Canadian Geomatics Students come together from Coast to Coast

What a start to the school year! Over 200 people from coast to coast showed up to the first ever GoGeomatics Back to School Socials last week. Thanks to all those who attended! We also want to send out a big thank you to all our group leaders who volunteered their time to help make this event a success – Joy Leimanis, Marc Thorup, Aubrey Downie, Kirsti Oja, Darren Platakis, Corey Trott, Cameron O’Brien, and Carina Saab. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Vancouver attracted the most participants – an incredible 50 people from the Vancouver geomatics community stopped by the Kingston Taphouse to take part in a great evening. We also brought people together in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Niagara, Ottawa, and Halifax. Great times all around! Canadain_Geomatics_leaders

The Back to School Socials were a collaboration between GoGeomatics and our wonderful sponsors, each of whom represented different aspects of Canadian geomatics, from a major Canadian geomatics company, to a national association, to an upcoming geospatial conference. Esri Canada raffled off some great swag, the Canadian Remote Sensing Society gave away one free student membership to each group (7 in total!), and Geospatial Advancement Canada 2015 had sign up sheets for free tickets to their March conference. On top of that, each sponsor contributed to the tasty treats that our participants got to enjoy!

We got to see a lot of new faces at this event, especially students who are just starting out. So a big thank you to the members of the community who came out to welcome them to the Canadian geomatics family. The Back to School Social is our way of giving a warm welcome to these new people in our community. For many, this was the first time that they interacted with geomatics professionals and got to ask them question about the future and the sector. Networking and socializing is important to any community, and that’s why GoGeomatics Canada holds these regular socials – to bring people together to network in a fun, casual atmosphere.

Everyone who attended the Back to School Socials also filled out a survey that GoGeomatics created to better understand the industry. Of the several questions on the survey, we asked whether participants would support a national Canadian geospatial student union. As well, we surveyed the participants on their knowledge of the surveying profession and the job market. This is the first time many of these questions have been asked, especially to students, and while we’re still tabulating the results, some interesting trends are already starting to emerge. Stay tuned for more information. Jonathan Murphy will be presenting the results of the survey at the GeoAlberta 2014 Conference at the end of this month.

We had such a great response to the Back to School Social that we’ve decided to make it an annual event! We’re hoping for an even bigger turnout next year. If your company or group wants to get involved, drop us a line!

Can’t wait a year to get involved with the GoGeomatics socials? In January, we’ll be holding a special cross-Canada industry night. We’ll be releasing more information about this in the coming weeks.