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Selkirk College Examines Rise of the Drones

Selkirk College is marking GIS Day with an event at the Castlegar Campus that takes a closer look at drones and many of the other exciting technologies in a growing field with multiple applications.

Selkirk College is marking GIS Day with an event that explores one of the hottest technologies being used in the field.

GIS Day is an internationally recognized event that demonstrates the power of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) used for better understanding our Earth. Selkirk College and the Selkirk Geospatial Research Centre (SGRC) is hosting a GIS Day event at the Castlegar Campus on Thursday, November 19.

GIS Day is an internationally recognized event that demonstrates the power of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) used for better understanding our Earth. Selkirk College is hosting a GIS Day event at the Castlegar Campus on Thursday, November 19.

The theme this year is Emerging Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Applications or “Rise of the Drones.” UAVs have rapidly gained popularity for collecting data in agricultural, entertainment, business, environmental and other industries. The data collected by UAVs can include HD photo or video, LIDAR, and hyperspectral imagery. For smaller projects, the information can be collected at fraction of the cost of traditional aerial surveys.

“We are inviting people to come learn about how different players are using these technologies in the Kootenay region and beyond,” says Selkirk College School of Environment & Geomatics (SEG) Chair Brendan Wilson.

Networking Opportunities for Students


There will be exhibits by some local UAV companies, including Harrier Aerial Surveys, Hummingbird UAV, and Skydrone UAV Services Inc.  There will also be a poster session involving the Canadian Society of Remote Sensing (Kootenay Chapter and Selkirk College’s GIS students all coming together to promote data literacy and geography awareness in the province. Some students will be presenting on upcoming research projects.

The day will be an opportunity to network with key industry professionals and demonstrate some new cutting-edge technology. The keynote speaker is Dr. John Church, Cattle Research Chair at Thompson Rivers University who will present the talk: Managing from Above: Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Precision Ranching. There will be more presentations in the afternoon, following this theme, including a presentation by Hummingbird UAV on the use of drones to fight wildfires in the Okanagan region.

Join Selkirk College for GIS Day on November 19 from 10:00 a.m.to 4:00 p.m. starting in The Pit area on the Castlegar Campus. Free registration and refreshments are provided courtesy of event sponsors. Sponsors for the event include by Canadian Society of Remote Sensing, ESRI Canada, MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates Ltd. (MDA), and Columbia Power Corporation.

Go to sgrc.selkirk.ca/gisday/ to register. For more information, contact SEG School Chair, Brendan Wilson (250.365.1393) or Selkirk Geospatial Research Centre Coordinator, Ian Parfitt (250.304.6524).

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