Latest Posts

Spatial Data Infrastructures, Crowdsourcing and VGI

The Spatial Data Infrastructure Magazine (SDIMag.com) is a relatively new e-zine dedicated to the development of spatial  data infrastructures around the world. Roger Longhorn, the editor of the magazine, conducted an email interview with me, which is now published. In the interview, we are covering the problematic terminology used to describe a wider range of activities; the […]

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Research Update

With the semester now well underway, I have been reflecting on some of the recent work we have been doing at George Mason University. This is currently taking two strands, the first being agent-based modeling and the second being deriving information from social media. Hopefully by the end of the semester, these two strands will be merged together.
One of the models we are working on is the movement of people across national boarders. Below is a visualization of our work looking at the movment of people across the US/Mexico border which a specific focus on Arizona.

Moreover, we have continued to work diseases and refugee camps. We are scaling up the model to represent the entire population of the Dadaab refugee camps along with verifying the model and exploring the spatial characteristics of the model (i.e the spread of cholera). If anyone will be at the annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International in Ottowa  Canada feel free to come and listen to our presentation. The movie directly below shows the spread of cholera in one camp, while the second movie shows how cholera can be spread throughout the camps by people becoming infected and moving between the different camps.



Some of this work has been feated in UPMagazine and Trajectory Magazine:

Metcalfe, M. (2012), The Bounds of Rationality, UP Magazine, May, Issue 5: 40-43.

Quinn, K. (2012), Visualizing the Invisible:GMU Pioneers a New Approach to Harvesting GEOINT, Trajectory Magazine, Fall, 11-12.

Continue reading »

Research Update

With the semester now well underway, I have been reflecting on some of the recent work we have been doing at George Mason University. This is currently taking two strands, the first being agent-based modeling and the second being deriving information from social media. Hopefully by the end of the semester, these two strands will be merged together.
One of the models we are working on is the movement of people across national boarders. Below is a visualization of our work looking at the movment of people across the US/Mexico border which a specific focus on Arizona.
Moreover, we have continued to work diseases and refugee camps. We are scaling up the model to represent the entire population of the Dadaab refugee camps along with verifying the model and exploring the spatial characteristics of the model (i.e the spread of cholera). If anyone will be at the annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International in Ottowa  Canada feel free to come and listen to our presentation. The movie directly below shows the spread of cholera in one camp, while the second movie shows how cholera can be spread throughout the camps by people becoming infected and moving between the different camps.

Some of this work has been feated in UPMagazine and Trajectory Magazine:

Metcalfe, M. (2012), The Bounds of Rationality, UP Magazine, May, Issue 5: 40-43.

Quinn, K. (2012), Visualizing the Invisible:GMU Pioneers a New Approach to Harvesting GEOINT, Trajectory Magazine, Fall, 11-12.

Continue reading »

Call for Papers: Agent-Based Models of Geographical Systems

Call for Papers: Agent-Based Models of Geographical Systems
IGU Leeds, Applied GIS and Spatial Modelling: 29 May – 2 June 2013

The use of agent-based models is now becoming widespread within the social sciences. With the maturity of these methodologies, there has been an accompanying development in applications for exploring a wide range of geographical, and more broadly, social sciences problems facing society.

The aim of this session is to bring together researchers who are using ABM within the context of Applied GIS or Spatial Modelling.  Papers which explore the relationships between ABM and other related techniques such as spatial microsimulation or cellular automata, and their uses within policy frameworks of substantive applications to geographical problems, will be particularly welcome.
Specific areas of interest include the following:

  • Linking ABM to GIScience and visualization of models and their outputs
  • Work concerned with the calibration, verification and validation of models, or the development of appropriate methods such as genetic algorithms and other geocomputational methods
  • The use of models alongside new forms of data such as social media or volunteered geographical information
  • Representations of agent behavior within geographical systems
  • Substantive applications to geographical problems and policy issues
  • Papers which explore the interactions and linkages to other methods and techniques

Important Dates:

  • Abstract submission: 250 – 300 words before Dec 01 2012
  • Notification: before Feb 01 2013
  • Conference dates: May 29th – 2nd June 2013, Leeds, UK.

Organizers:

Continue reading »

Call for Papers: Agent-Based Models of Geographical Systems

Call for Papers: Agent-Based Models of Geographical Systems
IGU Leeds, Applied GIS and Spatial Modelling: 29 May – 2 June 2013

The use of agent-based models is now becoming widespread within the social sciences. With the maturity of these methodologies, there has been an accompanying development in applications for exploring a wide range of geographical, and more broadly, social sciences problems facing society.

The aim of this session is to bring together researchers who are using ABM within the context of Applied GIS or Spatial Modelling.  Papers which explore the relationships between ABM and other related techniques such as spatial microsimulation or cellular automata, and their uses within policy frameworks of substantive applications to geographical problems, will be particularly welcome.
Specific areas of interest include the following:

  • Linking ABM to GIScience and visualization of models and their outputs
  • Work concerned with the calibration, verification and validation of models, or the development of appropriate methods such as genetic algorithms and other geocomputational methods
  • The use of models alongside new forms of data such as social media or volunteered geographical information
  • Representations of agent behavior within geographical systems
  • Substantive applications to geographical problems and policy issues
  • Papers which explore the interactions and linkages to other methods and techniques

Important Dates:

  • Abstract submission: 250 – 300 words before Dec 01 2012
  • Notification: before Feb 01 2013
  • Conference dates: May 29th – 2nd June 2013, Leeds, UK.

Organizers:

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Copenhagen and Hong Kong: Mapping Global Leaders in Green Transport

Cities that achieve social and economic success without high car use generally have three things in common: high densities, good urban design, and successful planning frameworks that integrate land-use with public transport, walking and cycling networks. I’ve been working on an LSE Cities project that investigated two leading global cities in green transport- Copenhagen and … Continue reading

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Telefonica (02) plans to explore Big Data

Telecommunication companies are sitting on a gold mine. With the prevalence of mobile devices in our every day life, for example reports from Google IO are that 400 million Android devices have been activated at a rate of 1,000,000 activations per day, the data that we generate as a collective group is phenomenal. Phone companies […]

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