The Perth committee have been busy, and the next Rabble will be occurring on Thursday June 20, 2013. If you’d like to be involved in organising, sponsoring or speaking at a future rabble, please contact them via the details on the Perth page. Early tickets are now available at http://georabble-per7.eventbrite.com/
GeoRabble Perth #6 – Big Ideas for Big Data
Leaving yesteryear to the yesteryears, this byte of GeoRabble was synced with the worldwide event that was Big Data Week – a “global community and festival of data”. Yes, the puns were international(ly bad)!
The MC of the night, Nicholas Flett kicked off the sold-out event by introducing us to Ian McCleod, who led us on a colourful subsea tour of the how’s and what’s of data collection from wreckages, artefacts and other curiosities resting on the seabed; including what to do when you encounter a Japanese tank at 38m below surface when you’re only licensed to dive 30m (you go the extra 8m to capture that data!). Emphasised was the importance of keeping pace with ever evolving technology to capture data – and that despite the challenges it might present, data capture is always worth the effort.
Catapulting us from an underwater world to the twittersphere, Nicholas introduced the next speaker, Tim Highfield, who gave us an insight into the how the thoughts and voices of people around world become Big Data through Twitter. Using a combination of open-source and in-house tools and methods, Tim described how Twitter data is captured and some of the analyses that can be done by examining hashtags. GeoRabblers were walked through fascinating examples, including on Australian politics (eg #auspol, #ausvotes), the Queensland Floods, Arab Spring, Eurovision, Tour De France and Occupy Oakland. It would seem that that the very nature of Big Data coming out of Twitter lends itself to a plethora of analytical dimensions, limited only by creativity of the researcher. Tim left the audience with a sobering question of how to determine whether we have too much data or not enough, and a poignant statement – that while media represents the first draft of history, Twitter is the first draft of the present. Tim’s slides and presentation are available online here.
Next up, blasting from the twittersphere to outer reaches of space and time, we were introduced to Kevin Vinsen who gave us a thrilling insight into the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project. After a short and sweet introduction to space, light-years, the Big Bang and telescopes, GeoRabblers were presented with the enormity of the project data itself: enough raw data to fill 15million 64GB iPods every day! That’s almost 1 exabyte a day! The processing power required is estimated at 100 petaflops per second, about 50 times more powerful than the most powerful computer in 2010 (about equivalent to the processing power of 100 million PCs). If that’s not Big Data, I’m not sure what is! Based on development trends it is expected that a supercomputer with processing power required will exist by 2018. The aim of the radio telescope is to address fundamental questions about the Universe (how did stars and galaxies form after the Big Bang? Is there life beyond Earth?). To help out with processing all this data, Kevin made mention of SkyNet (vaguely ominous name!), an initiative to pool together the processing power of personal computers connected to the internet to mimic the abilities of a supercomputer. What a wonderful opportunity for everyday citizens to contribute to a scientific endeavour of this calibre!
Onwards with the next speaker, Bryan Boruff, who delved into the semantic nature of this new buzz word that is ‘Big Data’, addressing the elephantine question of “What exactly is ‘Big Data’?”. Bryan suggests that Big Data is data that is beyond the conventional or current methods of storing and handling. He went on to describe the dimensions in which Big Data increasingly presents itself – ‘four ‘V’s’: volume, variety, velocity and veracity. So how does one manage this situation? Bryan presented the paradigms of the familiar sequential ‘capture, store, analyse’ method of data handling and that of ‘automated epistemologies’, where data streams are analysed on the fly and not stored. But this presents a troublesome conundrum by contravening a basic scientific principle – that analyses/experiments must be able to be replicated, so therefore the data must be available. Tricky situation – will technology and people keep pace with data? Or will scientific method be challenged?
Wrapping up the presentations of the evening, Paul Farrell introduced GeoRabblers to “Big D”, the cool way to refer to Big Data, and kicked off with the interesting factoid that Big Data is apparently now the number one buzzword since ‘Y2K’, back when everyone thought the world would grind to a halt when the calendar ticked over to 2000. Paul went on to describe that the word ‘data’ is related to the Latin word for ‘fact’, and that it is not necessarily equivalent to information (DIKW Pyramid, anyone?), and that part of the phenomenon that is Big D, is the increasing ‘datafying’ of world – the metrication of more and more aspects of life into data, trying to address the ‘unknown knowns’. Adding to this is the increasing ability of science to not just acquire a sample of data, but the entire ‘population’ of it. Paul goes on to describe that increasingly, Big Data is more about distribution rather than analytical products – and that, in some respect, people’s own minds are the supercomputers. Returning to the seas, Paul left GeoRabblers of the night with an delightful anecdote of life of the sailor Matthew (Fontaine) Maury, “Pathfinder of the Seas” in the 1800s; under whose direction hundreds of ships’ logs were turned into data and locations charted (at least 1.2 million points!) to create Wind and Current Charts, which became an indispensable tool to mariners of all kinds. And that apparently, coincidently, the job title of those people going through the logs to capture the points was….. ‘Computer’.
Many thanks to Darren Mottolini for his time and efforts in organising the event, especially coinciding it with the birth of his 2nd child – Congrats!, to the speakers of the night, to the talented MC Nicholas Flett and to the event sponsor Landgate.
And in the words of Ian McLeod, “keep logging, keep mapping and good luck to you”.
GeoRabble http://www.georabble.org happens in various locations around Australia, is free and open to anyone, but frequently sells out. If you would like to talk at a future Perth GeoRabble event, please send an email with the title and a short description to perth@georabble.org.
The next GeoRabble in Perth is June 20 and free tickets are available here
Presentations announced for GeoRabble Melbourne (23rd April)
We are less then a week away from the next GeoRabble Melbourne. Thanks to our sponsor AAM Group we are pleased to announce the following GeoRabblers who have volunteered their time to share their fantastic GeoStories.
Georgina Race – Coronelli’s Globes: A view of the world
In the 17th century Vicenzo Coronelli’s made globes depicting the earth for Louis XIV and other royalty of the day. Georgina will take a look at the history of these famous globes and what they represented. She will review how effective were they for geographic representation and perspective and whether there are similar questions which can be asked of spatial information today.
Georgina is a spatial analyst specialising in water, coastal and environmental studies. She attended the International Cartography Conference in Paris in 2011 where her interest in the globes was sparked during a cocktail party in their presence.
Chris Scott – Free your GIS: A journey in open source
There are many myths around Open Source GIS and their usefulness to business. Chris will explain the fallacy of these many myths while also showing us the how Open Source can be of value within the GIS environment.
Chris has been involved with GIS for 10 years, with interests in Spatial databases, Open Source technology & Web Mapping.
Lynnette Terrett – Destination Spatial, Skilling a Spatial Industry Workforce for the future
What is Destination Spatial and why does it exist. Lynn will provide a background of this initiative why it is important to the ongoing health and future of our industry.
Lynn is a strategic spatial technology consultant working across many Asset, Environmental, Disease, Weeds, Pest & Disaster Recovery Management projects for government and public sector. Her current passion is promoting Destination Spatial to ensure Australia grows the educational pathways to train and skill up the Geospatial workforce of tomorrow
David Parkinson – Identifying a mosquito in a crowd – a challenge.
The Eliminate Dengue research program is an international not-for-profit collaboration led from Monash University. The program is developing a natural approach to control the spread of dengue based on. The challenge is to introduce the Wolbachia bacteria into wild populations of the Aedes aegypti mosquito in dengue transmission areas.
David, like all geography graduates, has managed to be employed in many roles – but in 17 years has never been “just a Geographer”.
Chris Pettit – The Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN)
AURIN is a $20 Million initiative funded by the Australian Government’s Super Science scheme. It is tasked with providing built environment and urban researchers, designers and planners with e-infrastructure to facilitate access to a distributed network of aggregated datasets and information services. Chris will provide a background on the initiative and where it is up to.
Chris is an Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne who has a passion for all things spatial. In his free time he is also the Chair of the Victorian Region SSSI and of the IPRS working group on Geographical Visualization and Virtual Reality.
Steve Bennett – Open Street Map Cycle Hack
Steve is a software engineer, project manager, business analyst, technical writer, system administrator, technical analyst, project administrator and opinionateur in the Australian e-Research sector. He currently works at the Victorian e-Research Strategic Initiative, implementing data management systems for researchers.
If you haven’t registered yet to listen to these fantastic speakers and the opportunity to network with your fellow GeoRabblers then do so now at http://georabble-melb.eventbrite.com
Topics for GeoRabble Sydney (11th April)
Thanks to our sponsor Omnilink, following are the speakers for the next Sydney GeoRabble.
Llew Cain – Are we 2D living in a 6D Future? A shed perspective.
Micromine, Surpac, Datamine, 3D Geomodeller, Vulcan, GoCAD, VRML, X3D, GIS, Vertical Mapper, Discover 3D, Target, Revit, BIM, ProjectWise, iModels, 3D PDF, Infrastructure Designer, CityEngine, WebGL, HTML5. Is it topology, clash detection or geodesign? Multi dimensional design has always been around in the mining industry, and more recently growing in engineering and architecture, what are the implications for GIS people? Is there is a paradigm shift just around the corner. Will the average GIS operator still be relevant in a future where analysis, understanding and communication are done in true 3D, 4D, 5D, 6D space? While taking a moment in the shed to ponder the big questions a comforting realisation is achieved. Or is it?
Matthew Smith – Fires near Me mobile app
Fires near Me was an experiment. An experiment first in whether the public had a taste for this type of information delivered through a mobile device. The information was short and to the point — much like a focused sound bite in modern mainstream media. Indentifying the audience correctly allows content, app and map interaction, and information presentation to be tailored more precisely, giving greater user satisfaction.
Mobile app interaction with available networks, back-end data servers, and onboard functions (e.g. GPS) needs careful design in order to develop a useable architecture. Architecture for a non-finite — and mostly uncontrollable — user base must be fundamental to the app design.
Developers of mobile apps — certainly in 2010 — were less experienced in application development than is the case for other, enterprise application development. This requires more involvement in the design phase and closer management of the development and support phases.
Executive support tends to come after success with a launched product, rather than before a research and development project, and also needs careful management.
Jody Garnett – Business Intelligence and Mapping (with cartoons and demo)
A quick look at business intelligence industry: who they are, their perspective on life, and why they are investing in mapping technologies. Illustrated (cartoons) with a demo of smashing maps into the open source BIRT project.
Stephen Lead – Esri’s 100-lines-or-less competition
In our industry we’re used to overblown and over-complicated mapping portals, which aim to solve every possible problem which could apply to every possible user.
In a refreshing twist, Esri launched a contest to design the exact opposite – a focussed mapping application built using a maximum of 100 lines of JavaScript code. Some of the entries were very simple, while some were extremely clever.
This talk will cover the best entries in the competition, plus some brief behind-the-scenes of the data scraping exercise in my own entry, which was a visualisation of the climate of Australia, using data obtained from 1,500 BOM weather stations.
Mark Warton – Mobile apps for the Easter Show
Building an geospatial type App for one of Australia’s largest Events should not be too hard? Right? Let me take you on a quick journey of the challenges of building an App in a short time frame, for a large event where spatial content is only being confirmed just days before the event.
Narelle Irvine – Mapping Kosciuszko Huts
Narelle has been involved for many years with the Kosciuszko Huts Association – a group that maintains the old cattlemen’s huts scattered throughout the park. When a webmap showing the huts became desirable, Narelle volunteered. She embarked on a self-education program to understand and use open source mapping tools.
Chris Broadfoot – Tracking with the Google Maps Android API
GeoRabble Brisbane #3 Speaker #5 – Bill Thomson
Not everyone has geospatial intelligence!
No, it’s not an oxymoron. GEOINT is the military discipline that exploits imagery and geospatial data in order to support decision making and operations.
That doesn’t mean it is always used well. For some military flavour this close to ANZAC Day, Bill Thomson will provide some geo-insights and lessons from events at Gallipoli through to Iraq.
As a former military engineer officer, Bill commanded geospatial troops in Australia and on operations overseas, including demining, disaster response, UAVs and counter terrorism. He is now the GIS Director and BIM Taskforce Leader for AECOM (ANZ).
Remaining FREE tickets available from http://georabblebrisbane3.eventbrite.com.au
The event is generously sponsored by …
Speakers confirmed for GeoRabble Sydney #6
We have a great line up for our next Sydney GeoRabble, with another burst of interesting talks about all aspects of geo, guaranteed to be free of sales pitches. Confirmed speakers are:
- Llew Cain – Are we 2D living in a 6D future?
- Jody Garnett – Business intelligence and mapping
- Mark Warton – Mobile apps for the Easter Show
- Matthew Smith – About the Fires Near Me mobile app
- Stephen Lead – Esri’s 100-lines-or-less competition
- Chris Broadfoot – What’s new in the Google Maps API
Date: Thursday 11th April
Time: 5.30 pm for 6.00 pm start
Location: Occidental Hotel, 43 York St
Grab your tickets from georabblesydney6.eventbrite.com – as always it’s free, with no membership fees.
See you there!
Brisbane GeoRabble #3 Speaker #4 – Ben Somerville
When not sailing himself, or maintaining a web map devoted to the Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race, Ben Somerville is well known to ArcGIS users as an early adopter and advocate of Esri’s developer and server technologies.
As Spatial Systems Manager at Thiess, Ben is responsible for the management of a GIS that supports many projects across multiple disciplines and platforms. Ben currently spends most of his time supporting the Silcar Thiess Services joint venture which is designing and constructing the NBN in Qld, NSW and the ACT.
For GeoRabble Brisbane #3 Ben is planning to share his thoughts on managing large field work forces and the impact the NBN could have on the GIS industry.
Remaining FREE tickets available from http://georabblebrisbane3.eventbrite.com.au
GeoRabble Perth 5 – Event Review
A Return to Yesteryear – Thunder and Lightning and Storms, Oh My!
14th March 2013, Leederville Hotel
The evening kicked off to the tune of a slightly tempestuous weather machination and some sixty-odd slightly damp GeoRabblers bunked down to listen, drinks in hand, as the yarns of geospatial speakers unravelled to the sound of rain against the Leedy’s tin roof.
Or something akin to that!
The master of ceremonies Damian Shepherd led the keen GeoRabblers through the dark and stormy night, and kicked off the presentations by introducing Mike Bradford, CEO of Landgate. Onwards on a journey through time and space, Mike explored the evolutionary steps of spatial technology and glimpsed at the possibilities and trends for the future of the industry. From quasi prehistoric GPS receivers approaching the size of the MARS Curiosity Rover, to preparing for the influence of a predicted 1200 satellites going up in the next 10 years, the emphasis was on the fact that the future of GIS is coming at us harder and faster than ever before – and adaptation is the key to surviving and thriving in this (r)evolutionary world of all things spatial.
Next up, Roman Trubka and Cole from Curtin University flew us through some 3D urban planning scenario models, illustrating the inherent potential of spatial tools to explore, analyse and communicate the viability of development proposals and plans. Emphasis was on the intrinsic spatial nature of planning and how spatial tools of today can better inform and progress location-appropriate development.
Leading us into the fray of what it means to be a professional in the geospatial industry, Jen Hogan of Spatial Solutions started with the question that bubbles up at so many a social gathering and yet so frequently stumps many a geospatial professional: “So, what do you do?”. Between the blank look you get on saying something like ‘GIS’ to mumbling the ‘yes, something like Google Maps’ answer, the truth more often than not gets stuck in translation. Cue ‘Captain GIS’ to the rescue! Jen encouraged us speak out about all the things we love about spatial and not to hide away behind answers that make the awkward question go away. And, that when it comes down to it, emphasise that what we do is solve problems in a way that no one else can.
Tom Gardiner from ESRI took to the stage from there and further searched, queried and unravelled the meaning of what geospatial means in the context of world today. Leading us through an analysis done by high-school students at Hale School on finding the best location(s) for a sustainable community in Western Australia (as part of Spatial Technology in Schools Competition), on to consuming BoM data of cyclonic pathways in the context of the student’s analysis, Tom highlighted the ever expanding kaleidoscopic nature of spatial questions, data, technology and analytical approaches that sit at our fingertips.
With the tantalizing smell of hot pizza starting to waft through the air, the last speaker of the evening Charlie Gunningham from REIWA took to the stage and enraptured GeoRabblers with a tale of success, entrepreneurship and geospatial history. From mad Saturday morning rushes navigating the cityscape streets with nothing more than a street map-book and a handwritten trajectory in hand, was born the idea of placing real-estate sale advertisements onto an online map. It was an idea that then set the stage for real-estate websites across the world today. For some GeoRabblers the tale was a fond trip down memory lane, for others a unique chance to hear the history first-hand of the technology that is standard of the day. (Charlie reviews his first GeoRabble here)
And onwards into the stormy night did the GeoRabblers talk, eat and enjoy many a conversation.
Many thanks to the speakers of the night, to WaterCorp for supplying the projector and to the sponsors SSSI WA Region.
GeoRabble happens in various locations around Australia, is free and open to anyone, but frequently sells out. If you would like to talk at a future Perth GeoRabble event, please send an email with the title and a short description to perth@georabble.org.
Speaker #3 for GeoRabble Brisbane #3 – Deb Polson
Dungeon Masters of the Real World
Our streets and cities are being transformed into fictional worlds, through the imagination and tools of mobile game designers. They see your surroundings as the new arena for play, and your pocket device as the new interface for adventure. This presentation will show some of the latest innovations in location-aware games, and how you can participate in this emerging practice as both a player and a developer.
Deb Polson is a lecturer in Communication Design at Qld University of Technology. She is also the Director of Newish Media, and an independent game designer.
At last count only 13 tickets left at http://www.eventbrite.com.au/event/5434396426#
Speaker #2 for GeoRabble Brisbane #3 – Bill Kitson
GeoRabble Brisbane is honoured to welcome Bill Kitson to our spatial gathering!
Bill Kitson is one of Queensland’s best known surveyors and a highly respected spatial historian.
Following a 1974 Survey Office investigation of the surviving markers along the Queensland State borders, Bill became ‘hooked on history’ researching the lives and work of the men that mapped Queensland. This interest in heritage became his vocation in 1980 when he was appointed as curator of the then newly established Lands, Mapping and Surveying Museum.
Even in retirement Bill continues to be a prolific and highly effective communicator. His passion for preserving surveying heritage and his generosity in sharing his unsurpassed knowledge of the spatial industry have become legendary.
His talk will be titled ‘Surveying Heritage, Our Glorious Past’.
GeoRabble 