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WORKSHOPS

Home / WORKSHOPS

GIC Workshops

The GIC offers workshops generally every week during the winter term. Workshops are open to the McGill community free of charge. All workshops will usually take place in classroom BH511 in the GIC on Tuesdays from 5:30-7:30pm unless otherwise indicated.

Below, the tab Winter 2025 shows you upcoming and past workshops during this term, 'Past' gets you to previous workshops and events, 'Awards' displays available and past awards and opportunities.
To sign up for a workshop, click on the link and follow the instructions in LibCal for each workshop.  Please also see our Terms & Conditions below the table.

Fall 2024

Our workshops run from 5:30-7:30 PM in BH511. Upcoming workshops are listed below. For a full list of workshops please navigate to our workshop calendar page.

Past

Workshops held in academic year 2023/24

Fall

...

Workshops held in academic year 2022/23

Winter

Date Topic Instructor
Thurs, Jan 12 & 19 Introduction to working with vector data in PostgreSQL/PostGIS Tim Elrick
Thurs, Jan 26 Introduction to working with GeoPandas in Python Violet Massie-Vereker
Thurs, Feb 2 Introduction to working with vector data in R Tim Elrick
Thurs, Feb 9 Introduction to working with raster data in R Tim Elrick
Thurs, Feb 16 Introduction to working with vector data in ArcGIS Pro Ruilan Shi
Thurs, Feb 23 Introduction to working with raster data in ArcGIS Pro Ruilan Shi
Thurs, Mar 2 Real-Time Mapping in the Field with Mobile Apps Meghan Ewing
Thurs, Mar 9 Introduction to Remote Sensing with Google Earth Engine Luci Lu
Thurs, Mar 16 Introduction to Mapbox Yanbing Chen
Thurs, Mar 23 Introduction to using ArcPy Yanbing Chen
Thurs, Mar 30 & April 6 Introduction to working ENVI Parts I & II Patrick Osei Darko
Thurs, April 13 Introduction to working with LiDAR Nicolas Cadieux
Thurs, April 20 Introduction to working with vector data in QGIS Lilly Lecanu-Fayet
Thurs, April 27 Introduction to working with raster data in QGIS Lilly Lecanu-Fayet
Thurs, May 4 Introduction to ArcGIS StoryMaps Lilly Lecanu-Fayet

Fall

Date Topic Instructor
Wed, Sep 21 Introduction to working with vector data in QGIS Qiao Zhao
Wed, Sep 28 Introduction to working with raster data in QGIS Qiao Zhao Register & more info
Wed, Oct 5 Introduction to working with vector data in R Tim Elrick Register & more info
Wed, Oct 19 Introduction to working with raster data in R Tim Elrick Register & more info
Wed, Oct 26 Introduction to Remote Sensing with R Tim Elrick Register & more info
Wed, Nov 2 Introduction to working with vector data in ArcGIS Pro Maude Laroche Register & more info
Wed, Nov 9 Introduction to working with raster data in ArcGIS Pro Maude Laroche Register & more info
Wed, Nov 16, 23, 30 Introduction to working with vector data in PostgreSQL/PostGIS Tim Elrick Register & more info
Wed, Dec 7 Introduction to working with GeoPandas in Python - RESCHEDULED TO WINTER 2023 Violet Massie-Vereker More info
Wed, Dec 14 Introduction to Remote Sensing with Google Earth Engine Luci Lu Register & more info

Summer

Date Topic Instructor
Fri, May 6
2:30 to 4:30		 Introduction to remote sensing with R Tim Elrick Register & more info
Wed/Thu, May 18/19
1:00 to 3:00		 Introduction to PostGIS I & II Tim Elrick Register & more info
Wed, Jun 1
10:00 to 1:00		 Introduction to working with vector data in R Tim Elrick Register & more info
Wed, Jun 8
10:00 to 1:00		 Introduction to working with raster data in R Tim Elrick Register & more info
Wed, Jun 15 & 22
10:00 to 1:00		 Introduction to Geospatial Analysis in R Tim Elrick Register & more info
Wed, Jun 29
1:00 to 3:30		 Introduction to working with vector data in ArcGIS Pro Clara Féré Register & more info
Wed, Jul 6
1:00 to 3:30		 Introduction to working with raster data in ArcGIS Pro Clara Féré Register & more info

Workshops held in academic year 2021/22

Date Topic Instructor
Tue, Jan 12

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Data Science with R Tim Elrick For registration and more information use this link.
Tue, Jan 26

5:30 pm

 Advanced Data Science with R Tim Elrick For registration and more information use this link.
Tue, Feb 2

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Remote Sensing with ENVI Deep Inamdar For registration and more information use this link.
Tue, Feb 9

5:30 pm

 Intermediate Remote Sensing with ENVI Deep Inamdar For registration and more information use this link.
Tue, Feb 16

5:30 pm

 Introduction to working with Vector Data in ArcMap Ruilan Shi For registration and more information use this link.
Tue, Feb 23

5:30 pm

 Introduction to working with Raster Data in ArcMap Ruilan Shi For registration and more information use this link.
Tue, Mar 2

5:30 pm

 Retrieving Data from the Internet with R Tim Elrick For registration and more information use this link.
Tue, Mar 9

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Using ArcPy Mathis Messenger For registration and more information use this link.
Tue, Mar 16

5:30 pm

 Introduction to working with LiDAR data Nicolas Cadieux For registration and more information use this link..
Tue, Mar 23

5:30 pm

 

 Introduction to Working with Vector Data in QGIS Ruilan Shi For registration and more information use this link.
Tue, Mar 30

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Working with Raster Data in QGIS Ruilan Shi For registration and more information use this link.
Tue, Apr 6

5:30 pm

 

 Working with Geospatial Vector Data in R Tim Elrick For registration and more information use this link.
Tue, Apr 13

5:30 pm

 Working with Geospatial Raster Data in R Tim Elrick For registration and more information use this link.
Tue, Apr 20

5:30 pm

 Python for Data Analysis Hongyu Zhang For registration and more information use this link.
Tue, Apr 27

5:30 pm

 Data Visualization in Python Hongyu Zhang For registration and more information use this link.

Workshops held in academic year 2020/21

Fall

Date

 Topic

Instructor

Tue, Sep 22

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Working with Vector Data in ArcMap

Ruilan Shi

Wed, Sep 23

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Working with Raster Data in ArcMap

Ruilan Shi

Wed, Sep 30

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Data Science with R

Tim Elrick

Wed, Oct 7

5:30 pm

 Advanced Data Science with R

Tim Elrick

Wed, Oct 14

5:30 pm

 Introduction to GIT

Hongyu Zhang

Wed, Oct 21

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Data Visualization with R

Tim Elrick

Wed, Oct 28

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Working with Vector Data in QGIS

Ruilan Shi

Wed, Nov 4

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Working with Raster Data in QGIS

Ruilan Shi

Wed, Nov 11

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Python

Hongyu Zhang

Wed, Nov 25

5:30 pm

 Advanced Data Visualization with R

Tim Elrick

Wed, Dec 2

5:30 pm

 Introduction to PostGreSQL

Hongyu Zhang

Wed, Dec 9

5:30 pm

 Geoprocessing Vector Data in R

Tim Elrick

Wed, Dec 16

5:30 pm

 Geoprocessing Vector Data in R

Tim Elrick

Winter

To come.

Workshops held in academic year 2019/20

Fall

Date

 Topic

Instructor

Wed, Sep 11

5:00 pm

 Introduction to ArcMap

Tim Elrick
Wed, Sep 18

5:00 pm

 Introduction to Data Science with R

Tim Elrick

Wed, Sep 25

5:00 pm

 Introduction to QGIS

Tim Elrick

Wed, Oct 2

5:00 pm

 Introduction to Python

Jeremy Steele

Wed, Oct 9

5:00 pm

 Introduction to GIT

Sam Lumley

Wed, Oct 23

5:00 pm

 Building WebMaps with ArcGIS Online

Ruilan Shi

Wed, Oct 30

5:00 pm

 Introduction to Data Visualization with R

Tim Elrick

Wed, Nov 6

5:00 pm

 Advanced Data Visualization with R

Tim Elrick

Wed, Nov 13

5:00 pm

 Geoprocessing Vector Data in ArcMap

Tim Elrick
Wed, Nov 20

5:00 pm

 Geoprocessing Raster Data in ArcMap

Tim Elrick

Wed, Nov 27

5:00 pm

 Geoprocessing Vector Data in R

Tim Elrick

Wed, Dec 4

5:00 pm

 Geoprocessing Raster Data in R

Tim Elrick

Wed, Dec 11

5:00 pm

 Working with text, dates and time in R

Tim Elrick

Winter

Date

 Topic

Instructor

Thu, Jan 9

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Data Science with R

Tim Elrick

Thu, Jan 16

5:30 pm

 Introduction to remote sensing with ENVI

Deep Inamdar

Thu, Jan 23

5:30 pm

 Advanced function in ENVI

Deep Inamdar

Thu, Jan 23

5:30 pm

 Introduction to QGIS @ Mac

Tim Elrick

Wed, Jan 29

5:30 pm

 Introduction to R @ Mac

Tim Elrick

Thu, Jan 30

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Making Maps with ArcMap

Ruilan Shi

Thu, Feb 6

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Data Visualization with R

Tim Elrick

Thu, Feb 13

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Python

Tim Elrick

Thu, Feb 20

5:30 pm

 Building WebMaps with ArcGIS Online

Ruilan Shi

Thu, Feb 27

5:30 pm

 Geoprocessing Raster Data with R @ Mac

Tim Elrick

Thu, Feb 27

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Google Earth Engine

Fanny Amot

Thu, Mar 5

5:30 pm

 Advanced Data Visualization with R

Tim Elrick

Mon, Apr 6

5:30 pm

 Applied Data Science: Working with real-time Covid-19 data in R

Tim Elrick

Thu, Apr 9

5:30 pm

 Introduction to R

Tim Elrick

Thu, Apr 16

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Data Science with R

Tim Elrick

Mon, Apr 20

5:30 pm

 Making maps with ArcMap

Ruilan Shi

Thu, Apr 23

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Data Visualization with R

Tim Elrick

Mon, Apr 27

5:30 pm

 How to make a story map with ArcGIS Online

Ruilan Shi

Thu, Apr 30

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Advanced Data Visualization with R

Tim Elrick

Summer

Date Topic Instructor
Thu, Apr 2

5:30 pm

 Introduction to Working with LiDAR Data Nicolas Cadieux
Mon, Apr 6

10:00 am

Applied Data Science: Working with real-time Covid-19 data in R

 Tim Elrick
Thu, Apr 9

10:00 am

 Introduction to R Tim Elrick
Thu, Apr 16

10:00 am

 Introduction to Data Science with R Tim Elrick
Mon, Apr 20

11:00 am

 Making maps with ArcMap Ruilan Shi
Thu, Apr 23

10:00 am

 Introduction to Data Visualization with R Tim Elrick
Mon, Apr 27

11:00 am

 How to Make a Story Map with ArcGIS Online Ruilan Shi
Thu, Apr 30

10:00 am

 Introduction to Advanced Data Visualization with R Tim Elrick
Mon, May 4

2:00 pm

 Geospatial processing of vector data in ArcMap Ruilan Shi
Thu, May 7

10:00 am

 

 Geospatial processing of vector data in R Tim Elrick
Mon, May 11

2:00 pm

 Geospatial processing of raster data in ArcMap Ruilan Shi
Thu, May 14

10:00 am

 

 Geospatial processing of raster data in R Tim Elrick
Mon, May 25

10:00 am

 Applied Data Science with R: Analysing Covid-19 - Take: 2 Tim Elrick
Thu, May 21

10:00 am

 Working with dates and tables in R Tim Elrick
Thu, May 28

10:00 am

 Working with text in R Tim Elrick
Thu, June 4

10:00 am

 Retrieving data from the internet with R Tim Elrick
Mon, June 8

10:00 am

 Working with Vector Data in QGIS Ruilan Shi
Mon, June 15

10:00 am

 Working with Raster Data in QGIS Ruilan Shi
Thu, June 17

1:30 pm

 Introduction to Statistics with R Tim Elrick
Thu, June 18

10:00 am

 Advanced Data Science with R Tim Elrick
Mon, June 22

10:00 am

 Working with Vector Data in ArcGIS Ruilan Shi
Thu, June 25

10:00 am

 Introduction to GeoSpatial Analysis with R Tim Elrick
Mon, June 29

10:00 am

 Working with Raster Data in ArcGIS Ruilan Shi

Workshops held in academic year 2018/19

Winter

Date Topic Instructor Event registration
Thu, Jan 10 Introduction to Data Science with R Tim Elrick
Thu, Jan 17 Introduction to remote sensing with ENVI Deep Inamdar
Thu, Jan 24 Advanced functions in ENVI Deep Inamdar
Thu, Jan 31 Introduction to GIT Jeffery Sauer
Thu, Feb 7 Introduction to CSS/HTML Tim Elrick
Thu, Feb 14 First Python tasks Jeffery Sauer
Thu, Feb 21 Building WebMaps with ArcGIS Online Ruilan Shi
Thu, Feb 28 Geo-spatial data science in Python Jeffery Sauer
Thu, Mar 7 Data Visualization with R Tim Elrick
Thu, Mar 14 ArcGIS Pro compared to ArcMap Jeffery Sauer
Thu, Mar 21 Geoprocessing Raster Data in QGIS Jeffery Sauer
Thu, Mar 28 Geoprocessing Vector Data in QGIS Jeffery Sauer
Thu, Apr 4 Introduction to working with LiDAR data Nicolas Cadieux
Thu, Apr 11 Working with Spatial Data in R Tim Elrick
Thu, Apr 18 Introduction to Statistics in R Jeffery Sauer
Thu, Apr 25 Introduction to Geospatial Statistics in R Tim Elrick
Thu, May 2 Introduction to GIT Sam Lumley
Tues, June 4 GIC Summer Workshop Series: Introduction to GIS (Day 1 - GIS and Vector Data in QGIS) Jeffery Sauer
Wed, June 5 GIC Summer Workshop Series: Introduction to GIS (Day 2 - GIS and Raster Data in ArcMAP) Jeffery Sauer
Thu, June 6 GIC Summer Workshop Series: Introduction to GIS (Day 3 - GIS and Finding Data/Troubleshooting) Jeffery Sauer

 

Fall

Date Topic Instructor
Dec 13 Introduction to ArcGIS Pro Tim Elrick
Dec 6 Geoprocessing Raster Data in ArcMap Tim Elrick
Nov 29 Geoprocessing VectorData in ArcMap Tim Elrick
Nov 22 Introduction to ArcMap Jeffery Sauer
Nov 15 Data Visualization with R (ggplot2 package) Tim Elrick
Nov 8 Building WebMaps with ArcGIS Online Ruilan Shi
Nov 1 Geo-spatial data science in Python Jeffery Sauer
Introduction to Zotero Emily Kingsland
Oct 11 Introduction to QGIS Tim Elrick
Thursday, Oct 4 Introduction to Data Science with R Tim Elrick
Thursday, Sep 27 Introduction to Python Jeffery Sauer
Thursday, Sep 20 Introduction to ArcMap Tim Elrick

 

Workshops held in academic year 2017-18

 

Topic Instructor
Working with Text in R Tim Elrick
Tim Elrick
Mike Groenendyk
Introduction to Data Science with R
(tidyverse packages)		 Tim Elrick
Introduction to Python for ArcGIS Morgan Lim
Introduction to Python Jeremy Steele
Geoprocessing Raster Data in QGIS Tim Elrick
Mapping in OpenStreetMap - Introduction to JOSM OMG McGill
Introduction to Endnote Emily Kingsland
Data Visualization with R
(ggplot2 package)		 Tim Elrick
Geoprocessing Vector Data in QGIS Tim Elrick
Introduction to Data Science with R
(tidyverse packages)		 Tim Elrick
Qualitative Comparative Analysis
3 day workshop, (cost: $275)		 Benoît Rihoux, UC Louvain (Belgium)
Advanced Functions in ENVI Lesley Johnson
Introduction to ENVI Lesley Johnson
Introduction to R basics Tim Elrick
Introduction to QGIS I
(making maps)		 Tim Elrick
Introduction to More R Basics Tim Elrick
Data Handling with R
(tidyverse packages)		 Tim Elrick
OMG McGill
Introduction to R Basics Tim Elrick
Discovering Data for
Geospatial Data Science		 Berenica Vejvoda
Introduction to ArcGIS II
(using Geospatial Tools)		 Tim Elrick
Introduction to Endnote Jennifer Zhao
Introduction to ArcGIS I
(making maps)		 Tim Elrick

AWARDS/OPPORTUNITIES

ESRI Award

Nominations are due by February each year. Students who are interested need to contact their supervisor regarding nomination.

  •  Recipients of the ESRI Awards:
    • 2019. Jeremy Steele. Where Do E-Scooters Fit In to Washington, D.C.'s Transit Network?
    • 2012. Natalie Cornish. Semi-automatic Classification of the Tortuguero Conservation Area in Costa Rica using Geographic Information Systems
    • 2011. Sienna Svob. Collection of forest management in ACTO for the creation of a geodatabase to model forest carbon stocks.
    • 2011. Pierre Beaudreau
Terms and Conditions

For participating in our workshops, please register on our website by clicking on the 'More information' link and fill in the form until 6 hours before the workshop starts (exceptions are stated on the workshop page). Please note, that workshops with less than 5 registrations might be cancelled (of course, we will inform you about a cancellation).

In case, you cannot make it to the workshop: Please cancel by selecting the Cannot Go option on the booking page of the workshop that you had registered for.

We also offer custom-tailored workshops or single lectures for groups at McGill. Please contact our Director Dr. Tim Elrick for this offer.
If you cannot find the workshop you are interested in, please contact our Director. We happy to look into offering it soon.

Other Workshops

CDSI workshop

The CDSI offers a series of workshops on topics related to advanced statistical methods, coding and programming languages, high performance computing, machine learning and general data science. The workshops are offered for free to the McGill community and a priority is given to students.

McGill Library RDM Workshop

Research data management (RDM) concerns the organisation of data, from its entry to the research cycle through to the dissemination and archiving of valuable results. RDM helps researchers navigate the increasingly complex landscape of data planning, storage, and sharing.  It is part of the research process, and aims to make the research process as efficient as possible, and meet expectations and requirements of the university, research funders, and legislation.

Check the upcoming McGill Library RDM Workshops

Geospective Seminar

GeoSpectives is the lecture series hosted by the Department of Geography. Talks will take place in Burnside Hall, Room 426, normally on Fridays, 12 noon to 1 p.m.

Soup and Science

Soup and Science provides an opportunity for current and prospective McGill students to learn about research and innovation taking place at McGill, and to directly interact with professors. The week-long event takes place each September and January.

Please check the link for more information at Soup and Science.