During the week of September 29 to October 3, 2018, Dr. Fraser Taylor, Director of the Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre (GCRC), and Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Professor of International Affairs, Geography and Environmental Studies, at Carleton University, made a special trip to Aguascalientes, Mexico, to support some strategic planning sessions of the INEGI, Mexico’s National Statistics and Mapping Agency.
Dr. Taylor (left) and Dr. Santaella (right)
On October 1st, he met with representatives of the Geography and Environmental Programs Directorate, under the leadership of Dr. Carmen Reyes, and made a presentation on “The Importance of Geoinformation and Mapping in the Age of Location”. Dr. Taylor has collaborated on work with Dr. Reyes for almost four decades, on such initiatives as the creation of an altas on water and resources in Latin America, and in the publication of two volumes on Cybercartograhy (Taylor, D. R. F. (2005). Cybercartography: Theory and Practice, Volume 4 in Modern Cartography Series, Amsterdam: Elsevier; and Taylor, D. R. F., Ed., and Lauriault, T. Assoc. Ed. (2014). Developments in the Theory and Practice of Cybercartography: Applications and Indigenous Mapping, Amsterdam: Elsevier).
On October 2nd, Dr. Taylor made a special presentation on “Geoinformation in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities for National Mapping and Statistical Agencies” to the senior leadership of the INEGI, including its President, Dr. Julio Santaella. He and other officials are shown in two photographs from the trip.
In the spring of 2018, the GCRC hosted a workshop supported by SSHRC and CEC – NAPECA, on the innovative Nunaliit Digital Atlas Platform in Mexico City and Ensenada with CentroGeo, Mexico’s primary academic institution in the geomatics field, and with representatives of two Indigenous communities. Dr. Taylor is the only North American academic to serve as advisor to INEE, the Mexican Institute on academic evaluation. This most recent initiative serves to further strengthen academic liaison and new strategic thinking with Mexico in the important domain of geomatics, cybercartography and location.