System Enables Integrated Data Collection, Analysis, and Dissemination

Redlands, California―ESRI and business partner Farallon Geographics announce the completion of an enterprise geographic information system (GIS) application for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD). The district is responsible for maintaining air quality standards in the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties in California. The enterprise GIS will support the district’s Community Air Risk Evaluation (CARE) program by allowing  collection, integration, and analysis of large volumes of data and subsequent visualization for communication with stakeholders.

“BAAQMD’s GIS technology has developed rapidly, allowing for detailed and efficient air quality analysis to be performed quickly and displayed on maps that are easy to understand,” said Janet Stromberg, interim program manager, CARE. The CARE mission is to improve toxic air contaminants (TAC) monitoring, determine TAC-related health risk threats, and develop targeted contaminants reduction campaigns. With GIS, the CARE staff has a simple way to quickly understand large volumes of data including census demographics, point-of-interest sites, health care records, TAC levels, weather patterns, and point source data.

The goal of an enterprise GIS is the integration of spatial data and analysis in the business processes and workflows of organizations to efficiently support core business needs. Farallon Geographics built the geodatabase using Oracle9i with ESRI’s ArcGIS family of software, including ArcView, ArcEditor, StreetMap, ArcPad, and ArcSDE. The ArcGIS Spatial Analyst extension is used to enhance raster data analysis capabilities. The enterprise GIS allows BAAQMD to

·       Collect, organize, analyze, and visualize large volumes of data.

·       Share geospatial information.

·       Reduce data and hardware redundancy.

·       Visually display data to policy makers and the public to effectively promote and maintain high air quality standards.

“When complex information has a geographic component, an enterprise GIS can play a leading role in making that data understandable and interpretable,” said Dennis Wuthrich, CEO of Farallon Geographics. “BAAQMD’s enterprise GIS will form the foundation for applications that make it easier to identify air quality problems and develop strategies for improvement.”

#  #  #

About Farallon Geographics

Farallon Geographics, based in San Francisco, is a leader in the planning, implementation, and integration of GIS systems and software to support mission-critical business functions. As a formal business partner with each of the major vendors in the GIS market, Farallon provides unique and objective strategic and technical implementation services for enterprise-scale GIS. For more information, visit www.fargeo.com.

About ESRI
Since 1969, ESRI has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS, ESRI software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 5,000 colleges and universities. ESRI applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world’s mapping and spatial analysis. ESRI is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at www.esri.com.
 
ESRI, the ESRI globe logo, GIS by ESRI, ArcGIS, ArcView, ArcEditor, StreetMap, ArcPad, ArcSDE, www.esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.