All Members:
The Registration Package is attached and hopefully, you have saved the date of October 17th to attend this extremely informative Conference at the Four Points by Sheraton in London, Ontario.
Please return the registration form completed as soon as possible to ensure your spot.
This year’s theme is topical with “GIS – Emergency Planning and Public Safety”. From a public perspective, GIS technology is already helping to bridge the gap between Emergency Services and the communities they serve. Implemented properly, interactive mapping can allow citizens real-time (or near-real-time) access to the work being done by some of the most visible members of every community: Police Officers, Firefighters, and Paramedics. Publically-accessible GIS allows complex response plans and resources to be visualized clearly & succinctly, allowing taxpayers to quickly answer a very common question: “Where are those sirens going?”
Some of the highlights of the Conference are:
Morning Sessions
GIS And Emergency Planning – The Alberta Flood Case Study (ESRI): This morning session will be presented by ESRI Canada. In 2011 the City of Calgary implemented an emergency response & preparedness application through the development of a Web-based Common Operating Picture (COP). Known as the Geospatial Emergency Management (GEM) Project, the GEM COP integrates over 212 spatial datasets with near-real time data and information derived from social media channels. An initiative involving more than 30 partners, the GEM Project was developed to provide situational awareness during emergency events while allowing multiple agencies to seamlessly collaborate.
In 2005, a flood involving the Bow and Elbow Rivers uncovered a number of challenges related to the City’s emergency preparedness. A follow up report outlined several recommendations to improve existing policies, procedures, bylaws, standards, practices and physical infrastructure related to emergency management. Among these recommendations was a mandate to improve the availability, timeliness and security of geographic information while more tightly integrating GIS with other key systems.
In response, the City leveraged Esri Canada’s EM-COP solution which provides a geographic platform to integrate map datasets, dynamic data feeds and analytic tools that can then be accessed through a Web-based viewer. The solution forms the basis of the GEM COP tool which integrates data from the City’s 911 and 311 systems, live weather and traffic feeds as well as static data including infrastructure, subdivision and utility networks. It also consumes information from sources such as Canada’s national Multi-Agency Situational Awareness System (MASAS), facilitating the exchange of alert information during emergency events.
Everyday Use of GIS in Emergency Planning – Panel Discussion: 911/Conservation Authority – An expert panel discussion on the use of GIS, in particular how it is utilized in Police, Fire and Medical Emergency Services as well as how it is used by the Conservation Authority for flooding response. On the panel will be a Training Supervisor for a municipal 911/Police/Fire Communications Centre serving over 100,000 residents in Southwestern Ontario as well as other experts in the field.
Afternoon Workshops
Crime Tracking Workshop
This workshop will be facilitated by Brian French, who is a Supervisor with a 911 Communications Centre and who will be showing delegates how GIS technology is implemented in locating and processing hundreds of emergency calls every day.
GIS Technology
Join Esri Canada to learn and explore the newest capabilities of the ArcGIS online platform. ArcGIS Online is a collaborative, cloud-based platform that allows members of an organization to use, create, and share maps, apps, and data, and access authoritative basemaps by Esri and its partners. Through ArcGIS Online, you get access to Esri’s secure cloud, where you can manage, create, store, and access data as published web layers, and because ArcGIS Online is an integral part of the ArcGIS system, you can use it to extend the capabilities of ArcGIS for Desktop, ArcGIS for Server, ArcGIS apps, ArcGIS Web APIs, and ArcGIS Runtime SDKs.
Professional Networking Panel
This workshop will assist any student or new member on the career path that they have been contemplating or any of the senior members looking to change paths. The panel will consist of a variety of experienced Planning Technicians from different facets of the planning industry. The panel will discuss their experience and how they ended up where they are at, as well as take part in a Q&A period from the attending delegates.
Our afternoon workshop space is limited; therefore, it is best to choose your first and second choices quickly!!!
As always, there will be a buffet lunch included as well as door prizes. In addition, the same as last year, one lucky full member attending the AGM in the morning will receive a special prize for attending and voting.
There will also be a social networking session held at the hotel the evening before on October 16th at 7:00 p.m. A block of hotel rooms are reserved at a special rate for our members until September 16th
I look forward to seeing everyone.
There are still sponsorship opportunities available.
Thanks everyone and “stay connected”.
George T. Zajac, CPT, MCIP, RPP
Executive Director, CACPT