Get job-ready for a career in GIS with Durham College’s new program

May 7, 2026

Dani Pacey

In September 2026, Durham College will open the doors on its new Geographic Information Systems for Data Analytics program. The program is an opportunity for recent graduates, career changers and current geographic information system (GIS) professionals alike to learn GIS in a new way.

Key takeaways

Durham College’s new Geographic Information Systems for Data Analytics program, which awards students an Ontario College Graduate Certificate, teaches students how to use geography to help organizations across industries achieve their business goals.
By learning how to think about the ways organizations are spatially organized, rather than strictly how to operate GIS software, students come away from the program not just job-ready, but future-proof.
The program is highly flexible in delivery. Students across Canada, from all backgrounds and experience levels and regardless of existing commitments (such as full-time jobs and parenting responsibilities), can attend sessions live or watch recordings as their schedules allow, complete assignments at their own pace and choose slower delivery options.

What is Durham College’s new Geographic Information Systems for Data Analytics program all about?

Geographic information systems (GIS) professionals are in high demand across Canada—and that demand is accelerating as organizations rely more heavily on spatial data to understand problems, make decisions and drive innovation. To help prepare the next generation of GIS professionals, Durham College is launching its new Geographic Information Systems for Data Analytics program, which awards graduates an Ontario College Graduate Certificate.

Led by longtime educators and GIS practitioners Shawn Morgan and Chris North, the program offers a modern, analytics-focused approach to GIS education—designed for new graduates, career changers and working professionals alike.

I spoke to Shawn and Chris, as well as other supporters of the new program at Esri Canada, and learned a great deal about GIS education in Canada, the benefits of this program and the urgent need for a program like this for today’s prospective GIS students.

What is GIS and how is it used today?

For those who are just getting started with GIS, let’s take it back to basics.

A geographic information system (GIS) is a framework for gathering, managing and analyzing data using location as a common point of reference. So, for example, if you’ve ever seen a live wildfire map that tracks the progress of a fire as it develops, you’re looking at the output of a geographic information system. Multiple types of information are layered into the map: you’re likely not only seeing where the fire is, but also how intense it is, which communities and roadways are impacted, and what emergency measures are being taken to control the fire.

You might also have used the front end of a GIS to find your way from one place to another. Yes, that’s right: by inputting your origin point and destination, you’re interacting with GIS! Notice how the map isn’t just showing you directions. It’s also telling you which businesses are nearby, what time those businesses open and close, and what other people are saying about them—all data points that are connected to a location you can find on a map.

GIS layers all these data types together, enabling its users to analyze and visualize those data types in relation to one another. It’s what helps emergency management organizations to predict where a wildfire will go next and decide how many firefighters to deploy. Or, with our second example, it’s what enables businesses to find where their customers are, then place new retail locations close to where they gather.

These two examples just scratch the surface. GIS—and the geographic approach that enables organizations to use it—is everywhere. You just need to know where to look, which is precisely one of the skills that Durham College’s new program teaches.

Why a GIS program at Durham College—and why now?

The program fills a major education gap in Canada

According to instructor Shawn Morgan, who is helping Durham College build the program as a subject matter expert, there’s a need for a modernized post-graduate GIS program in Canada. Many Canadian industries and organizations run on GIS—and they need professionals who are job-ready and are able to evolve as quickly as GIS technology does.

Shawn, who has taught in higher education GIS programs for many years, has consistently heard the same frustration from his students entering the workforce: “I don’t use most of what I learned in the program—I only execute a small set of in-demand tasks.”

The Durham College program aims to address this disconnect by focusing on the skills—technical and “soft” alike—that employers actually need today.

As Esri Canada’s acting director of Education & Research, Jean Tong, puts it: “Postgraduate GIS programs play a critical role in developing job-ready talent. Institutions like Durham College are helping learners translate geospatial knowledge into practical skills that directly meet workforce needs.”

The program takes a modern approach to GIS education

Unlike traditional GIS curricula that emphasize cartography, remote sensing and software-specific skills, Durham College’s GIS Analytics program takes a holistic, workflow-based view of geospatial data. As Shawn puts it, “the GIS profession isn’t just about driving a piece of software anymore. It’s about managing a data pipeline—one that requires analytics, strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.”

By giving students an in-depth understanding of modelling, statistics, data strategy and business, the program prepares students to contribute to organizational decision-making—not just technical execution.

Instructor Chris North shares this philosophy. Given the current pace of technological change, he believes that GIS education must prioritize adaptability and critical thinking over narrow tool-based training. “Any learning journey needs to prepare you to learn on the job,” he says. In other words, technology may change, but professionals trained to think strategically about data will always be relevant.

Who is this new program for? Is it rigidly scheduled or flexible?

The program is designed for a wide audience:

University graduates coming from fields like environmental science, geography, engineering and related disciplines
Career changers who want practical, in-demand technical training
Current GIS practitioners seeking a refresh or deeper analytical and strategic skills, or to future-proof their careers

For its first intake, which launches September 2026, the program will be offered completely online with recorded lectures, making it accessible to learners across Canada and compatible with full-time work schedules. Students can join live lectures when possible, but they won’t be penalized for learning through recorded sessions. Reduced workload study options are also available: learners can go at their own pace, or complete the program in as few as eight months.

The program is highly flexible in order to allow anyone, whether they’re balancing existing jobs, family responsibilities or other commitments, to get a complete GIS education that they can take directly to the job market. This is another essential element of a modern GIS program that Shawn and Chris believe in deeply: they’ve made it so that anyone can take the program, regardless of their existing schedule.

How will this program benefit Canadian industry?

As I alluded to in an earlier section, GIS underpins some of Canada’s most critical sectors. According to Dan Bulger, executive director of Geospatial Infrastructure & Development at Esri Canada, industries including federal, municipal and provincial governments, utilities, energy, transportation, infrastructure, public safety, environmental management and natural resources all depend heavily on GIS. Far more than just using it for mapping, these industries use GIS to plan where to build infrastructure, manage the assets they control, develop budgets based on what assets need work, track and respond to emergencies like wildfires, forecast environmental change, understand their service areas and customers, and coordinate complex operations.

In other words, the need for job-ready GIS professionals has never been greater.

Dan emphasizes that programs like Durham College’s strengthen the entire flow of GIS talent by supporting organizations that rely on accurate spatial data to deliver essential services. He also notes that graduates from other post-graduate GIS certificate programs often go on to Esri Canada’s Associate GIS Professional Program, an 18-month training and development program that future Durham grads will also be able to pursue—so for those interested in Esri Canada careers, the Durham College program might be one place to start.

What will students get out of the program?

A holistic geographical skillset for solving complex problems

Shawn is clear: this isn’t a software training program. It’s a job readiness program.

That means that students of the Durham College GIS Analytics program will learn how to:

Assess geospatial accuracy needs for different problems (e.g., centimetre-level precision for legal surveys vs. broader accuracy for urban forestry)
Evaluate and manage data from multiple sources—not just from Esri products, but CAD files, open data, Google sources and more
Communicate insights using statistics and meaningful data storytelling
Apply geographical thinking to solve modern business problems
Understand the end-to-end geospatial data pipeline
Adapt quickly to new technologies and changing workflows

Exposure to real-world problems and working conditions

Jasmine Mutti, team lead of Technical Solutions in Esri Canada’s Ontario Region, and a graduate of an post-graduate GIS certificate program herself, highlights the value of programs like Durham’s in terms of exposing students to hands-on, applied work.

During her post-graduate GIS program, Jasmine had the opportunity to work directly with the Kawartha Conservation Authority on an analytical project that the Authority eventually implemented. Experiences like these, Jasmine says, allow students to:

solve real-world problems
work with real clients and datasets
build meaningful professional networks
see for themselves the importance and effectiveness of their work
enter the GIS job market with confidence

She emphasizes that learners from all backgrounds—whether they’re coming from a background in math, anthropology, English, environmental studies or beyond—can succeed in programs like this and gain a strong, foundation that will support them well into the future.

“The geographic approach is enabling organizations across industries to succeed in today’s rapidly changing environment,” says Alex Miller, president, Esri Canada. “Durham College’s new Geographic Information Systems for Data Analytics program fills a critical gap in GIS education in the Greater Toronto Area and promises to prepare learners to engage in the geographic approach for the benefit of businesses across Canada. We are pleased to see Durham College advance this program and look forward to seeing it flourish.”