Use of Esri's Cloud Solution and Online Community Maps Cost-Effectively Promotes and Preserves Cultural Assets

REGINA, Esri Canada User Conference – September 18, 2012 – Limited budgets challenge the City of Regina to be innovative and resourceful when looking for ways to provide information to the public. Joining Esri Canada's Community Maps Program in 2011 has allowed the City to cost-effectively share geographic maps and data, as well as access a wealth of mapping tools and content through ArcGIS Online. Esri's cloud-based geographic information system (GIS) solution enabled them to develop the Regina Culture Map application that maps hundreds of cultural sites and assets throughout the City and helps promote and preserve their rich heritage. For this outstanding application, Esri Canada today presented the City with an Award of Excellence in GIS.
 
“The City of Regina is an excellent example of a municipality doing more with less,” says Alex Miller, president, Esri Canada. “In embracing cloud GIS technology and community partnerships to access valuable spatial data and tools, they've overcome resource constraints to deliver an innovative application that provides a better understanding of their cultural resources in a geographic context. It also identifies gaps or overlaps in their offerings so they can improve Regina's Cultural Plan and support new opportunities.”

“Our goal was to identify and present our City's many layers of culture in an interactive format that informs citizens and visitors alike,” says Andrea Weston, GIS coordinator, City of Regina. “GIS allows us to provide a user-friendly view of the dynamic cultural activity in Regina. As our City grows and changes, our map can easily grow and change along with it. We're honoured that our efforts have been recognized by the GIS community.”
 
The City started the project by launching an online survey inviting members of Regina's cultural sector to contribute the latest information on their organizations including programming, facility features, organizational structures and performance venues. The data was edited and stored in a central database linked to the online application hosted in the City's ArcGIS for Server system. The City then developed a Web-based map viewer that allows users to search cultural assets by category such as heritage property, museum, performance venue or festival.

The application now maps over 119 organizations and 176 venues including art galleries, designated heritage properties, public art sites, cultural head offices, creative industries and performance venues across Regina. Using the map, visitors to the site can pull up the latest descriptions, photos and address information of local cultural attractions. When data changes, edits are made directly to the central database and instantly reflected in the application.

Through Esri Canada's Community Maps Program, the City contributed their topographic basemap data that was integrated with other authoritative datasets, cached and rendered with uniform cartography. They were provided with a detailed online basemap that was consistent with the look and feel of their other mapping systems at no cost. This allowed them to significantly reduce development costs and focus their efforts on improving the map viewer functionality.

Since its launch in October 2011, the site has received more than 1,500 visits and has become the City's one-stop shop for cultural information. View the Regina Culture Map at culture.regina.ca and read the case study: Promoting a vibrant culture through Community Maps.

Learn more about ArcGIS Online for Organizations and the Community Maps Program.

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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, Cityworks – Azteca Systems, Inc. and other technology partners.  Headquartered in Toronto, the company serves over 10,000 customers from 16 regional offices across Canada and has been named as one of the Top 250 Canadian IT Companies and Top 25 IT Professional Services Providers in Canada by the Branham Group, as well as one of Computer Dealer News' Top 100 IT Solution Providers in Canada.  Information about Esri Canada can be found at esri.ca.

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