In November 2014 Esri Canada selected the SFU Geography Department, Faculty of Environment as a Centre of Excellence (ECCE) in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The long standing quality of research by the GIS faculties in the Geography department initiated this prestigious collaboration.

Esri Canada is a privately held Canadian-owned company the provided world-class enterprise GIS solutions. Five other Canadian universities (University of Victoria, University of Waterloo, McMaster University, McGill University, Nova Scotia Community College - Dalhousie University) will comprise the initial network of excellence in GIS.

The ECCE at SFU will enable the creation of a cluster of GIS research, and provide networking opportunities for interested faculties and graduate students within our institution and with other ECCE across Canada. The GIS core group is: Drs. Shivanand Balram, Suzana Dragicevic, Nick Headly, Anders Knudby and Nadine Schuurman.

The ECCE and resulting collaboration with a global geospatial leader such as Esri Canada will enable us to expand our research and teaching capacity in GIS. In addition, access to scholarships, competitions and conferences will benefit graduate students.