Dr. Winnie S.M. Tang, managing director of Esri Hong Kong Limited, was recently chosen as one of the winners of the "Ten Outstanding Young Digi Persons Selection 2001." This award is a recognition of her outstanding achievements in information technology (IT) and community services in Hong Kong and promoting Hong Kong's image internationally.

Dr. Tang is a pioneer in promoting the idea of "GIS for everyone," promoting GIS applications in Hong Kong and delivering the technology to enrich daily life. The majority of government departments in Hong Kong are using GIS software from Esri. Most GIS applications in Hong Kong have been initiated either directly or indirectly by her and these have, in turn, benefited a large variety of organizations including universities, Businesses, government departments, and the general public.

Dr. Tang has provided training, advice, applications, and design curriculum in her GIS-related teaching courses to the universities in Hong Kong. This is one of the channels she uses to broaden the vision of Hong Kong students into the information technology world, a subject that the Hong Kong government has emphasized as important for enhancing public awareness of technology advances.

In a Web project named "Hong Kong City Map," in cooperation with PCCW Telecom Directories Limited, Dr. Tang has shown how ArcIMS and ArcSDE software can provide an IT infrastructure to enhance e-living. Hong Kong City Map has proven to be a very popular and successful Web site (four million hits per month), providing a bridge for buyers and sellers from different areas of the world. From the personal (e.g., where to dine, how to go from one place to another) to the enterprise level, the site demonstrates successfully how powerful GIS technology helps fuse IT into everyone's life.

Dr. Tang sits on several advisory boards and has contributed to policy formulation in IT in Hong Kong. Since 1990, Dr. Tang has been attending international conferences on GIS in Los Angeles, San Diego, Toronto, Vancouver, Tokyo, Osaka, Singapore, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and many others, all the while promoting GIS development and application for Hong Kong. In addition, she has participated on abstract review panels and helped organize several international GIS conferences and workshops.

Dr. Tang has taken GIS knowledge and technology from the commercial world into the university campus and from local to international. She also devotes her time to serving the Hong Kong community via fund-raising and cochairing The Community Chest, a local charitable organization.

For more information, contact Diana Ip, senior administrative officer, Esri Hong Kong Limited, Unit 3201-3, 32/F MetroPlaza Tower II, 223 Hing Fong Road, Kwai Fong, New Territories, Hong Kong (tel.: 852-2730-6883, fax: 852-2730-3772, e-mail: dip@esrihk.com, Web: www.esrihk.com).