Seattle, Wash., March 10, 2008—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