Professor, Geomatics Engineering
Associate Chair, Graduate Stduies
Department of Civil Engineering (opens in new window)
P.Eng., Professional Engineers Ontario
OLS/OLIP, Association Ontario of Land Surveyors
ISPRS Fellow
Dr. Songnian Li has been a faculty member in the Department of Civil Engineering at Toronto Metropolitan University since 2001 and is now a professor of Geomatics Engineering. He holds a B. Eng. degree in Surveying Engineering from the Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping (now Wuhan University), and a Ph.D. degree from the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering (external link, opens in new window) of the University of New Brunswick in New Brunswick, Canada. Prior to joining Toronto Metropolitan University, Dr. Li taught in Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping and Ningxia Institute of Technology (now Ningxia University) in China for 14 years and spent one year at Lakehead University as a visiting scholar. He has served as an Adjunct Professor or adjucnt member of graduate programs of a number of universities in Canada, China and Japan.
Dr. Li's main area of specialization is Geomatics Engineering and he has been working on research projects related to:
- Geocollaboration and group decision support
- Big geospatial data analytics (crowdsourced and geosocial media data)
- Geospatial web and web services
- Data mining and knowledge discovery from moving object and trajectory data
- Human mobility
- Spatio-temporal dynamics
- Solar energy potential mapping
- Digital twins for smart cities
2023 YSGS Outstanding Contribution to Graduate Education Award
2023 Toronto Metropolitan Faculty Association's Career Achievement Award
2017 Certificate of Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing, ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
2016 Best Paper Award (The U.V. Helava Award) of the ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
2016 President’s Citation, Canadian Institute of Geomatics, Canada
2016 Certificate of Recognition for Excellent Service to International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
2016 Certificate of Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems journal
2012 Research Fellowship, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan
2009 Research Fellowship, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan
2003 New Opportunity Fund Award, Canadian Innovation Foundation
1996/97 Visiting Scholar Fellowship, Chinese Ministry of Education, China
1992 Outstanding Teaching Award, Ningxia Institute of Technology, China
To students
I believe that a student's interest in subjects, and passion for finding truths, are paramount to success.