The “New” GoGeomatics Canada: Relaunching Our Magazine

Fred – GoGeomatics Website Team Lead

A team of really intelligent squirrels and I have been working on the new GoGeomatics magazine. I’m taking a break from the work, and the squirrels, to get nostalgic about how GoGeomatics Canada got to where we are.

What is GoGeomatics today? We have 12 GoGeomatics networking groups and have hosted 300+ networking events. On the magazine we are close to publishing our one thousandth Canadian geomatics article.  We’ve worked with over a hundred Canadian geomatics organizations posting their jobs, news and events. Our Canadian Spatial Times newsletter has over 7,000 subscribers. The annual Back to School Socials are now on their fourth year and attract over 400 participants.  We have over 40 volunteers regularly leading the community online and at geospatial events across the country.

These things speak to the efforts of many individuals who have given their time and passion to create a unique community. It has been my privilege to lead these efforts for the last 6 years. I can never thank them enough for stepping up and leading our community.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that over the years dozens of sponsors have supported our events. Without that support we would not be able to do what we do in the geospatial community. As well we thank our customers who have supported GoGeomatics by purchasing marketing services, job and events postings, as well as using our consulting services. It is through the communities use of these services we keep going.  We have no membership dues or fees. We want to stay that way with your continued support and business.

Creating GoGeomatics has allowed me to meet and work with many wonderful and talented people. It is these people, both past and present, who truly deserve the credit for taking us where we are today. Initially, GoGeomatics Canada was created from a desire to help others, like myself, find work in our sector. Since that beginning it’s been the communities drive to come together, both online and in the real world, that has created the unique entity that is GoGeomatics Canada today.

On the magazine we are approaching our one thousandth article.  The earliest article in our archive was published in February of 2010. The first article is from a precursor blog of what would become the GoGeomatics magazine.  The first mention of a GoGeomatics networking social is for Ottawa in October of 2011.  In another article I can see I gave my first geomatics career seminars in Toronto and Niagara during the fall of 2012.

Original GoGeomatics Canada Logo circa 2006

The roots of GoGeomatics go much further back than that. The first incarnation of GoGeomatics is as a stand alone job board going back to 2006. Here is our old logo.

The current website was launched in September of 2012. We had a party!  It’s time to take the lessons of the past 5 years and put them into practice with a new website.

The current site is showing its age. Architecturally it is not able to support the growing community and where we are going.

Over the past 5 years GoGeomatics has become the place where Canada tells its geomatics stories.

My crack team of Canada’s best squirrels are going to launch the new website soon. The new site is being built in a way it can be scaled up in the future.   Here is what we hope to accomplish on the site and beyond:

• Update the magazine to a modern responsive design and layout
• Create content partnerships with organizations to help them meet their goals
• Bring the magazine content and our writers to the fore of the site
• Highlight the efforts of our groups and group leaders across Canada
• Raise the profile of our volunteer writers and editors
• Create channels for organizations to communicate with the community
• Establish new revenue streams to keep GoGeomatics sustainable
• Streamline our job and event postings for ease of use

GoGeomatics Road Trip

I’m taking a GoGeomatics Ontario road trip this month. With the exception of Thunder Bay, I’m visiting each of  our networking groups in Ontario for the final socials of the season.  I’ve given the squirrels a two week deadline to get the site up.

So if you can, join me and our group leaders at the following socials this month in Ontario:

GoGeomatics Meetup Peterborough May 17th 
GoGeomatics Meetup Toronto May 18th
GoGeomatics Meetup London May 19th
GoGeomatics Meetup Niagara May 20th
GoGeomatics Meetup Ottawa May 23rd
GoGeomatics Meetup Kingston May 24th

I’ll see you there but please be sure to RSVP using our Meetup links above for each city.

If you or your organization want to get involved or have questions please get in touch or leave a comment below.  You can reach me at Jmurphy@gogeomatics.ca

Public Notice:  As of yet no squirrels were harmed in the creation of this website.