This September is a lucky one for two of Azavea's Philadelphia government clients. The Philadelphia Water Department and the Department of Records have each been granted an award this month for their respective Azavea-developed web apps, PhillyStormWater.org and PhillyHistory.org.
The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) has chosen the PWD's Stormwater Billing GIS web app, PhillyStormWater.org, as the 2011 Exemplary Systems in Government Award winner for the Single Process Systems category. The PhillyStormWater.org app helps PWD convey to its customers how its green stormwater management billing charges are applied, by allowing them to examine the impervious surface coverage of their property and identifying steps they can take to reduce costs and be more environmentally friendly. URISA chose PhillyStormwater for the award because it "has benefited all stakeholders, including both the Philadelphia Water Department staff and the public alike...It gives the public easy access to - and transparency to – storm water charges, and the ability to see the effect on their bills should property owners consider greener strategies...and [has] saved hundreds of hours for the Water Department staff members per month. The system is the largest of its type in the country and certainly is progressive in the way it charges for storm water management costs."
The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) will officially present the DOR’s online database of historic photograph and map collections, PhillyHistory.org, with a 2011 Leadership in History Award of Merit at its annual meeting tomorrow, Friday, September 16th. This year's fifty-nine national Leadership in History award-winners, including PhillyHistory, represent the best in the field of the preservation and interpretation of state and local history.