Ted MacKinnon is a geomatics specialist from Nova Scotia, Canada who has a strong interest in Geomatics and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In this interview he talks about the application of geomatics to solve everyday problems.
Your website Canadian GIS & Geomatics is a treasure trove for anyone interested in this subject. How did this project start?
At the time when I started CanadianGIS.com it was really difficult to find good information relevant to GIS related topics in Canada. The majority of information that search engines would provide was American or European based and not many websites were dedicated to help promote the Canadian Industry. I had been creating websites for various clients after establishing myself with an online portfolio to help my career.
Therefore creating a GIS website for Canadian information seemed like the right thing to do since I already had the web design skills and was actively gathering information relevant to GIS related topics in Canada. It also provided me with a god place for myself to store such information and make it easily accessible so I would not have to search for it again.
Over time the topics expanded as demand and technology changed and social media accounts were created to help build a dedicated network of followers that continuously supply the site with relevant up to date information. These days hot topics like open data, GIS jobs and conference and events are some of the more popular sections of the website and all social media accounts continue to grow and flourish.
How does GIS relate to Geomatics?
That is an interesting and a pretty common question, as the phrase Geomatics is a relatively new and has become more of a Canadian term.
Geomatics is a broad term that encompasses a wide variety of smaller niche disciplines used in land surveying, remote sensing, cartography, geographic information systems (GIS), geography and other related forms of spatial mapping. The term was derived from French language and has since been adopted by many International Organizations.
So to get back to your question, GIS is basically one aspect of Geomatics.
How can Geomatics solve everyday problems?
I wouldn’t say that Geomatics can solve everyday problems on its own but it does provide valuable tools that when applied can help provide better decision making tools to tackle everyday problems with. One of the hottest Geomatics topics recently has been related to “Location”. The power of having good knowledge of Location unlike general product differentiation, addresses economic activities such as where people are located in order to produce or sell similar products in an existing market while maximizing accessibility and profits.
Most people often use geomatics teachings in everyday life without even realizing it as the technology continues to evolve. For example, more people make use of online maps thanks to an increase in tablet and smart phone usage.
Do you have to be a scientist to be able to apply these theories?
GIS & Geomatics is a technical industry so although there are many scientists involved, the majority of people who work in the industry would not consider themselves scientists. Most people in Geomatics start with a background in various other education programs such as geology, geography or biology and then use geomatics to add a technical component to their skills. It is not a requirement but definitely helps distinguish you from others and provides a solid foundation to build a career upon.
Your website also a Geo Job section. Is there a high demand of people versed in this field?
The employment section is one of the higher sections in demand on our website because even after all these years one of the main topics that people continue to search for on the internet is “GIS Jobs”. We have even established a full service job site that we host on a second domain (GISjobs.ca) to help with the high demand. The success of this has been due to keeping it for Canadian jobs only.
What pans do you have for the future?
Next year will be the 10th year of our site, so we are working on building up some momentum towards celebrating that milestone with the community. We will continue to provide the Canadian Industry with a way of promoting Canadian content as long as our social networks continue to grow and flourish and the traffic keeps coming to the site. If people would like to learn more information about geomatics and how it can help solve everyday problems then I would recommend that they check out our site where they will find a large collection of resources and links to our social media groups where thousands of others come together regularly to discuss and share Canadian geomatics topics.
Watch a video about Geomatics Social Networking: