WilsonMiller’s Collier County Utilities Work Honored by ESRI
Monday April 23rd 2007
Filed Under WilsonMiller
Contact: Kathy Prutos, Business Communications Manager
Phone: (239) 649-4040
Fax: (239) 643-5716
E-mail: kathyprutos@wilsonmiller.com
GIS TEAM EARNS INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
Collier County Utilities Work Honored by ESRI
Naples, Fla./April 20, 2007 – A Geographic Information System (GIS) facilities management program WilsonMiller developed with the Collier County Public Utilities Engineering Department is being recognized by ESRI, the world’s market leader in GIS technology.
The unique Collier County Public Utilities GIS, which provides a single repository of information for service areas encompassing approximately 225 square miles and affecting more than 60,000 customers, will receive a “Special Achievement in GIS” award at ESRI’s 27th Annual International User Conference, to be held at the San Diego Convention Center on June 20, 2007.
The ESRI User Conference is unlike any other event. An estimated 12,000 users from more than 120 countries will be attending to learn new skills, share information, and discover best practices, tips, and tricks that they can instantly use.
Trevor P. Trinkaus, Asset/Modeling Manager for Collier County Public Utilities, called the “Special Achievement in GIS” award “a significant achievement for our organization and will showcase our cutting-edge efforts in the industry.”
“This recognition represents a major accomplishment for GIS in Collier County,” said Jim Hunt, GISP, a WilsonMiller GIS Regional Manager, “and helps put the Collier County Public Utilities Engineering Department on the map as recognized experts in the field of public utilities in GIS.”
Hunt led the WilsonMiller professional team that incorporated GIS expertise in developing the facilities management tool that currently maintains the utility’s water, wastewater, and irrigation geodatabases. The GIS had to be built from the ground up, which meant collecting, analyzing, and converting mounds of data by designing and developing a whole new database to capture data from multiple departments.
Global Positioning System (GPS) technology was used in conjunction with ESRI’s ArcPad software to fix valve locations, and high-accuracy GPS data collected in the field was used to spatially reference utilities information. Tablet personal computers, which can provide spatial views of the system, were developed for field crews to monitor system attributes and assist in emergency management.
In addition, the system allowed the county to streamline its business and accounting practices and improve its level of customer service - responding to situations better, faster, and less expensively than in the past - while staying in compliance with local, state and federal regulations.
“It has enabled us to recognize what our assets are and where they are, which is very important,” said Trinkaus.
In making GIS its business tool of choice, Collier County Public Utilities now has a complete picture of its utilities system, a better method of tracking and maintaining system resources, and a means whereby line breaks and system failures can be pinpointed, analyzed, and rapidly addressed. GIS also assists in asset management, inventory, and customer service, helping the county make informed planning decisions.
ESRI selected the Collier County Public Utilities GIS from among more than 100,000 user sites worldwide. The “Special Achievement in GIS” award is being given to users around the world in recognition of their outstanding work in the GIS field.
Founded as Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., in 1969, ESRI maintains its worldwide headquarters in Redlands, Calif. The firm has 10 regional offices in the United States, more than 80 international distributors, and users in more than 200 countries. ESRI software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide, including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities.
ABOUT WILSONMILLER:
A multidisciplinary planning, design, engineering, and surveying firm with 10 Florida offices from Northwest Florida to its corporate headquarters in Naples, WilsonMiller celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2006. The firm offers a single source of high-level, diverse services for land development, infrastructure, transportation, and resource management projects for public and private clients throughout Florida and beyond. WilsonMiller was ranked 145th on Engineering News-Record’s 2006 list of the Top 500 Design Firms in the United States. The main office is located in the Wilson Professional Building, 3200 Bailey Lane, Suite 200, Naples, FL 34105.
For more information, call (800) 649-4336 or visit WilsonMiller’s Web site, www.wilsonmiller.com.
##
Kim Lewis
Administrative Assistant
(239) 649-4040 ext. 7028
(239) 263-6422
WilsonMiller.com
<<Jim_Hunt.jpg>>
Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail is for the sole use of the recipient(s). Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited.