American Electric Power (AEP) is uniquely positioned to support business expansion and community development in its service territory which spans 200,000 square miles and provides electricity to parts of 11 US states. The company’s economic development team works with local communities and state agencies to promote economic growth.

AEP recently redesigned its economic development website, aeped.com, which provides analysis on business feasibility to site selectors and companies looking to expand in the utility’s service territory. They used ArcGIS Desktop to create thematic and analytical maps that display a wide range of data. They used Esri Business Analyst Online to construct drive-time polygons for potential development sites, and to report business and demographic data.

The company's economic development team works closely with local communities and state agencies to promote economic growth. In 2015, the team generated 170 business attraction and retention projects that created 22,500 jobs throughout its service territory.

“Geography is fundamental in economic development,” said Mark James, AEP's vice president of economic and business development. “Economic developers primarily sell location, and our new website makes it easy to see why AEP and our service territory is the best choice for their next expansion project.”

Nine tornadoes blew through northern Texas on December 26, 2015, damaging at least 1,000 homes and buildings, and claiming 11 lives.

The GIS department at Collin County went to work collecting data and making maps to help efforts led by the Texas Emergency Response Team. Through ArcGIS Online, they accessed all of the data collected in the field and information about tornado ratings and paths.

Collin County GIS manager Tim Nolan used ArcGIS Pro to produce maps that illustrate the recovery efforts and display the capabilities of GIS and of his team.

“I found ArcGIS Pro to be quite intuitive even though, as a manager, I do not use GIS every day,” Nolan said. “I could envision the maps I wanted to make and ArcGIS Pro made it easier for me to get there.”

The Collin County Tornado Maps were used by Collin County Homeland Security, Collin County Fire Marshal’s Office, Collin County Sheriff’s Office, Collin County Central Appraisal District, Texas A&M Forest Service, Texas DPS Texas Division of Emergency Management, National Weather Service, Collin County Public Works, and numerous non-profit groups to help with disaster recovery including the American Red Cross and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.