Re-tooled enterprise GIS serves as first source of information for natural resource management  

EDMONTON, Esri Canada User Conference – September 23, 2014 – The Alberta Department of Energy (Alberta Energy) is the custodian of crown mineral rights and holds the responsibility to grant industry the right to explore for and develop energy and mineral resources.  To support this, they began to re-engineer their geographic information system (GIS) GeoView platform to provide more accurate and up-to-date cartographic information to partners and other departments.  Today, Esri Canada presented Alberta Energy with an Award of Excellence for their outstanding use of GIS in managing the province’s natural resources.

“We’re always looking for more efficient solutions to manage our resource inventory, support government policies and streamline business processes,” said Robert Tonkovic, manager, Resource Mapping and Analysis, Alberta Energy. “In the past, we would need to produce several static maps to compare land parcels of owned mineral rights, possible natural resource sites, physical geography and developed areas in order to analyze the ongoing development. GIS allows us to view all of this information on a few digital map layers which gives us a better understanding of the current situation.”

The GeoView platform uses ArcGIS 10.1 and Geocortex Essentials to support and better serve Alberta Energy’s growing internal user base which includes: Tenure Support, Policy Development Support, Policy Decision, Spatial Data Management, Client Registry, Aboriginal Communications, GeoView Oasis and Alberta Mineral Information.  Evolving technologies and users’ communication preferences required Alberta Energy to grow from basic paper maps to interactive maps that can be viewed on electronic devices.  This allows for more efficient collaboration with different departments as they are using the same technologies and looking at the same information when making decisions about potential development sites.  It also eliminates the risk of misidentifying parcels, their ownership and encroachments on protected areas.

“Easy access to information enables people to make more informed decisions and expedite requests,” said Alex Miller, president, Esri Canada. “As the first point of contact for industries, it was important for Alberta Energy to successfully leverage the capabilities of GIS for more accurate data, robust analysis and visualization tools. With this framework now in place, cross-departmental collaboration is improved for planning and high-level decision making.”

As a result of the improved functionality, Alberta Energy will continue the enterprise GIS redevelopment to support the service-oriented architecture and the development of new applications to support various users.  With the core business systems addressed, they will also focus on citizen facing apps, maps and data products for the industry. 

About Alberta Energy
Alberta Energy is responsible for assuring sustained prosperity in the interests of Albertans through the stewardship of energy and mineral resource systems, responsible development and wise use of energy. Alberta Energy manages the development of province's non-renewable resources including coal, metallic and industrial minerals, natural gas, petroleum and oil sands and renewable energy (wind, bioenergy, solar, hydro, geothermal, etc.).  They grant industry the right to explore for and develop crown mineral resources while establishing, administering and monitoring the effectiveness of fiscal royalty systems. They also promote energy efficiency and encourage additional investment to create jobs and economic prosperity.

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, Inc. and other technology partners.  Headquartered in Toronto, the company serves over 10,000 customers from 16 regional offices across Canada.  Esri Canada has joined the elite rank of Canada’s Best Managed companies and has been named to the Branham300.  Information about the company can be found at esri.ca. Follow Esri Canada on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. 

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