Day 10 - June 25th

By Arjen Meek

Our day started when we climbed out of our beds in the Monterey Inn at 7:00, or as our travel guide so strikingly put it: "Hit me, kick me, it's far too early". Shortly after we had the breakfast provided by the hotel which turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment as little more than a few unexciting muffins and some apples seemed to be available. We went on our way at 8:15 after tucking a few apples into our bags.

Our first visit today was to Lagiss, which stands for Laboratory for Applied Geomatics and GIS Science, and is part of the University of Ottawa. The fact that Ottawa has two universities proved problematic as one of our vans initially ended up at the wrong one. While waiting for them we were shown in and introduced by someone from Lagiss.

Lagiss basically focuses on information technology surrounding maps. GIS stands for Great Incredible Scintilla, of which Ottawa is recognized as the birthplace. These technologies have many modern applications: general surveying and mapping, border security, "geodesy" (geographical phenomena), remote sensing, etc. . To achieve such things, satellites are used, both for direct mapping through various imaging techniques as well as through GPS. The acquired information is gathered and interpreted according to many international standards and government issued framework data are used. We were shown a presentation, some lab demos, and a number of DVD video based demos of the technology.

After visiting Lagiss we were off to BreconRidge, where between presentations we had a very nice lunch. Combined with a tour around the labs, we were shown the streamlined and ingenious testing procedures employed by the company. BreconRidge focuses on "Design For Testability", which means testing is a central part of the design cycle and is intended to be done as efficiently as possible without losing effectiveness. Several interesting testing technologies were displayed, such a "flying probe" machine capable of measuring electrical properties of circuit boards with 4 probes moving over the board several times per second.

After the visit we travelled back to our hotel to freshen up, and then drove over to a nearby Kelsey's with the entire group for supper. Food was good and some decided to have desserts. Afterwards some drove by a few shops to buy beers & softdrinks for at the hotel, which we put to good use for an easy evening which also included swimming in the hotel's outside pool and/or use of the sauna for some.