People who manage the development, implementation, and maintenance of the infrastructure of Ontario's landmass are now able to achieve, on a voluntary basis, professional status through membership in the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors (AOLS). Professional status assures the public that the work being carried out on their behalf meets the highest of technical standards, and that professional Geographic Information Managers are bound to the public by strong business ethics through the AOLS.
A Geographic Information Manager (GIM) directs the activities of Geographic Information System (GIS) specialists and technicians engaged in creating and editing geographic data bases, and generating computer displays and related statistical reports. The professional GIM and geographic information systems have become vital assets to municipalities, public agencies and industry. The demand for such professionals, is outstripping the ability to supply qualified people. Applications for geographic information systems are endless.
The need for regulation of this fast-growing economic sector through professional designation is clear, considering the huge financial investment made by the public in creating data bases for GIS, and the impact on public safety.
Most major urban centres are already using the GIS developed by Geographic Information Managers. When people dial 911 for an ambulance, emergency response team, or police assistance, they trigger a GIS that directs equipment and people to the source of the call through the shortest route available. Before arriving at the site, the response team may already know who to expect at the street address, and site utilities and nearby resources to assist in the call. This information has been generated from a GIS database and presented on a map and charts on an on-board computer terminal.
A geographic information system is much more than a map. It is an ever-changing representation of the rural and urban environments in which we live.
The Geographic Information Manager owes a high level of care to the public and his or her employer, as does the Ontario Land Surveyor. Recognition of the AOLS as the home of the professional GIM and OLS makes sense.
The Ontario Land Surveyor is a member of one of the oldest professions in Canada. (One of Ontario's great environmental engineers, Willis Chipman was deeply involved in the infant AOLS). It is the AOLS that set the fabric of much of what we now know as our urban and rural infrastructure. Surveyors mapped the natural and artificial features of our environment, and have made a valuable contribution to our land registry system.