MSc 'Applied Geoinformatics' Salzburg - New Curriculum

Based on experience and success from last years, Salzburg University's Academic Senate this week has implemented a revised curriculum. Valid immediately for all students registering from fall semester 2013/14, this curriculum offers an attractive pathway towards an up-to-date qualification in Geoinformatics and Geographic Information Science:

1. Learning through 'Integrated Projects': competences in geo-application development, in the implementation of services as components of SDI, and in the management of complex geospatial projects are acquired through problem-based learning in major project classes.
2. Internships in industry are a requirement successfully bridging gaps from academia to professional practice in a range of application domains.
3. A choice of advanced methodologies in remote sensing, spatial analytics, geostatistics, geovisualisation, location based services and geosimulation support the development of in-depth competence in a range of methods. 

Admission to this English language, international 'AGI' MSc can be based on an undergraduate degree in any 'spatial' discipline, with additional electives facilitating the 'bridging' into Geoinformatics from e.g. Computer Science or application domains like Ecology.

This highly regarded and widely recognized Masters in 'Applied Geoinformatics' is based at the Interfaculty Department of Geoinformatics - Z_GIS, an international centre of competence for Geoinformatics and its application. For further details and contacts, please visit msc-agi.zgis.net!

KNOW-4-DRR Kick-off Workshop @ Milano, Italy

Salzach River, Salzburg 2013

The FP-7 coordination and support action „Enabling knowledge for disaster risk reduction in integration to climate change adaptation” (KNOW-4-DRR) commenced at the Kick-off Workshop at the Politecnico di Milano on 11-12 May. The 2-year project aims to explore the complex interaction of knowledge, decision making and implementation in order to understand what hinders the use of knowledge to make appropriate decisions for risk mitigation. A further aim is to construct a knowledge management framework for disaster risk reduction in integration to climate change adaptation, which may be considered as a comprehensive reference/guideline for establishing, reinforcing, or revising current prevention, mitigation and adaptation strategies. An interdisciplinary approach is used with ten partners from various backgrounds, including geoscientists, urban planners, anthropologists, ICT-specialists as well as journalists. Z_GIS will draw on its experience gained working with stakeholders and decision makers in previous case studies to analyse the main fragmentation issues within different stakeholder groups and organize a workshop with representatives from relevant networks of the disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation communities to set the basis for a network of networks.

For more information, please check the Z_GIS website.

GIS Day - Motivating Future Geoinformatics Students

GIS Day is a world wide event - and a well established tradition at Z_GIS. In Salzburg, we invite a few hundred pupils from a variety of high schools to explore a mixed set of geospatial technologies, applications and thinking. Classes have the opportunity to attend a variety of 'stations' - some of which are introduced in this video:

     >>> https://vimeo.com/62849339

Every year several beginning Geographie and Geoinformatics students emphasize that their choice of study was influenced by attending GIS Day events - a welcome fact in a discipline where progress and success are defined by sufficient availability of qualified experts.

GIS Day events in Austria are offered not only by academic institutions, but also by public administration and companies - coordinated by the Austrian Umbrella Organisation for Geographic Information (AGEO) with support from Z_GIS' GISDay.at website.

PhD in GIScience awarded!

Clemens Eisank successfully defended his PhD Thesis entitled “An object‐based workflow for integrating spatial scale and semantics to derive landforms from Digital Elevation Models“. Dr. Blaschke served as the chair of the examination panel, Dr. Harry Seijmonsbergen (University of Amsterdam) and Dr. Stefan Lang acted as discussants.

A large audience of more than 50 interested students, staff and faculty followed the presentation of the candidate and the lively and challenging discussion.

This is the 2^nd successful defense within the Doctoral College “Geographic Information Science” which started in 2011.

During the project SCALA (Scales and Hierarchies in Landform Classification) Clemens started his PhD in late 2008, focusing on multi-scale landform modelling with object-based image analysis (OBIA). Currently, he is the principal researcher in iSLIDE (Integrated Semi-automated Landslide Delineation, Classification and Evaluation) and will continue to work as a PostDoc at the Department of Geoinformatics – Z_GIS within this national-funded stand-alone project (FWF).

 

Due to his project engagement Clemens has obtained profound knowledge in GIS, geomorphology, geomorphometry, and geostatistics. Further, he is well experienced with the concepts and methods of object-based image analysis (OBIA) as well as with scaling issues.

We congratulate him to his performance and wish him all the best for his future career as a scientist!

Copernicus Masters Brown Bag at GI_Forum 2013

In cooperation with the G4R Copernicus Academy 

On Thursday, July 4 2013, the Copernicus Masters Brown Bag will be organized by experts from Copernicus Masters and the Department of Geoinformatics – Z_GIS together with the G4R Copernicus Academy at GI_Forum 2013. The Copernicus Brown Bag Session aims to demonstrate interested attendees the benefits and possibilities of using earth observation in a relaxed atmosphere. Participants have the chance to see how the Copernicus Masters - the European Earth Monitoring Competition - and its renowned partners can support the implementation of clever ideas. Besides the presentation of application examples, the participants get the chance to develop their own creative ideas. To make this as productive as possible for participants, they will receive feedback. With the help of experts from the Department of Geoinformatics Z_GIS the best ideas will be enhanced and invited to participate in the Copernicus Masters.

More information on the event: www.gi-forum.org/programme 
More information on the Copernicus Masters: www.copernicus-masters.com

More information on the Copernicus Academy: www.copernicus4regions.eu/research_and_academia