Dr. Barry Wellar, C.M.
Professor Emeritus, University of Ottawa
President, Information Research Board
Registered Professional Planner (RPP Ontario-Lifetime)
Date: Thursday, June 25th, 2026 - 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm
Broadcast and social media reports, academic publications, and research surveys reveal a surge of concern in recent years about the critical need for provincial and municipal politicians to have much more regard for the immediate and long-term spatial impacts of policy and planning decisions affecting Ontario’s built and natural environments.
Popular topics of concern include loss of agricultural land, loss of tree canopy, failing infrastructure (roads, sidewalks, sewers), excessive traffic congestion, loss of conservation land, forest fires, both floods and lowering of water tables, waste disposal conflicts, loss of housing type diversity, loss of heritage properties, excessive densification in areas of limited greenspace, and climate change impacts on weather patterns.
This webinar presents an update on research into how combining the Universal Law of Location (ULL), zero-sum logic (Z-SL), and the science and technology of geographic information systems (GIS) could assist citizens, politicians, and professionals in government and business make more informed decisions about how and where Ontario land resources are allocated for what purposes.
Sources of evidence include results from surveys of municipal and provincial politicians, scans of broadcast and social media productions, reviews of academic and government literature, and consultations with community activists and GIS and planning practitioners.
Webinar Slides
About Doctor Barry Wellar
Barry Wellar graduated from Queen’s University (Hon. B.A.) and Northwestern University (MSc., PhD). He is Professor Emeritus, University of Ottawa, President, Information Research Board, Past-President of URISA (1978), and former Director, Geography Awareness Week, Canadian Association of Geographers.
Honours received include the Horwood Award, the Anderson Medal, the Service to Government Award, the Ullman Award, induction into the GIS Hall of Fame (2011), Member, Order of Canada (2018) for his leadership in the field of geographic information science, and a pioneer in the use of GIS applications to help the public sector handle planning issues at all levels of government, and the BeSpatial Hall of Fame (2024). He was Director of the 1983 AutoCarto Six Technical Program and Editor of the Symposium Proceedings, Automated Cartography: International Perspectives on Achievements and Challenges. In 2012 he edited Foundations of Urban and Regional Information Systems and Geographic Information Systems and Science. In 2013 he organized and edited AutoCarto Six Retrospective. Details about his career record can be found at https://wellar.ca/informationresearch/
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