Loudoun County Honored for 30 Years of Innovation with GIS

Redlands, California—July 20, 2016—Esri has presented Loudoun County, Virginia with an award for 30 years of excellence in geographic information system (GIS) technology, during which time the county has continuously innovated how it delivers smarter, better government services.

In 1962, when Washington Dulles International Airport opened in Loudoun, the county soon transformed from a rural community into a dynamic suburb with hitherto unparalleled economic development. To keep pace with the county’s growth, Loudoun purchased GIS software from Esri to modernize its mapping technology. Today, the county’s GIS serves as an enterprise business intelligence platform.

“I’ve been watching Loudoun County for a long time through the evolution of their technology,” said Jack Dangermond. “Now we’re entering a new era. Loudoun not only continues paving the way in open data, but serves as an example for how government of all sizes can engage the public and become smart communities.”

Since adopting Esri’s GIS technology, Loudoun has made government services and operations more efficient and has given the community access to important data.

As early as 1987, the county used GIS to model site selection of a new landfill. Considerations such as proximity to population centers and avoidance of water sources made this a difficult task. However, thanks to the county’s GIS model, Loudoun saved approximately $700,000 by avoiding a risky location. By the early 1990’s, the county opened its GIS data to the public. By the next decade, the data was available on the web via WebLogis, the county’s online mapping system.

Today, Loudoun is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation, and WebLogis is critical to developers who rely heavily on geographic data when applying for building permits. The county’s system now allows addresses and map parcels to be assigned in as short as 24 hours since the data is refreshed daily.

Moving forward, Loudoun County plans to install a new GIS-enabled computer aided dispatch (CAD) system that will empower emergency response dispatchers with a more robust system for mapping locations of vehicles and callers, thus cutting response time and mitigating field delays.