April 19th, during the KAMP Quarterly Meeting, a few of our members were absent because they were in Frankfort to receive recognition for some outstanding map-related projects. Two of the Best of Kentucky Awards presented at the Kentucky Digital Government Summit 2016 were GIS-based applications and because of this KAMP would like to take a moment to recognize these achievements as well.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet was awarded “Most Innovative Use of Technology” for their “Real Time Response to Kentucky Weather”.
Everyone complains about the weather but no one does anything about it. Except for the Transportation Cabinet! They pulled together a variety of tools, apps and services to build a real-time response system that utilizes a wide range of internal databases, open sources and crowd-sourcing. Though it started out with snow and ice removal, the door is now open to endless possibilities for keeping Kentuckians safe and sound. Congratulations to the Transportation Cabinet!
“Best Application Serving the Public” was awarded to the Department for Environmental Protection for their “Water Health Portal“
Very few things are as important to citizens as water health and government transparency about it. Just ask the folks in Flint Michigan. It can be quite a challenge to balance water quality, public safety and economic development, and the Water Health Portal is making it possible here in Kentucky. It’s been a huge hit with the public and local businesses. And it’s getting great press, too. For example, pageonekentucky.com wrote: “Kentucky’s Division of Water just did something awesome!” Now THAT’S the kind of news story you love to see. Congratulations to DEP!
More information about the Water Health Portal’s Best of Kentucky Award can be found on DEP’s Naturally Connected Blog
KAMP would also like to recognize the other two award winners at the Digital Government Summit for applications that were not directly related to mapping:
“Best I.T. Collaboration” was awarded to Louisville Metro Government Department of Information Technology
Last year, the Mayor talked about the need to embrace modern technology that would record police and citizen interactions. He said: “From Ferguson to Baltimore, it has become clear that our country has changed, and police departments and citizens must change with it.” So the Metro Police Department and the Department of Information Technology deployed high-tech body cameras for 1,000 police officers across eight police divisions. It’s already paying off big dividends with significant cost-savings and reduced confrontations. Congratulations to Louisville!
And finally the “Visionary Award” was received by Louisville Metro Chief of Performance Improvement and Innovation, Theresa Reno-Weber.
Theresa is changing the way that government works in Louisville. And that’s saying something, because Louisville is already one of the most respected metro governments in the country. Theresa is the leader of the Office of Performance Improvement & Innovation, where she initiated “LouieStat”, which is a program that creates a culture in which analytics drive decision-making & accountability while delivering instant intelligence to citizens. Theresa is driving all kinds of innovation and collaboration. That’s her nature.
Congratulations to all of the Best of Kentucky 2016 Award winners!