GIS Day / Geography Awareness Week

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GIS Research Day is hosted annually by MaDGIC. The purpose of this event is to present to the university community the possibilities of using GIS and related spatial technologies and techniques in research. Students and researchers from all disciplines share their research practices including the importance of linking space and place to their work. 

We look forward to another great event in November 2023, and will post further information this fall. Please contact MaDGIC  if you would be interested in giving a research talk or assisting with the day. Everyone is welcome! 

Past GIS Research Day Events 

On November 17 2022 the MaDGIC Unit hosted GIS Research Day: the annual opportunity for students and researchers to share the many ways in which they, with the Unit's support, apply Geographic Information Systems in their research and teaching. Several presenters explained how GIS techniques contribute to their work in disciplines ranging from geography to anthropology to limnology: using StoryMaps to cultivate students' "geographic imagination," mapping shoreline history and archaeological sites in the Kawarthas, and surveying the biological and chemical characteristics of lakes. Students in the Environmental and Life Sciences Program described their research on topics such as land use mapping in Southern Ontario, the distribution of shorebird habitats, the roosting sites of wild turkeys, and the distribution of mercury in the Mackenzie River Basin. Most important, the day offered an opportunity for researchers from across the university to learn about work underway beyond their own specialties. And of course, the traditional GIS Day Cake was served! 

We are pleased to share the program for GIS Research Day 2022 with links to talks below. 

GIS Day Research Day 2022 Presentation - speaker and audience

Thursday, November 17, 2022 

SpeaKer SCHEDULE 

Time Speaker Affiliation Title 
9:00 Library    Coffee & Welcome
9:15 Roshelle Chan Environmental & Life Sciences Automating the characterization of watershed land use across southern Ontario
9:25 Una Jermilova Environmental & Life Sciences Mercury in the Mackenzie River Basin: ArcGIS Mapping to model release via soil erosion and other potential sources Link to talk
9:40 Dr Roger Picton Trent School of the Environment Using StoryMaps to cultivate a "geographic imagination" Link to Talk
9:55 Dr Nolan Pearce Biology Constructing the 3D distribution of limnological variables within three interconnected lakes in the Kawarthas Link to talk
10:10 Dr James Conolly Anthropology Archaeology, lake evolution and shoreline history in the Kawartha Lakes
10:30 BREAK     
11:00 Shilah LeFeuvre Environmental & Life Sciences Two Eyed Seeing: Weaving knowledge systems to understand the genetics, distribution and behaviour of Eastern wolves (Canis lycaon) in collaboration with Magnetawan First Nation, Shawanaga FIrst Nation, and Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory
11:15 Dr Raul Ponce-Hernandez Trent School of the Environment GIS in the age of big data, artificial intelligence, automation and climate change: the leap forward for geomatics
11:35 Lyn Brown Environmental & Life Sciences Using Field Maps to examine foraging habitat quality for a coastal shorebird Link to talk
11:50 Dr Kaitlyn Fleming Trent School of the Environment Using ArcGIS to determine the effect of land-use on benthic macroinvertebrate community composition Link to talk
12:05 Kayla Martin Environmental & Life Sciences Mapping wild turkey roosting sites  Link to talk 
12:20 Kiefer Thalen Biology, BEMA Addressing citizen science through a priori sample design
12:35 Geoff Andrews MaDGIC (Alumni) Two roads diverged on a map ...
12:50 Justin Barker  MaDGIC Species distribution models: Administrative Boundary centroid occurrences require careful interpretation Link to talk