Skills Canada is a national, not-for-profit organization that works with employers, educators, labour groups and governments to promote skilled trades and technology careers among Canadian youth.

Skills Canada- Manitoba: 2008

This was the first year Skills Canada- Manitoba included GIS as one of its elements of competition. The question required the students to find suitable locations for intensive livestock operations in Manitoba.  It set out many criteria that the location had to meet, such as being certain distances from roads, wells, towns etc.  They also had to consider the prevailing wind direction.  Skills required were geoprocessing capacities, buffering, layer manipulation, as well as the ability to produce a cartographically sound map.

Skills Canada- Ontario: 2008   

An annual Skills Canada- Ontario competition is held at RIM Park in Waterloo, Ontario where secondary students using GIS in the classroom can show off their skills.

The question for 2008 revolved around the location of a new winery along the Niagara Escarpment. The students were provided with information about landforms, water features, demographic data, land use, soil types and other data, and provided with documents that explained what conditions different kinds of grapes preferred. They were asked to devise a new winery in the area, including a plan for how best to develop the vineyard. Several of the results made use of environmental information and social conditions to locate their winery.

Skills Canada- Ontario 2007

The challenge this year was to create a sustainable development plan for a new subdivision in an environmentally-sensitive area and to decide on the location of the subdivision that would please both the home developers and the environmental organizations.

The Maps below are samples of work created by students during the Skills Canada 2007 competition in May.

Skills Canada- Ontario 2006 

Check out the maps below to see the amazing GIS maps/analysis created by some of the top high school students in Ontario. This year seven teams of two participated in the Skills Ontario GIS competition held in Waterloo on May 2, 2006.