TORONTO – March 13, 2012 – Alex Miller, President and Founder of Esri Canada, has been named to the Government of Canada’s Advisory Panel on Open Government. He joins a leading group of experts from business, academia and civil society selected to provide the Government with guidance on its open government initiative. The Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for FedNor, made the announcement on February 28 at the panel’s first meeting in Ottawa. As a member of the panel, Mr. Miller will leverage his extensive experience in applying advanced digital mapping technology to improve information access and help the Government harness opportunities for innovation and knowledge sharing.

"Canada is a leader in open government and we will stay there by continually seeking to improve. Bringing together this group of experts will provide us with another important channel of consultation on the path to the development and implementation of Canada's Open Government Action Plan," said Minister Clement in announcing the panel.

“The GIS community has been leading the open data movement in Canada, with geospatial information making up over 95 percent of the country’s open data,” said Alex Miller. “With the pervasiveness of mobile and online applications, and the growing convergence of technologies such as social media, cloud computing, open applications and smartphones, the Government is in a stronger position today than ever before to use these tools to inform and collaborate with citizens. It’s an honour to be part of this panel and I look forward to helping the Government usher in a new era of citizen engagement.”

Mr. Miller founded Esri Canada in 1984 to provide enterprise geographic information system (GIS) solutions that help government, business and educational institutions transform the way they manage their assets, serve their customers or citizens, make decisions and communicate. GIS technology enables users to integrate data from various sources, and then visualize, analyze and share it using dynamic digital maps. This allows for collaborative, intelligent decision-making, and increased efficiency and productivity.

A strong advocate for open geospatial data, Mr. Miller has worked with numerous federal, provincial and local government agencies in Canada to help them efficiently create datasets for public access.  In 2010, he established the Esri Canada Community Maps Program, which provides a cost-effective and efficient framework for creating a detailed, online national basemap of Canada. The Web basemap is built from authoritative data contributed by more than 100 federal, provincial and municipal organizations across the country, and is provided free to the public to foster innovative applications.

Mr. Miller has also provided board leadership to several professional and industry associations in Canada including the Natural Resources Canada Earth Sciences Sector Advisory Committee, GeoConnections Policy Advisory Committee and the Geomatics Industry Association of Canada.

To see the complete list of panel members, read Minister Clement’s announcement.

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About Esri Canada
Founded in 1984, Esri Canada provides enterprise geographic information system (GIS) solutions that empower businesses, governments and educational institutions to make timely, informed and mission-critical decisions by leveraging the power of geography.  The company distributes the world's leading GIS software from Esri, Telvent, Cityworks – Azteca Systems, Inc. and other technology partners.  Headquartered in Toronto, the company serves over 10,000 customers from 16 regional offices across Canada and has been named as one of the top 250 Canadian IT companies and top 25 IT professional services providers in Canada by the Branham Group.  Information about Esri Canada can be found at esri.ca.

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