In late July 2005, Elections Ontario awarded a contract to Navantis, Inc. to enable EO to revamp its databases and systems for planning, managing, and reporting on government elections in the Province of Ontario. Navantis leads a consortium that includes BearingPoint, Inc., Microsoft Canada, and Orion Technology, Inc. Intelligenx, Inc. will serve as a search technology partner for Orion, specifically to enable fast and easy access to EO's geospatial databases.
Elections Ontario currently maintains databases that contain approximately 4.3 million land parcels and 2 persons per parcel. As part of the Navantis project which started in early August, EO aims to substantially improve access to its databases from within EO's intranets and EO's publicly accessible websites. End-users include voters, provincial and national candidates running for office, elections officials, provinicial and federal government agencies, and the media.
In order to unlock the full social, economic, and political value of EO's expanding databases, EO must provide its users with search features and functionalities that are interactive, intuitive, and instantaneous.
To this end, Orion will use the real-time, multifaceted search-discovery-and-retrieval (MSDR) technology of Intelligenx, Inc. to allow users to access, query, and view EO data via a single point of search. The Intelligenx Discovery EngineTM is a high-performance, high-scalable technology (six patents pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office).
Navantis/Orion will deploy Intelligenx to power the indexing and search of EO's databases, enabling users to search AND browse iteratively and interactively -without overwhelming the user with a long list of results. At each step of a user's querying process, Intelligenx will present him/her with results that are neatly arrayed across multiple facets (axes) and by hierarchically organized categories within each facet, with counts of the records found in each (sub)category.
Multiple facets and multiple categories are already inherent in the EO databases -and the Orion+Intelligenx Team will leverage this structure and metadata during the project. Examples of facets are: location of "where you are;" location of "where to vote;" names of incumbent and candidate MPPs; party; and electoral results. Examples of hierarchical categories within the location facet, as an instance, are: province; county; city; electoral district; postal code; polling station; and street intersections.
About Orion Technology Inc.
Orion based in Richmond Hill, Ontario is a technology consulting and services integration company, specializing in web-GIS. Orion's focus is to help organizations incorporate spatial technology into all facets of their businesses. Orion's wealth of knowledge in the GIS domain and top-notch GIS software-development expertise has been showcased with its award-winning flagship product OnPointTM. The product is enjoying growing support in the GIS community, both domestically and internationally, as a standard for providing geographic data through intuitive Internet and Intranet Web-based user interfaces. OnPointTM provides out-of-the-box implementation capabilities, powerful administration tools for customizing and managing the Web portal, and unparalleled data-integration features. Orion's easy-to-use Web-GIS products and custom application development services have helped Orion achieve phenomenal success in securing and delivering projects for reputable clients worldwide, from small organizations to entire countries. See: www.oriongis.com.
About Intelligenx, Inc.
Intelligenx is a leading provider of multifaceted search, discovery, and retrieval technology -the Intelligenx Discovery EngineTM. Applications of Intelligenx range from those for large databases of U.S. government agencies, e.g., NIH and STAT-USA of the U.S. Department of Commerce to those for companies in the field of Internet Yellow Pages. In the IYP arena, for instance, Intelligenx's patent-pending search platform combines highly scalable search and retrieval technology with a deep understanding of the nuances of Local Search, including specific linguistics and semantic capabilities, and visualization tailored to provide consumers with the ultimate online search experience. Intelligenx provides technology and related services for some of the largest yellow page publishers in the world looking to bridge the gap between print directories and the online search marketplace. Customers include DexOnline, the site rated as the number one IYP/local search site in a late 2004 white paper published by independent analysts, The Kelsey Group. Intelligenx is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with offices in Holland and Brazil. See: http://www.Intelligenx.com. |
