Our division theInteractive Oil Spill Training Center ("IOSTC") developing and analyzing oil spill contingency plans, sensitivity mapping, and delivering cost effective training in oil spill response and management. IOSTC's professional team has extensive world-wide experience in the fields of marine and land oil spill response operations, oil spill management, oil spill contingency planning, oil spill response training, environmental and marine science, and computer science. In addition, IOSTC has formed a joint program with Capilano University of North Vancouver, BC. The Oil Spill Management Program offered classroom, field training. We also provide on-line training through our E-learning site.

Providing the community with educational information on oil spills, its potential sources in the region, and existing plans and capabilities including actions to be taken before, during and after a spill is the first step in establishing a constructive dialogue between all parties. Informed public are more engaged in discussions based on facts rather than emotion and fear.

We have developed an additional educational program that could be linked to iSpillMap to provide the community with information about the state of readiness and existing capabilities to prevent and respond to oil spill. We can customize it for your specific information. Check this demo site that was developed for British Columbia.

iSpillMap is an interactive community engagement communication and information cloud based tool designed by marine scientists with many year of experience in the field of oil spill response and training. Transparency and timely information dissemination when oil spills occur, during response activities, and after the spill, is very important to sustain the trust between the community, response organizations, and government agencies. Accurate up-to-date reports is provided through the incident command centre minimizing the unreliable information disseminated through traditional media or social media. This transparency would alleviate friction between the community and government agencies.

IOSTC has developed an easy to use cloud based application allowing for updates to be made without the need for web designers or information technology specialists. Based on Google maps, the person in charge of public affairs enters the spill information and daily updates, including images and videos, through user friendly screens. The program also allows interested members of the community to subscribe to receive regular updates by email, and to interact with the response team through social media (Facebook and Twitter).

An interactive environmental education, and community engagement touch screen kiosk program developed for the Department of Fisheries and Environment Canada. The objective of this application was public environmental education to encourage the public’s participation in the decision making process of protecting the Fraser River Basin Ecosystem. Window on the Fraser River highlights the ecosystem and socio-economic structure of the Fraser River Basin, environmental challenges and proposed solutions by the federal government under the Green Plan. The application, developed in 1990 and updated in 1992, 1994 and 1996, combines video laser disc with digital audio and video (DVI) technologies. The kiosk traveled to different communities, public and scientific conferences and was selected by the Government of Canada as one of 1990’s most innovative projects.

Developed for Science World in Vancouver, B.C. and the BC Ministry of Environment, this application has been on permanent display at Science World since 1995/6. In association with U-TV, HNCL developed this video laser disc application. It features the daily air quality for the Greater Vancouver Area, and provides users with information about air quality and how to reduce air pollution. Special care was taken during the design of the user interface and navigational path to ensure simplicity and durability, taking into consideration that children would be the main users of this program. Our commitment to reliability and quality is evident from the non-stop performance of this software since its implementation.

Developed for The Burnaby School Board in association with IBM Canada, the objective of this innovative project was to train students on the creation of multimedia applications for educational purposes while also teaching them about the environment. Our team worked with students and teachers from Burnaby 2000 to develop an environmental baseline for Lake Burnaby. The project resulted in increasing students' awareness of their local environment and in generating interest in both science and multimedia. A valuable additional outcome of this project was the methodology that was used to achieve the objectives of increasing learning and awareness. HNCL initiated the integration of students from all levels of ability, including both advanced and special needs children, thus promoting greater understanding and self-esteem within the group.

This unique environmental program was developed with Squamish First Nation youth and elders. The objective was to involve the youth in learning about their environment, history, about their ancestors’ environmental management practices and how traditional science is compatible with modern science. The youth learned about their culture and traditional values, while also learning about computer technology.

As a result, some of them have chosen to pursue careers in environmental protection and multimedia services. HNCL has worked with the First Nations on several projects and has developed strong relationships with the First Nation communities.