technology

Recent contribution from Dr. Peter Johnson to the Ontario Professional Planners Institute professional publication Y Magazine. Lead by Dr. Pamela Robinson and Morgan Boyco, this article addresses how participatory technology intervenes in the process of citizen engagement in planning. Given the broad adoption of digital platforms, how do planners wrestle with the challenges and constraints of this technology? Check out the full article starting on page 29.

Digital public participation: The complicated ways that technology platforms both help and challenge planners.

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.

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.

This past winter semester I launched a new course at the University of Waterloo called "The Geoweb and Location-Based Services (PDF)". This 4th-year course introduced senior undergraduate students to the theoretical concepts and practical techniques of Web 2.0, Volunteered Geographic Information, Open Data, the Geoweb, and location-based services using mobile phones.