Success Stories

GeoBase Portal Team Wins Apex Award

On October 6, 2004, the NRCan-led GeoBase Portal team was recognized for its efforts by the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX). The Association presented the GeoBase Portal team its 2004 Leadership in Service Innovation Award at the annual Apex Symposium in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre.

GeoBase is the product of the coordinated efforts of the Canadian Council on Geomatics (CCOG), the national GeoConnections program, and the efforts of many individual government departments and private sector companies. CCOG is a federal-provincial-territorial body that, in October 2001, endorsed the goals of GeoBase and established the GeoBase Steering Committee to make them a reality. GeoConnections is a national partnership devoted to create the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) by putting in place the infrastructure of technology, standards, policies and data required to make geospatial information available on the Internet. Working together, these partners created the data and services that are GeoBase. The GeoBase Portal is Internet access point through which users can download the GeoBase data.

Dr. Irwin Itzkovitch, Assistant Deputy Minister of the Earth Sciences Sector, accepted the award on behalf of the team. “The GeoBase Portal is a perfect example of partnership across the federal government, and partnership with provinces and territories”, he said during the award ceremony. The project “is a fantastic example of how you get things done across the government system” through collaboration.

The GeoBase Portal team was nominated for the Service Innovation Award based on their partnership with all levels of government as well as the project’s contribution to public services. The Service Innovation Award is the only Apex award given to a team of public servants. It is awarded to team members who have demonstrated a high degree of innovation or creativity in developing a practice that has led to the improved delivery of a particular service.

The portal provides access to a variety of information, including Administrative Boundaries, Canadian Digital Elevation Data (CDED), Canadian Geodetic Network data, Geographical Names of Canada (toponymy), Landsat-7 Orthoimages and Control Points (GeoBase Data Alignment Layer), and National Road Network (NRN) data. Ongoing and future developments include the implementation of new standards and the accessibility of information for all of Canada.