CAG2026: Catching Up with Canadian Geography

June 8, 2026

The Platial Analysis Lab made the trip out to Victoria, BC for this year’s Canadian Association of Geographers Annual Meeting at the University of Victoria. It was a great few days featuring a mix of thematic sessions, catching up with friends and colleagues, and getting a sense of where Canadian geography is heading.

The conference kicked off on a strong note with the GIS Study Group mentorship event, where Prof. McKenzie had the chance to engage with students and early-career researchers navigating paths in spatial analysis and GIScience. These kinds of sessions are always a lot of fun. Great energy and curiosity in the room.

From there, the Transportation and Mobilities sessions offered a really good snapshot of the breadth of work happening in Canadian mobility research. Grant presented a summary of the Data-Driven Mobility Analytics (DDMA) workshop series, bringing findings and themes from that community to a wider CAG audience. It was encouraging to see so much momentum building around methodological rigor in this space.

One of the conference highlights was the lightning talk session on Mobility Data Science, organized by Grant and colleagues and well attended by researchers from a range of backgrounds. The format sparked some genuinely energetic discussion (the kind that spills into coffee breaks) touching on everything from data infrastructure to equity in urban mobility systems.

Outside of the sessions, CAG is always a reminder of why this community matters. Seeing the work coming out of labs and departments across Canada, in spatial data science and transportation research especially, left our team feeling well motivated.

We are looking forward to next year’s meeting in York, Ontario.

A photo from the GIS Study Group Mentorship event…

Verma, Priyanka; McKenzie, Grant

When cities look alike but move differently: comparing urban regions using micromobility trip patterns Journal Article

In: Journal of Location Based Services, 2026.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Qiang, Dan; McKenzie, Grant

How events move us: Estimating the causal effects of special events on shared micromobility Journal Article

In: Journal of Geovisualization and Spatial Analysis, vol. 10, iss. 1, 2025.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

@article{nokey,

title = {How events move us: Estimating the causal effects of special events on shared micromobility},

author = {Dan Qiang and Grant McKenzie},

url = {http://grantmckenzie.com/academics/Qiang2025b.pdf},

doi = {10.1007/s41651-025-00244-1},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-12-05},

urldate = {2025-12-05},

journal = {Journal of Geovisualization and Spatial Analysis},

volume = {10},

issue = {1},

publisher = {Springer},

abstract = {Special events, such as festivals, parades, and protests, can cause sudden surges or disruptions in travel demand, thereby placing stress on transportation systems. As shared micromobility becomes an increasingly important part of urban transportation, understanding how these events affect its ridership is crucial for ensuring safety, efficiency, and sustainability. In this study, we investigate the causal impacts of various event types by applying Double Machine Learning (DML) to high-resolution shared micromobility trip data (e-bikes and e-scooters) and multi-source event records in Washington, D.C. These events include government-authorized large events, independently organized small events, and government-registered protests. Our results show that many events have far stronger actual influences on shared micromobility than correlational analysis suggests, as confounding factors can mask their actual impact. For instance, festivals show four to seven times greater impact under causal estimation. We also find that the increase in gas prices suppresses discretionary travel, resulting in reduced shared micromobility usage during events. Another key insight is the different demand mechanisms: large events interact with temporal and built environment features to boost ridership, whereas small events are primarily influenced by temporal features, such as event duration and weather, with little influence from infrastructure factors. These findings highlight the need for tailored policies, including infrastructure investment for large events and operational incentives for smaller ones. This research provides a causal foundation for urban mobility planning, supporting the development of more resilient and efficient transportation systems in event-dense urban areas.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

Romm, Daniel; Chavez, Jose Arturo Jasso; Kinman, Lexi; Salsabilian, Pegah; McKenzie, Grant; Manaugh, Kevin

The Cars are Going to be Alright: Examining Micromobility Infrastructure Space Allocation and Potential Improvement Scenarios in Montréal Journal Article

In: Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research, no. 100071, 2025.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

@article{Romm2025,

title = {The Cars are Going to be Alright: Examining Micromobility Infrastructure Space Allocation and Potential Improvement Scenarios in Montréal},

author = {Daniel Romm and Jose Arturo Jasso Chavez and Lexi Kinman and Pegah Salsabilian and Grant McKenzie and Kevin Manaugh},

doi = {10.1016/j.jcmr.2025.100071},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-06-07},

urldate = {2025-06-03},

journal = {Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research},

number = {100071},

abstract = {Many cities today are redesigning their streetscapes to redress the historical privilege afforded to the automobile in planning and policy. Much streetscape redesign is around transport infrastructure space, which largely prioritizes car travel and marginalizes other travel modes. Attempts by planners and policy makers to this end often are met with public opposition by advocates of the car, protesting about losing space on the street. This is empirically investigated with the case of Montréal by determining the allocation of street space to transport infrastructures, deriving measures of infrastructure space per traveller, and devising an Equal Infrastructure Allocation score to measure the imbalance between infrastructure provision per travel mode. Per borough, the distribution of transport infrastructure is examined, alongside correlations with demographic, socio-economic, land use, and crash rate variables. Potential scenarios of significant micromobility infrastructure improvement are modelled to test how infrastructure space apportionment per mode changes. This investigation discovers that even large improvements to micromobility infrastructure have a minor effect on space allocated to automobiles. Equal Infrastructure Allocation score and associated indicators are presented as useful tools for planners and policy makers implementing micromobility infrastructure projects, to better communicate with the public and address potential opposition.  },

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

McKenzie, Grant; Romm, Daniel; Féré, Clara; Balarezo, Maria Laura Guerrero

Gender differences in urban recreational running: A data-driven approach Journal Article

In: Journal of Transport Geography, vol. 124, no. 104171, 2025.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX