First Base Solutions (FBS) delivers high quality geospatial data and custom mapping solutions to organizations across North America. Visualizing complex information using Orthoimagery, Earth Observation and Spatial data enables organizations to save time and money, by efficiently managing projects, offering superior service and outdoing the competition with improved day-to-day decision making. FBS caters to organizations with diverse mapping needs, technical expertise and budgets.

NOTICE TO MEMBERS

Take Notice that the Annual General Meeting of the Members of the "Association") will take place  on the

?? of May, 2025 at the hour of 8:10a.m. 

to be held virtually

for the purpose of approving the financial statements of the Corporation, to elect directors for the ensuing year, to appoint auditors for the Corporation for the ensuing year, approving all Acts of the Board and of the Officers and to deal with such other matters as may be properly presented at the meeting. 

 For details, sign on and visit members area.

Event Details Now Available!

BeSpatial Ontario and Sault Ste Marie Innovation Centre are excited to announce the upcoming Fall GIS in-person event to be held in Sudbury, Ontario on October 29 at the Holiday Inn!

Don't miss this unique and informative geospatial event! Registration is Open!

Event Details:

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

8:30 am - 5:30 pm (social gathering from 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm)

Holiday Inn, 1696 Regent Street, Sudbury, ON

Continental breakfast, lunch, snacks, coffee service, exhibits and social networking is included.

*Limited Sponsorship and Exhibit Opportunities available. Contact: Peter. 

Note: New to BeSpatial Ontario? A complimentary remaining 2024 and full 2025 membership is included in your non-member registration fee!

Your contribution and support plays a crucial role in supporting this geospatial and information community event and ensuring its success.

I hope this message finds everyone well, and that you are looking forward to spending some quality time with friends and loved ones over the holidays.

As the year winds down, I love to look back on what we accomplished as an organization in 2023, as well as looking ahead to the New Year. Let’s start with a bit of a retrospective. For myself, as well as the BeSpatial Management Team, 2023 was somewhat of a milestone year, as it represented the fulfillment of our commitment to return in-person events. While we plan to we continue to plan to continue holding the AGM virtually, due to the ability to reach a much greater audience of members, we also pledged to hold live regional events, in response to our member’s and industry partner’s desire to reconnect with live networking opportunities. We staged two events since our 2023 AGM, one in Kingston at the end of June, entitled “Learn What I Learned”, as well as another event in Cambridge in late October, around the theme of “Leveraging Geospatial data for Health and the Environment”. We had a positive turnout for both, and I wish to thank not only those that attended and the Management Team members who organized and hosted, but also the great selection of speakers, panelists, and sponsors for their incredible support.  I’m also pleased to announce that we have two in-person events planned for our Northern Section in 2024, but more on that in a moment. We did have some changes in our Northern Section, with James Dorland stepping down as Section Co-Manager. However, I’m pleased to announce that Karen Lehtonen with Acorn Information Solutions, a division of the Sault Ste-Marie Innovation Centre, has agreed to take up the mantle, and joins Angela McEachern as a Co-Manager of this large and relatively sparsely populated, but mighty, region. Karen and Angela are already very busy planning our northern in-person live events. Given the geography of this section, we are committed to holding two events. The first will be held in Sudbury on January 30th, 2024 (details can be found at https://www.bespatialontario.ca/Events), and another planned for early June in Thunder Bay. Please keep an eye on our website and enewletters for more details.  In addition to Karen joining the Board, we were delighted to have some new members join the board over the course of the year. Jax Vollmer and Jenn Gross have agreed to co-manage our BeSpatial Annual Event, while Jackie Smith has taken on the Communications role. All three are employed at GM BluePlan, who is a Silver sponsor for the coming year. We are incredibly grateful to them and GM BluePlan for the support. We also welcomed Jessica Hobbins as our new YPN Manager. Jessica works as a GIS Analyst with Peterborough County, and is a recent YPN member as well. She understands the challenges with being a recent grad and pursuing a passion for GIS; she is doing a great job guiding our Young Professionals Network members. BeSpatial Ontario is also excited to announce that we have entered into a new partnership with Pathfinders Exploration Community to sponsor a year of engaging Pathfinder’s podcasts. This collaboration brings our members 24 episodes (2 a month for 2024) packed with expert insights, fostering professional development and innovation in the geospatial sector. It's an opportunity for our community to connect, learn, and make informed decisions using knowledge shared openly by GIS leaders across the globe. Check out pathfinders. Social for a journey of growth and discovery in the world of GIS!

All of us on the Management Team are already deep into the planning stages for 2024. In addition to our AGM in early May, we have also agreed to work with the Faculty and Students Association at Seneca College to provide a 1-day event in late February at one of their campuses, to help students within the School of Environmental and Civil Engineering technology, as well as other faculties, understand the power of geospatial analysis and how it can be a springboard to a rich and rewarding career. As for our AGM, taking place on May 1-2, 2024 the Management Team has agreed to the theme of BePrepared – Bracing for Technological Breakthroughs and the World of Work. This theme has a dual connotation: 1.       Geospatial preparedness – understanding how new tools, datasets and technological innovations can help us, and… 2.       Preparing for the business opportunities that will arise from this understanding. Registration is now open, and we hope to “see” many of you there. In the meantime, we’re still staging our regular webinars, which continue to be a popular forum for sharing tips, tricks and trends in the GeoSpatial domain. I would just like to remind everyone that we still have a couple of webinars planned, both this week and next, where you can test your GIS and holiday trivia knowledge, and have some fun before many of us wrap up for the year. On that note, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank our amazing community of members and sponsors for your continued support, and also take a moment to offer my humble thanks to everyone on the Management Team and associated committees that do the heavy lifting to keep you informed, enlightened, and coming back for more. From all of us (see below), to all of you, we wish you a joyous Christmas and happy holiday season with your loved ones, and much health, happiness and prosperity for the coming year. Sincerely, Peter Hettstedt, President, BeSpatial

Topics include but are not limited to:

• Geospatial applications use of spatial and not spatial data
• Extracting value from data through increased access and legal compliance.
  
• Business applications using Open Data.
  
• 5G and IoT.
  
• Data access technologies and business growth.
  
• Ideas for eliminating the geospatial divide through cooperation and collaboration.
  
• Multi stake-holder cooperation models.
  
• Challenges and opportunities in public-private partnerships.
• How to improve executive understanding of the business value of geospatial? What works and what doesn’t?
  
• How to address geospatial illiteracy in a business environment?
  
• How to prepare for the next wave of geospatial technologies?
  
• How prepare for a new type of jobs which will require new skills and a high degree of adaptability.

Contact Clifford by email asap with your Intention to present.

Abstract Submission - Please complete the online form.

Note: abstracts will be posted online in the program highlights area as approved.  

The preliminary agenda with designated speakers and presentation times will be posted once  presentation timeslots are confirmed .

Now accepting proposals for Winter and Spring 2024. 

Some great webinars continue as we rollout planned webinars for the upcoming year.  

Some of these webinars may sound familiar to BeSpatial annual event attendees and you would be right! These amazing presenters from BeSpatial's annual event have agreed to provide a more detailed presentation from their BeSpatial event session.  Stay tuned for more information and registration details!

Interested in offering a Webinar? Contact Wendy Programs

Board of Directors Executive Director,  Sandra Crutcher Immediate Past President,  Susan Muleme Kasumba  Director, President, Peter Hettstedt Director, 1st Vice President,  Wendy Baldin Director, 2nd Vice President,  Melanie Wawryk Director, Treasurer, Brooke Hewitt Director, Secretary,  Hanna Sjostrom Director, Andrew Lyszkiewicz Director, Jeff Norris Director,  James Burn Standing and Ad Hoc Committee Managers BeSpatial/AGM Project Management: Jax Vollmer & Jenn Gross Communications: Jackie Education: Courtney Dunn Finance: Brooke Hewitt Membership: Hanna Sjostrom Programs: Wendy Baldin Strategy & Outreach: Susan Muleme Kasumba & Andrew Lyszkiewicz Web: Jeff Norris Eastern Section: Your name goes here! Western Section: Melanie Wawryk Northern Section:  Angela McEachern & Karen Lehtonen Young Professional Network (YPN): Jessica Hobbins

Welcome 2023 Board Management Team! We're excited to have such talented professionals join us in moving BeSpatial forward. Stay tuned for their director profiles to come in future eNews.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the membership survey! We were able to use the feedback and suggestions from our members to help plan events for the upcoming year. 

Congratulations to the following members who won gift cards for filling out the survey:

• Juliana Pentikainen
• Anik Hagen-Menard
• Matthew Wierdsma
• Simon Morris

A special shoutout to Kevin Farrugia who was the 23rd survey respondent and won an Apple AirTag!

We heard a few common themes throughout the suggestions and can provide the following updates:

• For those of you who asked for in-person events outside of the GTA: We have recently hosted an Eastern event and have 2 upcoming events in Cambridge.
• For those of you who asked for webinars at different times other than 12 and 1: In our 2023/2024 program schedule we will be implementing more webinar time frames.

GIS Managers Open Forum

Date: Wednesday, July 24, 2024 - 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM

Note: This is an Eventbrite virtual event. BeSpatial is not accepting registrations for the event. Please CLICK on the button below: 

This forum will be led by Greg Babinski, GIS Management Consulting Services.

This free online open forum is an opportunity for GIS leaders to meet, share, and discuss issues and opportunities for those responsible for GIS operations and management.

GIS management is one of the most challenging responsibilities for any agency or company that utilizes geospatial technology. Effective geospatial management is a key factor for achieving maximum effectiveness and optimum ROI from an agency's investment.

GIS management can also be a highly rewarding career. Professional GIS managers need a venue to share issues, problems, best practices, resources, and emerging trends.

This free one-hour online event will include the following agenda:

• Introductions

• Spotlight on a new GIS management resource

• Open discussion of GIS-management related issues

• Upcoming events

Audience

Current GIS managers, supervisors, and coordinators, and those who aspire to a successful career in GIS management.

Advance registration is required.

For more information, contact Greg Babinski at greg@gismcs.com 

Note: Interested in future events from this organizer. Please checkout upcoming events listed at the registration site above for your perusal and interest.

Registered attendees will receive Zoom meeting credentials before the event.