Waterloo Civic Map Lab

2017 Esri User Conference and The Cost(s) of Geospatial Open Data

Peter Johnson — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 12:00:00 +0000

I had the amazing opportunity recently to attend the 2017 Esri User Conference (UC) in San Diego, California. The Esri ‘UC’ as it’s known is an annual event that showcases what’s new and hot in the Esri GIS world, and provides a chance for over 16,000 GIS and map nerds to get together, learn from each other, and generally celebrate everything geospatial.

Tags: conferences, development, education, giscience, open data, publications, esri, journal, technology

Capturing balloon airphotos with Waterloo Collegiate Institute (WCI) Geotech Magnet Program

Peter Johnson — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 12:00:00 +0000

We are fortunate here in Waterloo Region to have access to a unique high school-level program focused on geospatial technologies. The Waterloo Region District School Board offers a Geotechnology magnet program at Waterloo Collegiate Institute (WCI) high school.

Tags: education, geoweb, balloon, high school, remote sensing, youth

Aligning Canadian open data programs with international best practices – Geothink.ca and OpenNorth

Peter Johnson — Sat, 20 May 2017 12:00:00 +0000

The Geothink partnership is a great opportunity for academics to work directly with those organizations pushing the leading edge of our field. Last fall, University of Waterloo student Erin Bryson held a co-op placement working at Montreal-based non-profit (and Geothink partner) OpenNorth.

Tags: education, geothink, open data, publications

Measuring the value and impact of open data: Recruiting doctoral students

Peter Johnson — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 12:00:00 +0000

I’ve recently been successful with obtaining five years of funding from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation’s Early Researcher Award (ERA). This generous funding will allow me to measure the value and impact of open data initiatives, assessing how open data is accessed, used, and exploited.

Tags: education, geothink, open data, research, academic, funding, giscience, opportunities

Esri Canada Centres of Excellence (ECCE) App Challenge 2015

Qing (Lucy) Lu — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 12:00:00 +0000

This is a guest post by graduate student Qing (Lucy) Liu about her team’s experience at the Esri Canada App Challenge:

The ECCE App Challenge is a coding completion held by Esri Canada. Started in February 27, 2015, teams of participants were given one week to develop an innovative app using open data and Esri software. The apps to be developed should be on some aspect of government services in Canada, for any of the following themes:

Tags: education, geoweb, giscience, gis, hackathon

The Canadian Water Network conference: “from knowledge to action”

Peter Johnson — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 12:00:00 +0000

This post is by PhD student Simone Philpot on her recent experience attending the Canadian Water Network Conference 2015.

Tags: conferences, education, academic, water

Fulcrum – using mobile devices to collect field data

Peter Johnson — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 12:00:00 +0000

As part of Geography 187: Problem Solving in Geomatics, I’ve started using Fulcrum as a tool for students to gain experience collecting in-situ field data. Fulcrum is both a mobile app (for iOS and Android) and a data management/survey design backend.

Tags: education, geoweb, giscience, academic, fulcrum, gis, mobile, students, waterloo

A comparison of traditional and experiential approaches to first-year geomatics instruction

Peter Johnson — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 12:00:00 +0000

I'm currently leading a research project that looks to compare two first-year Geomatics courses (GEOG 181 and the new GEOG 187).

Tags: development, education, giscience, tools, academic, geomatics, grant, teaching

Geopatial Mobility Lab – Launched with support from CFI and ORF

Peter Johnson — Thu, 14 Aug 2014 12:00:00 +0000

I’ve recently been awarded funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Ontario Research Fund (ORF). I’d like to thank both of these government funding agencies for their support of a new research and training initiative that I call the ‘Geospatial Mobility Lab’. This effort is also co-sponsored through direct contributions of equipment and services from Esri Canada and Dell Computer.

Tags: education, giscience, tools, academic, geomatics, mobile, opportunities, research, technology

ParCA team travels to Nova Scotia

Andrea Minano — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 12:00:00 +0000

From June 4th to June 18th, 2014, a team from the Partnership for Canada-Caribbean Community Climate Change Adaptation (ParCA) travelled to Shelburne County and the Region of Queens Municipality in Nova Scotia. The team was primarily composed of 4 Master’s candidates from the University of Waterloo: Shandel Brown, Saveena Patara, Maliha Majeed and Andrea Minano. Other associates from ParCA were able to attend for parts of the trip, including Dr. Carolyn Brown (University of Prince Edward Island) and Dr. Ahmed Khan (St. Mary’s University).

Tags: education, geoweb, nova scotia tourism, tools