THE NATIONAL CENTRE FOR GEOCOMPUTATION: An Introduction A Stewart Fotheringham SFI Research Professor and Director A Stewart Fotheringham SFI Research Professor and Director

Why hasn’t SFI created 5 such centres? Why has SFI created a National Centre for Geocomputation?

Who are we? Core- funded group NUIM affiliates Affiliates from rest of Ireland Visiting Fellows

Core Funded Group Stewart Fotheringham, Director Martin Charlton, Senior Research Associate Stamatis Kalogirou, Postdoctoral Fellow Mary O’Brien, Spatial Information Officer Ann-Marie Burke, Senior Executive Assistant Orla Dunne, Executive Assistant Susanne Tschirner, Intern Melanie Tomintz, Intern Matthew Sammon, PhD Student Seamus Coveney, PhD Student Camille King, STAR Awardee John Sims, STAR Awardee

What is Geocomputation? Geocomputation involves any aspect of the capture, storage, integration, management, retrieval, display, analysis and modelling of spatial data Spatial data contain locational info as well as attribute info. Most data sets are spatial.

Geocomputation

NCG Computer Science Geography Statistics

“Geotechnology is one of the three most important emerging and evolving research fields, along with biotechnology and nanotechnology” US Dept. of Labor, cited in Nature Jan 2004 Why is it important?

Industrial Revolution Information Revolution Information is Power and a great deal of information is spatial

Geocomputation promotes: Profitability – private sector optimal location of facilities shortest path algorithms Equity – social sector resource allocation impact analysis Efficiency – public sector sharing information (e.g. road building and archaeological sites – M50 at Carrickmines Castle and N3 around Hill of Tara) avoiding duplication of data collection Profitability – private sector optimal location of facilities shortest path algorithms Equity – social sector resource allocation impact analysis Efficiency – public sector sharing information (e.g. road building and archaeological sites – M50 at Carrickmines Castle and N3 around Hill of Tara) avoiding duplication of data collection

The Prevalence of Spatial Data Census of Population every 5 years in Ireland Customer databases Companies in the UK hold records on over 30 million individuals Traffic Flows Volumes of roads by time of day and day of the week LiDAR Low pass fly overs by plane: rapid collection of detailed data on terrain features - local DEMs US space shuttle mission - global Census of Population every 5 years in Ireland Customer databases Companies in the UK hold records on over 30 million individuals Traffic Flows Volumes of roads by time of day and day of the week LiDAR Low pass fly overs by plane: rapid collection of detailed data on terrain features - local DEMs US space shuttle mission - global

The Prevalence of Spatial Data Health Records Patient records Incidence of disease Satellite remotely-sensed images Land use cover Tracking changes over time Military Satellite GPS ESA launching Galileo starting next year (30 satellites) to begin in Cost € 3.2 billion and annual running costs of € 140 million. Accuracy of 1m for civilians US GPS launched in 1978 Russia’s Glonass 1982 European Commission estimates 3 billion receivers by 2010 and market worth € 250 billion Health Records Patient records Incidence of disease Satellite remotely-sensed images Land use cover Tracking changes over time Military Satellite GPS ESA launching Galileo starting next year (30 satellites) to begin in Cost € 3.2 billion and annual running costs of € 140 million. Accuracy of 1m for civilians US GPS launched in 1978 Russia’s Glonass 1982 European Commission estimates 3 billion receivers by 2010 and market worth € 250 billion

The Growing Prevalence of GPS- Derived Data General data capture In-car navigation systems Vehicle tracking – cars, buses etc Congestion charging Criminal tagging Animal tagging and tracking Newmarket Oct 16 th, 2004 The GPS watch Children Alzheimer patients

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The Potential Use of GPS-Derived Data Link to mobile phones - LBS The movement of individuals – lapel badges Sports applications – runners, football Covert surveillance GPS ‘dust’ Raises all kinds of ethical and legal issues that we need to think about now

Types of Spatial Data 1.GEODETIC Coordinate reference system 2.ELEVATION Heights above sea-level 3.BATHYMETRIC Depth of water bodies 4.ORTHOIMAGERY Georeferenced images of the earth’s surface 5.HYDROGRAPHY Rivers and streams, coastline

Types of Spatial Data 6. TRANSPORTATION NETWORKS Roads, railways, canals 7. CADASTRAL Property boundaries 8. UTILITIES Locations of pipes, lines 9. BOUNDARIES Electoral, school and health districts 10. FEATURES / ATTRIBUTES Disease, toxic sites, census info. agriculture, ind. loc. environmental

The Value of Spatial Data Spatial data have enormous value and underpin large elements of the economy “In the UK, for example, it has been estimated that the value of the information provided by OS underpins some €160 billion of the national economy”

What’s special about spatial? Spatial data sets can be LARGE They have special statistical properties They lend themselves to many innovative ways of visualisation Spatial data sets can be LARGE They have special statistical properties They lend themselves to many innovative ways of visualisation

The Size of Spatial Data Sets Census of Ireland 3.9 million records Satellite land use images Terabytes of info Global data sets a dataset on a single attribute on each sq m of the earth transmitted over a 256Kb/s modem would take how long to transmit? –1 minute? –10 minutes? –1 hr? Answer = 62 years Take 714,285 CDs to store (7kms long)

Special Statistical Properties Spatial dependence statistical inference spatial interpolation Modifiable Areal Unit Problem scale and reporting units Spatial nonstationarity global versus local modelling of processes

GWR software sales Division of Marine Biology, University of the Algarve Office of National Statistics, UK Buenos Airies Police Dept Ministry of the Environment, Singapore Health Canada EWL Sciences, Australia Korolinska Medical Institute, Sweden Royal Veterinary College, UK Entomology Dept, Oregon St. University USGS Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of Coloado Dept of Applied Economics, Univ. of Minnesota Dept. of Zoology, Univ of Vermont Eli Lilley Pharmaceuticals, US Dept. of Transportation, Univ of N. Carolina CDC, Atlanta

Geocomputation is fundamental to a great variety of application areas

Special ways of visualising spatial data 3-D mapping Animations Spatial querying Buffering Data Mixing Views at different scales

Goals for the NCG 1.To establish itself as a world-class research centre for geocomputation Research and Development Visiting scholars Conferences/Workshops Seminar series (sign up) Expansion Equipment – High-end, GIS-based Visualisation and Graphics Lab

Goals for the NCG 2. To help promote the use of GIS and spatial data analysis throughout Ireland Government offices (national and local) Schools Universities Irish Spatial Data Initiative Undertake research on Irish spatial data issues – spatial equity and efficiency

Cost of Irish spatial data … is expensive and prohibits academic research and training on Irish problems Cost of full set of 1:1000 vector data + 1:2,500 vector data to academics UK€8,300 (registration fee for Digimap) USFree Ire.€1,360,000

Goals for the NCG 3. To train the next generation of geocomputational experts for Ireland PhD Fellowships MSc in GIS (industry-relevant) Work with GIS software industry (cf UK’s CASE awards)

Goals for the NCG 4. To work with Ireland’s GIS software industry Train students Joint research Use and test products ESRI Ireland eSpatial Solutions Ltd

Provision of a substantial amount of ESRI software Sponsorship of PhD students Undertaking joint research projects ESRI-Ireland

Donation of €2.36 million to the NCG The NCG is now a Centre for Excellence in Enterprise Spatial Solutions cf CAST in US eSpatial Solutions Ltd

Hopes for the NCG 1.Become a Portal for academics and government agencies within Ireland providing a one-stop spatial data service Needs cooperation between OSI / SFI / HEA / Census Office cf DIGIMAP and MIMAS in UK Needs hardware

Hopes for the NCG 2.Become a focal point for a Geogrid network linking the various academic groups across Ireland involved in geocomputation Spatial data sharing Workshops/visitors/seminars Hardware linkage cf Cosmogrid Becoming affiliated with the NCG

Hopes for the NCG 3. Become a catalyst for the development and use of GIS and spatial data analysis within Ireland. For this we need: Long-term commitment and support by SFI. Urgent equipment needs. Support from NUIM The support of the GIS software ind. The support of government depts and agencies – contracts, spatial data, sponsorship of students etc. The support of the rest of the Irish GIS community. Please get in touch.

“The NCG is the most significant thing that has happened to the GIS industry in Ireland” Peter Lyon, Director ESRI- Ireland

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