Tuesday 18 December 2012

Funded PhD Studentship in Remote Sensing and Forest Landscape Modeling

Drs. Gang Chen and Ross Meentemeyer in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte seek a PhD student with a strong interest to develop remote sensing algorithms designed to model landscape-scale changes in forest structure and carbon storage following interacting ecological disturbances (forest disease and wildfire) in coastal forests of California. The ideal candidate should have basic training in remote sensing and GIScience, environmental modeling, statistical analysis and programming.
If you are interested, please send a CV and statement of research interests to Dr. Gang Chen - Gang (dot) Chen (at) uncc (dot) edu. The position is open until filled and is expected to start in August 2013.


United Nations Activation for Samoa Cyclone

Another message from Standby Task Force:

"Hello all,

Here are the details:

We have received a request from Samoa (via OCHA Pacific) to Support Mapping of Impact in Samoa


BBC Story of Cyclone Evan: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20722395  Power is going to be major issue ("Tanugamanono power plant is completely destroyed and we might not have power for at least two weeks")

Request: Support mapping of impact in Samoa
This is a rather urgent request given that the Samoa NEOC is over loaded at the moment and this could provide very quick data while crews are still trying to clear roads before assessment teams can start to consider getting out.

A crowdmap has already been set up: https://alerts.crowdmap.com/reports/submit [note that since the power is out, the government websites are down]

Humanity Road will be doing the Media Monitoring and inputting reports into the crowdmap.  SBTF is activating the following teams in order to geolocate, approve and verify the reports they have created.

- GEOLOCATION
- REPORTS
- VERIFICATION

We will be using our standard workflow to do this deployment: sbtf%20workflow.tiff.

Training info for particular teams (admittedly, this needs updating): http://standbytaskforce.ning.com/page/training-1

Please see your team coordinators (listed on the Ning page for each team) if you have specific questions.

99% of the work will be coordinated on Skype.  Add the following people with the message: "SBTF UN Samoa deployment" in order to be added:

Melissa Elliott (lead - add first and if no response, move down the list - we are working with multiple time zones):  mellomely

Jus Mackinnon: fidget01

Svend-Jonas: derjonas4

Brendan O'Hanrahan: kkoxenstierna

A bit of background:
Mostly the damage isn't serious but minor - more inconvenience than life threatening. A couple of casualties, moderate injuries, lot of structural and property damage. Some infrastructural damage
Power out everywhere.

Water shortage is probably going to be an issue from tomorrow and food thereafter due to significant crop damage.

-----------

This will be a rapid deployment.  Although we haven't been given a specific time frame, our sense is that we'll be in and out within a couple days.

NOTE: We need to see more SBTF members showing up for deployments.  Please add your name to the signup sheet if you are participating. https://docs.google.com/a/standbytaskforce.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Auj3SmmHNUgkdGpJODFBXzU0bVY0QUVzTWo4bzFiWkE#gid=0

Many thanks!

Melissa"

Monday 10 December 2012

ASPRS - Remote Sensing Application Division - Monthly Teleconference Today


Remote Sensing Application Division
Monthly Teleconference
10 December 2012 from 4:15 - 5:15 pm EST.

Phone bridge information:
USA Toll Free Number : 1-866-228-1482
Participant Passcode: 5265802

The ASPRS Remote Sensing Application Division respectfully requests your participation in the newly-established monthly teleconference.

Final Agenda:
1)    Call to order / Introductions  (4:15-4:20)
2)    RSAD operating procedures review (4:20 – 4:25)  See website for overview
3)    RSAD Climate Change Committee report and discussion (4:25-4:40) See website for overview
4)    RSAD Academic Engagement Committee report and discussion (4:40-4:55) See website for overview
5)    RSAD involvement in disaster relief volunteer efforts    (4:55-5:00)
6)    Open discussion (5:00-5:15)

NOTE:  Next RSAD Teleconference: 28 January, 2013

********************

Final agenda is posted on the RSAD Web page: http://www.asprs.org/RSAD-Division.html

Mark your calendar and I look forward to hearing your input!

Thanks.

POC Dave Szymanski, Director RSAD
Szymanski_David (at) bah (dot) com
703-472-4216


Wednesday 5 December 2012

ISPRS SC Newsletter - November 2012

Dear student,

The ISPRS Student Consortium is proud to announce the new issue of our newsletter (November, 2012). The spotlights are:

  • An interview with Prof. Christian Heipke,
  • Summary of the ISPRS Student Consortium activities during the XXII Congress in Melbourne,
  • Asian student activities, and
  • Student involvement with the ASPRS.
You can read and download the newsletter from the following website:
http://www.isprs-sc.org/newsletters/read/6/3

And do not forget to share it with your contacts!

Tuesday 4 December 2012

ASPRS - GIS Division Meeting - Conference Call

 

ASPRS - GIS DIVISION MEETING - CONFERENCE CALL

Date: December 7th 2012
Time: 12:00 pm EDT

Dial in Information: (712) 432-0175
Pass Code 1022039#.

Agenda:
· Introductions of all the attendees. (Max 10 min)
· Progress Report of the 2013 Plan.
· Bimonthly WebEX
· PE&RS Issue on Disaster Management Response – Update
· Awards – GISD

Special Sessions:

Spring 2013 (Baltimore)
o Geo-statistics (Special Session & Workshop)
§ Dr Melissa Rura
§ Dr Pierre Goovaerts
o Location Base Service (LBS) session.
§ Dr Bandana Kar
o Big Data (Joint session with D&I committee)
§ David Alvarez

Fall 2013 (San Antonio)
o Disaster management/Response
§ Judd Muskat

Workshops /Webinar:
o Geo-statistics (Dr Pierre Goovaerts)

Other Activities:
· “The Best practices or guidelines on Datums”.
· Looking for volunteers that would represent the GISD and participate with other divisions or committees (Lidar, Remote Sensing/Climate Change, D&I)

Ideas – Suggestions

Supporting Documents

David Alvarez
GIS Division Director
davidalvarez76 (at) gmail (dot) com

Matthew D. Dunbar, PhD
GIS Assistant Division Director
mddunbar (at) uw (dot) edu

ASPRS 2013 GeoLeague Deadline Extended



The registration deadline for the 2013 ASPRS GeoLeague Challenge has been extended to December 7, 2012. The challenge deliverables are not due until Feb 25, 2013 (as per the original announcement: http://asprssignature.blogspot.ca/2012/11/asprs-2013-geoleague-challenge.html), and the presentations will be at the ASPRS conference in Baltimore between March 24 and 28, 2013. Hope to see you there!