PowerStream received a Special Achievement in GIS Award, Wednesday at the 30th annual ESRI International User Conference held in San Diego, California.

The electricity distribution company, which serves customers in Simcoe County and York Region, earned the recognition for its vision, leadership, hard work and innovative use of ESRI’s geographic information system (GIS) technology. The utility was selected from more than 300,000 organizations worldwide.

In order to consolidate processes and improve efficiencies following several mergers and acquisitions, PowerStream utilized Telvent’s ArcFM suite of products built on ESRI’s ArcGIS platform to not just provide transition solutions to the company’s consolidation challenges, but to also enhance mapping, engineering design and outage management applications.

“By implementing an end-to-end integrated enterprise solution, we were able to improve our operational efficiencies, increase customer satisfaction and enhance network reliability,” Shelly Cunningham, PowerStream’s Senior Vice President, Engineering Services, said. “Earning a Special Achievement in GIS Award from ESRI is an honour. Our success demonstrates that we engaged
the services of the right supplier with the right product at the right time.”

"We created the Special Achievement in GIS Award to recognize our users' extraordinary contributions to global society," ESRI’s President Jack Dangermond explained. "Each year, I look forward to being part of this ceremony; it's a tradition that has gained great meaning and importance for professionals in the GIS industry."

GIS combines computer hardware; software; data; and, most importantly, people to collect, manage, and analyze geographic information. Virtually any information can be linked to a geographic location, helping people see that information as part of a complete picture. Through GIS, users can view relationships, processes, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts. Whether they are responding to a natural disaster, growing a business, or sharing information with the public, GIS helps them solve problems and make smart decisions. More than one million people worldwide rely on GIS to learn and plan geographically.

Organizations being honoured at ESRI’s International User Conference, the world's largest GIS event, span countries and industries including agriculture, cartography, climate change, defense and intelligence, economic development, education, government, health and human services, telecommunications, and utilities. More information about the 2010 Special Achievement in GIS Award winners, including project information and photos, are available at www.esri.com/sag.