The Local Government Community in Ireland Receives Special Achievement Award for Exceptional Application of Geospatial Technology

Announcement made by Esri President Jack Dangermond during Esri’s International User Conference, San Diego

The Local Government Community of Ireland was honoured with a Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award at the 2015 Esri International User Conference in San Diego, Calif. This award acknowledges vision, leadership, hard work, and innovative use of Esri's geographic information system (GIS) technology. 

Local authorities have been under increased pressure to reduce spending and to offer improved services to communities. It was critical that government both central and local make full use of their available resources. 

The use of GIS is not a new innovation in Irish local authorities; many have already made use of GIS to support the work of many different departments. But for many years its use and application was comprised of many disconnected parts and workflows requiring a great deal of time-consuming management and maintenance. The vision was to build a single, connected GIS to meet the needs of all members of staff, across all departments, partners and the general public. 

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. 

"The SAG Awards identify the organisations and people who are using the power of geography to make our world a better place," says Esri president Jack Dangermond. "At Esri, we are always deeply inspired by the passion and innovation of our users. They deserve recognition for their invaluable contributions to their communities and the continued evolution of geographic science.” 

“This is one of the few occasions where Esri have honoured what is essentially a ‘community of practice’. This is really important aspect of this SAG award as it demonstrates the power and value of taking a collective and collaborative approach to meeting the requirements of organisations that have similar use cases across their respective enterprises. The Local Government GI Community is leading the way in this regard within the Irish public sector”; Dermot O’Kane, Esri Ireland.

For more information about the 2015 Special Achievement in GIS Award winners, including project information and photos, please visit here.