News Roundup – February 2025
How are digital maps being used to tell rich stories about Canadian history and culture? What’s it like to work as an associate GIS analyst here at Esri Canada? How is GIS being used to pinpoint and prioritize repairs of ageing infrastructure and plan for major capital expenditures? Learn more in the News Roundup for February 2025.
Feature Stories
Share your best maps with the GIS Success Stories program
Have you created a beautiful map using Esri technology? Share it with the GIS Success Stories program and we’ll share it with our audience of more than 60,000 GIS enthusiasts. No deadline; submit as many stories as you’d like. Submit today!
Geographical Thinking: Episode 95 – Bringing History to Life with GIS
On this episode of Geographical Thinking, host Michelle Brake dives into the Memory Maps project, which uses GIS tools to connect everyday people to the past and present in ways you might not expect. Michelle chats with the Saint Mary’s University Archaeology Lab team, uncovering how they use digital maps to tell powerful stories and make history come alive. Get ready for a journey that’s as rich in data as it is in culture!
Listen to the latest episode of Geographical Thinking here.
Associate GIS Analyst Profile: Hillary Elliott
Esri Canada’s Associate GIS Professional Program is Esri Canada’s career development program for current undergraduates or recent graduates in GIS. The program takes participants on an 18-month journey through a variety of departments of Esri Canada so that they can kickstart their GIS careers. Hillary Elliott is an associate GIS analyst with Esri Canada who, at time of writing, is working in the Professional Services department. Read on to discover her unique perspective on the Associate GIS Professional Program.
Advance your team’s GIS skills in 2025
Want to take your team’s geographic information systems (GIS) skills to the next level in 2025? The Esri Canada Prepaid Training Program offers a great option for enabling continuous GIS learning among your team in a cost-effective and convenient way. It’s about putting GIS training at your fingertips.
How Ratio.City is fostering collaboration in urban planning
At Ratio.City, we are working hard to support collaborative working between diverse teams—planners, policymakers and developers—to hopefully foster the creation of inclusive and innovative urban environments.
Better planning bigger impact: Peel Region smart water & wastewater network
Peel Region uses a geographic information system (GIS) to pinpoint and prioritize repairs on aging infrastructure, forecast spending and improve service delivery. GIS is transforming Peel’s water and wastewater management for smarter, more effective planning.
Project vs. operational GIS: a framework to help you prioritize
In this blog post from Esri Canada’s Cameron Wallace, learn the difference between project and operational delivery modes and find out how distinguishing between the two can help you prioritize more effectively.
Resources
ArcUser: Modernizing Airport Tenant Inspections
Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, San José Mineta International Airport (SJC) transformed its process for managing tenant inspections from a manual data collection process to one that is GIS based.
Read the latest issue of ArcUser online.
ArcNews: Navigating Devastation: GIS Aids Hurricane Helene Response
Hurricane Helene, which struck Florida in September 2024 with 140-mile-per-hour winds, caused extensive damage and progressed northwest into North Carolina and Tennessee. It ranks as one of the costliest and deadliest US storms since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Three days before Hurricane Helene hit Florida, Esri’s Disaster Response Program (DRP) was activated, anticipating the needs of agencies and GIS users in the hurricane’s path. Over three weeks, the DRP responded to more than 170 requests for assistance from various groups involved in relief efforts, including government agencies, utilities, companies and nonprofits.
Read the latest issue of ArcNews online.
WhereNext Magazine: Drones Lift off at the Airport
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grants approval for drone inspections of commercial airplanes, as other industries push forward with their own aerial innovations.
Video: The Road to a Clean Energy Future
For an incredible example of location and GIS in action, look no further than The Ray, who are using Esri’s mapping tools to build a more resilient infrastructure and future by expanding energy grids and moving clean energy from where it is generated to where it's needed. With GIS, they’re able to plan and design in days what used to take years.