CUGOS Spring Fling 2015

bsm.md

Mapping for Health: Opportunities and Obstacles in Open Source

Anna Clements & Isabel Shaw, Broad Street Maps

In the developing world, physical access to health care can be the number one factor in the utilization of services, and consequently, the health of a population. At Broad Street Maps, we believe that where you live shouldn't determine if you live.

Anna and Isabel will give a brief overview of Broad Street Maps’ current work, introduce some exciting opportunities emerging in the open source world for global health, and reflect on what it is like for non-developers engaging with open-source technology and communities.

daniel.md

A Brief History of GIS Data Dissemination at Pierce County - Abridged

Cort Daniel

Once upon a time Pierce County disseminated GIS data on a custom basis. The process used lot of paper. Over the years much of the paper needed was reduced, but as of April 2015 it is a paperless process to obtain the GIS data. And best of all the GIS data can be downloaded for free!

gerard.md

xray: N-Dimensional Labeled Raster Datasets in Python

Jeff Gerard, The Climate Corporation

"xray" is an open source Python package that brings the labeled data power of Pandas to the physical sciences and spatial analysis, by providing N-dimensional variants of the core pandas data structures. The goal is to provide a toolkit for analytics on multi-dimensional arrays that is compatible with the scientific Python ecosystem. xray adopts the Common Data Model for self-describing scientific data in widespread use in the Earth sciences: xray.Dataset is an in-memory representation of a netCDF file.

goldenberg.md

Simple tools to import and export OpenStreetMap data

Eldan Goldenberg

Eldan has made some tools to simplify hosting a copy of OpenStreetMap data for a region, keeping it up to date and exporting data as needed. He will show us how to use these tools in an easy workflow, and ask for help making them still easier to use.

ricker.md

Harnessing Drone Enthusiasm for Citizen Science Initiatives

Britta Ricker, University of Washington-Tacoma

Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAV) or drones are becoming increasingly accessible to the general public for recreational purposes due to their diminishing costs and improved ease of use. Additionally, there is great enthusiasm and excitement around fly drones primarily for aerial cinematography. Images captured by drones have great potential to be used to enhance our existing base maps provide detailed spatial and temporal resolution for mapping. We are no longer bound by the base maps provided by "slippy" map providers and government satellite imagery that does not get processed and input into these systems often enough. It is now possible to take aerial imagery at any time. Thus, here I pose the question: Could drones be used for citizen science? To answer this question, I position the use of drones into the context of citizen science by illustrating how their use could enhance participatory mapping and volunteered geographic information collection processes. I focus primarily on what I have learned so far during my efforts to establish a replicable, easy, and relatively cheap work flow to create maps. Finally, the limitations of these methods and tools including technical considerations and constraints associated mainly with data processing requirements will be illuminated. My aim is not to focus on the technical or ethical implications, but rather to highlight exciting and innovative ways in which these increasingly accessible devices can be used for community engaged research.