73 interviews, 29 institutions, 15,000KM, Part II of II

The CN Tower

After travelling from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Toronto, I was back in the town I grew up in. It was great to be back, eating home cooked meals and worry free of whether I needed to be packed up and ready to go by checkout time (Thanks Mom and Dad!).

While in Toronto, I had a chance to catch up family and friends. Ryerson, York and the University of Toronto are all there, as well as Sir Sandford Fleming College which has a GIS program in Peterborough.  Sir Sandford Fleming, by the way, is doing some fantastic work in Sierra Leone using GIS and college students in Canada (Thanks Uschi!).

Ryerson Geography and GIS Dept

After a week of Toronto though, it was time to push on and get out to the rest of the colleges in Southern Ontario. I had a friend who I was welcome to stay with in Hamilton, so I decided to use it as a home base for two weeks (Thanks Lynne!). In those weeks, I was able to visit schools in Guelph, Waterloo, Windsor and London. There are some amazing ongoing projects. One that really got me thinking was “Whitebox.”

Whitebox is a GIS that takes the step beyond Open Source to Open Access. The idea behind Open Access is that while Open Source GIS projects grant access to the computer code that runs the GIS software, the code is often buried deep in numerous files, which making finding the piece of code that runs a given tool very hard to find. What Whitebox does is give the GIS user an easy way to see exactly what code runs each tool in the GIS by clicking a ‘view code’ button. Great concept, and there are plenty of raster based processing tools in Whitebox.  I hope to take a much closer look at Whitebox soon.

WhiteBox

While in Hamilton, I also booked in a few days to catch up with all of the places I had been to, but had not been able to meet with all the contacts I had wanted to. I made a few Skype calls to professors I missed and was able to get interviews that otherwise wouldn’t have worked. Skype is pretty powerful technology!

After Southern Ontario, the next leg of the trip would be up and over the great lakes towards the Prairies and eventually the Rockies. In order to fit in all of the schools I was hoping to in the time I had available (ten days) I would need to cover at least one school and a whole lot of driving each day.

First off, I set off up to North Bay. It was a long trip getting up there, but I didn’t have an interview until the following day, so I was able to make it in time. The professors at Nipissing were friendly and I had a great time chatting to them.. I was only able to secure one interview at Nipssing before I arrived, however, when I arrived the professor I met was fantastic. He gave me an hour of his time, and also introduced me to a number of other professors and a student in the Geography department who were happy to chat with me (Thanks Nipissing!). After I finished in North Bay, continued on to Sault Ste. Marie, where I met with two professors at Algoma University. They had very interesting perspectives, including some on the ground work in Africa, their insight was will be really useful for my research going forward.

Sights above Superior

That afternoon I started the long journey up to Thunder Bay. I had decided to take the Trans-Canada highway route that went directly above Lake Superior having heard that it was a great drive. I was not disappointed. The drive along the edge of the Lake had fun twists, turns, ups, downs, and scenic views. If you have the time, it’s worth staying in Canada on the way across. It was too early in the year for all the parks to be open, but having camped in the area as a kid, I can say that there are great stops along the way. I arrived in Thunder Bay on Thursday evening and checked into my hotel. Thehotel that I stayed in was well kept and affordable, so I decided to stay for two nights before pushing on to Winnipeg. At Lakehead I was able to have a good conversation with a professor and student who were interested to work with MAB in the future.

Staying in Thunder Bay for two nights gave me the chance to get caught up with work that I hadn’t had the opportunity to do during the week. One item that had been on my to-do list was to start filming a series of How-To videos on useful tasks in Quantum GIS (my favorite Open Source GIS). That Friday I recorded and edited a video about how to use the buffer tool, and I hope to share it on the blog soon (hint: find me on Vimeo for a sneak peak).

Brandon Flooding

On Saturday I headed out to Winnipeg to see the folks at Assiniboine College in Brandon, Manitoba. I stayed overnight in Winnipeg then headed down to Brandon where my next meeting would be on the Monday. Having listened to a lot of CBC Radio on the way I knew that Brandon had become the epicenter of the Manitoba flooding crisis, so I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived.

The bridge into town was heavily sandbagged and was actually closed a few hours after I crossed into town. The level of the Assiniboine river was tremendously high. That afternoon I decided to head over to a park that had been affected by the flooding to get a better idea of what it looked like. It was intense. Park buildings had been completely submerged and there was even a beaver on the edge of the floodplain, looking for dry land.

Beaver and Flood

Needless to say, I was a bit worried about how I was going to get out of town. It turned out to be a non-issue as the road out of town was well away from the flooding. I’m glad I stopped in Brandon because there is some really fantastic work and plenty of passionate students there. In fact, there is a really neat project going on that partners with groups in Tanzania. I’m hoping that Mapping Across Borders can support this project in the future!

Submerged Forest in Brandon

After heading out of Brandon, I headed up to Saskatoon to visit a professor and his students at the University of Saskatchewan. The flooding conditions I had witnessed in Brandon were evident during the drive to Saskatoon. There were newly formed lakes lining the highways and many Canadian Forces vehicles travelling towards the flooding communities in the south. Saskatoon was unaffected by the flooding when I arrived and I had a great time in the city and at the university campus the following day.

After Saskatoon I continued my path westward towards Edmonton and visited the University of Alberta and McEwan College as well. There are some great profs there who were excited to see how MAB could be integrated in their classrooms. I look forward with talking with them in the future when we have things ready to go!

Leaving Edmonton, I got trapped in rush hour traffic, but luckily it didn’t last too long and I was soon out of the city and on my way to Calgary. I had a very productive day once I arrived, talking with a number of professors and students at the University of Calgary as well as the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. In fact they were the last interviews that I would do on the trip, so it was a strong finish.

Banff National Park

After lunch in Calgary on Friday, I began the journey into and over the Rockies. In doing so I was treated to the amazing and awe inspiring sights of Banff National Park and Glacier National Park. What a fantastic drive. Unfortunately I couldn’t gawk at them too much while driving, but I did manage to pull over once or twice and get a few snaps in.

I could have kept driving forever, but, I eventually reached my destination for the night, Revelstoke. The good news is that Revelstoke is set well in the mountains, and at the place that I stayed, I had a front row seat to Mt. Begbie, which was an impressive sight to see

View of Mt. Begbie during Dinner

As it was the weekend and I was happily nestled in the mountains, I decided to stay an extra night in Revelstoke, which gave me a full day to go out and explore the hiking trails around the town. Just as you head out of town there is a turn off for Mt. Begbie Park, and I suggest you take it if you have the chance. The trails there are great for hiking on foot as well as on a mountain bike (imagine using a mountain bike on a real mountain, what a concept! 😉 and dogs were welcome too. I spent just over four hours in there with my camera in hand and enjoyed every minute!

Picnic in the Rockies

On Sunday the road was calling again and so I left Revelstoke behind and started my final day back to Kelowna. I had been given some advice to take the scenic route instead of the Trans Canada (also known as the “Trash-Canada” by some) highway, so I took highway 23 instead towards Nakusp.

Mt. Begbie Park

This route brings you south through the mountains before finally heading west into the Okanagan Valley and Kelowna. In doing so, it traverses the Rockies the long way and provides fantastic scenery. while on it I was treated (and scared witless) by three  black bear sightings near/on the highway and two ferry rides that were spectacular. For anyone who enjoys tight and twisty roads, the last part of the drive in towards Vernon, BC is the most fun (and challenging) driving I’ve ever done. I’ve heard that people come from around the world to drive that stretch of highway (hwy 6), and I believe it!

View from Nakusp Ferry

But like all good things, the journey ended when I returned to Kelowna. I was fortunate to have a friend in town that I could stay with for the two nights I was in town(Thanks Rob!).

The trip across Canada was a fantastic one and  I will remember for a long time. It brought me right across the country, introduced me to a great number of new people who donated their time and resources graciously, and gave me a chance to meet a few friends I hadn’t had the chance to see in a long time. It’s going to take me a long time to process all the data I collected during the interviews, but I can say that there was a great deal of enthusiasm out there for Mapping Across Borders and I believe it will be a great success in Canada!

View along Hwy 23

Now it’s time to get the NGO’s on board! Wish me luck when I head to Africa in July!