Seattle, Wash., March 10, 2008—The following awards were announced at GITA's annual meeting:
 
GITA Names Dave DiSera Recipient of Distinguished Service Award
The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) announced today that Dave DiSera of Honolulu, Hawaii, has been named the recipient of GITA’s 2008 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 Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference 31, being held March 9-12, at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle, Wash.

Dave DiSera is chief information officer and vice president with First Insurance Company of Hawaii. He has been involved with GITA for over 15 years. In his current volunteer role, DiSera chairs GITA’s Research Committee. He is actively engaged in two notable research efforts, including the Geospatially Enabling Community Collaboration (GECCo) and Return on Investment initiatives. DiSera was president of GITA in 2002, and served on the Board of Directors between 1997 and 2003. He is co-author and presenter of the Critical Infrastructure Protection and Return on Investment seminars, and was the recipient of a GITA Speaker Award. DiSera has served on the Geospatial Leadership Coalition, Futures Task Force, and Strategic Planning Committee. He also represented GITA as the National Chair for the GIS/LIS Conference and on the National Steering Committee. DiSera co-founded GITA’s Minnesota Chapter and served as its president.

Florida Power and Light Receives GITA’s Excellence Award
The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) announced today that Florida Power & Light, Juno Beach, Fla., was named a recipient of the 2008 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 March 9-12, 2008, at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle, Wash.

Florida Power and Light (FPL) is one of the largest and fastest growing electric utilities in the country, serving 4.5 million customers. It adds approximately 90,000 new customers annually within its 27,000 sq. mi. territory. To manage this growth, FPL began investing in GIS technology in the late 1980s. In 2001, FPL implemented its asset management system to manage its electrical distribution infrastructure, consisting of over 1.6 million poles and 750,000 transformers. AMS is the foundational application that integrates all of FPL’s distribution applications using EAI technology. On any given night AMS is providing over 5,000 land and facility updates to more than 10 applications.

“FPL is honored to be recognized by GITA for our GIT achievements,” said Radha Swaminathan, director of Business Solutions, Florida Power & Light.

Gainesville Regional Utilities Receives GITA’s Excellence Award
The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) announced today that Gainesville Regional Utilities, Gainesville, Fla., was named a recipient of the 2008 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 March 9-12, 2008, at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle, Wash.

Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) began development of an automated mapping/facilities management (AM/FM) in 1985. Twenty-two years later, after a major GIS-platform change, numerous data conversion and facility field survey activities, leadership, and organizational changes, the vision and support throughout the enterprise remain robust. With over 200 direct and indirect system users, information relating to GRU’s distributed utility network (electric, gas, water, wastewater, reclaimed water, and communication) facilities are readily available, in various formats. Many necessary utility functions, including network extension, facilities renewal and replacement, tactical and strategic planning, customer care, budget, permitting, and accounting, make use of the data provided by the AM/FM system. GRU’s system is operations-driven. Maintenance, support, planning, budgeting, and system enhancement are provided primarily by the respective operating departments, who collaborate and cooperate closely with one another along with GRU’s information technology department.

“We have realized our vision and the power of a robust geographic information system through hard work, absolute determination, and collaboration. I credit GRU’s success to our very dedicated and resourceful GIS employees who shared the vision, believed in the project, and put forward tremendous effort to make it real,” said David Beaulieu, assistant general manager, Energy Delivery, Gainesville Regional Utilities.

Verizon Receives GITA’s Innovator Award
The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) announced today that Verizon, Temple Terrace, Fla., was named the recipient of the 2008 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 Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference, being held March 9-12, 2008, at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle, Wash.

The Verizon Enterprise Geospatial Application (VEGA) vision was to create a ubiquitous, open, and pure Web-based application in support of Telecommunications OSP (Outside Plant) business needs and additionally leveraging that environment for other, non-engineering related business opportunities. R&D was conducted in 2006. Development started in earnest in 2007, to address OSP planning functions in support of Verizon’s FiOS program providing voice, high-speed Internet and video services in a pure fiber network connected directly to each consumers’ residence. This tool was deployed July 21, 2007, in pilot, and became fully available for all Verizon FiOS markets in November. This tool integrates landbase, parcel, addresses, wire center boundaries, video boundaries, and OSP plant graphics. From this base, planning can design, price, schedule, and prepare FiOS network designs for delivery to OSP engineering for detailed FiOS builds. All of this was done in a seamless, open, OGC-compliant framework. This is the first application in Verizon, and anywhere else to our knowledge, which allows CAD-like operations in a Web environment. This application builds networks, and is far ahead of others that have redlining capabilities, but not the creation of network elements combined with tracing, pricing, scheduling, and delivery to engineering.

“This award recognizes the Verizon team for its tireless efforts in creating and implementing an application that supports the company’s strategic FiOS program, which maximizes the use of fiber-optics that is delighting consumers coast to coast. It is a great honor to be recognized by GITA, an organization dedicated to making geospatial technologies a reality,” said Mark Goff, Outside Plant Engineering IT manager, Verizon.

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 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

About GITA
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 infrastructure applications worldwide. Visit GITA on the Web at www.gita.org.