The Digital Transformation of Social Impact
I spoke at a panel at the 71st United Nations General Assembly, as part of the SDG Live event. SDG Media Zone: The Digital Transformation of Social Impact from GlobalGoalsUN on Vimeo.
Data Driven Citizenship
No one cares about a neighborhood more than the people who live there. People spend their days and evenings along the street, raise children, foster connections with neighbors, build businesses, grow gardens, bike, walk, and live. A few choose to engage with their civil organizations, advocating for positive change, or against negative impacts; they participate […]
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, the National Academy of Sciences was formed to ‘investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science’ for the nation, congress and federal agencies. Considering this was the middle of the tumultuous US Civil War government saw the imperative for scientific research and collaboration. The period was […]
DHS HIFLD Open: Open Data for Economic Resiliency
Today at the FedGIS conference in Washington, DC, the US Department of Homeland Security announced that Homeland Security Infrastructure Program (HSIP) is now HIFLD Open. Security and Safeguarding In 2001, the United States was attacked in a coordinated effort at multiple locations which had devastating impact across the country. We had direct insight into how little […]
Open Data needs Local Analysis
Open Data exists for a purpose. From point of capture, to publication and analysis, data seek to be used to make better decisions. By making the data open, more people can participate in that analysis and decision making process. Particular to government and community, the more people can understand, collaborate and reach consensus, the better […]
Apple Watch – Internet of Humans
The wristwatch was an invention of convenience for extreme conditions. Previously the pocket watch provided an elegant and portable mechanism for discerning the current time. However increasing complexity of military maneuvers in the 19th century and more civilly and popularly with the advent of planes, pilots wanted precise time measurements without getting in the way. So ingeniously they strapped […]
Building Better Civil Solutions with Agile Government
Modern technology has dramatically increased the pace of software application development. Within hours a single person can now conceive, create and distribute an app to millions of people. Thanks to the global internet, access and updating of these apps occurs automatically and constantly. Products can be prototyped, measured, improved and updated many times a day. […]
Making GIS a Part of the Open Web
GeoServices provide a common API across all of GIS for users and developers to easily access information.Today is GIS Day, an annual celebration and sharing to our communities about the use of geospatial technology to understand, affect, and engage with our physical world. You can join any of hundreds of local events around the globe […]
So you want to fly spacecraft?
Today’s landing of a spacecraft on a comet is truly a stupendous engineering feat. ESA Rosetta spent 5 years, including three flybys of Earth and one of Mars in order to slingshot in order to land a 3-ton machine on a 4-km round rock moving at 135,000 km/hour. (meaning that the comet moves ten times it’s entire length every […]
Professional Civic Engineering
“Unruly Nature” Roads are particular engineering feat that deeply affect our regular lives yet pass by largely unnoticed. So effectively designed and implemented, we typically only notice them through relative minor, but annoying, failures such as potholes or flooding. Periodically, a major catastrophe reminds us the nature and importance of these infrastructure components and the […]