2023 SAG Award Winners

Colliers International

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Project Goal

The Colliers Utah GIS team developed an updated map style to showcase future housing growth across major parts of Utah. This style was designed to enable Colliers' brokers to help clients make informed investment decisions within fast growing markets. The team designed the map with simplicity and speed in mind. How could they make a map that was easy to read for any audience and could decrease turn around times.
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Business Problem Solved

The previous future housing map design could only be created on a small scale using labels and graduated symbols to showcase large and small project. However, because of the growth of Utah, many sites had to be moved to prevent overlap. The old style of maps often took hours to complete, thus reducing turn around time for these and other maps. The new map style retained geographic accuracy of future housing growth and decreased turn around time as they could be completed on a larger scale and kept as pre-built maps.

Technology Implemented

The Collier GIS team used several Esri software tools for their mapping design. Using a combination of ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Business Analyst, and ArcMap, the team has improved efficiency over time, reducing turn around time by around 75%. This same data has been used in Experience Builder to create a variety of mapping tools for brokers to use for market research.

Development Team Biography

Ernie Cottle worked with GIS as a high school junior in the Bigfork High School Cave Club. He pursued degrees in Physical Geography, Geology, and Anthropology, and completed an Applied GIS Certificate at the University of Utah. He's currently the GIS Manager at Colliers Utah, where he started working as a GIS specialist and data analyst in 2021.

Tyler Crocker was Colliers' GIS Manager in Salt Lake City for five years. Her team provides commercial real estate brokers in Utah with GIS products, including web applications, static maps, and data services.

Kate Wright earned her BA in Biology from DePauw University and her MA in Geography from the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. She's worked on geography projects from human migration to community-based conservation in places like eastern Oregon and central Madagascar. Kate joined Colliers as a GIS Analyst in late 2021.