GIS-Supported Strategic Planning Project in Niagara Falls Wins Esri 2024 Special Achievement in GIS Award!

Last month, the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) honored the winners of its coveted Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Awards at a ceremony during the 2024 Esri User Conference in San Diego, California. At the ceremony, LaBella and Niagara University were honored to receive a 2024 Special Achievement in GIS Award for the GIS-Supported Strategic Planning project in Niagara Falls.

This revitalization project in the Mid-City area of Niagara Falls, New York, aims to create a vibrant, equitable, and inclusive community. Through the use of GIS technology, a comprehensive data collection and web mapping effort gathered critical information on population demographics and household metrics, revealing factors contributing to environmental and socio-economic inequalities. The datasets and mapping tool have been shared with the community and stakeholders to promote collaboration, open data sharing, and data-driven decision-making. Moving forward, the data collected by this project will inform decisions on homeownership and future development initiatives, playing a crucial role in helping the city formulate a comprehensive revitalization strategy with actionable goals.

The SAG awards are given to user sites worldwide to recognize exceptional work with geographic information systems (GIS) technology. Nominations come from vertical industry managers, U.S. regional offices, and international distributors, with finalists selected by Jack Dangermond, President and Founder of Esri. This award was one of 197 chosen from more than 100,000 Esri clients worldwide!

Congratulations to the project team for their outstanding work in the GIS community!

More information on this exciting project, including a video of the interactive web mapping tool, can be found here: https://www.labellapc.com/projects/gis-supported-strategic-planning-in-niagara-falls/