Event Recap: The 2017 Canadian Surveyors Conference in Ottawa

On March 1^st and 2^nd land surveyor professionals, as well as industry exhibitors, headed to Ottawa for the 2017 Canadian Surveyors Conference. The annual general meetings of land surveyors associations was also held on February 28th and March 3^rd.

Esri booth

Leica booth

Most attendees came from Ontario and Quebec and were joined by university and college students who are interested in surveying engineering and geomatics. Attendees were able to learn about new and upgraded instruments, technologies and software from leading companies such as Esri Canada, Leica Geosystems, Topcon-Sokkia, WSP, and more. Exhibitors were there to show new innovations to meet the needs industry and discuss how the technologies could be integrated with current systems.

The program for the conference offered workshops and meetings throughout the four days of the conference.

Speakers at the conference

After the opening ceremonies, attendees were joined by the presidents of AOLS Murray Purcell, ACLS Tania Bigstone, and OAGQ Sophie Morin for the presentation ‘Our Reason for Being’, a presentation that celebrated surveying and surveyors during Canada’s 150^th birthday.

The keynote speaker of this event was Natalie Panek. With her extraordinary experience in the aerospace industry and NASA, she wanted to motivate and empower women in STEM field (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), especially the young generation. There were also ten other speakers that had sessions on various topics

Students in the conference

Entrance of the exhibition hall

Student poster 2

Student poster 1

In one corner of the exhibition hall, there was a poster competition between students from York University and Ryerson University. Their research results retrieved by using recent survey methods and technologies showed great potential for the future of the surveying industry.

Here are some pictures of the posters.

Welcoming Party

One of the most exciting events for the conference, held on Wednesday night, was the welcoming party. During this party, attendees were encouraged to chat freely and network with fellow surveyors. There were also chances to win prizes from the exhibitors by donating the education foundation.

During the event, I had the chance to speak with some Ontario land surveyors as well as students. I had already done business with some land surveyors on the phone but had never met them personally. This conference gave me a great opportunity to meet and put a face to these individuals.

I also found some differences between students and industry professionals. The students mainly talked to the exhibitors about what they were doing in their classes and finding out how it related to the industry they were soon to be a part of. Students were taking photos or videos and posting some “cool” technologies and instruments on their social media. By contrast, land surveyors focused on new technologies or improvement of current instruments that related to their field. They would also provide feedback which they encountered in the field to exhibitors. This is a quite important channel for instrument manufacturers improving their instruments or software to meet the users’ needs.Self Cleaning Litter Box – self pet care

Afterword

A glance of the welcome party

The 2017 Canadian Surveyors Conference provides a platform for land surveyors meet with others in their field and gives exhibitors a chance display their newest instrument/software to existing and potential users. It is also a great opportunity for students who want to start their career as a surveyor or have interests in geomatics or surveying. They can meet these experienced land surveyors and build their own professional network, as well as to get a chance to operate and demo instruments at the booths. Hope to see all land surveyors and more students in the 2018 surveyor show!