Fairfax County celebrates 13th annual GIS Day!

• What is GIS Day?
• GIS Day 2011 Wrap-up
• Past GIS Day Photos & Award Winners

During the week of November 14-18^th, the Department of Information Technology’s GIS & Mapping Services Branch hosted the County’s 13^th annual GIS Day Celebrations.

See video, photos, award-winning projects, and the awards ceremony program.

GIS Excellence Awards

Sharing a common geography yet diverse business practices, Fairfax County’s GIS professionals provide the skills and efforts that result in unique spatial perspectives, and analyses that assist their business areas, decision makers and the public.

GIS Day provides an opportunity to recognize effective and creative use of spatial tools to better serve agencies and constituents. This culminates in the presentation of the GIS Excellence awards. 

For GIS Day 2011, Chairman Sharon Bulova, Department of Information Technology Director Wanda Gibson, Enterprise Systems Division Director Gordon Jarratt and GIS Manager Tom Conry addressed the audience and presented awards in 11 categories. Congratulations to all the winners!

Award Category		Project/Map	Recipient(s) Name(s)	Department
Best GIS Cartographic Product/Presentation	First Place	Sea Level Rise!	Chip Galloway	Public Works & Environmental Services, Stormwater Maintenance Branch
	Second Place	Driving While Under the Influence - 21 Months of  DWI Impact in Fairfax County	Brandi Horita	Fairfax County Police Department, Operations Support Bureau
	Third Place	Private Well Yields	Adrian Joye	Department of Health, Environmental Health Division
Best Use of GIS for Analysis	First Place	Food Insecurity in Fairfax County	Anne Cahill, Komail Khaja	Neighborhood & Community Services, Demographics Branch
	Second Place	Lake Barton - Maximum Flood	Chip Galloway	Public Works & Environmental Services, Stormwater Maintenance Branch
	Third Place	Medically Underserved Population Assessment	Adrian Joye, Chris Stevens	Health Department, Environmental Health Division
Best Use of GIS on the Web		Department of Planning & Zoning Website (www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpz)	Greg Chase, Allison Clark, Harry Rado, Daniel White	Department of Planning and Zoning
Best Use of GIS for Public Outreach		Youth Distracted Driving Crash Map	Brandi Horita	Police Department
Most Significant Data Contributor		Creating Fire Boxes and Determining Dispatch Order	Keg Good	Fire and Rescue Department
Best GIS Integration or Application Development		Lake Fairfax Kiosk Map	Buddy Rose, Liz Crounauer	Park Authority
Most Significant Progress		Comprehensive Plan Amendment Database	Kim Rybold, Brandy Holstein, Meghan Van Dam, Harry Rado	Department of Planning & Zoning
People’s Choice Award for Best Map		Food Insecurity in Fairfax County	Anne Cahill, Komail Khaja	Neighborhood & Community Services, Demographics Branch

Winning entries are described in the awards program and can be viewed in a slide show.

Gallery of Maps

Project submissions for the GIS Excellence Awards competition were on display all week. Additionally, the GIS and Mapping Services Branch hosted a reception in front of the Map Gallery before the GIS Excellence Awards ceremony. Representatives from many of the county agencies that utilize GIS stopped by to interact with their colleagues, peruse the Map Gallery, and cast a vote for the Peoples' Choice Award for Best Map.

GIS Technology Exhibition 

Throughout the week, the GIS technology exhibition visited the lobbies of four County facilities: the Pennino, Herrity, South County, and Government Center buildings. During these exhibitions, County GIS and Mapping Services Branch staff interacted with dozens of County staff and members of the public, explaining core GIS concepts, demonstrating several online mapping applications, and describing training opportunities for County staff.