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Resources & Tools
April 28, 2005
GeoConnections Celebrates Completion of First Phase
By Drew Gough
The first phase of GeoConnections has come to an end, an event marked with a celebration on March 30 in Ottawa where exhibits by companies who had benefited from partnerships with NRCan's GeoConnections program were featured.
The GeoConnections initiative was launched in 1999 with the goal of providing all Canadians with geospatial data, tools and services over the Internet. The program also coordinated the efforts and investments of its partners (both government and private-sector) in developing new technologies.
The celebration in Camsell Hall brought together the program's partners to showcase the use of the infrastructure that the GeoConnections program has been working hard to put into place and to look to the future of the program as well, which has been renewed for a second five-year phase.
"Like any infrastructure—roads and highways, for example—GeoConnections is built, now it must be maintained and evolved to meet its users needs," explained Joanne Frappier, Head, Policy and Partnership Development.
The first stage was considered a great success by all involved.
"The success is the success of the Canadian geomatics community—it's not just NRCan's successes. We get to share it with all of these people here," said Joanne, motioning to the booths.
As the GeoConnections community comprises government, academia, and industry, the speakers at the event were representative of the different partnerships. Assistant Deputy Minister of ESS Dr. Irwin Itzkovitch spoke on behalf of NRCan along with Jeff Labonte, Director of GeoConnections, and Brian Maloney, Director, Information Resources Management Branch. Alex Miller, the founder and President of ESRI Canada Limited—a Canadian company specializing in the design and implementation of geographic information systems—represented the private sector. To conclude the event, Dr. John McLaughlin, President of the University of New Brunswick, represented the program's academic ties.
"We've created an innovative and vibrant geomatics industry, which is stronger today because of this program," said Irwin, who attributed the success of the program to the hard work of the participants and the desire for all involved parties to work as a team.
"It is as a team that we come together to celebrate today, and we can successfully close the first chapter of the GeoConnections story and cast our eyes to the future," he said. "I've got a great amount of pride in what has been accomplished by the people in this room and by the people behind them in creating the 21st century railway."
Joanne suggested that if the great turnout at the celebration and the merits of those involved in the project weren't testament to its successes, then its bottom line was.
"This was a project that had a $60 million budget that created over $150 million of activity," she said.
The first five years of the GeoConnections story has drawn to a close, but this is just a beginning.