COGS & PCI Geomatics Education Initiative
RICHMOND HILL, Ontario, Canada—April 30, 2014: PCI Geomatics, a world-leading developer of remote sensing and photogrammetric software and systems, as part of its education initiative, recently visited with students and faculty at the Annapolis Valley Campus of the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC). The campus is home to the Centre of Geographic Sciences where students are using Geomatica software to learn about the science and technology used in acquiring, managing, analyzing, presenting and the delivery of geographic information.
“The Centre of Geographic Sciences is a very hands-on, practical, technical institute,” said Dr. Tim Webster, Professor at the NSCC. “We use Geomatica to teach the fundamentals of remote sensing where students learn about various satellite platforms, how to geometrically correct data, classify it, and of course, integrate it with GIS software programs such as Esri’s ArcGIS.”
PCI Geomatics’ education initiative promotes cooperation and knowledge exchange to create strong reciprocal relationships with educational institutions. The company aims to foster communication between institutes of higher learning and PCI scientists, while providing an outlet to the commercial world by highlighting the work conducted at the school using PCI Geomatics software. PCI Geomatics and the NSCC have had a long standing relationship, with the company providing an annual $500 scholarship to the top student in the Advanced Digital Imaging course. This year’s award will be announced at a ceremony on May 2, 2014.
“We always appreciate the opportunity to see how schools are using our technology,” said Kevin Jones, Director – Marketing at PCI Geomatics. “Receiving feedback from faculty about how our software fits into their research goals and seeing the successes the students are having first hand in their studies is evidence that our education initiatives are paying off.”
The program is also paying off for students, as Daniel Vanesse, student in the Advanced Geographic Sciences program at the Centre, explains.
“The program is quite demanding and the use of PCI software has been extremely rewarding,” said Vanesse. “Six months into my studies a group of us already found employment in a private company’s remote sensing department. I’m excited to head into the workforce as soon as my studies are completed.”
PCI Geomatics’ visit to Nova Scotia is the latest in a series of meetings the company has had with colleges and universities across the globe, including Northeastern University in Boston, Carleton University in Ottawa, and Arabian Gulf University in Bahrain. For more information about PCI Geomatics education initiative and its education packages, including videos highlighting the company’s visits to Nova Scotia, Carleton University, and Northeastern University, click here: www.pcigeomatics.com/