Author: maherrv

In ‘The Story of COGS’ I use a Venn Diagram of three intersecting circles to show the intersection of Concepts, Technology and Applications. At the intersection we have collaboration, projects and partnerships (see posts Background Story to the COGS and CCA Relationship and Tour de COGS).

This came to mind yesterday, as I was reading my emails.

The second email was a notice from Esri Canada about a webinar on June 19 ‘ Sky bound solutions. Drones revolutionizing AEC practices.’.

AEC stands for Architecture, Engineering and Construction. In essence, it is the application of GIS to the ‘ built environment’.

From my opening slide ‘ Fifty years of GIS and RS at COGS’, it shows me on our ‘walk to Georgetown in 2013. The message is simple. You have to ‘walk the talk’.

The message is also true from Edward Wedler. In the same time frame, he invented the venue ‘Ride the Lobster’, an 800km unicycle relay race around Nova Scotia (i.e. ‘the lobster’)

One final link, from Maria Popova, I received my weekly newsletter. The Marginalian. June 9, 2024.

References

Bob Maher and Heather Stewart, 2014, The Story of the College of Geographic Sciences: A Nova Scotian experiment in Technical Education.

We have been away for a few days in New Glasgow. It is good to get back to the gardening. The sunshine with the occasional shower has been good for the flowers: rhododendrons, wisteria and lupins.

In essence, Red, White and Blue; the colours of the Union Jack.

---

Today, I went into COGS to meet with David MacLean. Since I only have the resources of my iPad, I don’t have-access to software to create slides for the CSRS keynote presentation next week. With significant help from both David and Edward, they were able to master the complexities of the Google world.

Even using my iPad at COGS, I needed to bring my cell phone to obtain an access code to the Internet. Oh, the joys of keeping up with technology.

In presenting Fifty years of GIS and RS at COGS, I have been able to witness the changes in technical education at a rural institution. It remains a remarkable story.

Besides the technological changes, we have witnessed significant changes in the philosophy of education, especially in relationship to an aging population. The other key factor is the change in our relationship to the landscape and the community. Fortunately, there have been a number of writers who have reflected upon these relationships

This week (Thursday, May 30), I attended the Annual General Meeting of the Geomatics Association of Nova Scotia at the ESRI Canada office in Bedford.

Simeon Roberts invited me to give a ‘dry run’ of my CSRS presentation ‘Fifty years of GIS and RS at COGS’. To be delivered in Halifax in June.

Of particular interest to me was the concern of GANS on education. This has been heightened by the cancellation of GIS programs (among other programs) at SSFC (Sir Sanford Fleming College) in Ontario and at RRU (Royal Roads University) and Vancouver Island University (Masters Program) in British Columbia. Their closure appears to be the result of the federal reduction in funding for foreign students coming to Canada. GANS expressed the concern of the possibility of increased competition, elsewhere in Canada for COGS graduates.

To counteract the shortage of qualified GIS/RS professionals, we must better understand that ‘geography matters’ to address the issues of climate change across the vast, diverse landscape of Canada. We need a better understanding of our geography and access to appropriate training in the related technologies of GIS and RS. This will likely require input from the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS), as well as the GIS community at the federal level. We need the equivalent of CACRS (Canada Advisory Committee on Remote Sensing) — a CACGIS ( Canada Advisory Committee on GIS).

Useful Online and Related References

Ellsworth LeDrew and Robert Ryerson, The Evolution of Remote Sensing Education in Canada’s Universities and Colleges: Decades of Innovation and Expansion, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol 49, 2023, Issue 1

Robert Maher and Heather Stewart, 2014, The Story of COGS (https://thestoryofcogs.ca/)

Check out Robert Maher’s blog site. ernestblairexperiment.wordpress.com

Visit the GoGeomatics online magazine

In 1977, George Argus at the Canadian Museum of Nature invited the author to join his Rare and Endangered Plants Project in Ottawa (see posts Enlightenment and Biogeography). Both Patrick and Andrew were born at the Ottawa General Hospital.

Move forward to today.

I discovered a copy of a short commentary by George in the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Journal tucked away in my bookcase. The title is Technological Barriers.

‘The computer seems to be the ‘magic bullet’ that will solve our communication problems and will permit us to turn around the environmental crisis in the next decades. The use of Geographic Information Systems to put our problems into some kind of geographic perspective, holistic modelling to see the big picture and expert systems to train cadres of ‘village ecologists ‘ who will keep watch on the ecosystem in which they live. I don’t believe it will work.’

‘Remote Sensing is an effective way to gather data on a macro scale level. The need however for extensive ground truthing and continuous examination of assumptions cannot be overemphasized.‘

‘In the face of problems such as world overpopulation, our undeterred rush towards more and more consumerism now being clothed in ‘green rhetoric’, the continued exploitation of the natural world, and the measure of everything in economic terms, the technological barriers to environmental information seem trivial.’

‘Although these technological barriers are not completely clear, I have a feeling that their solution will involve grappling with three other problems: politics, education and money.’

Heather and I have fond memories of our time in Ottawa. From a work perspective, it produced two publications. The Rare Vascular Plants of Nova Scotia, and the Rare Vascular Plants of Saskatchewan.

Today, I look across the road at the flowering horse chestnut tree. I remember George, the beekeeper and willow (Salix) expert, being impressed by the diversity of bees on the tree (see post The Bookshelf )

I believe that George’s comments on technology are even more true today.

References

G. W. Argus, 1992, Technological Barriers, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Journal, v 20, p.175-177.

R. V. Maher, David White, George Argus and Paul Keddy,1977,The Rare Vascular Plants of Nova Scotia, 37 pp, Syllogeus 18, Published by the National Museum, Ottawa.

R. V. Maher, George Argus and Vernon Harmes, 1978, The Rare Vascular Plants of Saskatchewan, 42 pp, Syllogeus 19, Published by the National Museum, Ottawa.

This week, (May 22,2024) we held a meeting of the Ernest Buckler Literary Event Society (EBLES).

Jane Borecky, Anne Crossman, myself and Heather Stewart met at John Montgomery’s house in Bridgetown. Our motto remains Reading where we live: A Celebration of Local Writing (read posts Eccentrics, in Paradise, Authors Among Us, and EBLES Meeting).

Once again, I went to my bookshelves. I found the EBLES program for Saturday, June 3, 2017, at the Bridgetown Legion and one for Saturday, June 29, 2019 at the Temple on Queen. Somewhere, there is a program for the West Dalhousie Community Hall event for Saturday, May 19, 2023.

While browsing, I found a newsletter from the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia (Summer 2012) plus a self-guided tour of Elizabeth Bishop ‘s Great Village. It amuses me that both Ernest Buckler and Elizabeth Bishop share the same initials EB (read posts The Pastoral Economy and Geography III: Place Writing and Maps)

Two other finds.

The Nova Scotia Policy Review (2008, 2009) and Coastlands (2009, 2011), edited and published by Rachel Brighton, a resident of Bridgetown (read post Bring Back Coastlands).

MapAnnapolis Community Mapping project (read post Mapping Annapolis County)

About us:

‘Community-created asset maps are based on the premise that local residents possess expert knowledge of their local environments which can be expressed in a geographical framework which is easily understandable and universally recognized. Participatory maps often represent a socially or culturally distinct understanding of landscape and include information that is excluded from mainstream or official maps.’ Map Annapolis.

EBLES continues to support both the West Dalhousie and Centrelea communities. This seems appropriate: The Mountain and the Valley is important to David Manners (see post The Curious Mind), Ernest Buckler and those of us interested in the literary legacy of this part of the Annapolis Valley.

---

This week spent time financing property in Middleton. Changed our bank from Scotia Bank to Credit Union. Despite its name, Scotia Bank is not serving the needs of Nova Scotians in rural areas, closing branches in Annapolis Royal and Bridgetown.

Acknowledgements

Thank you John Montgomery for the hospitality. Jane Borecky and Anne Crossman for their hard work. Heather Stewart, for sharing the load.

References

Rachel Brighton, 2009, Coastlands: The Maritimes Policy Review, Vol 3.1, An ethical look at agriculture.

Rachel Brighton, 2011, Coastlands: The Maritimes Policy Review, Vol 4.1. Feast to Famine.

Claude Bissell, 1989, Ernest Buckler Remembered. University of Toronto Press.

David Manners, 1941, Convenient Season, Dutton Press.

One of the surprises that comes from Decluttering is the discovery of old newspaper clippings. I found the following four articles from the Annapolis County Spectator of interest. All written by the author.

1) Geography matters: place-based economic develop. October 29, 2011
2) Geography, technology and scale. October 11, 2012
3) History, information and cultural mapping. February 21, 2013.
4) Connecting the stories. October 21, 2013.

---

GEOGRAPHY MATTERS ARTICLE

It is significant that the NSCC fired the author, Chris Hopkinson and Jeff Wentzell on November 22, 2011 (after the first article was published).

---

HISTORY, INFORMATION & CULTURAL MAPPING: GEORGETOWN LETTER ARTICLE

---

On a different note, I found the obituary for Roger Tomlinson, the Father of Computerized Cartography; a full page in the Globe and Mail, Saturday March 1, 2014.

It includes a photograph of Roger conducting field work in Labrador in 1957.

The author was in Labrador at the McGill Sub-Arctic Research Lab in Schefferville conducting field work in 1964-65. He completed his B.Sc. Honours thesis ‘ A Biogeographical Study of the Shoal Lake Area, Labrador’ at the University of Birmingham, UK.

ROGER TOMLINSON OBITUARY ARTICLE

These last couple of weeks I have been Decluttering our house and my mind. We have decided to move to Middleton where we can walk to the grocery store, health services and the bank. Philosophically, we want to increase our level of walking and decrease jumping in the car to buy the necessities of life.

At the same time, in preparation for a talk on ‘Fifty Years of GIS and RS at COGS’ I have been Decluttering my mind.

A third dimension is going through the book cases, determining which books that I likely won’t re-read. They can go to Endless Shores in Bridgetown. Thank you, Jennifer Crouse.

Two books did demand my attention.

---

Next week, I am scheduled to speak at the Geomatics Association of Nova Scotia (GANS) AGM. It will be a chance to test out a few ideas before the Canadian Society for Remote Sensing (CSRS) keynote talk in June.

---

As the post-war boomer generation reaches eighty it seems appropriate to declutter life. This means simplifying, identifying core values, and looking at the larger issues of our generation (e.g. climate change).