Featured Stories: Volume 8 No. 2

• City of St.John's clears snow with Tracking Server / La Ville de St. John's se déneige avec Tracking Server
  Following the severe snow storms that hit the City of St.John's in the winter of 2002, City Council mandated the Public Works Department to track snow clearing vehicles during a storm. The city initially deployed a solution hosted by an outside company that handled the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the application. The City soon realized that they needed more control over the application data. This caused the City to look at different options for tracking their vehicles. After reviewing different alternatives the City selected ESRI Canada to provide an Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) solution using Tracking Server.
  
  En moyenne, la Ville de St. John's reçoit 322 cm de neige par année. Pour fournir un service de qualité à sa population, la Ville dresse un budget d'environ 11 millions $ par année en prévision des opérations de déneigement et de déverglaçage. Ces deux activités sont complexes en raison du nombreélevé de véhicules et de conducteurs à prévoir et des ressources requises comme le sel et le sable.
  
  
• Hamilton Police a beat ahead of crime with Beat Tracker
  Hamilton Police are a beat ahead of crime with a Canadian policing first, Beat Tracker. Beat Tracker is the first interactive mapping service provided to frontline police officers via their intranet. A breakthrough in policing, Hamilton Police Services (HPS) Beat Tracker provides frontline Hamilton police officers with access to current crime information, a critical component in intelligence-led policing which is a model that combines information and analysis with investigation to combat crime.
  
  
• Helping students stay at school with GIS 
  Studies show that children who remain in a consistent school environment perform better than those who change schools often and those children who move frequently can have difficulties with academic work or exhibit behavioural difficulties. In an effort to offer students a consistent school environment, the Winnipeg School Division provides a Housing Registry website to help families who are moving find local housing vacancies.