geographic approach and bringing spatial data to enterprise IT. In the first in a series of blog posts, Mathieu Primeau discusses what success in this area looks like for the Canadian federal government and the communities it serves.

City of Brandon Transforms the Unknown into Managed Outcomes
The City of Brandon, Manitoba, has deployed ArcGIS Utility Network, executing on their asset management strategy and modernizing access to data. The Utility Network provides a common operating picture to staff so that they can understand and visualize the impact of changes to the water network in real time.

Esri Canada News

City of Brandon modernizes access to water network data
April 27, 2023

Esri News

Jack and Laura Dangermond Honoured with Conservation Visionary Award
April 27, 2023

Esri Releases Book for Young Readers about Water Cycle and Wastewater Treatment Process
April 19, 2023

Jack Dangermond Receives Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from The University of Hong Kong
April 19, 2023

Resources

ArcUser: Improved Location Accuracy Enables Hydraulic Modelling
A water district in Kentucky increased the locational accuracy of assets in its GIS using mobile mapping so that its engineering team could use the data for hydraulic modelling. GIS also helps the district streamline operations and improve customer service.

Read the latest issue of ArcUser online.

ArcNews: Women in GIS Fosters a Vibrant, Welcoming Community for Everyone
Women in GIS is an international professional organization and social advocacy group for women and their allies that seeks to foster unity among women in GIS and anyone else who feels that they could benefit from a vibrant, active and welcoming community. Learn more about this growing community and the benefits of being a member.

Read the latest issue of ArcNews online. 

WhereNext Magazine: A Call for Collaboration Strengthens Corporate Security
Safety has always been a focus for the second-largest public utility in the United States. When security personnel teamed up with GIS analysts, they created a new level of awareness for the company and its employees.

WhereNext Confidential: What’s All this Talk about the Enterprise?
The question: “I’m an executive at a company that has used GIS technology in real estate planning for years. My GIS manager says it’s an enterprise technology now. Where is that happening?” The answer is provided by execs and analysts in multiple business sectors.

Video: How to plan better and engage people
Geomatics coordinator Daniel Arseneault walks us through the engagement process the City of Edmundston used to plan for a street revitalization project. Using a combination of ArcGIS StoryMaps and ArcGIS Survey123, the team was able to teach residents about different urban management concepts and get them involved in the project from the very beginning.

About the Author

Dani Pacey is a Marketing Specialist for Esri Canada. She digitized her first map at the tender age of 10 and has been fascinated by the relationships between people and places ever since. An avid technical communicator with degrees in Science & Technology Studies from York University and History of Science & Technology from the University of King's College, Dani has always blended science, social science and the humanities and loves bringing them all together to tell great stories about human life.

Profile Photo of Dani Pacey