Crain, Ian, 1944- : Ian K Crain (1944- ) Born in Montreal, Dr Crain holds BSc and MSc degrees from McGill University in Geology and Geophysics, and a PhD from Australian National University on the topic of global tectonics. As a scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada, and the (then) Energy Mines and Resources Computer Sciences Centre, he did pioneering work on automated computer contouring, and the processing and mapping of airborne geophysical data. In 1973 he was among the first group of research scientists hired by the fledgling Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, where he did research on pattern recognition and information extraction from satellite imagery. From 1982 to 1988 he was Director (then called Head) of the Canada Land Data Systems (CLDS) Division of Environment Canada, responsible for the operation, as well as the overhaul and modernization of the Canada Geographic Information System. It during this time that the original IBM-designed drum scanner was donated to the Science and Technology Museum and was replaced by a modern laser-based scanner driven by a mini-computer, the first end-to-end digital map products were produced (for the Canada Land Use Monitoring Program), and remote on-line interactive access to CGIS data commenced. In 1986 he was seconded from Environment Canada to the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi Kenya to establish the Global Resource Information Database (GRID) project which used GIS and remote sensing to integrate global environmental data. In late 1988 Dr. Crain moved to the Alberta Government to establish their province-wide Land Resources Information System (LRIS), and subsequently became an Associate Professor of Spatial Information Systems in the Geomatics Engineering Department of the University of Calgary where he taught and did research on advanced Spatial Information Systems. Since 1992 he has been a Principal of his own company, The Orbis Institute, providing consulting and capacity building in environmental and resource information systems. This has mainly been in support of international development projects for CIDA, development banks, UN agencies, and NGOs. In this capacity he was for over a decade the Senior Advisor on information management to the UN World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge England, and similarly developed and established the information management policies and practices for the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, as well as numerous projects in the Asia and Pacific Region, and Visiting Professor assignments in Australia and Thailand. He is the author of over 70 publications on geomatics, and environmental information management and policy, and occasional articles on history and travel. He is interested in the history of cartography and collects antique maps, including materials related to early automated mapping and GIS. As of this time (2010), he lives in Ottawa.
