Case Study: Florida Department of Environmental Protection achieves modernized GIS infrastructure, 40% cost savings, and enhanced security with Microsoft Azure

Modernizing the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s infrastructure to leverage GIS data with Azure

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), a 3,300‑employee state agency responsible for managing parks, wetlands, and environmental regulation across Florida, relied heavily on a statewide Geographic Information System (GIS) to monitor long‑term ecosystem change. Facing aging, costly infrastructure and the need to consolidate vast GIS datasets while maintaining security and availability, the DEP sought a cost‑effective platform that would free IT staff to focus on environmental priorities.

The DEP developed an Azure‑based GIS solution (including Azure SQL Database), moving data and services to the cloud to ensure consistent access during maintenance and outages, improve public map availability, and add built‑in disaster recovery and enterprise security. The migration reduced infrastructure management overhead and delivered significant cost savings—about 40% on the first migration with an estimated additional 20% on the next—while enabling more reliable, secure use of GIS data for long‑term environmental monitoring and restoration.

Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Warren Sponholtz

Chief Information Officer