Oak Ridge laboratory gains access to spatial analytics tools

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has signed an enterprise agreement with Esri giving it access to the company’s geographic information system (GIS) software.

The deal gives the US Department of Energy facility access to the full set of spatial analysis tools in the ArcGIS platform. Under the agreement, ORNL can add licenses as needed to support the many federal research and development projects it undertakes.

ORNL has been a user of Esri technology for more than 20 years. With the recent increase in the amount of data and imagery that is accessible to federal agencies and, in particular, derived from the proliferation of sensors and devices, there is a greater need to manage this data and analyse it in real time.

The enterprise agreement will allow ORNL to use this data and imagery in many projects, ranging from public utility management to disaster response.

“This is the first major enterprise agreement between Esri and a Department of Energy [DOE] laboratory,” said Budhendra Bhaduri, who leads the Geographic Information Science and Technology group at the ORNL.

“Because ORNL provides support to many federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense, extra capacity to generate spatial analysis applications is critical.”

According to Esri, large organisations like ORNL may benefit from an enterprise agreement. For agencies and industries that use location-based data in numerous capacities, it claims spatial analysis technology is particularly advantageous at enterprise level, as it unifies all the platform’s capabilities under one agreement for a fixed annual fee.

“ORNL handles projects in areas such as infrastructure modernisation, population modeling, emergency preparedness and response, and smart grid technology, where our platform is specifically useful,” said Jack Dangermond, founder and president, Esri.

“We are pleased to be part of the Laboratory’s commitment to the national interest.”

ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for DOE’s Office of Science. DOE’s Office of Science is the largest single supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the US and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

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