The Town of Milton's new solution has both external and internal applications. Residents and general members of the public can now use the external site, which is integrated into the Town's public website (www.milton.ca), to interact with maps of the area and obtain customized information about locations and key services. Municipal staff members can use the internal site to browse the Town's map-based information and enhance internal reports with graphical mapping data.

Pam Ross, Manager of IT for the Town of Milton, says that Milton became aware of OnPoint™ largely due to the Town's membership in the Halton Information Technology Committee, an association of municipalities in Ontario's Golden Horseshoe area. Other municipalities had also implemented OnPoint™-based web-GIS services through their Internet and intranet sites, and all of them were extremely positive about their experiences with Orion and the solutions they received. So, the Town of Milton approached Orion about the possibility of implementing a similar solution.

The Town of Milton was the only municipality in the area to be running an Apache/Linux-based website, so they informed Orion that they required a solution that could adapt to this particular requirement. As well, for internal use, the Town required a tool that offered power and flexibility but could be managed by users without a great deal of GIS knowledge, and one which could work in conjunction with the Town's existing ARC suite of products. The Town found that OnPoint™ met all of their needs. "The implementation was quick and simple," says Ross, "and Orion was way ahead of schedule."

For the external site, the resulting mapping solution has greatly increased traffic on the Town of Milton's site. "The OnPoint™-based portion of our site is the number one page on our website, receiving the most hits since its launch on September 1," Ross says. "It accounts for over half the visitors to milton.ca". Ross says that after the launch, web traffic increased by 18% from the previous month. For the internal site, Town staff members can now easily incorporate maps into the reports they need to produce, which Ross says has helped to enhance workflows.

In the future, the Town of Milton plans to expand their OnPoint™-based applications as public demand requires. As well, they intend to implement Orion's OnSite™ application to provide an economic-development focus to the public website; through this new extension, prospective investors or businesses will be able to review zoning and relevant geographic information to consider expanding into the Milton area.

And so, the Town of Milton has been added to the growing list of satisfied Orion customers in southern Ontario. Confirms Ross, "We're really pleased with OnPoint™."

About Orion Technology Inc.

Orion Technology Inc. is a technology consulting and technology services integration company, focused on helping organizations integrate spatial technology into all facets of their business. Since its inception in 1998, Orion has been dedicated to creating leading edge IT and GIS solutions. A relative newcomer to the market, Orion have achieved phenomenal success in securing and delivering projects for reputable clients worldwide - from small organizations to entire countries. To find out more about Orion and its products, visit www.orion-gis.com. To visit the Town of Milton's web portal, visit www.milton.ca.