HONOLULU – The State Office of Planning’s (OP) Hawaii Statewide Geographic Information System (GIS) Program received a Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) award at the 2019 Esri User Conference, recently held in San Diego. Hawaii’s GIS Program – a partnership between the State Office of Planning and the State Office of Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) Program — was recognized in particular for its Open Geospatial Data Portal (https://geoportal.hawaii.gov), use of the web mapping platform (ArcGIS Online), and training provided to a broad range of State users.
“The Office of Planning is very proud of receiving this special recognition. It is a testament to the importance of providing data and information to state departments, agencies, and the public and the work done by the Statewide GIS team of Arthur Buto, Joan Delos Santos and Dennis Kim,” said Mary Alice Evans, Office of Planning director. “We will continue to expand ways in which we can all collaborate and share data.”
This joint ETS-OP GIS effort has established enterprise licensing agreements and cloud-based hosting services that encourages broad GIS adoption across all State of Hawaii departments. It also reduces redundant local databases, standardizes information analyzed by decision makers, and collects and distributes up-to-date authoritative GIS data to more than 600 state GIS data and system users across a dozen state departments that develop and maintain a wide variety of data, maps and ERP applications — many of which are available to the public and/or relied upon by state personnel.
“This collaborative GIS program between the Office of Planning and Office of Enterprise Technology Services has greatly improved use and sharing of geographical information,” said Doug Murdock, ETS chief information officer. “Having GIS data and tools help employees make informed decisions by interpreting complex data in visual ways.”
This year, Hawaii stood out from more than 100,000 other sites where geospatial technology is used to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues in local governments, agriculture, environmental analysis, emergency response, retail, and water management.
“The Hawai‘i Statewide GIS Program has been doing amazing work in support of GIS for Hawaii State Government for many years – it is exciting to see that their hard work is being recognized,” said Todd Kingman, the Honolulu Esri Office Account Manager.
Some Examples of GIS:
About the State Office of Planning
The Office of Planning is a state agency, attached to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), that gathers, analyzes and provides information to the governor to assist in the overall analysis and formulation of state policies and strategies. Its purpose is to: (1) provide central direction and cohesion in the allocation of resources and effectuation of state activities and programs; and (2) effectively address current or emerging issues and opportunities. The office works closely with local, state and federal government agencies; the University of Hawaii; and various community stakeholders to achieve these objectives.
About the Office of Enterprise Technology Services
The Office of Enterprise Technology Services (ETS), led by Chief Information Officer Douglas Murdock, provides governance for executive branch IT projects and seeks to identify, prioritize and advance innovative initiatives with the greatest potential to increase efficiency, reduce waste, and improve transparency and accountability in state government. ETS supports the management and operation of all state agencies by providing effective, efficient, coordinated and cost-beneficial computer and telecommunication services to achieve state program objectives.