Juno Maps, a leading geospatial technology company, has been named a winner of the RISE Riverine Community Resilience Challenge II, an international competition focused on addressing growing flood risks in inland communities across western Virginia. The award recognizes Smart Site Plan, Juno Maps' cloud-based flagship platform designed to help local governments prepare for, respond to, and recover from flood events. The platform allows municipal teams, regardless of technical background, to visualize flood risk, assess vulnerable infrastructure, and collaborate in real-time across departments.
Dustin Rauch, President & CEO of Juno Maps, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership opportunity, stating the solution has potential to save lives and protect infrastructure while putting powerful data in the hands of those who need it most. As a Challenge winner, Juno Maps will pilot Smart Site Plan in multiple western Virginia municipalities to demonstrate how intuitive geospatial tools can support data-driven resilience planning in high-risk areas. Paul Robinson, Executive Director of RISE, emphasized the urgency of the solution, noting that it gives communities tools to see and understand flood risk before disaster strikes.
The competition, funded by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, supports scalable solutions that strengthen long-term recovery, improve local decision-making, and build resilience to freshwater flooding. RISE Resilience Innovations, the nonprofit organization behind the challenge, has awarded more than $8 million through its Innovation Challenge model to pilot cutting-edge technologies in real-world conditions. Additional information about the organization is available at https://www.riseresilience.org.
Juno Maps was selected for its potential to deliver measurable, real-world impact in high-risk communities. The company builds intuitive, data-rich geospatial platforms that help cities, utilities, and organizations tackle challenges ranging from infrastructure planning to environmental risk. More details about the company's technology can be found at https://junomaps.com. This recognition matters because it addresses a critical gap in community resilience planning, particularly for inland regions facing increasing flood threats due to climate change and development patterns.
The implications of this announcement are significant for disaster preparedness and municipal governance. By providing accessible geospatial tools to local governments, the platform democratizes data analysis that was previously limited to technical specialists. This enables more informed decision-making about infrastructure investments, emergency response planning, and land-use policies. The pilot program in western Virginia serves as a test case for how technology can bridge the gap between complex environmental data and practical community applications.
The selection of Juno Maps reflects a growing recognition that effective flood resilience requires not just engineering solutions but also improved data accessibility and interdepartmental collaboration. Municipalities participating in the pilot will gain early experience with tools that could become standard for climate adaptation planning nationwide. The competition's focus on scalable solutions suggests successful implementation could lead to broader adoption across other flood-prone regions, potentially transforming how communities nationwide approach freshwater flood risks.
