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Jeremy Wood introduced readers to his method "for tracking cellphones to generate useful demographically-keyed data on the movement of people, without compromising anyone's privacy" back in 2009. Today his patent was granted; it's number 8185131. Will applications that use this methodology be more attractive to potential users? Will the data collected be valuable to marketers and others?
The fifth international summer school on Geographic Information Systems will be held between June 22 and 28 by the University of Malta's Institute for Sustainable Development in collaboration with the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering of University College London and Portsmouth University’s Department of Geography.
Enrolment is on a first-come-first-served basis and the registration deadline is May 25.
- website via Times of Malta
Among four new conservation projects in the U.S. that will add to work opportunities for low-income youth on public lands this summer are several in GIS in Wisconsin.
- Operation Fresh Start will engage 60 young people ages 16–24 in the inventory, planning, and restoration activities to identify and conserve the natural resources on 64 islands owned by BLM within the lower Wisconsin River. Activities include GIS mapping of plant communities and observed wildlife, natural features, and human use and development, and removing invasive species control and adding site enhancements such as bird boxes and signage.
Penn State is working on a new masters degree in GeoDesign.
A unit at the State Deptarment has been working with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) to explore the use of OSM and its community in times of crisis. This week there's a proof of concept exercise mapping refugee camps in the Horn of Africa.
How to help: We are going to open access to the imagery on Monday 21 May 2012. We would like to spend two 24-hour periods tracing the areas of interest, which will include 11 refugee sites. All work will be done through the HOT Tasking Manager (http://tasks.hotosm.org), a microtasking platform that will split up the image tracing into ‘tiles’ that will require approximately 30-45 minutes to map.
Accomplishing this task will require that volunteers become familiar with OpenStreetMapand the basic concepts of mapping. But, don’t worry, there are plenty of resources out there to help. For more information on the OpenStreetMap (OSM) process, see the “Beginning OpenStreetMap Tutorial” available from the LearnOSM website (http://learnOSM.org), specifically Chapters 1,2,3,6. For more information on HOT’s work in Somalia see the HOT Somalia project page, and other HOT related materials on the HOT wiki.
- Disruptive Geo Blog via @disruptivegeo
In a brief report entitled "U.S. could lose aging eyes in the sky," CNN listed the challenges with aging earth observation satellite system this way:
The NRC report goes on to say that, "These precipitous decreases [in satellite fleet] warn of a coming crisis in Earth observations from space, in which our ability to observe and understand the Earth system will decline just as Earth observations are critically needed to underpin important decisions facing our nation and the world," according to a May report from the Academy's National Research Council. "Advances in weather forecast accuracy may slow or even reverse, and gaps in time series of climate and other critical Earth observations are almost certain to occur."
A staffer from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) was fetted with monetary bonuses for his work on the imagery analysis that led to the capture of Osama Bin Laden. Per Senior Executives Association spokeswoman Carol Bonosaro, who speaks on behalf of senior government officials:
That [work] enabled us to pinpoint, find, and conduct the raid on Osama bin Laden, which is rather amazing. I think it's unfortunate that the American people don't know what they do.
