GITA Names J. Peter Gomez Recipient of Distinguished Service Award
Tampa, Fla. April 20, 2009—The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) announced today that J. Peter Gomez of Denver, Colo., has been named the recipient of GITA’s 2009 Distinguished Service Award. The award is bestowed on individuals whose extraordinary personal contributions have added to the success of GITA. The presentation was made at GITA’s 2009 Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference, being held April 19-22, at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla.
Gomez is the manager of Information Requirements within the Asset Management organization of Xcel Energy and has been an active member of GITA for more than 17 years. During that time, he has served the organization as a member of the Education Committee, Outreach Committee, Awards Committee, ExecuNet Planning Committee and as chairperson of the ExecuNet Conference in 2001, which achieved the highest attendance for this event at the time. Gomez has presented numerous papers at GITA events worldwide and was recognized with a speaker award at GITA’s Annual Conference in both 2005 and 2008.
Gomez spent seven years as a member of GITA’s Board of Directors and served as president of GITA-North America in 2005. He currently is an active member of the Past President’s Advisory Council and continues to participate in GITA’s efforts focused on the support of critical infrastructure protection.
"I am extremely honored to be the recipient of this award,” Gomez said. “What makes it special to me is that it represents recognition from the geospatial community, which I am extremely proud of. I look forward to continuing my involvement as an active member of GITA."
SECO Energy Receives GITA’s Excellence Award
Tampa, Fla., April 20, 2009—The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) announced today that SECO Energy, Sumterville, Fla., was named a recipient of the 2009 GITA Excellence Award. The award recognizes the dedication, insight, and high degree of initiative in the outstanding application of geospatial technology. The award was presented during the Opening Session of GITA’s Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference, being held April 19-22, 2009, at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla.
The SECO Energy Board of Directors approved a GPS project to develop a GIS the summer of 1996. The electric distribution facilities and road network inventories began in 1997 and finished in 2000.
In October 2001, SECO Energy selected the GE suite of products as its engineering and operations solution with the following goals: utility solution operational at a utility today; solution scalable and responsive; delivery of solution on time and on budget; and minimal overall application integration costs.
SECO’s Enterprise Geospatial Technologies is a single source of data tightly integrated with several business applications, which provides SECO with tremendous benefits and efficiencies. The GE suite of products enables SECO to efficiently design, construct, and energize new facilities. By combining many data elements into one cohesive information source, the advantages related to ease of access, speed, accuracy and employee/customer acceptance have all been radically enhanced. New opportunities continue to expand our use of GIS technology in improving overall business operations and customer satisfaction.
“SECO Energy is honored to be recognized by GITA for our achievements in developing a total business information solution for our enterprise,” said Barry Owens, Manager of GIS & Drafting Services, SECO Energy. “The GIS solution is the key component for SECO to excel at spatial business related functions.”
Xcel Energy Receives GITA’s Excellence Award
Tampa, Fla., April 20, 2009—The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) announced today that Xcel Energy, Minneapolis, Minn., was named a recipient of the 2009 GITA Excellence Award. The award recognizes the dedication, insight, and high degree of initiative in the outstanding application of geospatial technology. The award was presented during the Opening Session of GITA’s Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference, being held April 19-22, 2009, at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla.
Xcel Energy’s initial exposure to using geospatial technology began in the PSCo (Public Service of Colo.) jurisdiction back in 1983. A multitude of work practices have been enhanced and additional systems integrations implemented to realize significant benefits at Xcel Energy.
A few of the key benefits realized include:
• Distribution Electric and Gas Design work is conducted in our system via GIS, Design Tool, and WMS. Streamlining our work order design process around GIS functionality and linking to legacy systems and an automated estimating system provide job cost information to customers.
• Maintaining a geographic location for all customers in our GIS converted regions, enabling various applications such as an outage management system to be implemented.
• Implemented mobile data terminals equipped with GIS data in construction and emergency response vehicles, improving our ability to respond and restore service as required.
• GIS data is published to our asset management system for analysis.
“Xcel Energy’s pioneering vision and dedication is evident as one of the critical components in leveraging the geospatial technology to support the success realized by the company,” said Scott Bundy, senior solutions consultant for Xcel Energy. We are very proud of our work with this technology and appreciate GITA’s recognition through this award.”
For more information about GITA’s Awards Program, visit http://gita.org/about-gita/awards_program/index.asp, call 303-337-0513, or e-mail info@gita.org.
About GITA
The Geospatial Information & Technology Association, or GITA, is the professional association and leading advocate for anyone using computerized mapping for the extraction of data to own, operate, maintain, and protect the infrastructure. GITA is the source for professional best practices, education, and employment.