COGS hosted its annual industry expo, starting on Monday evening with two keynote presentations and a social at Lunn’s Mill. Tuesday was a full day including company presentations and an industry panel. In the gymnasium, there were forty industry partner booths.
My interests were three fold:
- To understand the suite of technologies currently taught at COGS;
- What were the expectations of the industry partners ?
- What are the programs offered at COGS today ?
The Monday evening keynotes were delivered by Justin Chang, MOBIA and Frank King, Halifax Water, both graduates from COGS, working in Halifax.
Tuesday , I had the opportunity to meet some of the industry partners. This included Derek Weatherbe from ESRI , Redlands; Simeon Roberts, Association of Nova Scotia Land Surveyors and Colin MacDonald, provincial government.
I attended the industry panel, focussed on tips for finding a job; and a presentation on NSCC Applied Research. This includes research with industry partners into Energy, Engineering technology, Environment and Agriculture, Geomatics, IT and Social Science, across all of the NSCC campuses.
My relationship with COGS started in 1980 teaching in the Scientific Computer Programming program, through to 2011 with the Applied Geomatics Research Group. I was Head, Department of Computer Programming 1980-88. Between 1988-2000, I worked for EMDI Indonesia, ESRI, OMNR and Royal Roads University. I returned to COGS to set up AGRG in 2000.
I was seeking to understand the current programs at COGS. In the 1980’s we had three departments: Surveying, Computer Programming and Cartography/Planning. Today, we have a wide range of technologies: new sensors, new platforms (eg drones) and new software environments (eg Artificial Intelligence)
Given these rapidly changing technologies, what has happened to the science of Geography, and its application, in a rapidly changing world?
From the ESRI brochure:
“At ESRI we bring meaning to maps. We pioneer problem solving using geographic information systems (GIS) and we believe the geographic approach can transform the world by unlocking data’s full potential in every organization. Our users are creating the maps that are changing the world and shaping our future.”
Acknowledgements
David MacLean helped me navigate the Expo. I had useful conversations with a number of the exhibitors. Edward Wedler put in his time as a Remote Sensing instructor at COGS. Our collaboration continues today.
Reference
Map your career at ESRI, 2023, ESRI.com/careers/#esriexperience
Ernest Blair Experiment 