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West Jordan Journal

City of West Jordan team awarded for application of geospatial technology

Sep 09, 2015 03:09PM ● By Rhett Wilkinson

left to right, Andrew Thorup, Sheldon Baumgartner, Esri president Jack Dangermond, Clint Hutchings and Marlene Vigil were honored at the 2015 Esri User Conference with a Special Achievement in GIS award for outstanding work with GIS technology. Photo courtesy City of West Jordan

By Rhett Wilkinson

The City of West Jordan was honored with a “Special Achievement in GIS Award” recently at a user conference. The city was one of 170 teams honored from 350,000 organizations around the world for use of Esri's geographic information system technology.

“This is, I suppose, a lifetime-achievement type of award,” City of West Jordan Geographic Information Systems Administrator Clint Hutchings said. “It’s a very prestigious recognition from one of our peers.”

Esri’s Denver Regional Office nominated the West Jordan team. More than 16,000 people attended the conference, which was held in San Diego. West Jordan was the only Utah organization to receive a SAG Award. ESRI President Jack Dangermond hand-selected the honorees, Hutchings said.

West Jordan uses Esri ArcGIS technology to provide residents and staff with web-based maps that package diverse information ranging from a parks and recreation finder to a city services map and more, according to a press release.

“Our goal is to create easy-to-use, web-based interactive maps,” Hutchings said, “and to find ways to promote the many different maps we provide.

The maps were used as part of the city’s communications efforts in Dec. 2014, when West Jordan was targeted as a potential site to build a new state prison, a spokeswoman wrote. Residents and city leaders opposed the location and launched a campaign against the move.

The maps are regularly used to track and catalogue city assets and infrastructure, Mayor Kim Rolfe said.

Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Its software is used in more than 350,000 organizations worldwide, according to a press release.

“At Esri we are always deeply inspired by the passion and innovation of our users,” Dangermond said. “They deserve recognition for their invaluable contributions to their communities and the continued evolution of geographic science.”