1,000 Members of the Canadian Geomatics Community Coming Together

Did you join us for a GoGeomatics Social during the Fall 2014-Spring 2015 season? You’re in good company if you did. This year alone, with the help of our sponsors and volunteer group leaders, we welcomed over 1,000 geomatics folks from all walks of life – students, professionals, managers, business-owners, retirees, and more from just about every corner of the industry and the country. We now have socials in Vancouver, Nelson, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Niagara, Ottawa, and Halifax.

The GoGeomatics Socials are bigger and more popular than ever.

The GoGeomatics socials started back in 2011. What began as a small networking group in Ottawa quickly took off, first across Ontario and then the rest of Canada.

Since 2011, GoGeomatics has hosted nearly 200 geomatics socials across Canada.

All that growth hasn’t changed our original vision for creating the GoGeomatics Socials. We host these events for the geomatics community to network and make new industry contacts without the pressure of a formal event. Attendees are encouraged to drop by, have a drink, and chat with the group.

“I attended the May [Vancouver] Social and had a wonderful experience networking with industry professionals. The social gave me a chance to talk to people who already have a GIS job and discuss the different types of work available.” – Alexis Moyer, Vancouver

“Socials are important to not only members of the community, but the small niches which encompass our GIS community. There is so much potential for a GIS graduate to succeed in another industry that he/she may not know about. Attending a [GoGeomatics] social can open your mind to new ideas and job opportunities that you wouldn’t immediately think of as a GIS graduate. Socials are a great way to see the hidden opportunities.” – Marco Angilletta, Toronto Group Leader

“As a newcomer to Canada, I have found the socials invaluable for quickly building up a solid network of Geomatics contacts and friends.” – Catherine Ennis, Vancouver Group Leader

“One of the main goals of [socials] is to make connections, not only between geospatial professionals and students but also with organizations that may not realize the power of geospatial technology. Making those connections in the community gives graduating students possibilities of employment.” – Darren Platakis, Niagara Group Leader

As well as opening up networking and career opportunities, socials are a great way to stay on top on emerging industry trends:

“The geomatics field is too large and rapidly evolving for me to keep up with on my own, so I like to hear what other people are doing. For those of us who are short on time and energy (who isn’t?), this is a very time-effective and easy way to meet interesting people in your field.” – Fiona Gregory, Edmonton Group Leader

Here are some of the highlights of the past year:

• Last September, we had the first annual Back to School Social! It was a huge success, and we’re gearing up for an even bigger event this fall
• This spring, we had a great series of speakers in many of our cities on a variety of topics, including the Federal Geospatial Platform, and Intergraph’s latest projects and technologies
• The Vancouver May Social hit a record high attendance number, with 60 people
• We have a tonne of new group leaders! We now have 18 volunteer group leaders to help support and grow each social
• We have a brand new social city – welcome, Nelson, BC!

How to Support GoGeomatics Canada:

GoGeomatics organizes these events every month throughout the year. These socials are always free and always fun. If you are looking to support GoGeomatics and the geomatics community in Canada, here is the best way to do so:

• Post a job on the GoGeomatics job board
• Post an event on the GoGeomatics event board
• Sponsor a social
• Advertise on the GoGeomatics newsletter or website

We’ll be taking a break for July and August, but we still have one social in each city before the summer break, so be sure not to miss it. Visit this page for dates and locations.

We want to hear from you! Why do you attend the GoGeomatics Socials? Let us know in a comment.