Spatial Data Infrastructure Summit

The B.C. Government, in collaboration with the Canadian Council on Geomatics, Natural Resources Canada and the Open Geospatial Consortium, hosted the second Pan-Canadian Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Summit in Victoria, on November 24, 2015.  

This meeting of SDI leaders from across Canada explored the role of governments in realizing better means for sharing geographic data and developing improved location-based services for meeting real world needs.

Across Canada, SDIs facilitate decision making based on shared geospatial information. Although each jurisdiction has taken a slightly different approach, all are striving towards the same outcome: making Canada's geospatial information more accessible and usable to Canadians.

The Agenda for the 2015 summit was focused on effective data cataloguing and data discovery; data standardization and data interoperability; data access and visualization; location services; opportunities for collaboration and partnerships, and the importance of geospatial information for sustainable resource development, the environment and emergency management.

Notable speakers:

• Eric Peterson, President, Hakai Institute on Geospatial Information and Ecological Observatories on BC’s Coastal Margin
• Dr. Trisalyn Nelson, Professor, University of Victoria on Harnessing the Power of the Crowd
• Dr. Francis Zwiers, Director, Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium on Climate Change and the Challenge of Delivering Information
• Trevor Taylor, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) on the Role of Standards in Geospatial Information Management
• Prashant Shukle, Natural Resource Canada on Making Canada a Geo-Data Destination

Sponsors:

• Pacific GeoTech
• Vivid Solutions
• Esri Canada
• SAFE Software
• Galdos Systems
• Latitude Geographics
• Open Geospatial Consortium
• B.C. Government (DataBC)

Participants:

Governments 

• B.C. Government – Corporate Services for the Natural Resource Sector
• B.C. Government – DataBC
• B.C. Government – Environmental Assessment Office
• B.C. Government – Environment
• B.C. Government – Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations
• B.C. Government – Government Communications and Public Engagement
• B.C. Government – GeoBC
• B.C. Government – Transportation
• B.C. Assessment
• B.C. Hydro
• B.C. Ministry of Health/ Public Health Agency of Canada
• B.C. Oil and Gas Commission
• B.C. Geological Survey
• Canadian Forest Service
• City of Abbotsford
• City of Nanaimo
• City of Victoria
• Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Institute of Ocean Sciences
• Department of National Defence
• Department of Natural Resources Canada
• Elections BC
• Elections Canada
• GeoDiscover Alberta
• Government of Alberta
• Government of Manitoba
• Government of Nova Scotia
• Government of the Northwest Territories
• Government of the NWT, Department of Lands
• Government of Yukon
• Health Emergency Management BC (Pubic Health Services Authority)
• Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada
• Ministère de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles – Québec
• National Energy Board
• Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
• Statistics Canada

Geomatics Industry

• BandersGeo
• Boundless Geo
• Clever Elephant
• Esri Canada
• Galdos Systems Inc.
• Husslage Consulting
• Latitude Geographics Group Ltd.
• Little Earth GIS Consulting Inc.
• MDA
• Pacific GeoTech Systems Ltd.
• Refractions Research
• SAFE Software Inc.
• Tulisso Design Group, Inc.
• UrtheCast
• Vivid Solutions Inc.

Foundations and Not for Profit

• Alberta Data Partnerships
• GeoAlliance Canada
• Integrated Cadastral Information Society
• Pacific Salmon Foundation
• The Open Geospatial Consortium
• Tula Foundation

Academia

• Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium
• Selkirk College
• UVic Earth Ocean Sciences
• UVic Geography
• UVic History