Featured Stories: Volume 6 No. 3

• West Nile Virus and York Region's Response
  Since 2001, the Regional Municipality of York (York Region) has been participating in a province-wide West Nile virus (WNv) Surveillance Program in conjunction with other public health units and governments. York Region Geomatics has taken a lead role in developing a GIS response to capture, monitor, analyze, and map information on the spread of the virus. The approach has enabled York Region's Health Services Department to make quick, informed decisions and plans of action.

• City of Ottawa's West Nile Virus Action Plan
  Ottawa is a large city with both rural and urban environments covering 2,778 square kilometres, with 775,000 people, and over 310,000 dwellings. The population density ranges from as low as 10 persons per square kilometre in the greenbelt area, to as high as 7,000 persons per square kilometre in some urban neighbourhoods. The task of safeguarding and protecting such a diverse population from various health related threats is a huge undertaking. The City of Ottawa is striving to ensure that one such threat, West Nile virus (WNv), is efficiently tracked and monitored in order to protect the citizens of Ottawa.

• Plan d'action pour combattre le virus de Nil occidental
  Ottawa est une grande ville composée de zones rurales et urbaines présentant une superficie de 2 778 kilomètres et comptant plus de 310 000 habitations. La densité de la population varie, passant de 10 personnes par kilomètre carré dans la Ceinture de verdure à 7 000 personnes par kilomètre carré dans certains quartiers urbains. La protection d'une population aussi diverse par rapport à différentes menaces à la santé est une tâche immense. La Ville d'Ottawa s'efforce de protéger ses citoyens en effectuant un suivi et un contrôle efficaces du virus du Nil occidental.

• Efficient Land Use Planning in Nunavut
  Nunavut is home to some of the world's most promising reserves of gold, diamonds, and base metals. Development pressures in the form of proposed roads, ports, and mines are reverberating throughout the new territory.

• Leveraging Land Management Technology
  Today, the City of Oshawa's land information system is made up of both ESRI and NovaLIS land management technology. The combination of products has enabled the city to completely integrate its land records information and provide this information to the desktop. In addition to streamlining business processes, the new system has helped the city provide better services to residents, businesses, and visitors. In 1991 the City of Oshawa selected ESRI technology and began using GIS for editing and as a map-enabled land information system. The system was primarily used by technical staff within the Planning Department.

• Geoprocessing in ArcGIS 9.0
  ArcGIS 9.0 is the next major release of the ESRI ArcGIS suite of software. While ArcGIS 9.0 is built on the strength of the current versions of the software, it extends the existing release with major new capabilities not offered previously. These new capabilities are in the areas of geoprocessing, 3D visualization, and developer tools. Two new products will be launched, ArcGIS Engine, a series of embeddable ArcObjects components for building custom applications, and ArcGIS Server, a series of shared GIS objects used in enterprise and web application settings. The range of supported platforms will be extended as well.

• Géo-traitement dans ArcGIS 9.0
  ArcGIS 9.0 constitue le prochain lancement d'importance de la suite de logiciels ArcGIS d'ESRI. ArcGIS 9.0 est fondé sur la solidité des versions actuelles du logiciel et offre en plus des capacités importantes tout à fait nouvelles. Mentionnons le géo-traitement des données géographiques, la visualisation en trois dimensions et les outils de conception. Deux nouveaux produits seront lancés, soit ArcGIS Engine, une série de composantes ArcObjects intégrables servant aux applications sur mesure et ArcGIS Server, une série d'objets SIG partagés destinés aux entreprises et aux applications Web. La portée des plates-formes d'utilisation généralisée sera également accrue.

• Introducing GIS to Students in Nunavut
  The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS), in collaboration with the Nunavut Planning Commission (NPC), facilitated a series of GIS workshops in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, to introduce students and teachers to the capabilities of GIS. The workshops, a part of the Fraser Lectureship in Northern Studies, were delivered by Al Friesen, a teacher at Neelin High School in Brandon, Manitoba.