News Roundup - August 2020

August 6, 2020

Dani Pacey

How can ArcGIS Dashboards be used to communicate with the public about local emergencies like wildfires? How are government agencies using GIS to respond to COVID-19 in a way that ensures inter-agency collaboration? Why is it important that governments create long- to medium-term strategies for implementing spatial data infrastructure? Learn more in the August News Roundup.

Feature Stories

Achieving situational awareness through BC’s Emergency Management COP

During COVID-19, governments at all levels have had to collaborate rapidly on emergency response. GeoBC, a branch of the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, focuses on providing base mapping data and GIS services to all provincial agencies in British Columbia. Learn more about the key role GeoBC played in managing the response to COVID-19 in their province.

5 perspectives on urban planning during the pandemic

In a time of sudden financial losses due to COVID-19, how can urban planners adapt, prioritize and find new opportunities? In this blog post, read about the different considerations urban planners need to think about, including how to help stimulate local economies with infrastructure projects and how to promote social distancing with curbside pickup programs.

What’s New in Community Map of Canada for July 2020

Learn about what’s new with the Community Map of Canada, including new contributors since January and an expanded set of basemap styles for you to use.

SDI is at the forefront of the UK’s new Geospatial Strategy

The United Kingdom recently released their Geospatial Strategy for the next five years. They’re ahead of the game in terms of implementing a national spatial data framework that is consistent with the UN’s Integrated Geospatial Information Framework. Read this blog post to learn more about this exemplary plan to implement SDI, and how important it is that Canada implement something similar.

Monitoring British Columbia’s wildfire threats with ArcGIS Dashboards

Esri Canada’s Public Safety Industry Manager, David Hamilton, discusses the benefits of BC government agencies using ArcGIS Dashboards to communicate with the public about wildfires. Not only can the dashboards be used to see where the wildfires are, but they also house information about causes and allow users to engage with the data through visualizations.

NG9-1-1 and the need for data aggregation

One of the big challenges of implementing the NG 9-1-1 system is making sure that the GPS coordinates from your phone and the public-safety-grade geographic data from different authoritative data sources can actually be used together. Namely, all of these data sources must meet a single standard so that they can be aggregated into seamless geographic coverage. Learn more in this blog post.

Soon after COVID-19 was first detected, Esri’s Disaster Response Program (DRP) has received more requests for assistance than in the entire 25-year history of the program. The DRP is a free service designed to help customers when their GIS capabilities are exceeded during an active crisis or disaster response. In this article, learn more about how the DRP has been responding to COVID-19.

WhereNext: Five Things Retailers Should Consider When They Reopen

Few business sectors have been more affected by the pandemic than retail. As shoppers begin to emerge from their homes, retailers must adopt new practices to meet changing health mandates, interrupted supply chains and new ways of shopping.

Esri & The Science of Where Podcast: Toward Sustainable Prosperity in Business and Government

Esri Chief Scientist Dawn Wright explains how businesses and governments are leveraging technology to innovate sustainable practices.

Video: GIS – Interconnecting Our World, Jack Dangermond (2 of 4)

As GIS becomes more prevalent, it is waking up the world to how we are all interconnected. People everywhere are becoming more aware of the power and purpose of geographic knowledge, which is becoming more appreciated every day.

This post was translated to French and can be viewed here.