Contact Info

Department of Geography
University of British Columbia
1984 West Mall
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada V6T 1Z2

Phone: (604) 822-3534
Fax: (604) 822-6150

bri...@geog.ubc.ca

Learn about the biodiversity of BC

Three electronic books, including two atlases, have been produced that document the biodiversity of British Columbia. These cover everything from the wildlife species and flora of the province to the ecosystems it supports.

E-Flora BC

E-Fauna BC

Biodiversity of BC

International GIS Day 2014
Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Refreshments provided by the UBC Geography Students Association

Join UBC Geography for a two hour event exploring GIS research and GIS in the workplace. Learn more about the scope of GIS, its challenges, and how it can transform society on both a regional and global level.

 

When and Where

 

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Noon to 2 pm

Room 147 (noon till 1:00) and Room 200 (1:00 till 2:00)

Department of Geography, UBC

 

Events

 

1) Panel Session:  What can I do with GIS?

12 pm to 1 pm

Room 147

 

In this one hour panel session, five UBC geography undergraduate and graduate students (past and present), will discuss their work in GIS. After short presentations (2 minutes) from the panel members, we will turn things around and open the forum to questions from you. Find out the answers to the following questions:

 

  • How can you use your GIS knowledge to develop a Directed Studies course that can connect your summer employment with your education?
  • How is GIS research being used to save elephants in Africa from poachers?
  • How could GIS be used to help fight diseases such as West Nile virus and Ebola?
  • How can an undergraduate student help UBC Campus Planning better manage the campus?

 

2) Featured Presentations: How GIS Benefits Society

1 pm  to 2 pm

Room 200

 

In this series of presentations, three current and former UBC Geography GIS graduate students from the Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis will present an overview of their transformative research work using GIS to help society. Their work focuses on environmental and social justice, and health geography.

 

Speaker 1

 

Current PhD student Jake Wall will discuss emergent Google Earth Engine' (GEE) technology.  

    GEE uses Google servers for accessing and analyzing petabytes of remote sensing information. Jake has been using GEE in his doctoral work studying the movement ecology of African elephants. The GEE platform represents a major advance in geospatial computing.

     

Speaker 2

Past UBC geography master's student Sunny Mak, now a GIS specialist in Epidemiology Services at the BC Centre for Disease Control, will present: "How did we get here? GIS at BCCDC" Examples of how GIS is used in health mapping: disease surveillance, outbreak investigations, health care service delivery, emergency preparedness, and the current state of GIS in the health authorities.

    Since obtaining his master's, Sunny has worked on, among many other issues, surveillance and planning for West Nile Virus in BC, the health risks posed by Norway rats in Vancouver, and assessing Lyme Disease in BC.