Message from the President

In June 2021, the Federal Government of Canada passed Bill C-5 naming September 30 as a federal statutory holiday in observance of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. As we approach the first anniversary of that inaugural day of observance, I felt it would be fitting to share some thoughts.

The day honours the children who never returned home, and survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. As a community of Geospatial Professionals serving both the Public and Private sectors throughout Ontario, we felt it appropriate to show our support.

We are certainly encouraged by events of the past year, including the creation of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, as well as the historic visit by Pope Francis to begin the journey of healing, understanding and reconciliation.

September 30 is also Orange Shirt Day, which is an Indigenous-led grassroots commemorative day intended to raise awareness of the individual, family and community intergenerational impacts of residential schools, and to promote the concept of “Every Child Matters”. With that in mind, I dug out out some t-shirts we had printed a few years back. The words that were printed on the front certainly seem appropriate, in the sense that we must all continue to inform ourselves with respect to the history of the residential school system and the impacts it has had, to be inspired by the strength of the survivors and their families, to be involved in the act of reconciliation, and to recognize that yes, every child does matter.

On Friday, September 30^th, I will be wearing this Orange t-shirt, and I encourage all of our members to observe this important day in their own way.

Peter Hettstedt
President, BeSpatial Ontario

A warm welcome to our new President of BeSpatial Ontario.

Peter obtained a B.Sc. in Geography from the University of Calgary, graduating in 1987. While working as a research assistant in the Yukon in the summer of 1986, looking into permafrost landforms, he was introduced to surveying. After graduation he worked as a surveyor and Party Chief for an exploration company in both Africa and the Middle East. Once kids came along in the mid 90’s, he didn’t want to be an absentee parent, and he transitioned into a sales role promoting new Survey technologies, including GPS, Reflectorless Total Stations and in 2001 the introduction of terrestrial LiDAR to Canada. He has been involved in the Geomatics/Geospatial industry ever since.

He now works as Business Development Manager for J.D. Barnes Ltd. and its subsidiaries, including First Base Solutions and Onsite Locates Inc., consulting with clients to provide the appropriate geomatics or geospatial services to make their projects successful.

Peter joined the Board of BeSpatial in late 2020, and was nominated and accepted the role of President at the 2021 AGM.

Board Position & e-mail: President 

General Organization & Pheedloop

• The organization of presentations was great on Pheedloop, and I appreciated being able to filter presentations for specific days, topics, speakers, etc.
• For the MApps gallery, I thought providing the entries in a video was great. I would have loved to have links to active apps and maps as a supplement to this so I could view some additional details for each entry.
• I liked having the notifications for presentations and other sections of the event that were starting - it was definitely helpful when I was busy during the scavenger hunt!

Gamification

• This was great, and it was very clear how to get gamification codes and redeem them. I liked having multiple options for getting gamification codes and how this encouraged interactions with the exhibitors!
• The only suggestion I would have here would be to have a notification through Pheedloop giving a 5 minute warning for when the prize draw was happening so everyone could get their final ballots in.

Presentations

• Presentations were well-organized and it was great having the chat options for asking questions along with a moderator to collect questions.
• I'm not sure if this is just a Pheedloop setting - but I did notice in a few presentations, the presentation stopped broadcasting as soon as their time ended. As we had a little bit of time in between sessions, I would have loved to have the option to either continue viewing the broadcast or to disperse out to the exhibit booths. Alternately, a 5 minute warning for the presenter would work if there isn't an option to allow the broadcasts to go longer.

Interaction/Engagement

• I loved the private chat / video meet now options and really appreciated being able to start a chat with other attendees. I actually ended up reconnecting with someone I knew who was presenting, and it was much nicer to start our conversation with a quick chat than sending him an email separately. A few others also reached out through chat, and it was great being able to talk with them on Pheedloop itself rather than having to go to email or set up a separate call.
• The poll and quiz options were great and I especially liked the word clouds for quiz responses being generated in real time.

Thank you so much again for all of the work that went in to making this event fantastic. Many of the events I've attended over the last year have just been presentation after presentation, with very few options for engaging with presenters and connecting with other attendees. I thought Pheedloop really tied everything together and made it feel more like an in-person conference - even little touches like having a map view of the exhibitor booth with people icons at each booth made it feel special. 

If there's anything here you want further clarification on, please reach out!

Katherine O'Hearn, 1st time BeSpatial volunteer

Dear BeSpatial 

We would like to thank you all for such a successful virtual event! I believe we had a record – over 290 folks online on day one, and over 200 on day two! Your support is greatly appreciated.

We are so grateful to both of our BeSpatial Co-Directors: Wendy Baldin and Mohamed Nishath, and to our Web Co-Directors Melanie Warwryk and Jeff Norris. Honorable mention to Hanna Sjostrom. Not just for their leadership in the event and our virtual platform Pheedloop, but behind the scenes on the event days, along with our other board members, these folks were busy keeping the sessions going and fixing glitches. You all did such an amazing job!

We truly appreciate all of our volunteers who helped make our event successful. From preparation in the months leading up, to help on the day of. Even though we were virtual, there was still much to do. Our volunteers really stepped up.

To our speakers – your sessions were so interesting and thought provoking. You delivered so much information for folks to digest and consider as they move forward in their day jobs. We appreciate the effort you put in to your presentation. Thank you to our moderators who kept things on track.

Our keynote speakers, Biju Misra and Alex Miller - inspiring with very timely messages. Thank you both!

And for those who had a part in our event, big or small, we thank you.

Our poll at the end of the day indicated a 60/40 split for virtual and in person for our next event. We will keep you informed about our decision.

Warm Regards,

Susan, Past President & Peter, President

The two days of BeSpatial'21 event had an amazing turnaround across all sessions and booths. Everyone from our speakers to sponsors to exhibitors had rich and insightful content to offer for our attendees. Thank you all for participating and hope you enjoyed gamification and the prizes you won! Congratulations again to all of our award winners!

I'd like to take this moment to thank the board for organizing such an amazing event despite it being virtual (close to 400 registrations!) A special shout-out to our events team for making the event quite interactive. The interactive aspect wasn't just nice but necessary at a time like this, so thank you Jeff Norris Alex Brossault Hanna Sjostrom Andrew Lyszkiewicz Susan Muleme Kasumba Sandra M. Crutcher John Bacon Melanie Wawryk Catherine Fitzgerald (she/her/hers) Wendy Baldin and Mohamed Nishath !

Thank you for organizing various programming, awards and promoting the event Iain Greensmith Marikka Williams, MSc, GISP Brooke Hickmott Krista Bullock and Paul Beach!

Let's #BeSpatial again next year!

Gaya - BeSpatial Communications Director

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Check out the Full list of BeSpatial'21 Sponsors

“Digital transformation in cities needs a human heart and a digital brain”. Geospatial infrastructure is the core of this brain. Future systems, first and foremost, must serve the needs of the people who live there. 

Alex Miller is president and founder of Esri Canada, the leading geographic information system (GIS) company in Canada, founded in 1984.

Visit our Spotlight section for more information on our keynote speakers...

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