BATON ROUGE, La. – July 15, 2020 – Esri, the global leader in location intelligence, has awarded the City-Parish its prestigious Special Achievement in GIS award. Jack Dangermond, Esri founder and president, announced the award today at the virtual Esri User Conference, the world’s largest virtual GIS event.
Each year, Esri selects award recipients from more than 300,000 eligible candidates, which span municipalities, state agencies, and other public and private-sector organizations throughout the world. The City-Parish received the award for its innovative application of mapping and analytics technology, recognizing successful efforts to integrate GIS and data-driven solutions into all facets of City-Parish departments and operations.
“Over the past several years, we have made an intentional and significant push to use technology wherever possible with a focus on creating internal efficiencies and more effectively serving the residents of East Baton Rouge Parish,” said Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome. “This award is a well-deserved honor for our GIS team and reinforces our commitment to Baton Rouge serving as a leading digital city and model for other communities throughout the U.S. and world.”
The City-Parish’s EBRGIS Program recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, during which time it has grown into a fully integrated team embedded in the Department of Information Services, where it maintains millions of individual records and provides geospatial analysis, mapping, and data analysis support to dozens of agencies, more than 5,000 employees, and the residents and businesses of East Baton Rouge Parish.
"Esri User Conference has always given our users an opportunity to share the ways they are implementing GIS and using it to improve their organizations and the world around them," said Dangermond. "I am inspired by the amazing work our users are doing, and I am honored to present these awards to all the organizations recognized for their commitment to technological leadership in government, business, and nonprofit work."
The EBRGIS Program has matured into a national leader by focusing on innovation, collaboration, and data-driven decision making, particularly in supporting emergency response and law enforcement operations. These efforts directly contributed to the Center for Digital Government naming Baton Rouge a Top 10 Digital City in the U.S. in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, among many other honors and accolades.
For more information on Esri’s Special Achievement in GIS awards, including Baton Rouge’s award, click here.