Esri Canada has selected McMaster University’s School of Geography and Earth Sciences (SGES) as a Centre of Excellence in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). SGES has a long history of teaching and research using the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) suite of products such as ArcGIS, and is the market leader in GIS software. McMaster was the first Canadian university to collaborate with a college to offer a certificate in GIS, and was the first Canadian university to earn the designation of Esri Development Centre for Universities (EDC) due to researchers continued software application development on the Esri platform. Now they are one of 6 Centres of Excellence across Canada.

Currently, the School offers a popular Minor in GIS and has over 15 undergraduate and graduate courses that make use of GIS as part of training and research, prominently featuring Esri’s ArcGIS software as part of its core curriculum. The inclusion of McMaster as an Esri Canada Centre of Excellence will further enhance and facilitate the use of GIS in education and research at McMaster by providing access to scholarships, competitions such as an app challenge and conferences for both undergraduate and graduate students.

“Critical thinking and spatial analysis skills are vital to understanding today’s economic, environmental and social issues,” said Alex Miller, president of Esri Canada. “The Esri Canada GIS Centres of Excellence are an important catalyst in preparing students as they enter the workforce whether they choose careers in business, science or government.”


More seats have been made available in the Introduction to GIS (GEOG/EARTH SC/ENVIR SC 2GI3) this fall term for those who might be interested in learning more about GIS.

To learn more about GIS at McMaster, please go to:

http://http://sciwebserver.science. mcmaster.ca/gislab/index.html