Adoption of geographic information systems has allowed the City to open data and connect with its residents

TORONTO, Esri Canada User Conference -- October 23, 2017 – The City of Brampton today received Esri Canada’s Award of Excellence for using geographic information system (GIS) technology to support their Open Government initiative. The City developed Brampton GeoHub, an open data platform which has increased the transparency of the City government to residents and saved money. This collaborative technology makes it much easier for people to access public information such as property maps, bike maps and zoning by-laws.

“By using GIS, Brampton has encouraged residents to access the City’s site and more deeply engage with their community.” says Alex Miller, president, Esri Canada. “This has also saved the taxpayers thousands of dollars. In the first year of its use, the City saved about 588 hours of staff time.”

“In building a future ready city, we’re committed to excellence in government services. With the GeoHub, we are not only providing transparency in service; it is also our aim to foster innovation and transformation in how we interact with our citizens,” notes Joseph Pittari, Commissioner of Corporate Services for Brampton. “Through the GeoHub stories and mapping features, our residents can get a better understanding of their community and its surroundings.”

More information and datasets can now be integrated into anyone’s analysis and applications. The project has been so successful that the number of open datasets served up through the GeoHub increased from 15 in the first year (2015) to 243 datasets, documents and apps today – a 1,500+% increase. Because the data is also well integrated with other city systems, the accuracy, quality and currency of the information is kept to a very high standard and is more widely distributed, all through one application. And when more people work with better information, decision-making improves.

The GeoHub was created in collaboration with multiple city departments in only a couple of weeks and is built on Esri’s ArcGIS Open Data solution. It is hosted in ArcGIS Online, Esri’s cloud-based mapping platform, which helps the City to reduce the money and time spent in hosting and maintaining their basemaps.

Explore Brampton GeoHub at: geohub.brampton.ca

Read more about how the GeoHub was developed in this blog post.

About Brampton
The ninth-largest city in Canada, Brampton celebrates a diverse population that represents people from 209 distinct ethnic backgrounds who speak 89 different languages. Brampton residents and visitors have access to state-of-the-art recreation facilities and one of the fastest-growing transit systems in Canada. Opened in 2007, Brampton Civic Hospital is part of the William Osler Health System, which is one of the largest community hospitals in Canada. For more information, visit www.brampton.ca or follow @CityBrampton on Twitter.

About Esri Canada
Founded in 1984, Esri Canada provides enterprise geographic information system (GIS) solutions that empower businesses, governments and educational institutions to make timely, informed and mission-critical decisions by leveraging the power of geography. The company distributes the world's leading GIS software from Esri, Schneider Electric, Cityworks–Azteca Systems, LLC and other technology partners. Headquartered in Toronto, the company serves over 10,000 customers from 16 regional offices across Canada. Esri Canada joined the elite rank of Canada’s Best Managed companies in 2012 and became a Gold Standard winner in 2015. The company has also been named to the Branham300 and Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures. More information can be found at esri.ca. Follow Esri Canada on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. 

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City of Brampton:  
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