FREDERICTON – November 18, 2009 – ESRI Canada celebrates GIS Day with the launch of Service New Brunswick’s GeoNB Map Viewer, a new online source of New Brunswick geographic information that uses ESRI geographic information system (GIS) technology. The tool provides the public with a free, easy-to-use, Internet-based application for viewing maps and aerial photos of the province.

“Working with our partners across Government, Service New Brunswick has created this impressive new tool that allows the citizens of New Brunswick free access to an incredible array of geographic information,” said Victor Boudreau, Minister Responsible for Service New Brunswick.

The GeoNB Map Viewer is administered by Service New Brunswick (SNB), a provincially-owned corporation focused on improving the delivery of government services to the public. SNB recognized that it needed a central database to manage the entire province’s real and personal property registries, lands and property assessments, survey control network and topographic maps. To improve internal operations and customer service, it developed a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) of technologies, policies, standards and human resources needed to effectively manage and distribute geographic information. ESRI Canada assisted in the development of the GeoNB Map Viewer application that is built on ESRI ArcGIS Server technology.

ArcGIS Server is a comprehensive, server-based GIS that comes with out-of-the-box functionality for managing, visualizing, analyzing and sharing geographic information. The map-viewer also leverages ArcGIS API for Flex to make rich content available over the Web that can be used internally and by the public. Through the application, New Brunswick citizens can now access high-quality aerial photos, topographic data, roads data and land information collected and maintained by the Government of New Brunswick.

“This application has helped us to significantly reduce data duplication and inaccuracies to better meet the needs of our provincial departments and the public,” said Bernie Connors, SDI Manager, Service New Brunswick.

The GeoNB Map Viewer has a number of useful features including a colour scheme that distinguishes Crown land from private land. This can help those pursuing outdoor activities such as hunting or fishing to avoid trespassing. The tool also includes property maps and enables users to view property lines and distances between various points.

“We are using the GeoNB Map Viewer at the Provincial Forest Fire Centre,” said Department of Natural Resources Fire Centre Operations Officer Jeff Betts. “It has several features that make it useful which other mapping programs such as Google Earth don’t have. One feature which we particularly like is the quick access to ortho [aerial] photos.”

The main features and benefits of the GeoNB Map Viewer include: • High-resolution aerial photo coverage of the entire province (compared to other free mapping tools which cover only about 10% of New Brunswick with high-resolution aerial photos)
• Property boundaries for all 527,000 properties in New Brunswick
• Real-time weather data
• Gigabytes of other valuable government data that, until now, have not been easily accessible to the public, including the New Brunswick Department of Transportation road network, geographic elevations, streams and hydrographic detail, as well as property assessment and civic address information
•Search capabilities and distance measurement
• A bilingual interface
• The ability to print custom maps

The release of the Map Viewer is only the first step in a much larger, collaborative project led by Service New Brunswick’s Land Information Infrastructure Secretariat, with participation from several provincial and municipal government departments, aimed at promoting and increasing the use of geographic information and maps.

“Having access to geographic information enables better decision making,” said James Wickson, Vice President of Sales and Professional Services, ESRI Canada. “We are proud to provide Service New Brunswick with a world-class GIS solution to help it share geographic information with the public and deliver better services to its citizens.”

To access to the GeoNB Map Viewer and for more information about the GeoNB project, visit: www.snb.ca/geonb. For more information on ESRI ArcGIS Server, visit www.esricanada.com/products/arcgisserver.

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Celebrate the Power of Geography on GIS Day, November 18, 2009
Today, thousands of people in Canada and around the world celebrate GIS Day. Held each year during Geography Awareness Week (November 16-20 in 2009), GIS Day is a global event that promotes awareness of geographic information system (GIS) technology and its important application in areas including business, education, science and government. This year, more than 50 ESRI Canada customers across the country are hosting open houses, lectures, games and other activities to showcase real-world GIS applications on GIS Day. For information on GIS Day events near you, visit: www.esricanada.com/gisday.

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, Telvent Miner & Miner, Azteca Systems and other technology partners. Headquartered in Toronto, the company serves over 10,000 customers from 16 regional offices across Canada. Information about ESRI Canada can be found at www.esricanada.com.

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