Join the Canadian geospatial community as we welcome new and returning students to our sector.  This year we are proud to announce that 12 groups are hosting Back to School Events.  We hope that  you, your company or organisation can join us at these fun free networking events. Click the Meetup Info links below for detailed information about your local event. Last year over 400 people participated in the socials. These are the most popular networking events in Canada for our sector. We get together for drinks and conversation and build a stronger geomatics sector one connection at a time. It's the role of good and effective...

Have you ever felt lost when someone started talking about precision agriculture?  When people think about a GIS intensive environment, they probably imagine a bustling office where the inhabitants are using technology (i.e. their computers) to enhance their clients or customers lives. It is not surprising then, that most of us often do not often associate GIS with farming. Using technology to grasp the utilization of a vast amount of crop land actually makes sense because technology is constantly being used to enhance every aspect of our lives. In the most simplistic terms, it is the way that location technology (i.e. Geographic...

The Breaking News Last year, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists announced that a year prior, one of their members (Süddeutsche Zeitung) had been sent the contents of a massive leak from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. This leak revealed that for years the firm had been helping people and companies all around the world avoid taxes by channeling wealth through overseas shell companies, most notably in the British Virgin Islands and Bahamas. The clients came from over 100 countries, including Canada. CBC and the Toronto Star are the two Canadian members of the ICIJ and both produced some stories in the...

Every summer in British Columbia, along with long days, sunshine, heat, and little rain comes an all-too-familiar reality: hundreds of wildfires. Some of them affect only uninhabited regions in BC, but many threaten communities, property, pets, livestock, and human lives.  During the fire season it is critical that accurate, relevant and adequate fire information be available to the public. People affected by wildfires need to get information quickly. These people include residents in evacuation areas, travellers, municipal government personnel, and emergency crews.  Unfortunately, there are many sources of fire-related...

My journey to the 2017 Earth Observation (EO) Summit in Montreal began when I boarded the train and left Union Station in Toronto. During the long train ride I had the chance to think about my aspirations as a geomatics professional. In the future I would like to use my remote sensing and geomatics skills to bring together communities and tackle common problems.  I am a graduate from the University of Toronto and the Fleming GIS Applications Specialist program. The EO Summit was held from June 20 to 22 at UQAM and brought together a number of exceptional remote sensing organizations and events in one place. The summit was bilingual...