Winnipeg, MB - Manitoba Hydro was recently presented with an Award of Excellence at ESRI Canada's annual ESRI Regional User Conference in Winnipeg. Alex Miller, President of ESRI Canada, presented the Award in recognition of their GIS data management solution. More than 100 GIS professionals were on hand for the presentation, which was one of the highlights of the conference.

"Manitoba Hydro is taking advantage of GIS by providing employees with an easy and seamless method of gaining access to changing and historical spatial data using state of the art GIS tools," said Mr. Miller. "Their solution provides centralized data access that allows for much faster and more accurate access to corporate spatial information, and promotes data standards that improve the quality of information used in various studies conducted by Manitoba Hydro. I congratulate them on the progress they have made in such a short span of time."

The purpose of the Geospatial Data Server project is to centralize access to geospatial data by adding a Geospatial Data Server. This improves data access and enables a more open and scalable implementation of GIS technology by integrating it with existing and new tools and applications. The project has already improved efficiency for the management of their infrastructure and will continue to build capacity within Manitoba Hydro's Power Supply business unit.

"ArcSDE and its supporting ArcGIS software enabled us to standardize how we work with and store spatial information," said Greg Johnston, a GIS and Special Studies Engineer, Hydro Power Planning Department. "It gives us a central solution to gain access to a broad spectrum of spatial data, and has reduced the time required to manage and retrieve information on project startup. We expect this spatial data warehouse to grow over time as more and more people take advantage of this new and powerful GIS repository."

About Manitoba Hydro:
Manitoba Hydro is Manitoba's major energy utility, headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They serve 505,883 electric customers throughout Manitoba and 253,631 gas customers in various communities throughout southern Manitoba. The Corporation's capital assets-in-service exceed $10 billion, making it one of the largest energy and natural gas utilities in Canada.


About ESRI Canada:
Established in 1984, ESRI Canada is a Canadian owned company specializing in geographic information systems (GIS) solutions. We distribute the world's leading GIS software solutions from ESRI Inc., Miner and Miner, and Azteca. In order to provide organizations with complete industry-specific solutions we have established an extensive business partner program that includes more than 125 Canadian organizations. ESRI Canada also provides professional services including consulting, training, technical support, and enterprise GIS implementation. We are leaders in providing world-class enterprise GIS solutions for many industries including local government, utilities, public safety and defence, business demographics, education, natural resources, and transportation. ESRI Canada has thirteen regional offices across the country, with headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. For more information, please visit http://www.esricanada.com/ or call 1-800-447-9778.

Media Contact:
Heather Adams
Communications Specialist
ESRI Canada
T: 416-386-6463
E: hadams@esricanada.com  


Greg Johnston
GIS and Special Studies Engineer
Hydro Power Planning Department
Manitoba Hydro
T: 204-474-3245
E: gdjohnston@hydro.mb.ca
W: http://www.hydro.mb.ca/