Australian Computer Society - Visible and Invisible Open Data

Last year I was invited to give a talk by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) on the topic of Open Data, after much sanitising, I am allowed to publish this version of the presentation


Visible and Invisible Open Data

BIG DATA? Nope, just geospatial data

We often hear about Big Data, but this is a fairly meaningless term, data has always been able to be 'big' its just how you deal with it. This definitely applies to geospatial data which, when mapping the world, doesn't get much bigger. The dataset I created below is a 50m topographic exposure model for the whole of Australia and surrounding islands. This involved approximately 1.6 trillion calculations, some say "big", I say, "nope, just geospatial"

if the internet says so..it must be true

My mum will be so proud that my status has reached such highs...if the internet says it..its official

Full story here: http://m.readwriteweb.com/archives/can_opengeocoder_fill_the_platform_gap_left_by_goo.php

Take a moment to remember the normos...

Recently I have been busy working on a supply chain modelling problem for a large but declining industry. It has been interesting but full of difficult challenges on the geospatial side, but it has been nice to solve problems that the database guys couldn't. One of my personal highlights during the project was I produced some 3D KML files representing various modelled data eg customer density, sales volumes and cost. I just did it for fun as it was easy.

Little did I know the reaction it would get from the entire Consultancy dept I have been working with. I casually strolled down to their floor as I quickly discovered that what I took for granted...how to use Google Earth...was not obvious to all. By the time I got there half the department was crowded round one laptop like a bunch of school kids with a new video game...totally blown away*. So mental note to myself...must remember that people are still wowed by maps no matter how simple...simple yet effective.

Paul

* all but one....One lady looked at it and said she couldn't see what it offered and that it could all be done in a bar chart in excel...she quickly moved away on seeing my reaction

  

Bushfire Risk

Recently I have mostly been looking at geospatial risk in Australia with regards to Business Continuity Management....such as Bushfire risk and how to quantify it...

Software Review - Cadcorp 7.1

I was recently asked to review Cadcorp's latest software release 7.1, which was subsequently published in Geoconnexion magazine. The most notable change in the software is the bold change to an interface based upon Microsoft's Fluent interface as can be seen below.
Cadcorp 7.1 Review