Back to SAG Winners 2006

Delta State University and Mississippi Emergency Operations Center Receives Honors for Exceptional Work Using GIS Technology

San Diego, California—Delta State University and the Mississippi Emergency Operations Center will be recognized for excellence in the geographic information system (GIS) field with a 2006 Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) award at the Twenty-sixth Annual ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, California. ESRI, the world leader in GIS software, presents the award to organizations and agencies that display dedication and commitment through their use of GIS technology. The winners of the award are chosen out of more than 150,000 organizations worldwide.

“The SAG awards celebrate the achievement and vision of innovators in the GIS field,” says Jack Dangermond, ESRI president. “Each winner brings benefits to their communities and influences others to do the same.”

A GIS is a collection of computer hardware, software, and geographic data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. With a GIS, users can link information to location data such as people to addresses, buildings to parcels, or streets within a network. This innovative technology enables users to layer the information and present a visual representation for analysis that leads to more informed decisions and a better understanding of their communities, businesses, and the environment.

The mission of the University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Geospatial Information Technologies is to provide geospatial services, accessible education and training, and institutional knowledge for geospatial information technology to the mid-Delta region and any other areas that need support. The Center is organized around education and training, business and community development, and institutional knowledge.

During Hurricane Katrina, the Center used GIS technology under the direction of Talbot Brooks from Delta State University and Cragin Knox from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. Using GIS enabled the Center to work with other agencies and organizations to save hundreds of lives. They provided support for critical search and rescue operations, identifying shelter locations and capacity, locating food and water distribution areas, transportation routing, and other critical functions.

Some of the other organizations being honored at the 2006 User Conference include The Royal Court, Kingdom of Bahrain; USGS National Wetlands Research Center; Geological Survey of Austria; City of Philadelphia Mayor Office; Library of Congress; Nova Scotia Community College Centre of Geographic Sciences; Missouri Botanical Gardens; and Charlotte County, Florida.

To learn more about all of the 2006 SAG Award winners as well as previous years’ winners, visit www.esri.com/sag. Visit www.esri.com for more information about GIS technology and its applications.

About ESRI
Founded in 1969, ESRI is the leading developer of GIS software with more than 300,000 clients worldwide. ESRI software is used in all 200 of the largest cities in the United States and in more than 60 percent of counties and municipalities nationwide. Headquartered in California, ESRI has regional offices throughout the United States, international distributors in more than 90 countries, and more than 1,700 business partners. ESRI’s goal is to develop comprehensive tools that enable users to efficiently manage, use, and serve geographic information to make a difference in the world around them. ESRI also provides consulting, implementation, and technical support services. ESRI can be found on the Web at www.esri.com.

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