BeSpatial Ontario is excited to announce the upcoming Spring GIS in-person event to be held in Thunder Bay, Ontario on June 04 at the Valhalla Inn!
Don't miss this unique and informative geospatial event! Register Now! Note: When you register, you will receive a complimentary 2024 BeSpatial membership!
Come hear how geospatial is vital in responding to current industry challenges. You will gain insights on how to prepare for and face these changes in our environment and climate. How can you use geospatial data to make and support key decisions? Whether you’re a forester, engineer, conservation officer or a student wondering what a career in geospatial will bring, this full day event will have informative presentations and opportunities for networking with local like-minded individuals. Your contribution and support plays a crucial role in supporting this geospatial and information community event and ensuring its success.
Please share this information with your colleagues who may not be aware of BeSpatial events.
Event Details:
Tuesday, June 04, 2024
8:30 am - 5:30 pm (social gathering from 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm)
Valhalla Inn, 1 Valhalla Inn Rd, Thunder Bay, ON P7E 6J1
Continental breakfast, lunch, snacks, coffee service and social networking is included.
If you have questions, dietary restrictions, or accessibility needs, please contact: Angela McEachern northern@bespatialontario.ca
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Our exciting Keynote Address from Casey Price at Environics and Eugene Chan from KPMG, will conceptualize how the GIS community is using hyper scalers to access datasets that are petabytes in size to make informed decisions when it comes to emergency response efforts, digital twins, tourism and economic development. Geospatial experts are being tasked with solving larger and larger challenges as decision makers and the general populace at large realize how many decisions are actually location based. In the last five years mobile data has begun to become integrated into geospatial solutions with the hopes of adding an element of temporally based, observed human behaviour to GIS based platforms in an effort to answer an even greater number of questions.
Bios
Casey Price, Senior Vice President, Partnerships and Extended Channel works collaboratively with both software and data partners to ensure Environics Analytics has access to the best the industry has to offer. Working with partners and client alike, Casey also helps illustrate how clients can make the best use of Environics Analytics tools to address current market challenges. If solution gaps exist, he will influence new product design to meet current and future needs. With more than 30 years in the marketing analytics industry, with expertise in consumer segmentation, predictive analytics, site selection, and business development. Prior to joining Environics Analytics (EA), he held executive-level positions at Pitney Bowes/ MapInfo, Equifax and Compusearch. While at EA Casey has helped create and centralize the training and support team and has led the USA-based business. More recently he led Product Management when several new products were conceived and introduced. The recipient of a Bachelor of Applied Geography degree from Toronto Metropolitan University, he is a regular conference speaker and author of numerous whitepapers on industry topics.
Eugene Chan, Executive Director, Deal Advisory Analytics at KPMG has over twelve years of advisory experience in both KPMG’s Deal Advisory and Management Consulting practices where he has provided financial, commercial, operational due diligence, and corporate and operational strategy services in a variety of sectors. Eugene’s current focus is to apply KPMG’s Data & Analytics platform within the Deal Advisory environment to address and analyze business trends, identify opportunities and support value creation, and investigate investment considerations for each transaction and industry. This work could involve applying a range of descriptive and predictive analytics utilizing both internal and external data, proprietary and third-party tools, and machine learning / AI models to drive insights at deal speed.
Agenda
Continental Breakfast - 8:30 am to 9:00 am
Keynote
Presentations
- Data Capture from the Ground to the Sky: Revolutionizing Land Surveying with Aerial Advancements and the Future Frontiers in Geospatial Intelligence". Joseph Ababio, Project Supervisor (J.D. Barnes - Thunder Bay)
The profession of land surveying has undergone significant evolution over the millennium, marked by continuous advancements in techniques and technologies. These advancements have improved the quality of data captured, through enhancements in the accuracy and precision of instruments, as well as in the mathematical formulas and modules used for computing and correcting observed data.
Aerial data capture and image intelligence began in Canada in the early 1900s, but was initially limited to large-budget projects, predominantly for government agencies. Fast forward a century to the early 2000s, and we witnessed the proliferation of advanced aerial data capture tools, notably Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), becoming accessible to the public. This development introduced a new paradigm and expanded the toolkit available for land surveyors in data capture.
My presentation will explore the journey from the 1990s that led to this proliferation in the early 2000s. It will examine how RPAS are transforming land surveyors' workflows and consider the future of the technology and software used for processing RPAS-captured data. The advancements in data capture technologies and techniques available to surveyors today are growing at an exponential rate compared to just a decade ago. While this is exciting, it also poses questions on how we can harness these benefits for our businesses, fully understand the limitations, and address the ethical concerns that arise.
Joseph Ababio, Project Supervisor (J.D. Barnes - Thunder Bay)
Joseph is a Geomatic Engineer, currently working as a project supervisor for J. D. Barnes Limited. With an extensive background in Survey Engineering, Cadastral Surveys, Mine Surveys, and GIS, Joseph has applied his expertise across a broad range of disciplines within the Geomatics field. Having pursued and attained degrees and certifications from various institutions across North America, Europe, and Africa, he has obtained international knowledge in areas such as Geomatics, Project Management, Leadership, Health and Safety, Business Development, City Design, Geospatial Intelligence, and Community Engagement.
Joseph’s interest in the practical application of Geospatial data led to his first paper publication titled "Change Detection Analysis on the Impact of Illegal Mining (Galamsey) in Ghana: A Case Study Focusing on Land Cover Changes in Some Selected Districts within the Ashanti and Central Regions," accepted at the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) conference in Istanbul in 2018.
As a licensed Ontario Land Surveyor and Canada Lands Surveyor, Joseph's working experiences in both Canada and Ghana have shaped his strong belief in and advocacy for the adoption of diverse and inclusive approaches to the datasets used in geospatial analytics, as such practices are crucial in fostering informed decision-making processes that contribute to nation-building.
CE Strategies
Rylie & Ericka will be discussing how emergency management has shifted to a predominantly digital environment; 911 calls are routed through GIS systems, community infrastructure is mapped with GPS units onto GIS software, and data is stored online rather than in a filing cabinet. While the dynamic field of geospatial science is ever-changing, even seasoned experts are constantly adapting to emerging technologies, and it has become increasingly important to ensure that this powerful tool remains accessible to all users who need it.
With endless use cases, communities can use GIS to increase their resilience against flood and fire by proactively mapping areas at risk, consolidate existing infrastructure and asset information into one database, and improve emergency response times by bringing address information to digital platforms.
CE Strategies works with communities throughout northern Ontario and Manitoba to implement GIS solutions into emergency management and future community planning, while bringing hard-copy datasets and ground truthed information online, and in doing so, focusing on ensuring accessibility of data and ease of use in an inherently complicated and hardware dependent environment.
Centre for Research and Innovation in the Bio-Economy
Sarah Bencic will be showcasing how CRIBE is using data to drive regional economic development in Ontario.
CRIBE have been and continue to share & collaborate with municipal economic developers to showcase the opportunity for investment in Northwestern Ontario. We have been developing free & open tools on our platform to highlight economic opportunity using spatial data from the province & our partners. These tools are hosted on our forest EDGE platform & are openly available to the public. Along with the work we do within our network to encourage innovation across the bio economy we are working hard to do business to business matching and investment attraction support for communities.
Bio Economy is a growing opportunity for investment as much of provincial & federal policy is encouraging a Net Zero approach for businesses. This drive can be of massive benefit to Northwestern Ontario & we are using spatial data to showcase that!
Social Networking Hour
What Awaits You:
Engaging Presentations: Esteemed speakers will share their collaborative GIS partnership stories and how these interactions have aided their business and career journey. Their valuable insights are sure to inspire you!
Networking Opportunities: Connect with fellow attendees who share your passion for GIS, and data analytics solutions. Build meaningful professional connections and foster collaboration.
Interactive Q&A Sessions: Engage in lively and enriching Q&A discussions with our esteemed speakers. Pose questions and delve deeper into the GIS applications presented.
Best Practices: Immerse yourself in learning best practices from others showcasing the latest GIS tools and technologies. Witness firsthand how GIS is revolutionizing business and government efforts.
Join the Movement: Together, let us be a driving force behind positive change and the pursuit of a more collaborative, more sustainable world through the power of GIS. We envision this event as a catalyst for innovative solutions and lasting partnerships.
Save the Date, Share the Invitation: Mark your calendars and extend our invitation to your peers and colleagues. Your presence will undoubtedly enrich the event, and we hope to see you there!
If you have questions, dietary restrictions, or accessibility needs, please contact: Angela McEachern - northern@bespatialontario.ca
Benefits of being a BeSpatial member:
Grow your Geospatial and Information Network
Being part of the Ontario community connects you to other geospatial and information professionals across multiple sectors. Attending our events, workshops and webinars allows you to meet other users experiencing the same challenges that you face. It's an opportunity to build partnerships and share ideas.
Receive the Latest News
As a member of the community, you will receive our regular eNews email blasts, which will keep you up to date on the latest geospatial and information news, events, job postings and more that are happening in Ontario.
Earn Professional Credits
Members earn credits towards professional designations such as the GISP by being members and attending or presenting at Ontario geospatial events.
Member Discounts and Access to Library of Session Recordings
Offers discounted member prices to all of our and services such as job postings, webinars and onsite events. Members also have access to past recordings from our webinars and our annual virtual event.
Sponsors
