GEOIDE

The Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity has a major role in the recently announced Geomatics for Informed Decisions (GEOIDE) Network of Centres of Excellence. The national NCEs are funded by SSHRC, NSERC, MRC, and Industry Canada, the objective being to develop unique partnerships between the academic research community and the public and private sectors to enhance the Canadian economy and improve our quality of life. The administrative centre for the GEOIDE network is at Universite Laval.

The GEOIDE network, which involves 97 researchers from 24 universities with 42 industrial and other partners, was one of three new networks (from an original application list of 72) funded in the 1998 competition. Federal funding provides $3 million per year for four years, with an additional $1 million per year from industrial and other partners. The selection procedure involved a three stage peer evaluation process.

The GEOIDE network, which focuses on the development and application of new information technologies to spatially distributed data, has three applied thrusts: resource analysis and evaluation; environmental assessment and management; and health, commerce, and social policy. CSCA plays a key role in GEOIDE in two ways. First, Ken Jones, Director of CSCA, serves as leader of the health, commerce and social policy thrust, responsible for coordinating five large research projects centred in three universities (Laval, Calgary, and Ryerson). Second, he is project leader for one research project centred at Ryerson - Geomatics for Strategic Planning in the Business/Commercial Sector.