New Orleans Mayor’s Office of Technology Named Recipient of GITA’s Innovator Award
Tampa, Fla., April 28, 2006—The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) announced today that New Orleans Mayor’s Office of Technology (NOMOT) of Lousiana was named the recipient of a 2006 GITA Innovator Award. The award recognizes the unique and significant contributions of organizations that have used geospatial technology in the innovative development of a technology, service, or application. The award was presented during GITA’s Annual Conference 29, held April 23-26, 2006, at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla.
NOMOT was responsible for performing unprecedented damage assessment inspections on structures damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The city had previously invested in a land management and GIS solution from Accela so the department was able to mobilize quickly with these solutions.
With donated GPS toughbooks, the city employed unique GIS decision-making tools to assess the extent of structural damage and determine if it was safe for residents to return to their homes. Using this technology, the department completed more than 125,000 inspections in just 10 weeks.
The sheer enormity of the task was staggering. After having laid off thousands of personnel when demands on the city were higher than ever, using customized GIS systems to automate both city hall and FEMA assessments was the only viable way to get the city back on its feet. This data provided city officials with a clear and exact picture of the most heavily damaged areas, allowing them to allocate resources accordingly.
"Our city's experience following the hurricane illustrates how technology, particularly geospatial technology, can play such a huge and critical role in the recovery process from a disaster of this magnitude," Greg Meffert, CTO, NOMOT.
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The mission of the Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) is to provide excellence in education, information exchange and applied research on the use and benefits of geospatial information and technology in business, utility and government applications worldwide. Visit GITA on the Web at
www.gita.org.
