Maxim Fortin is a professional engineer and geospatial expert with over 15 years of diverse experience in engineering, geospatial analysis, and project management. His career includes leading multi-million-dollar infrastructure projects, developing GIS-based flood models, and providing technical expertise in hydrology, hydraulics, and climate-resilient infrastructure. Maxim has worked across Canada and internationally in countries such as Burkina Faso, Haiti, Pakistan, and Senegal, demonstrating his adaptability to complex challenges.

Currently, Maxim serves as an Engineering Advisor at Natural Resources Canada, where he supports the $160M Flood Hazard Identification and Mapping Program (FHIMP). In this role, he provides expert guidance on over 100 flood mapping studies, enhancing flood risk management and climate resilience across Canada.

Maxim is also the creator of the Open Building Population Layer for Canada, a personal open-source project that integrates building footprint data with census information to produce high-resolution population datasets. This innovative project has been widely recognized for its applications in urban planning, disaster management, and environmental assessments.

Maxim holds a Master’s degree in Water and Waste Engineering from Loughborough University (UK) and a Bachelor’s degree in Water Engineering from Université Laval (Canada). He has already presented at a numerous seminars, conferences and events on flood modelling and geospatial innovation. Maxim is passionate about leveraging open data and geospatial tools to tackle environmental challenges.