BC Experience - 20 MILLION NEW REASONS TO VISIT VICTORIA
Written by BC Experience
23 June 2006
When BC Experience opens in the historic Crystal Garden on Monday, it will provide 20 million new reasons to visit Victoria and give local residents as many great new reasons to come downtown.
“New partnerships and new opportunities have significantly expand the scope and quality of BC Experience,” says its president, Mel Cooper “Thanks to our partners, what began as a $12 million project will now feature total investments of more than $20 million – making this a huge new community asset for Victoria.”
On the heels of the announcement of Panasonic Canada’s partnership earlier this month, Cooper says Parks Canada has entered into a ten-year, $3.5 million dollar partnership, announced today by Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, which will see uniformed Parks Canada interpreters staff a 2,000 square foot (186 m2) Parks Canada Discovery Centre within the BC Experience. The centre will showcase the diversity of the National Parks, Historic Sites, and Marine Conservation Areas.
“In addition,” Cooper told members of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce on Thursday night, “we have just taken-over the leases of the nine retail units on the Douglas Street side of the Crystal Garden and they will re-open next week. Over the winter, we’ll spend nearly a million dollars to totally renovate and upgrade them.” As was announced earlier, $3.6 million was invested by the Province of BC in the architectural restoration and conservation of the internationally significant Crystal Garden building, which the Provincial Capital Commission owns as a public trust. PCC chair Bill Wellburn said the money was spent on its areas of landlord responsibility such as major seismic work, installation of sprinkler systems, and on a new generation glass roof. “The engineers tell us,” Wellburn said, “that this work should extend the life of this beloved heritage landmark by another eighty years.”
“The end result,” says BC Experience executive director John Thomson, “is a new generation of discovery centre – the first of its kind in the world – that will allow visitors of all ages to experience a taste of B.C.’s astonishing geographic, cultural, and historical diversity, all under one roof. We know there are concerns about a drop in tourism this year. We’d like to think we’re providing 20 million new reasons for people to come to Victoria.”
BC Experience will open to the public at 1:00 p.m. Monday, with opening-day admission by donation to The Land Conservancy of B.C. Summer hours will be 9am to 10pm daily. Admission will be $14.95 for adults, $12.95 for youth and seniors, $6.95 for children (kids under 5 admitted free), or $34.95 for a family pass. As an introductory offer, annual passes will be available for only $10 more; $21 more for a family.
http://www.bcexperience.info
GISuser Feature Articles
Top iPhone related GIS and Geo Tech news stories from 2009 - At the end of the year its always interesting for us to look at some of the stats and results to identify trends and more important, to see what our readers think is hot! In the "news" category it seems that iPhone related geo tech items were extremely popular.
Geo Social Location Checkin to Twitter from iPhone - With the cool SXSW event taking place Austin, TX, everyone who's anyone in social and social location seems to have rolled out updates this week, making your choice for how to check-in to your social media bookmarks even tougher to decide on!
10 Awesome GIS and Mapping apps for the iPhone - I recall last year at the ESRI UC when an iPhone was on stage showing a prototype app (think ArcPad on iPhone). It was then that I realized the iPhone platform is going to be BIG in mapping and there's a ton of opportunity for developers.
Nokia Booklet 3G, unboxing video and image gallery... Those of you in the USA who pop in to BestBuy occasionally, you may have seen a stand showing off the Nokia Booklet 3G. A sleek, 3G enabled, SIM slot (AT&T) sporting netbook.
Interesting Tweeple - 10 Geo Technology & Geo-Social Women of Twitter - given the growing love for geospatial and location-aware technologies, I’ve decided to hype 10 women that I feel make a significant contribution to the Geo-Twittersphere. If you’d like to add 10 knowledgeable and useful Twitter contacts to your Geo following list I highly suggest the following: (in no particular order)
10 Geo Social Location-Aware Apps Making Waves... With Twitter's opening of their location API to developers there's going to be a ton of third party apps that will enable Twitter users to share location-aware information via their Twitter accounts.
Signs that indicate you may be a GeoGeek (aka. GeoNerd) and some suggested Geo blogs - Chances are good that if you are a Geo Geek then you already know it and likely refer to yourself as one. However, there’s many of you out there that may be on the fence and wondering… “am I a Geo Geek?" Read on for a comprehensive list of signs you might be a GeoGeek followed up by some suggested Geoblog reading.
Real-time GPS Mapping and GIS Solution Aids Efficient Disaster Management - Saturday, February 7, 2009 will forever be known as Black Saturday in the State of Victoria, Australia. In the midst of a 10-year drought, a record breaking heat wave descended upon the state, with temperatures exceeding 45 degrees C (110-120 deg F), breaking all-time record highs in some cities - Victoria Police Use Trimble Juno SC Handhelds to Speed Assessment of Damage Caused by Bush Fires.
2010 ESRI Federal User Conference February 17-19, 2010, Washington D.C. Walter E. Washington Convention Center - The FedUC is the largest geospatial conference for federal agencies. Connect with other leaders, decision makers, and GIS professionals.
The International LiDAR Mapping Forum 2010 - Tenth Anniversary Event! ILMF 2010 will be held from March 3 - 5, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency in Denver at Colorado Convention Center.
The NAVTEQ 2010 Global LBS Challenge Awards Ceremony will be held during Ignite at O'Reilly Where 2.0. Be among the first to hear as NAVTEQ announces the winners for the North America region. Participants will be competing for a global prize pool of $10 million and growing by showcasing pre-commercial location-enabled apps using NAVTEQ map data & products. March 30, 2010, during Ignite Where, 7:30pm - 9:00pm, at the Marriott San Jose, CA
WHERE2.0 2010 - Now in its sixth year, the Where 2.0 Conference is where the grassroots and leading edge developers building location-aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge. For 15% use Discount Code: whr10lbs
See more 
