On June 15, 2017, the British Columbia Chapter of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA BC) hosted a one day seminar entitled:

Engage: Make It So With GIS in Community Engagement

Date: June 15, 2017
Time: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm
Location: Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown 1128 West Hastings Street, Vancouver

From private companies to municipal and national governments, from parents to stakeholders and citizens there is an ever-increasing demand for public engagement and transparency. People want meaningful consultation and input, accountability for leaders and easy access to services and information. A thoughtful engagement process can inform and inspire the community. It can consult and collaborate with the public, increase accountability, support economic development and provide better services and information.

Advances in GIS and related technologies have enabled organizations to engage stakeholders in a way never before possible. Problem identification and reporting through crowd sourcing and social media; public consultations and feedback using GIS visualization and 3D; service delivery such as permits, licensing and recreation registration and information dissemination through open data, api’s, community portals and web mapping applications are just a few examples of rapidly advancing engagement technologies.