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RECIPIENTS

2022

Paul Mrstik

The Canadian Institute of Geomatics (CIG) is pleased to announce the 2022 recipient of the prestigious Geomatica Award to Paul Mrstik.

Throughout his career, Paul concentrated on developing systems, procedures and methods in order to more efficiently process field data and perform quality control. This work started in the early days of GPS control surveys and continued to Airborne GPS/GPS Photogrammetry, to Airborne LiDAR, and finally to his work with Mobile LiDAR and Digital Imagery.

In 1985, Paul founded GEOsurv Inc., a GPS service and software products company that was active internationally. Later in the 2000’s, as a partner with Mosaic Mapping and then Terrapoint Inc., Paul led a team that developed low range helicopter LiDAR and imaging systems. Paul also led a team that prototyped the original mobile LiDAR that was eventually developed into a production version called TITAN. This system, mounted on the back of a pickup truck, was used to map the route between Kabul and Kandahar, Afghanistan, for new road construction. Paul completed his career as a manager of research and development at GeoDigital International Inc.

Paul was a member of the CIG for 26 years. For 21 of those years, he served on the Ottawa Branch Executive where he organized many workshops and was Chair of the Ottawa Branch from 1999 to 2001. Outside of the CIG, Paul was a volunteer member of a number of groups and committees including the Geoide Board of Directors and the NSERC Civil, Industrial and Systems Engineering Evaluation Group. Paul also helped create the original guidelines for the CIG certification program and was a continuous member of this certification committee until 2020. He was also a member of the Trustees for the Hans Klinkenburg Memorial Scholarship.

In May of this year Paul gratefully received the news that he had won the Geomatica Award. When asked for his input for the back of the award sculpture, Paul expressed his passion for the outdoors and kayaking. Sadly, Paul passed away in July 2022 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. The completed Geomatica Award sculpture was presented posthumously to Paul’s wife, Anna Matassa.

 

2021

Dr. Jonathan Li

The 2021 CIG Geomatica Award is granted to Dr. Jonathan Li, a University of Waterloo professor in geomatics and systems design engineering. Dr. Li is an exceptional educator, an internationally recognized leader, and a pioneer of AI-based high-definition (HD) mapping technology. His originality, creativity, and significant intellectual contributions have resulted in funding support from NSERC, CFI, AAFC, NRCan, MTO, NCE, and industry. Since 2000, Dr. Li has supervised 105 master’s and PhD students, postdoctoral fellows and over 40 visiting scholars to completion.  He has co-authored over 500 refereed publications, including 300+ journal papers, 200+ conference articles, and 8 books, which have received more than 10,000 Google Scholar citations with an h-index of 55.  Dr. Li has co-invented technologies with his students that have been commercialized in two Waterloo start-ups, namely Ecopia Tech and WatXtract.ai, which specialize in AI solutions to convert earth observation images into building footprint maps and digital elevation models. His extensive research and contributions have significantly impacted the geomatics industry in Canada. 

Over the last 20 years, Dr. Li has taken numerous leadership roles in geomatics societies such as the Vice President of CIG, Director of Canadian Remote Sensing Society (CRSS), Commission Chair of the International Cartographic Association (ICA), Working Group Chairs of the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) and the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation.  Dr. Li has received over 20 prestigious awards from various international and national organizations in Canada, US, China, and UK for his pioneering contributions in developing and promoting AI-based HD mapping technology and significant contributions to the development, organization or professional activities of the photogrammetry, remote sensing, and spatial information sciences.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Li!

2020

Dr. Rock Santerre

Rock Santerre has been a professor in the Department of Geomatics Sciences at Laval University from 1990 to 2017 and the Director of the Geomatics Engineering program from 2007 to 2011. He was a founding member of the Centre for Research in Geomatics (CRG) and he is now a CRG honorary member.

He taught several courses to more than 1200 students in addition to 700 professionals who attended his continuing education GPS courses. He has supervised or co-supervised nearly 40 graduate students coming from 10 countries.

His research activities were mainly related to high precision GPS (GNSS) positioning and navigation. Dr. Santerre is the author and co-author of about 240 publications and presentations. His papers have been cited in publications written in 17 languages. He was a member of several IAG (International Association of Geodesy) Special Study Groups for almost 20 years. Dr. Santerre also acted as one the Associate Editors for the CIG journal Geomatica from 1997 to 2009. He also holds three GPS patents.

Dr. Santerre continue to contribute to the popularization of Geomatics by the realization of exhibitions and the publication of papers on the history of Geomatics.

 

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Santerre!

2019

Mr. Randy Gillespie

Randy Gillespie is the 2019 winner of the CIG Geomatica Award, which aims to recognize an individual that has contributed to the advancement of Geomatics in Canada in an exceptional manner. A pioneer in applied remote sensing with some of Newfoundland and Labrador’s original high-technology companies, Randy has broad experience including forestry, mining and marine applications. He has always been a strong advocate for geomatics in his roles in industry, government and academia. Randy is a past president of the CIG and was branch chair in Newfoundland.

Randy had many leadership positions in the field of geomatics. In his role as senior partner of Operation ONLINE, Randy worked to ensure geomatics were considered as part of the new economy, and came to see it as one of the keys in moving from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. He subsequently brought this to bear in the marine sector, where he was critical to the success of the Canadian Centre for Marine Communications (CCMC) and the Centre for Applied Ocean Technology (CTec) at the Marine Institute. Highlights from CCMC include applied research and technology commercialization projects such as SmartBay, and the growth and success of numerous marine technology member companies. As director of CTec, Randy lead a multi-disciplinary team in applied R&D for ocean mapping and ocean observation systems, and was the managing editor of the Journal of Ocean Technology, where he continues as an editorial board member.

Please join us in congratulating Mr. Gillespie!

2018

Mr. Pierre Paradis

The Canadian Institute of Geomatics (CIG) is pleased to announce the 2018 recipient of the prestigious "Geomatica” Award: Pierre Paradis, retired teacher from Cégep Limoilou's Department of Geomatics. The Geomatica Award is presented to someone who has made outstanding contributions to the advancement of geomatics in Canada.

Mr. Paradis has contributed to the field of geomatics in an exceptional way for more than 45 years and, more particularly, in the development of technical training. In addition to working on the implementation and the establishment of training in cartography and geodesy in Quebec, he has fostered throughout his career close links with the workplace and has been able to assert the essential role of the technical training for the economic development of businesses and the community. In the early 2000s, his conviction of the relevance of geomatics for social development led him to go beyond Quebec's borders in the context of international training and coaching projects. His commitment has contributed to the establishment of geomatics technical degree programs that meet local needs in Brazil, Peru, Senegal and Tanzania. His admiration for the skills and human qualities of his team members, his sense of organization, his strategic spirit, his humor and his ability to adapt have certainly guaranteed the durability of all these projects. His nomination is a recognition for all those who have worked to develop high-quality technical training that enables Canadian companies to shine nationally and on the world stage. We are pleased to recognize the exceptional contributions of Mr. Paradis in our field by presenting this prestigious award.

 Please join us in congratulating Mr. Pierre Paradis!

2017

Dr. Costas Armenakis

The Canadian Institute of Geomatics (CIG) is delighted to announce the first recipient of its new prestigious award, “Geomatica”: Dr. Costas Armenakis, Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering, at York University. The Geomatica award is presented to someone who has contributed to the advancement of geomatics in Canada in an exceptional manner. Dr. Armenakis has an exceptional record of contributions with over 30 years of experience in the field of geomatics and, more specifically, Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and GIS. After a successful career as a research scientist for Natural Resources Canada, Dr. Armenakis started an academic career in Geomatics Engineering at York University. He has represented Canada on the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) for over 25 years, chaired many geomatics conferences and symposiums in Canada, has been involved as Associate Editor in diverse scientific journals, including Geomatica, and contributed to professional organizations like CIG for over two decades. We are delighted to recognize Dr. Armenakis' outstanding contribution to our field with this new prestigious award.

  
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Armenakis!