Press Release | 24/07/15

Reasons why “Irish Eyes are Smiling” at Esri’s International User Conference in San Diego this week

It’s been quite a week for Esri Ireland customers at Esri’s International User Conference in San Diego. For one week every July over 15,000 Esri Users, Customers and Staff converge at the Conference Centre in San Diego for Esri’s International User Conference. Anyone who has experienced going will confess it’s a pretty big deal. There’s a buzz around the halls of the San Diego Convention Centre that’s very unique and great to be part of. However this year’s User Conference has proven to be an extra special, even extraordinary celebration, for three big reasons:

Irish Water Scoop the Esri Enterprise Award at the Plenary in front of crowd of 15,000

Esri has awarded Irish Water a special Enterprise Award for its achievements in GIS. Jack Dangermond presented the Enterprise Award to Paul Ahern, Irish Water Programme Manager in San Diego on Monday.

For Irish Water to be recognised on such a global scale is a fantastic achievement and testament to value GIS can bring to large enterprises - Irish Water consolidated its operations onto a single GIS platform, Esri’s ArcGIS. The consolidation took 12 months. In the first month and a half, Irish Water was able to meter more than 1.3 million homes. More than 2,000 users currently access the national geodatabase across departments in asset management, operations, workflows, capital investments, strategic planning, and customer services.
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The Local Government Community in Ireland wins a Special Achievement in GIS Award

This award acknowledges vision, leadership, hard work, and innovative use of Esri's geographic information system (GIS) technology. In recent years there has been a significant increase in number of local authorities now using the Esri Platform and not simply as a mapping technology. The Local Government Esri User Community in Ireland has grown from only four councils in 2011 to 22 councils now using Esri Technology.

Adopting this Esri “platform approach” now enables the GIS teams in local authorities to work more efficiently and has paved the way for them to deliver new value-added services for the public as well as make use of synergies across councils. By freeing up their time, GIS professionals within the councils are now able to focus on more strategic issues and forward planning. Councils can integrate the diverse range of information required to plan service provision, leading to productivity and cost savings.
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Donegal County Council wins third place in the Esri StoryMaps Contest for his “Hills of Donegal” 3D Story Map Tour by Daragh McDonagh

Donegal, Ireland is a large mountainous county. From the iconic quartzite peak of Errigal to the spectacular sea cliffs of Sliabh Liag, Donegal has a wealth of upland areas to explore on foot. Daragh’s map takes the viewer on a 3D tour of the main mountains, with pre-set views from different angles. He even included weather forecast data to add some interactivity to the 3D landscape. The Story Map encourages you to “pack your bags and lace up your boots after you see the hills of Donegal, Ireland from a whole new 3D perspective”.

If you’ve been inspired by Daragh’s work, remember we have our annual “Maps Make Sense for Salzburg” competition ongoing throughout the summer – with 5 trips up for grabs to Esri’s European User Conference in Austria.

“This recognition of Irish customers by Esri on the global stage, that is the Esri World User Conference, simply reinforces what we, at Esri Ireland, have always known; that our customers certainly punch above their weight when it comes to the effective, creative and innovative application of GIS within their respective organisations”, say Paul Synnott, Country Manager. “It’s a fantastic achievement for not only the Esri user community in Ireland but also for the GIS industry as a whole”.
Read the full press release.