Thursday 31 October 2013

Mappy Halloween!

Embedded image permalinkSorry that was a terrible pun, I must have been temporarily possessed by the evil spirit of tabloid journalism. Anyway as this post follows hot on the heels of yesterday's I thought I’d make it a little more light hearted and give you a round up of all the GI related Halloween fun that’s been flying around out there (there is a surprising amount).

No this isn’t a sequel to Event Horizon (thankfully they never made one) but Esri’s effort to map the geolocation of the top 200 horror films of all time. They are filtered by decade which adds an interesting insight in to how horror tastes and indeed the strength of cinema has changed globally.  Unsurprisingly given the dominance of Hollywood the vast majority of films are set in North America and Europe although this was less the case pre 1960. Despite the presence of Egypt and related tried and tested trope of Mummys and creepy tombs very few horror films have been shot in Africa. The same goes for South America (surely the rainforest or a ruined Inca city would have been a great backdrop). Apparently communists weren’t too keen on horror either with no films set in the former USSR pre 1990.
As anyone who has seen the Ring (or the much less well known but excellent R-Point) can attest South East Asia has held its own against Europe and North America especially in recent years. Finally points for whoever can name the one film set in Antarctica on the list (without looking).

Pumpkin Cartography:
There seem to be a few carto geeks out there with some serious pumpkin carving skills but this one is particularly impressive. From twitter it looks like he might be attempting a London street map this year, looking forward to the results of that.

Mapping Halloween:
On a more practical level ThinkWhere have mapped all of National Trust Scotland’s Halloween events and RGS have got a creepy cemetery walk up for you. (If you’re in London I recommend that one, it’s pretty interesting Halloween aside).
Less practically Esri are at it again with an interesting use of their web mapping application to map locations from Ghostbusters (1&2). Those Americans really do love Halloween, and cheesy (but awesome) films.

The Fear of Place:

Not wanting to be left out OS have compiled a list of the scariest place names in the UK. Apparently there are over 80 places in the UK that ‘belong’ to the devil including the ludicrously named Devil’s Beef Tub which sounds like some kind of super hot curry challenge. Maybe they could produce a heat map to show us where the most devilish places in the UK are...

Wednesday 30 October 2013

Calling Students!

Lectures have begun, term time is back in full swing and for those students in their final years the grim spectre of jobs is probably raising its head. This is somewhere that the AGI may be able to help. We have recently made our membership free to all students (including post grads). Joining the AGI opens up a community of GI professionals to you with excellent opportunities for networking with potential employers.

In addition to free membership we also run a series of showcase events around the UK and an annual conference all of which are heavily discounted for students. These events provide the opportunity to attend presentations and workshops on the latest issues affecting the industry. The showcase events are particularly suited to students as we run them regionally around the UK reducing travel time and leaving you less at the mercy of our rail network. We actually have one such event taking place in York on the 14th of November (details here) which is ideal for students in the Yorkshire area.

Alongside these big regional annual events we also have a variety of other events tied up with our Special Interest Groups and Regional Groups. These range from evening presentations to networking drinks and are a great way to get involved with the industry. SIG events give you the chance to pick events that are heavily focused on your chosen area of study.

Although the days of ‘who you know not what you know’ are over for the vast majority of us (I will refrain from any cynicism here). I can definitely say that knowing something and knowing someone definitely seems to be the best way to get a job. This is both from personal experience (not in my current role) and that of many of my colleagues and friends. In fact I met an AGI member at our last AGI GeoDrinks event, Jack Goodwin (who has kindly given me permission to quote him) who got his current job through a connection he made at a GeoDrinks networking event last year.

Going into 2014 we plan to be doing more to help our student members from more useful content on the website (the shiny new one we are getting next year) to guides and tips on job hunting and CVs and any input on what might be helpful is always welcome.


So in short; join up, it’s free, we’re going to be doing more for students and we want to hear what you would like us to be doing. Also in the meantime keep networking and I don’t me cringey champagne and suits based events it’s all a lot more natural and informal than that! Come along to the next AGI event near you and find out.

Thursday 24 October 2013

And the results are in... Feedback from GeoCommunity ‘13

OK not all the results are in and there is still time to contribute your thoughts here (it comes with a chance to win a free pass to an AGI event next year) but we have had an overwhelming response this year. In the interests of fairness, openness and not being an evil secret society we will be publishing the results of the GeoCommunity feedback after the closing date for replies (31st October). However I just wanted to share some of the trends we have noticed so far. The survey is of course anonymous so I will not be quoting anyone directly.

Firstly it is worth noting that we expanded the survey beyond just GeoCommunity attendees this year (obviously they got asked different questions). This was to ensure that we were getting a broader view and finding out from those people who didn't attend what we could change to capture their interest. All of this will be used to inform our events programme for 2014 which we want to make the best one yet.

Generally the numbered feedback (on a scale of 1-6 how much did you like... etc) was very positive but it is the typed comments that are most informative. Unsurprisingly it is the programme itself that was the subject of most of the comments. Generally the variety of the programme was praised with conflicting feedback from some people wanting less sponsor/corporate speakers and other people wanting more. Obviously there is going to be a huge range of personal opinion on this but it seems clear that a better labelling system for the speakers is necessary. Beyond the current stream names a lot of the comments suggest that labelling sessions as ‘technical’, ‘commercial’, ‘case study’ etc would be very useful. This would aid people in planning their time and hopefully help with another common (rather positive) complaint that there was too much that delegates wanted to see all on at the same time.

There also seems to be a demand for more hands on training and workshop style sessions at future events. This is something we are definitely looking to achieve next year as it serves the dual purpose of delivering more value and a better experience to our delegates as well as providing greater justification for delegates getting permission to go to events. Being able to say you will attend x and y training sessions always helps with the business case for going to a conference!

We also received feedback indicating that more speakers from the edges of GI would be a welcome change with the plenary from Sainsbury’s particularly well received. Following on from this is the continuing drive for relevance and we will be looking for plenary speakers from outside the core of GI (probably no will.i.am though I'm afraid). This doesn't mean we’re going to line up some random celebrities but rather we want to see other industries (retail, logistics, insurance etc) take on GI, what they use it for and how it can have a wider effect on commerce.

The other common theme amongst the comments was the location. True to UK regionalism this proved even more partisan than the commercial vs academic divide with comments ranging from ‘anywhere but Nottingham’ (GeoCom ’14 - Minsk it is) to ‘Nottingham till I die’ (OK I'm paraphrasing). Well I can say for certain we are moving from the EMCC but in all likelihood we will be somewhere in the Midlands again next year as it is roughly speaking the middle of the country. ThinkWhere made a very impassioned case for coming to Edinburgh at GeoCom (personally I’d love to it’s a great city) but at the end of the day transport links and central placement win out over pretty buildings and good pubs.


Anyway don’t forget to have your say on next year’s events (even if you didn't come to any this year) and we’ll be putting the survey results up in November.

Tuesday 22 October 2013

Geo Information – Beyond the Core

Unfortunately this is not a Jules Verne esque adventure to the centre of the earth (although some molten iron would be welcome in the office today). Instead this is a look at efforts we are taking to expand our membership beyond the traditional core of GI users (suppliers, central and local government etc). We want to engage with people on the ever expanding frontiers of GI like surveyors, engineers and logistics professionals. This is key to fulfilling our mission of furthering increasing understanding of the benefits of GI and ensuring that we are not just preaching to the choir.

Reaching out to and educating new sectors in the value of GI has obvious benefits both in terms of new markets for suppliers and in improved efficiency and governance within the sectors.

Anyway the first step of this plan has been to start building partnerships with conferences and events in these sectors. We are happy to announce that the first of these media partnerships has been agreed with Emap. Emap produce a range of publications and conferences in the construction and infrastructure sector.

This year the AGI are involved with two of these: Tunnelling 2013 and Slope Engineering and Geotechnical Asset Management 2013. The AGI will be represented at both of these events (probably by me) and they represent an excellent opportunity to talk GI with a very different audience.


There is also a clear immediate benefit of this for our members (beyond the higher goal of furthering our mission) and that is that all AGI members are entitled to 25% off the cost of either of these conferences should they wish to attend. For more information on how to claim this discount click here.

 

I hope you find this useful and we are currently looking at media partnerships with other organisations operating on the edges of GI. Also if you happen to be at one of these conferences come and say hello!

Friday 18 October 2013

Geo Information in 2014 – and the rest of 2013

Next year is the 25th anniversary of the AGI and we are already putting a lot of effort in to our event programme to ensure it is more diverse and challenging than ever. However we don’t want 2014 to just be a self indulgent celebration of what we’ve done over the last 25 years (or last four months in my case). Instead we want to use it as an opportunity to take stock of GI in the UK and look at what are the major themes facing GI in 2014.

The idea for this partly comes from a conversation I had last night at our networking drinks with the INSPIRE SIG. They are currently looking at broadening the SIG beyond just the INSPIRE policy to look at the wider theme of Location within the Government’s National Information Infrastructure. This followed nicely on from discussions we had been having about running each showcase event around a certain theme in the industry with a view to informing our next Foresight report in 2015 (see here for the last foresight report).

Several themes spring to mind straight away, the already mention ‘location’ along with open data and open source, cloud technology and SMART cities. However we want our members input on what they think these themes should be. Is SMART too specific? Should we be looking at GI and infrastructure and GI and the citizen instead? Should open data and open source be considered separately and is cloud a theme of its own or something that should be lumped in under the wider auspices of technology?

These are the questions we hope to answer going in to 2014 and we want our members’ thoughts and opinions on these questions. We will be framing the questions more clearly as the programme for next year unfolds but in the meantime we want to hear from you on twitter and LinkedIn, through the blog, the SIGs and regions and any smaller event we hold throughout the year.

Not to forget the rest of 2013...

We still have plenty left to do in 2013 with Showcase events in York (14/11) and Cardiff (3/12) (a perfect opportunity to share your thoughts with us). Rounding this all off is the AGI Annual Awards on the 6th December. As well as announcing our programme and plans for 2014 the Annual Awards are the opportunity for you to be recognised for any innovative work you have undertaken this year. Winning an award gives you the plaudits of your peers in the community and is a great addition to both your professional profile and that of the organisation you belong to. You can view the list of awards, past winner and nominate someone (or yourself) for an award here.


As always we look forward to hearing your ideas around the industry in 2014 and also any more nominations for the awards!  

Tuesday 15 October 2013

AGI Northern Ireland Showcase Round Up

Last Thursday marked both the AGI NI Showcase and my first ever trip to Belfast (well technically we arrived on Wednesday). I’m happy to report that, a rather hairy landing at Belfast International aside both these events passed of very smoothly.

The NI Showcase was the fourth event in our AGI Showcase series. For those that don’t know the Showcase series of events are a programme of events that are new for 2013. They are one day events located around the UK, broadly in line with the AGI’s various regional groups (Northern Ireland, SW England, Cymru, Scotland etc). The idea behind these events is to make the AGI programme more accessible to our members around the UK. We understand that in the current economic climate not everyone can justify the time and travel costs to come to a residential multi day event like GeoCommunity. Not wanting anyone to miss out we decided to run a supplementary set of events bringing GI to the whole UK.

Much like the other Showcase events this year the Northern Ireland event was very well attended, held at the bright and airy (but thankfully warm) Riddle Hall in Belfast we had around 100 delegates and a group of sponsors including one for whom this was their first AGI event.

The event itself had two sessions running simultaneously following an opening presentation from Justin Gleason and the All Ireland Research observatory (AIRO). One of the two sessions/streams consisted of a variety of presentations and talks and the second consisted of technical sessions. The first three talks of the presentation stream contained a very humanitarian focus with presentations on using Openstreetmap for humanitarian mapping, GIS volunteer projects in Lesotho and Global Map Aid. These sessions really showed the potential benefits of GI for the citizen all around the world and there seemed to be a general interest amongst the delegates about getting involved.

Not being able to split myself in two (yet) I missed the technical sessions but was given a sneak preview of John Hewitt’s Demystifying Open Source GIS presentation whilst waiting for the delegates to arrive. This included some software which allowed users to view edits to Openstreetmap in real time. David McIlhatton from Ulster University had an equally impressive toy to display. This was a 3D model of Belfast built using a gaming engine which allowed the user to simulate things like traffic conditions, crowds and parades enabling the police to develop responses and tactics for things like crowd control. (OK it’s a serious bit of software not a toy but it does require an Xbox controller to use).

The main sessions were followed up with a presentation on crowd sourcing data in Dublin and a Q&A about the future of the AGI with Anne Kemp. The event then wound up with the inevitable (essential) geodrinks at a nearby bar. Talking to the delegates over lunch (in between eating as many honey mustard sausages as possible) the feedback for the event was very positive with the range of speakers grabbing interest. We had a number of new members sign up just to attend the event and there was a general enthusiasm for a GI event in Northern Ireland to complement those held by IRLOGI south of the border.

Sponsor feedback was also very positive with one sponsor telling me that the nature of the showcase programme (specifically the ability to buy a package for all the events) allowed them to present in regions that they would not normally be able to attend. In doing so they had generated interest from a whole new set of leads. This was good to hear as the whole point of the Showcase events has been to spread the reach of the AGI and the community and to connect people who would otherwise never meet.


On another note Belfast seems like a great city which I must visit as a tourist, if you happen to be going I can recommend a great B&B to stay in!

Tuesday 8 October 2013

Life as an AGI Council Member

Abigail Page, AGI Council member
With the call for nominations to AGI Council for 2014 open, Chris has asked me to write a guest blog this week about being a member of AGI Council – so here it goes!

Standing for Election

I have been involved with AGI for a number of years, firstly as a regular member and delegate at AGI GeoCommunity conferences, then with the AGI Environment SIG and the AGI Scotland Committee.

At the AGI GeoCommunity 2012, Andy Coote suggested gently that I should consider standing for Council. I spent a long time thinking about this (probably a bit too long since I then had to rush to get my form in on time!) and speaking to some other council members, the AGI team and my employer about the level of commitment required before putting myself forward. The process is very straightforward and there is more information on the AGI website.

Council Meetings & Key Tasks

Council meet a minimum of 5 times a year at AGI HQ in London. It can be a long day (particularly including a round trip from Edinburgh!) but it is a great opportunity to catch up with  other Council members and really important that we all have this time to consider AGI business away from our day jobs.

In addition to directing the strategy of the AGI, there is a requirement for Council members to support regional groups and SIGs and to provide an additional resource and operational support to the AGI team. During 2013 I have been involved in the organisation of Showcase Events and the Council Marketing group. Our marketing and communication activities have taken a big step forward this year, including the successful appointment of Chris, and I am confident that you will start to notice positive changes in the coming months if you haven't already.

Being a Representative

Of course being a Council member isn't just about attending meetings and providing operational support – it is also about being available to members and the wider community as a representative of both AGI and AGI Council.

The AGI team are small and do an excellent job with the limited resource they have – but this is not enough to grow AGI and maintain a strong membership and voice in UK GI.  With being elected to council comes an expectation to perform the role of an AGI  and UK GI Ambassador. From my own perspective, this has included being visible and present at UK events, speaking actively about the role of the AGI and looking to engage and collaborate with other organisations that share our views on the role of geospatial and geography in the UK.

However, I would like to add a note that this is a role that all AGI members can play, whatever your role in the industry. We need you to be ambassadors for the AGI and GI – AGI members play a vital role in the UK GI industry and together we can have immense reach and drive forwards our collective desires and ambitions.
Spot me at State of the Map 2013 – the Disadvantages of being Vertically Challenged (Image: Chris Fleming)

Time Juggling & The Benefits

Where do I find time volunteer as an AGI Council member? Jo Cook mentioned the term “task-management ninja” in her blog post summing up experiences of organising FOSS4G and I can really relate to this as I suspect can most of my Council colleagues.

I am lucky to have a patient husband and family in addition to a supportive employer that recognise the value of my AGI input to my own professional development and the benefits to Central Scotland Forest Trust (CSFT) as an organisation. Without this support and flexible working arrangements, it would be difficult to keep my Council commitments and this is why I would really recommend having these discussions openly before you stand for Council.

Yes, it is a lot of hard work, but I am not a selfless person. Of course, I believe in a strong UK GeoCommunity and the AGI, but if I were not getting something back from my involvement then I wouldn't be doing it. It is incredibly personally satisfying to have direct input into shaping the AGI.

Post- Council Team Networking
During the last nine months on Council I have had the opportunity to meet and work with some of the most influential and inspiring members in our GeoCommunity. I have developed a wide range of skills and experience as a Council Member and Director that have been incredibly useful elsewhere. It has raised my own professional profile and influenced the way that I work in addition to bringing forward new ideas and opportunities for CSFT as we develop and realise the Central Scotland Green Network. Finally, being involved in AGI Council and working as part of a great team with shared ambition is immense fun!

So, that's it (I hope this is what you wanted Chris!). If I haven't put you off please consider standing for election either this year or some point in the future. Get in touch with any of us on Council or the AGI Team if you need any further information. Remember that there are many other ways to support the AGI and get involved – SIGs & Regional Groups always welcome able and enthusiastic volunteers, and it is up to all of us to be AGI and industry Ambassadors and develop our strong GeoCommunity.

Thursday 3 October 2013

We’ve had State of the Map now it’s time for ‘State of the Conferences’

Maptember is over and with it the flurry of long days, scribbling notes (or typing if unlike me you've embraced technology and have a tablet) and appending ‘geo’ onto every conceivable noun. We've already published reviews on some of the events that took place throughout September but I wanted to review the geo conference scene as a whole and look at its relevance in 2013. Now I'm going to be honest and say that the AGI are currently working on revamping our conference offering for 2014 including GeoCommunity but I will try and steer clear of the promotional here.

I was lucky enough to attend both GeoCom and FOSS4G and have spoken to several colleagues and previous total strangers who were at the BCS and SotM events so feel I have a reasonable overview of how the events went.

This first thing I was struck by was the attendance levels for these events. My understanding is that the events industry in general is still having a tough time as training and travel budgets remain low in most organisations, particularly the public sector. As a result it is hard for employers to justify both the price and the time out of the office for staff to attend these events. However delegate numbers across the September events remained high, despite the pile up of events competing for largely the same pool of potential delegates. Obviously FOSS4G being an international conference saw the largest attendance, with the majority of delegates coming from outside the UK but GeoCom and SotM were also very busy. However one thing that we did notice whilst processing bookings for GeoCom and FOSS4G was how late the bookings were coming in. For both events we had bookings right up to the very start of the event itself despite both events offering significant discounts for early bookers. From this I am concluding that in the current climate it is less cost than time out of the office that is a stumbling block for conference attendance and many employers are waiting until the last minute before giving staff the OK to attend.

Given the levels of attendance it would seem that the industry as a whole still see value in sending their staff to residential conferences and that things like webinars and video conferencing are not providing the substitute that many predicted despite the tougher financial climate. For sponsors and exhibitors conferences are still seen as valuable, partly for generating new leads and just general brand visibility but also as an opportunity to get a number of their clients (or suppliers) together in one place for account management and relationship building. Interestingly from speaking to sponsors and delegates at the conferences it seemed that the rather old fashioned ability of conferences to gather lots of similar people in one place was one of their biggest attractions as increased business travel and remote working make it much harder to tie people down.

For delegates the most important thing seemed to be (anecdotally) getting a chance to see what others in the industry were up to (and show off what they were doing) and generally to get a sense that the industry was developing and moving forwards. Particularly in a time of reigned in budgets and decreased funding it can be reassuring and motivating for people to see that exciting projects are still being undertaken (such as Glasgow’s SMART city project at GeoCom or the launch of QGIS 2.0 at FOSS4G). Perhaps this is more of a sentiment than a hard business case but there seemed to be a genuine air of momentum around the conferences with a lot of knowledge sharing and networking going on informally. It is this informally element, the business cards exchanged over lunch and the impromptu sales pitches over drinks that remain the heart of a conference and are something that is simply not repeatable in any other format.

This is not of course to say that big events like these aren’t still facing challenges. As the economy slowly gets back to its feet budgets will remain squeezed and events will have to demonstrate real value to attract delegates. With this in mind I would not be surprised to see more one day events pop up to compete with the larger conferences and also events collaborating and merging to maximise attendance. One recurring theme I came across from delegates at both GeoCom and FOSS was that the more ‘hands on a conference’ (workshops, training sessions etc) the more likely their boss was to allow them to go. Next year will show if any of these predictions are even close to the mark.


*All evidence is anecdotal, GeoCommunity ’13 surveys and the lovely quantifiable data they bring are going to go out soon.

Tuesday 1 October 2013

The final one of the #Maptember ‘big three’ – FOSS4G

As I’m sure you all know FOSS4G was in the UK for the first time ever last week, taking place in Nottingham directly after GeoCommunity ’13. The conference itself lasted three days (19th – 21st September) but was preceded by two days of workshops and a hackathon. Unfortunately as these first days ran consecutively with GeoCom I wasn’t able to attend any of it so all I can say in review was that there seemed to be a lot of people happily coding away. Even if I had been able to go to the workshops I imagine they may have gone over my head a little anyway.

The main event kicked off with the icebreaker party on the Wednesday night straight after GeoCom ended (with a break of a few hours in which we frantically registered delegates). Due to back to back parties at the AGI conference I sadly left the icebreaker early but by all accounts it was a fun evening.

The serious business began the next morning with opening speeches from Jeff McKenna and Chris Tucker reviewing the state of OSGeo and looking at the Open sector in general. There was a lot of focus on the F in FOSS4G and whether it was now more realistic to talk about Freedom (from licensing) than just Free. This became somewhat of a continuing theme throughout the conference both in keynote’s and informally at the bar and perhaps signifies a growing to maturity of the Open community and the acknowledgement that just because something is non proprietary that doesn’t mean money will not be made from it in some way.

Anyway, business philosophy aside the main sessions of FOSS4G were extremely varied offering presentations ranging from the technical and detailed (mobile development, versioning guidelines) to higher level case studies (The Met Office’s Open Journey). Fortunately the organisers had helpfully marked up some sessions as being for newbie’s so I managed to enjoy the conference without feeling like a complete idiot. It even inspired me to download some software and have a go myself (results of my map mapping foray may me on the blog at a later date...).

One thing that looking across the conference programme trying to decide what to go to really brought home was the ubiquity of Geo Information. Now I realise that I was already aware of this to an extent and have even written a blog post about it but I had never really thought of GI as a potential tool for helping indigenous communities in the Amazon contest their land rights or a variety of other humanitarian applications. Similarly prior to GeoCom I had never really thought of GI as a tool for experimental scientific research (beyond simply mapping a hurricane or ice sheet loss).

Anyway again I digress but hopefully that gives some picture of how informative the conference was. One final piece to mention that follows on from my comments about the opening speakers is Esri’s presentation to FOSS4G. I understood that there can be a tension between the open and proprietary camps but it was only when someone described it as ‘Darth Vader presenting to the Ewoks’ that I realised that it was actually a pretty big deal that they had come out and presented to a very tough crowd. Again this seems to show a change in attitude and recognition that both open and proprietary solutions have their place in the market.

I realise this review isn’t as much of a review as I would like but if I had spent all week attending sessions and workshops I wouldn’t have been able to help register people and point the way to things. One amusing observation is that given it was an open source mapping conference an awful lot of delegates needed directions...


Anyway if anyone has the chance to attend more workshops and talks than I did and would like to post up their own review that would be most welcome and the same goes for GeoCom ’13 attendees.