Eric Loubier
Director
Natural Resources Canada
Canada

Biography
Mr. Loubier has bachelor degree in Geography, a master degree in Public Administration and 25 years of experience in various fields of geomatics, especially in mapping and remote sensing. For the last 15 years, Mr. Loubier worked for the federal government, for NrCan as project manager, program manager and now as a director within the Canadian Centre for Mapping and Earth observation. The Canadian Centre for Mapping and Earth observation has the mandate to provide geospatial information and knowledge for the country and his division has traditionally been responsible to produce and disseminate the digital mapping information for the entire Canadian landmass. Mr. Loubier is actively involved in the NRCan lead national GeoBase initiative whereby the Federal and Provincial/Territorial governments have agreed to work together ensure the availability of quality digital base maps over all of Canada in the short and long run. As such, he also participates to the Canadian Council On Geomatics (CCOG) to which the GeoBase Steering Committee reports to. Mr. Loubier is also actively involved in the development of the Canadian Federal Geospatial Plateform, a collaborative effort across 21 departments and agencies to fundamentally change the way we share, use and manage geospatial assets with the federal government. The FGP will enable the Public Service to buy once, use many times, and search once, find everything.The FGP will also support horizontal efforts to advance economic growth, social cohesion, well-being and environmental management.

Abstract
Engaging the Policy Analyst - Integrating Location into Canada's Public Policy

In support of evidence-based policy making and decision support, the Federal Geospatial Platform is providing comprehensive access to authoritative, accurate geospatial data from 21 federal departments. By organizing the federal geospatial asset through a single access point, the FGP provides the right data at the right time, and supports data query, visualization, integration and analytical capability. Canada's policy analysts are faced with daily challenges in answering the policy requirements of the Government of Canada's most critical priorities - Responsible Resource Development, Public Safety, and Socio-Economic Development. Each of these priority issues has inherent ties to Canada's geography, and location is a key input to both understanding and resolving these issues. But, policy analysts are often not aware of the wealth of location-based information available to them, or, how to exploit it to its fullest potential. The FGP is striving to change this through a common platform that provides an authoritative single source of Government of Canada geospatial information. Additionally, the FGP will allow clients to select, visualize and query multiple layers of data for a given location, providing enhanced decision-making capability, and the ability to rapidly produce and share maps with ease. To achieve this, the FGP is engaging early on with its target end user, the federal policy analyst, and involving them in the identification and prioritization of user requirements for data, tools and technologies. The creation of User Stories, developed by and for the target audience, is the first thrust in a plan to establish the functional and data requirements for Canada's Federal Geospatial Platform. The User Stories reveal how the FGP is addressing the questions of platform functionality, usability and the interaction between system and end user. Data requirements are being prioritized not only by what exists, but by what the policy analyst wants to have. This presentation demonstrates the active engagement between the FGP and its target audience, and shares early results of efforts to identify and integrate location as an essential ingredient in the public policy development process.