On June 5, 2006, the British Columbia Chapter of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA BC) hosted a one day seminar entitled:
GIS in Health and Public Safety
Date: June 5, 2006
Time: 8:00 am – 4:15 pm
Location: Hilton Vancouver Metrotown 6083 MacKay Avenue, Burnaby, BC
The seminar focused on the themes of public safety and public health and the role of GIS in each. The morning session included several presentations on public safety issues providing a technology overview, a perspective from the federal military establishment, a look at wild fire modelling, and the Alberta experience on data sharing in emergency management situations.
Following lunch, the focus shifted to public health issues. Again, there were four presentations focusing on mapping and tracking diseases. The speakers include a noted academic as well as representatives from the provincial government and the Vancouver Island Health Authority. The topics ranged from geography of health and disease tracking system to Avian Influenza and Community Health Atlas.
We have a dynamic lineup of speakers including:
- Spatial Technology Trends in Security and Public Safety
Presented by Dave Gariepy, Intergraph Canada
- Canada Command: Critical Infrastructure Database
Presented by Rod Woods, National Defence Headquarters
- Predictive Wild Fire Modeling
Presented by Bruce Blackwell, BA Blackwell & Associates
- GIS, Information Sharing, and Emergency Management: Alberta’s Vision
Presented by Colin Blair, Alberta Municipal Affairs Emergency Management Operations
- Mapping the Boundaries: Cities of Disease
Presented by Tom Koch, UBC and SFU
- An Integrated Approach to West Nile Virus Surveillance and Planning in BC
Presented by Sunny Mak, BC Centre for Disease Control
- Fight Against Avian Influenza ‐ Role of GIS
Presented by Gurdeep Singh, Integrated Land Management Bureau
- Community Health Atlas – Web Based Tool for Health related Decision Making
Presented by Brendan Mather, Vancouver Island Health Authority and Jeremy Bart, Capital Regional District