El Proyecto Ecológico Azuero [www.azueroearthproject.org] se dedica a educación local, reforestación y la administración sostenible de tierras en la península Azuero, en el lado pacífico de Panamá, aproximadamente 100 km al oeste de la ciudad de Panamá.

“La misión del Proyecto Ecológico Azuero es [...]]]> Anuncio de empleo
Especialista en SIG-GIS y desarrollo web

El Proyecto Ecológico Azuero [www.azueroearthproject.org] se dedica a educación local, reforestación y la administración sostenible de tierras en la península Azuero, en el lado pacífico de Panamá, aproximadamente 100 km al oeste de la ciudad de Panamá.

“La misión del Proyecto Ecológico Azuero es conservar las ecosistemas del mundo, proteger la biodiversidad, y promover comunidades saludables a través de capacitarlas a tomar decisiones informadas, vivir de manera sostenible, y compartir conocimiento.”

El Proyecto Ecológico Azuero facilita relaciones entre científicos, profesores, estudiantes, organizadores, diseñadores, y comunidades locales para explorar ideas avanzadas sobre la administración de tierras con un enfoque en desarrollar conceptos simples y sostenibles de arquitectura, agricultura y desarrollo.

En los próximos 1-2 años, nuestro equipo trabajará en tres vías de programación:

· Un proyecto de SIG-GIS mapas para evaluar bosques remanentes y brechas y priorizar acciones para conservar la biodiversidad de un ecosistema únicamente amenazada por el desarrollo y la explotación excesiva de recursos naturales.
· Un Programa de Evaluación de Tierras para crear conciencia y compartir información con administradores de tierras en la región sobre opciones para administrar la tierra de forma sostenible.
· La organización del Centro de Recursos Azuero, una biblioteca local y sitio red que colecciona y comparte información ecológica con individuales y organizaciones interesadas en la región, en Panamá y en el desarrollo sostenible.

Descripción del puesto

El Proyecto Ecológico Azuero busca un especialista SIG-GIS/desarrollo web. Esta es una oportunidad emocionante para alguien a quien le interesa trabajar con un equipo pequeño de compañeros enérgicos y dedicados a la investigación y comunicación sobre temas ambientales y ecológicos. ¡Agradeceríamos solicitudes de trabajo de candidatos con conocimiento avanzado de SIG-GIS que buscan trabajo apasionante e inspirante donde se celebran ideas originales! Aunque el enfoque central del trabajo del especialista SIG-GIS será el proyecto de mapas, el/ella tendrá oportunidades para conducir investigaciones de campo y trabajar con comunidades locales.

Responsabilidades del puesto

El especialista SIG-GIS contestará a la presidenta de la organización, trabajará con la directora de programas, y tendrá las responsabilidades de:

Crear una base de datos GIS que establece áreas priorizadas para la conservación en base de características representadas por mapas GIS
Instalar y mantener hardware y software de las computadoras del Proyecto Ecológico Azuero
Una vez establecida, administrar y mantener al corriente la base de datos GISIncorporar datos de GPS coleccionada en el campo en el proyecto de base de datos GIS
Enseñar a voluntarios como usar un aparato GPS y ayudar en coordinar el proyecto de voluntarios de coleccionar datos GPS
Trabajar con administradores de tierras locales para entender mejor los conceptos de desarrollo sostenible e implementarlos con la ayuda de GIS e imágenes de satélite
Preparar mapas, presentaciones, y publicaciones mostrando los resultados del proyecto a donantes, socios y comunidades locales
Administrar y mantener al corriente el sitio red del Proyecto Ecológico Azuero

Requisitos

Se busca un/a candidata que posee:

Una pasión por el medio ambiente que llena su vida personal y profesional
Un título universitario o avanzado en programación de computadoras/red, tecnología de SIG-GIS, geografía, u otra concentración tecnológica relacionada
Cursos o investigaciones/proyectos en biología y ecología (preferido)
Conocimiento al corriente y experiencia con ArcGIS desktop, incluso ArcInfo, la extensión Spatial Analyst, ERDAS y/o ENVI
Experiencia en sacar datos GPS en el campo e incorporar esos datos en proyectos GIS
Experiencia en usar imágenes de satélite y fotos aéreas e incorporar esas imágenes en proyectos GIS
2-3 años experiencia profesional con proyectos de GIS y programación de sitios red – por favor proveer ejemplos de trabajos pasados iniciado y completado de forma independiente en GIS y programación
Capacidad para tomar la iniciativa, ser líder, resolver problemas, ser creativo tecnológicamente, y asumir responsabilidad para la creación de un base de datos elegante al cual nuevos datos se incorporan fácilmente. El base de datos que el especialista SIG-GIS crea será la fundación de todo nuestro trabajo en la península.
Conocimiento de inglés suficiente para un ámbito profesional
Voluntad para vivir en Pedasí, Los Santos, Panamá
Conocimiento de la comunidad internacional GIS
Capacidad de trabajar bien en un equipo y con voluntarios
Conocimiento de programación y desarrollo de sitios red en html, java, y/o php. Experiencia con WordPress y sus plugins disponibles (preferida).

Salario & beneficios

El Proyecto Ecológico Azuero ofrece un salario and beneficios competitivos para la región y dependiente de la experiencia del candidata.. Este puesto dura un periodo de dos años con la posibilidad de extensión.

Para solicitar este puesto…

Mande su solicitud a: puesto@azueroearthproject.org

Por favor mande su currículum vitae, carta de presentación, información de contacto para dos o más referencias profesionales, y muestras de obras completadas como se indica arriba y obras publicadas. En la carta de presentación se debe incluir una descripción de la experiencia que tiene el candidato, sus capacidades con respeto a los requisitos del puesto, sus requisitos de salario y disponibilidad, e introducir cualquier muestra u obra de trabajo que se incluye en la solicitud del puesto. La fecha de entrega para solicitar este puesto es el 11 de octubre, 2010.

Position Description
GIS/IT Specialist

Background

The Azuero Earth Project [www.azueroearthproject.org] is a United States tax-exempt organization (501-C-3) operating in Panama as the Proyecto Ecológico Azuero. The organization is dedicated to local education, reforestation and sustainable land stewardship on the Azuero Peninsula, on the Pacific Coast of Panama, about 100km west of Panama City.

“The mission of the Azuero Earth Project is to preserve the earth’s ecosystems, protect biodiversity, and promote healthy communities by helping people to make informed decisions, take sustainable actions, and share knowledge.”

The Azuero Earth Project facilitates connections among scientists, educators, students, planners and designers and local communities to explore advanced concepts for appropriate land use with a focus on developing simple, sustainable models for architecture, agriculture and development.

In the next 1-2 years, the team will be pursuing three program tracks:

A GIS mapping project to assess forest remnants and gaps and prioritize habitat conservation actions in a unique ecosystem threatened by development and overuse;
A Land Assessment Program to raise awareness and provide local landowners with sustainable land use options;
Building the Azuero Resource Center, a library and website to collect and distribute ecological information and connect to others throughout the world who are interested in the region, in Panama, and in sustainable land management;

Position Profile

The Azuero Earth Project seeks a GIS/IT Specialist. This is an exciting opportunity for someone interested in working with a small high-energy team dedicated to researching and communicating ecological and environmental issues in an international setting. We encourage applications from candidates with advanced GIS experience who are looking for adventurous and fulfilling work where creative ideas are celebrated! The central focus of the GIS/IT specialist’s work will be the mapping project, but s/he will also have opportunities to perform field research and work with local community members.

Primary Responsibilities

Reporting to the President, and working closely with the Program Manager, the GIS/IT specialist will:

Create a GIS database prioritizing areas for conservation on the basis of characteristics represented through mapping layers
Install and maintain computer hardware and software
Once established, manage and update the GIS database
Incorporate GPS field information into the GIS mapping project
Educate local volunteers about taking GPS data and assist with coordination of GPS data volunteering projects
Work with local land administrators to understand and implement sustainable development principles using GIS and satellite images
Prepare maps, presentations and publications showcasing the results of the project to donors and the local community
Manage and update the Azuero Earth Project website

Qualifications

We seek an individual with the following qualifications:

A passionate personal and professional commitment to the environment
Undergraduate or advanced degree in computer programming, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, geography, or a related technological major
Coursework and past research in biology and ecology is a plus
Current knowledge and experience with ArcGIS desktop including ArcInfo, the Spatial Analyst extension, ERDAS and/or ENVI
Experience with recording GPS field data and incorporating that data into GIS projects
Experience working with satellite images/remote sensing software and incorporating image analysis of satellite images and aerial photographs into ArcGIS
2-3 years post-graduate experience in GIS and web programming projects – please provide examples of past work initiated and independently conducted in GIS and programming
Ability to take initiative, lead a team, problem-solve, be technologically creative, and assume responsibility for the creation of an elegant database into which new data is incorporated seamlessly, along with its metadata. The database you create will be the foundation for all of our work on the peninsula.
Fluent knowledge of spanish
Willingness to live in Pedasí, Los Santos, Panama
Knowledge of the international GIS community
Ability to develop creative GIS solutions and experience working in remote/challenging locations
Knowledge of html, java, and/or PHP. Experience with WordPress and available plugins is a plus. Our website is a custom WordPress install. Editing of source files may be required.

Salary & Benefits

Salary and benefits are competitive within the region and commensurate with background and experience. This position is for a period of two years with a possibility of extension.

Application Procedure

Email your application to: puesto@azueroearthproject.org

Please send your resume, cover letter, two or more references, and samples of work as indicated above and any relevant published material. The cover letter should detail your experience, match of skills to the position, salary requirements and availability, as well as introduce any samples of past work included with the application. The deadline for submitting an application is October 11, 2010.

Ruth Ngolela Metzel
Directora de programas
Azuero Earth Project
Apartado 0749-00015
Pedasí, Los Santos, Panamá
tel (U.S.): 703-336-9256
tel (Panama): +11 (507) 6949-9299
www.azueroearthproject.org

On the FOSS4G/open data front, GeoTools 2.6.5 has been released. There’s also ImageI/O-Ext 1.0.7 that has been released – we never mentioned this open source project before. Here’s a simple QGIS python plugin tutorial. There’s avisual changelog for Marble 0.10.0, officially released this week. The open source Ushahidi platform launched Crowdmap, going in [...]]]> Here’s a dose of geonews courtesy of slashgeo.org.

On the FOSS4G/open data front, GeoTools 2.6.5 has been released. There’s also ImageI/O-Ext 1.0.7 that has been released – we never mentioned this open source project before. Here’s a simple QGIS python plugin tutorial. There’s avisual changelog for Marble 0.10.0, officially released this week. The open source Ushahidi platform launched Crowdmap, going in the cloud with no installation required for their crowdsourced map content. There’s pretty interesting entries on getting rid of poisonous people within the OpenStreetMap ecosystem and another one on the Stage 2 of OpenStreetMap’s license upgrade.

On the ESRI front, for the Python users, the ArcPy.Mapping Module in ArcGIS 10 has been introduced. There’s also a new ArcGIS Diagrammer for ArcGIS 10 released and the Presentation AddIn for ArcGIS Desktop 10. Both Spatially Adjusted and APB mentioned the ESRI U.S. Data.gov Geo Viewer and so far it’s sadly not a success.

In the miscellaneous category, O’Reilly links to Meridian, and iPhone app for in-building location. The same source discusses the new major release of Waze, the free turn-by-turn navigation app that added a new social component. Paul Ramsey shares an interesting entry on how kml polygons are displayed in Google Earth and the possibly major limitations. Here’s a review of the Garmin GPSMAP 62. Mapperz discusses the free Sport Tracker 3.5. The radar satellite TanDEM-X delivered its first 3D images. Mapping WikiLeaks? Here’s an entry named WikiLeaks Releases Afghanistan War Data with Location. APB informs us the U.S. DOT 2010 National Transportation Atlas Data has been released.

In the maps category, GeoCurrent offers an entry on The Geography of Extremism in Pakistan and another one named A Summer in Worldwide Human Rights Abuses- Illustrated Google Earth. Here’s the CIA World Factbook Data In Interactive Format. Finally, two thirds of Britons admit to getting lost.

Deadline for Nominations: September 2, 2010

The biannual William L. Garrison Award for Best Dissertation in Computational Geography supports innovative research into the computational aspects of geographic science. The award is intended to arouse a more general and deeper understanding of the important role that advanced computation can [...]]]> William L. Garrison Award for Best Dissertation in Computational Geography

Deadline for Nominations: September 2, 2010

The biannual William L. Garrison Award for Best Dissertation in Computational Geography supports innovative research into the computational aspects of geographic science. The award is intended to arouse a more general and deeper understanding of the important role that advanced computation can play in resolving the complex problems of space-time analysis that are at the core of geographic science.

The Garrison award consists of a cash prize in the amount of $3,500 and a formal certificate of merit. The formal presentation of the Garrison Award will take place at the annual meeting of the AAG following the announcement of the award. If they so choose, the Trustees of the Marble Fund may elect to award one or more additional certificates of merit to non-awardee finalists whose work is, in their judgment, of exceptional merit.

Eligibility: There is no restriction placed upon the formal disciplinary area of the research so long as it is directly related to advanced computational approaches to the spatial-temporal problems addressed by geographic science. The award is open to candidates associated with any institution of higher education, anywhere in the world, that is authorized to award the doctorate.

Dissertations completed in the two year period beginning on September 1st of 2008 and terminating on August 31st of 2010 will be eligible for nomination. In the context of this award, a dissertation is considered to be completed when the final version of the document is deposited with and has been accepted by the institution of higher education awarding the degree.

Criteria: Proposals should demonstrate high standards of scholarship. The selection committee will observe the general purposes noted above when evaluating proposals. It should be noted that the emphasis of the Garrison Award is upon innovative computational approaches and award applications based upon the routine application of standard software packages are not encouraged. All nominations will be carefully reviewed and those determined to be within the stated goals of the competition will be invited to make a full submission for consideration.

The 2006 winner of the first Garrison Award was Dr. Stephane Joost for a dissertation entitled The Geographical Dimension of Genetic Diversity: A GIScience Contribution for the Conservation of Animal Genetic Resources undertaken at the Laboratory of Geographical Information Systems, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. An initial report on Dr. Joost’s research may be found in the article “A spatial analysis method (SAM) to detect candidate loci for selection: Towards a landscape genomics approach to adaptation” that appeared in Molecular Ecology (2007) 16, 3955-3969

Full information on the submission of applications may be found at:

http://www.aag.org/cs/garrison

by Geoff Zeiss

One of the areas that researchers involved in the INSPIRE initiative are putting a lot of effort these days is quantifying the business benefits of an open spatial data infrastructure.  At the recent INSPIRE conferencein Krakow  [...]]]>

Data mining competition affiliated with IEEE International Conference on Data Mining 2010 (ICDM), Sydney, Australia, Dec 14-17. The task is to predict city traffic based on simulated historical measurements or real-time stream of notifications sent by individual drivers [...]]]>

Data mining competition affiliated with IEEE International Conference on Data Mining 2010 (ICDM), Sydney, Australia, Dec 14-17. The task is to predict city traffic based on simulated historical measurements or real-time stream of notifications sent by individual drivers from their GPS navigators. Prizes worth $5,000 will be awarded to the winners.

Held under the patronage of the Mayor of Warsaw, Mrs. Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz.

Introduction

Over the last century, number of cars engaged in vehicular traffic in cities has increased rapidly, causing many difficulties for all citizens: traffic jams, large and unpredictable communication delays, pollution etc. Excessive traffic became a civilization problem that affects everyone who lives in a city of 50,000 or larger, anywhere in the world. Complexity of processes that stand behind traffic flow is so large, that only data mining algorithms – from the domains of structure mining, graph mining, data streams, large-scale and temporal data mining – may bring efficient solutions for these problems. With the proposed competition, we want to ask researchers to devise the best possible algorithms that tackle problems of traffic flow prediction, for the purpose of intelligent driver navigation and improved city planning.

There are 3 tasks:

1. Traffic. Traffic congestion prediction, in an elementary setup of time series forecasting: a series of measurements from 10 selected road segments is given and the goal is to make short-term predictions of future values based on historical ones. This task is intended as an introductory one, simpler than the other two.
2. Jams. Modeling the process of traffic jams formation during morning peak in the presence of roadworks, based on initial information about jams broadcast by radio stations. Input data contain identifiers of road segments closed due to roadworks, accompanied by a sequence of segments where the first jams occurred. The algorithm should predict a sequence of segments where next jams will occur in the nearest future.
3. GPS. Traffic reconstruction and prediction based on real-time information from individual drivers. Input data consist of a stream of notifications from 1% of vehicles about their current GPS locations in the city road network, sent every 10 seconds. The algorithm receives this stream and predicts traffic congestion on selected road segments for the next 30 minutes. Large volumes of data are involved in this task, requiring the use of scalable data mining methods.

Tasks are independent. You may participate in all of them or in a chosen one.

You may submit solutions many times, for the whole duration of the challenge. They are evaluated instantly after submission and the result is published on Leaderboard, to allow comparison with other participants. However, to avoid overfitting to test data, there are two distinct evaluations: preliminary and final, that employ two separate subsets of test samples. During the contest, Leaderboard presents only preliminary results. Final results are published when the contest is closed and they may differ from preliminary ones. For each task, preliminary samples comprise 35% of test data and final samples – the remaining 65%.

If you have questions please ask them on the forum. News will be published in the News section, the most important ones will be posted also on Facebook and Twitter.

Traffic Simulation Framework

Datasets come from a highly realistic simulator of vehicular traffic, Traffic Simulation Framework (TSF), developed at the University of Warsaw. Simulations employ authentic map of the city of Warsaw, Poland, taken from OpenStreetMap project. TSF is based on the most well-known model of traffic flow by Nagel and Schreckenberg, which describes traffic on straight one-way road divided into some number of cells. Each cell may contain one car or may be empty. In each tick of a discrete clock, cars change their positions and speeds with carefully chosen rules. Nagel-Schreckenberg (NS) model was broadly examined. In particular, it was shown that this model can reproduce the phenomenon of traffic jams with unprecedented accuracy.

TSF extends the NS model to simulate traffic on an arbitrarily complex graph of road segments and incorporates new rules to model crossroads, traffic lights, multi-lane streets etc. Each car is an autonomous agent, with its own start and destination points, as well as preferences regarding its road behaviour. Road segments may differ in type (minor/major), default maximal velocity and number of lanes. It was confirmed by Warsaw citizens that TSF very accurately reproduces traffic jams, in the same places where they occur in reality.

After the contest, TSF will be released for public use, to enable post-challenge research.

Awards

Authors of the winning solutions will be awarded with prizes funded by TunedIT, worth respectively:

• 1,000$ for track Congestion: 500$ of travel grant plus 500$ of cash prize
• 2,000$ for track Jams: 1,000$ of travel grant plus 1,000$ of cash prize
• 2,000$ for track GPS: 1,000$ of travel grant plus 1,000$ of cash prize

Travel grant covers travel and registration expenses related to participation in ICDM conference. If the first winner on a given track does not plan to participate in ICDM or his travel/registration costs will be lower, travel grant (or its part) will be awarded to the next best solution on this track.

Moreover, in 7 days after the end of the contest, participants may prepare short descriptions of their solutions and submit to contest organizers. Selected reports will be published in ICDM proceedings and presented at the conference during contest session. Reports should be formatted according to IEEE ICDM guidelines.

Schedule

• Jun 22, 2010: start of the challenge
• Sep 06, 2010: end of the challenge
• Sep 13, 2010: deadline for submission of short descriptions of solutions
• Dec 14-17, 2010: IEEE ICDM conference and contest session in Sydney

Organizing Committee

Marcin Wojnarski (Chair), TunedIT and University of Warsaw
Paweł Gora, University of Warsaw
Hung Son Nguyen, University of Warsaw
Marcin Szczuka, University of Warsaw

If you have any questions please post them on the forum. We will reply as soon as possible.

Media patrons

Published by IGI Global: http://igi-global.com/AuthorsEditors/AuthorEditorResources/CallForBookChapters/CallForChapterDetails.aspx?CallForContentId=07666697-b6d4-460a-91bc-c135d6d77f19

Introduction Information Systems built using standard-based distributed services have become the default computing paradigm adopted by the geospatial community [...]]]>
Proposal Submission Deadline: September 3, 2010
Discovery of Geospatial Resources: Methodologies, Technologies, and Emergent Applications
A book edited by Dr. Laura Díaz, Dr. Carlos Granell and Dr. Joaquín Huerta
University Jaume I of Castellón, Spain

Published by IGI Global:
http://igi-global.com/AuthorsEditors/AuthorEditorResources/CallForBookChapters/CallForChapterDetails.aspx?CallForContentId=07666697-b6d4-460a-91bc-c135d6d77f19

Introduction

Information Systems built using standard-based distributed services have become the default computing paradigm adopted by the geospatial community to build Geospatial Information Infrastructures. This has increased the number of data resources, services and applications deployed in these infrastructures. Although these standard-based services and components increase interoperability the distribution of these resources make the task of discovery complex and arduous. There are many aspects to consider in order to improve the discovery of geospatial resources. First of all how to describe the resources, regarding which metadata elements, annotations or user tags and which formats to use to represent these descriptions. Second where to store these descriptions in terms of using catalogues services, registries or other distributed storages. Other aspects to consider are when the resource descriptions are created and /or modified and the mechanisms and engines to query and search. The efficiency of discovery is determinant to deploy successful applications in distributed environments where standard-based components allow users to share and reuse resources more effectively.  Therefore advantages of standard services and components, geospatial infrastructures discovery methodologies and other technologies should be investigated.

Objective of the Book

This book will aim to provide relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings in the area. It will be written for professionals who want to improve the understanding of geospatial discovery methodologies and technologies, that is, giving a complete overview of common problems and solutions to generate resource descriptions, mechanisms to register and search geospatial resources. This will provide professionals, interested in the development of distributed geospatial applications, techniques to design and deploy geospatial resources in Information Infrastructures to increase the interoperability and the visibility of these resources to maximize reusability.

Target Audience

The target audience of this book will be composed of professionals and researchers working in the field of geospatial information infrastructures, knowledge management and information integration in various disciplines, e.g. information and communication sciences, geospatial sciences like environment, urban planning, education and sociology and disaster management. Moreover, the book will provide insights and support decision makers concerned with the management of geospatial information.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Geospatial Information Infrastructure
• Geospatial Web Service Registry and Discovery
• Geospatial Metadata for Data and Services
• Semantics, Formats, Tagging for Geospatial Resources Discovery
• Classifications and Indexing of Geospatial Resources
• Query Languages
• User Interfaces for Geospatial Resources Discovery
• Automatic Registration and Publication of Geospatial Resources
• Automatic Extraction of metadata
• Metadata for Integration and Composition of Geospatial Resources
• Discovery and Integration of Geospatial Resources of VGI and Web 2.0 services
• Discovery and Integration of Geospatial Resources of the Linked Data space

Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before September 3, 2010, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by September 15, 2010 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by January 3, 2011. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.

Publisher

This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the ?Information Science Reference? (formerly Idea Group Reference), ?Medical Information Science Reference,? ?Business Science Reference,? and ?Engineering Science Reference? imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2011.

Important Dates

September 3, 2010:    Proposal Submission Deadline
September 15, 2010:    Notification of Acceptance
January 3, 2011:    Full Chapter Submission
March 15, 2011:    Review Results Returned
May 15 2011:        Final Chapter Submission
July 1, 2011:        Final Deadline

Editorial Advisory Board Members:
TBD

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document) or by mail to:

Dr. Laura Díaz
Institute of New Imaging Technologies
12071 UNIVERSITY JAUME I OF CATELLON
Tel.: +34964729078 – Fax: +34964729078
E-mail: laura[dot]diaz[at]uji[dot]es