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

 

Z_GIS collaborates with Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)

Z_GIS has triggered research collaboration with the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) in Boston. The aim is to apply and further develop an in-house toolset for analyzing spatial patterns of social vulnerabilities to flood and drought and related malaria incidences, in the frame of climate-related disaster risk reduction in Eastern Africa. This collaboration envisages joint project activities in the future, and started off with a research stay of PhD student and Z_GIS researcher Michael Hagenlocher between April and July 2013. The stay was initiated by Michael and is co-funded by FP-7 project Healthy Futures and the Z_GIS Doctoral College - GIScience.

Dr Lang, head of the Integrated Spatial Analysis division, visited HSPH from April 18 to 22 to discuss further strategies with Prof Marcia C. Castro at the Department of Global Health and Population. The visit coincided with a public lecture given by Austrian Minister of Health on the health care system in Austria. An informal gathering has been arranged in a close-by students’ pub, where the Minister was informed about Michael’s planned activities and research conducted by other young Austrian scientists at HSPH.

Successful EnerGEO Summer School in Kampala, Uganda

The 2^nd EnerGEO Summer School with the topic “Unlocking the renewable energy potentials for Africa. Biomass & Solar Energy and the impact on the Environment” was held in Kampala, Uganda, from March 04 – 13 2013.

The Summer School was jointly organized by the Department of Geomatics and Land management, Makerere University, and the Interfaculty Department of Geoinformatics - Z_GIS, University of Salzburg, with support from the EnerGEO partners German Aerospace Center (DLR), Research Studios Austria (iSPACE) and Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). The program was complemented by external experts from the Centre for Research in Energy and Energy Conservation (CREEC) at Makerere University, the National Forestry Resources Research Institute (NaFORRI), and the Centre of Excellence in Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development (CERESD), Strathmore University, Kenya.

17 participants from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, United Kingdom and Italy with a background in academics but also coming from governmental institutions and private enterprises participated in the event. The program covered sessions on energy policies on a continental, regional and local scale, an introduction to the EnerGEO project, in-depth presentations and practical sessions on the EnerGEO pilots ‘Biomass’ and ‘Solar’ as well as models to identify optimal biomass plantation locations.

A two day fieldtrip provided insights into the use of renewable energies in Uganda. The fieldtrip covered a landfill in Kampala, where methane is being extracted for energy supply, a solar kiosk in a remote rural area without connection to the power grid, a hydropower station in Jinja, sugar cane plantations and a managed tropical rain forest.

Thank you to the organizers and all participants for making it such a special event.