Skills Ontario 2025: Students map crime patterns in Ottawa
Learn how Ontario students are putting their ArcGIS knowledge to the test by addressing real-world issues at the annual Skills Ontario GIS competition.
On Tuesday, May 6th, 2025, secondary students from five Ontario school boards participated in this year’s Skills Ontario GIS competition. They worked for approximately 6 hours as crime analysts using ArcGIS with a goal of providing valuable insights into the locations and types of crimes occurring in Ottawa. At the end of the day, each team of two presented their findings in an ArcGIS StoryMap that included a series of maps, charts and an ArcGIS Dashboard to the judges and fellow participants.
Students worked in teams of two. At the end of the day, each team presented their findings in an ArcGIS StoryMap.
Results
A big round of applause to all the participants for their hard work! One team used ArcGIS Pro and four teams used ArcGIS Online to answer crime related questions. Three out of five teams were boomerangs! They returned with the hope of getting first prize. One of them did, the other two landed in second and third place!
The final presentations allowed the teams to share their findings and highlight their knowledge and presentation skills. The judges also had an opportunity to ask questions to gain a deep understanding of the team’s work.
Congratulations to Neil K and Aditya M from a school in York Region for getting the top prize this year. It was their fourth year at the competition. Check out their storymap -Team 2 :Ottawa’s Battle with Crime.
A map created by the winning team shows the correlation between crimes against the person and population density.
Thank you, Judges!
Our volunteer judges/GIS Ambassadors were from the City of Brampton and the County of Bruce. Thank you to them for the support in promoting GIS in K-12 education! The 2025 judges were:
- Aaron de Boer, GIS Analyst, City of Brampton
- Erin Dmitrovic, GIS Specialist, City of Brampton
- Justin Kraemer, GIS Coordinator, County of Bruce
The 2025 Skills Ontario GIS judges from left to right: Aaron de Boer, Erin Dmitrovic and Justin Kraemer. “It was a pleasure to judge this year’s competition – its always inspiring to see kids interested in GIS. Hopefully some of them will choose GIS as a career!” – Erin Dmitrovic
Explore past GIS competition questions
Go through this year’s competition question and past years, to prepare your students for 2026. It’s never too early to start.
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Looking for support in 2026
Are you a GIS Ambassador who wants to support next year’s competition? Support could include question ideas and development in advance of the competition (January-April) or judging the day of the competition (first Tuesday in May). Reach out and let us know you want to help at k12@esri.ca.