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Defining principles for mobile apps and platforms development in citizen science

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In December 2016, ECSA and the Natural History Museum in Berlin organised a  workshop on analysing apps, platforms, and portals for citizen science projects. Now, the report from the workshop has evolved into an open peer review paper on RIO Journal. RIO is worth noticing: is “The Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO) journal” and what … Continue reading Defining principles for mobile apps and platforms development in citizen science

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citizen cyberscience, citizen science, Citizen Science apps, Conference, ECSA, European Citizen Science Association, GeoHCI, GIS, GIS Usability, Human–computer interaction, Papers, Platforms, Research projects, TogetherScience, Usability, VGI

More highlights from the RGS-IBG Annual Conference

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PGRG Blog #3, October 2017 Postgraduate Contributions to Population Geography By Charlotte Bolton and Andreas Culora Given the previous year’s success, this postgraduate session sponsored by the Population Geography Research Group and the Postgraduate Forum returned to the conference, attracting a new cohort of postgraduate Population Geographers. The session was convened by the authors and … More More highlights from the RGS-IBG Annual Conference

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Call for Papers – Computation for Public Engagement in Complex Problems

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Call for Papers – Computation for Public Engagement in Complex Problems: From Big Data, to Modeling, to Action 

We welcome paper submissions for our session(s) at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting on 9-14 April, 2018, in New Orleans.  

Session Description: In line with one of the major themes of this conference, we explore the opportunities and challenges that geo-computational tools offer to support public engagement, deliberation and decision-making to address complex problems that link human, socioeconomic and biophysical systems at a variety of different spatial and temporal scales (e.g., climate change, resource depletion, and poverty). Modelers and data scientists have shown increasing interest in the intersection between science and policy, acknowledging that, for all the computational advances achieved to support policy and decision-making, these approaches remain frustratingly foreign to the public they are meant to serve. On one hand, there is a persistent gap in the public’s understanding of and reasoning about complex systems, resulting in unintended and undesirable consequences. On the other hand, there is significant public skepticism about the knowledge generated by the modeling community and its ability to inform policy and decision-making.

We invite theoretical, methodological, and empirical papers that explore advances in geo-computational approaches, including part or all the process to address complex problems: from data collection and analysis, to the development and use of models, to supporting action with data analysis and modeling. We are interested in any work that contributes towards the overall goal of supporting public engagement and action around complex problems, including—but not limited to—the following topics:

  • epistemological perspectives; 
  • extracting behavioral rules from novel and established data sets; 
  • innovative applications of complex systems techniques, and 
  • addressing the challenge of complex systems model calibration and validation. 

Please e-mail the abstract and key words with your expression of intent to Moira Zellner (mzellner@uic.edu) by October 18, 2017 (one week before the AAG abstract deadline). Please make sure that your abstract conforms to the AAG guidelines in relation to title, word limit and key words and as specified at: http://annualmeeting.aag.org/submit_an_abstract. An abstract should be no more than 250 words that describe the presentation’s purpose, methods, and conclusions.

 Timeline summary: 

  • October 18, 2017: Abstract submission deadline. E-mail Moira Zellner (mzellner@uic.edu) by this date if you are interested in being in this session. Please submit an abstract and key words with your expression of intent. 
  • October 23, 2017: Session finalization and author notification. 
  • October 25, 2017: Final abstract submission to AAG, via the link above. All participants must register individually via this site. Upon registration you will be given a participant number (PIN). Send the PIN and a copy of your final abstract to Moira Zellner. Neither the organizers nor the AAG will edit the abstracts. 
  • November 8, 2017: AAG session organization deadline. Sessions submitted to AAG for approval. 
  • April 9-14, 2018: AAG Annual Meeting.  

Organizers:

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AAG, ABM, GeoComputation

Call for Papers – Computation for Public Engagement in Complex Problems

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Call for Papers – Computation for Public Engagement in Complex Problems: From Big Data, to Modeling, to Action 

We welcome paper submissions for our session(s) at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting on 9-14 April, 2018, in New Orleans.  

Session Description: In line with one of the major themes of this conference, we explore the opportunities and challenges that geo-computational tools offer to support public engagement, deliberation and decision-making to address complex problems that link human, socioeconomic and biophysical systems at a variety of different spatial and temporal scales (e.g., climate change, resource depletion, and poverty). Modelers and data scientists have shown increasing interest in the intersection between science and policy, acknowledging that, for all the computational advances achieved to support policy and decision-making, these approaches remain frustratingly foreign to the public they are meant to serve. On one hand, there is a persistent gap in the public’s understanding of and reasoning about complex systems, resulting in unintended and undesirable consequences. On the other hand, there is significant public skepticism about the knowledge generated by the modeling community and its ability to inform policy and decision-making.

We invite theoretical, methodological, and empirical papers that explore advances in geo-computational approaches, including part or all the process to address complex problems: from data collection and analysis, to the development and use of models, to supporting action with data analysis and modeling. We are interested in any work that contributes towards the overall goal of supporting public engagement and action around complex problems, including—but not limited to—the following topics:

  • epistemological perspectives; 
  • extracting behavioral rules from novel and established data sets; 
  • innovative applications of complex systems techniques, and 
  • addressing the challenge of complex systems model calibration and validation. 

Please e-mail the abstract and key words with your expression of intent to Moira Zellner (mzellner@uic.edu) by October 18, 2017 (one week before the AAG abstract deadline). Please make sure that your abstract conforms to the AAG guidelines in relation to title, word limit and key words and as specified at: http://annualmeeting.aag.org/submit_an_abstract. An abstract should be no more than 250 words that describe the presentation’s purpose, methods, and conclusions.

 Timeline summary: 

  • October 18, 2017: Abstract submission deadline. E-mail Moira Zellner (mzellner@uic.edu) by this date if you are interested in being in this session. Please submit an abstract and key words with your expression of intent. 
  • October 23, 2017: Session finalization and author notification. 
  • October 25, 2017: Final abstract submission to AAG, via the link above. All participants must register individually via this site. Upon registration you will be given a participant number (PIN). Send the PIN and a copy of your final abstract to Moira Zellner. Neither the organizers nor the AAG will edit the abstracts. 
  • November 8, 2017: AAG session organization deadline. Sessions submitted to AAG for approval. 
  • April 9-14, 2018: AAG Annual Meeting.  

Organizers:

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AAG, ABM, GeoComputation

Local Maps

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Not all maps of London need to cover the whole, 33 borough, 8 million-population metropolis. Here’s three maps that focus more on a local area: 1. Tottenham This attractive little map promotes a number of the new start-up businesses in the area – including a climbing wall, a brewery/bar, and arts centre and a concept […]

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Art, James Merry, Pencil Bandit, Running with Crayons, south-east, south-east London, southall, tottenham

Global Prospects for a Post-Car World

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Earlier this year I worked on some charts and maps for a Greenpeace report authored by sustainable transport academic Robin Hickman, exploring the impacts of automobile dependence and the prospects for a post-car world. The report is online here. The much debated phenomenon of ‘peak-car’ can be observed in many countries in the global north, … Continue reading Global Prospects for a Post-Car World →

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comparative urbanism, Publications, sustainability, Transport

Chapter in ‘Understanding Spatial Media’ on VGI & Citizen Science

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The book ‘Understanding Spatial Media‘ came out earlier this year. The project is the result of joint effort of the editors Rob Kitchin (NUI Maynooth, Ireland), Tracey P. Lauriault (Carleton University, Canada), and Matthew W. Wilson (University of Kentucky, USA). The book is filling the need to review and explain what happened in the part 20 years, with the increase use … Continue reading Chapter in ‘Understanding Spatial Media’ on VGI & Citizen Science

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Book, citizen science, Geospatial technology, GeoWeb, GIS, OpenStreetMap, Papers, PPGIS, VGI, Volunteered Geographic Information, Web 2.0

Finally, a Python workflow that actually works

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I do all my exploratory data work in Jupyter Notebook. It’s an amazing mix of nicely-formatted text, syntax-highlighted code and clear outputs. I love it: But it’s not the complete package. I often want to peek at the results of a calculation I’ve done, just to verify to myself that I know what I’m doing. … Continue reading “Finally, a Python workflow that actually works”

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Landmarks of London

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We featured Bridges of London earlier this week. However, the public realm relating to the Thames is more than the river itself and the bridges crossing it. One of London’s defining features, in recent times, as the Thames has cleaned and the spaces beside it have become less-traffic choked, is its riverside frontage. This lovely […]

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Art, bankside, bridge, bridges, Martin Thompson, River Thames, riverside, thames, Thompson

The Benefits of Geospatial Analysis in Marketing

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Marketing is much more than creating advertisements that are outrageous and eye-catching, it’s a fine and intricate process that people spend years in school learning about. It’s important to remember that without marketing strategies, small and large businesses would have an incredibly difficult time attracting customers and in turn, receiving profits. By taking advantage of […]

The post The Benefits of Geospatial Analysis in Marketing appeared first on GeoTalisman.

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Geospatial Information System

Agent-Based Modeling Chapter

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In the recently published “Comprehensive Geographic Information Systems” edited by Bo Huang, Alison Heppenstall, Nick Malleson and myself have a chapter entitled “Agent-based Modelling“1. Within the chapter, we provide a overview of agent-based modeling (ABM) especially for the geographical sciences. This includes a section on how ABM emerged i.e. “The Rise of the (Automated) Machines“, along with a discussion on what constitutes an agent. This is followed with steps to building an agent-based model, including: 1) the preparation and design; 2) model implementation 3) and how one goes about evaluating a model (i.e. verification, calibration and validation and how these are particularity challenging with respect to spatial agent-based models). We then discuss how we can integrate space and GIS into agent-based models and review a number of open-source ABM toolkits (e.g. GAMA, MASON, NetLogo) before concluding with challenges and opportunities that we see ahead of us, such as adding more complex behaviors to agent-based models, and how “big data” offers new avenues for multiscale calibration and validation of agent-based models.  If you are still reading this, below you can read the abstract of the paper and find the full reference to the chapter.

Abstract:

Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a technique that allows us to explore how the interactions of heterogeneous individuals impact on the wider behavior of social/spatial systems. In this article, we introduce ABM and its utility for studying geographical systems. We discuss how agent-based models have evolved over the last 20 years and situate the discipline within the broader arena of geographical modeling. The main properties of ABM are introduced and we discuss how models are capable of capturing and incorporating human behavior. We then discuss the steps taken in building an agent-based model and the issues of verification and validation of such models. As the focus of the article is on ABM of geographical systems, we then discuss the need for integrating geographical information into models and techniques and toolkits that allow for such integration. Once the core concepts and techniques of creating agent-based models have been introduced, we then discuss a wide range of applications of agent-based models for exploring various aspects of geographical systems. We conclude the article by outlining challenges and opportunities of ABM in understanding geographical systems and human behavior.

Keywords: Agent-based modeling; Calibration; Complexity; Geographical information science; Modeling and simulation; Validation; Verification.

Full Reference: 

Crooks, A.T., Heppenstall, A. and Malleson, N. (2018), Agent-based Modelling, in Huang, B. (ed), Comprehensive Geographic Information Systems, Elsevier, Oxford, England. Volume 1, pp. 218-243 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.09704-9. (pdf)

1. [Readers of this blog might of expected the chapter would be about Agent-based Modeling, but its still worth a read!]↩

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ABM, ABM Examples, ABM Platforms, GIS

Agent-Based Modeling Chapter

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In the recently published “Comprehensive Geographic Information Systems” edited by Bo Huang, Alison Heppenstall, Nick Malleson and myself have a chapter entitled “Agent-based Modelling“1. Within the chapter, we provide a overview of agent-based modeling (ABM) especially for the geographical sciences. This includes a section on how ABM emerged i.e. “The Rise of the (Automated) Machines“, along with a discussion on what constitutes an agent. This is followed with steps to building an agent-based model, including: 1) the preparation and design; 2) model implementation 3) and how one goes about evaluating a model (i.e. verification, calibration and validation and how these are particularity challenging with respect to spatial agent-based models). We then discuss how we can integrate space and GIS into agent-based models and review a number of open-source ABM toolkits (e.g. GAMA, MASON, NetLogo) before concluding with challenges and opportunities that we see ahead of us, such as adding more complex behaviors to agent-based models, and how “big data” offers new avenues for multiscale calibration and validation of agent-based models.  If you are still reading this, below you can read the abstract of the paper and find the full reference to the chapter.

Abstract:

Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a technique that allows us to explore how the interactions of heterogeneous individuals impact on the wider behavior of social/spatial systems. In this article, we introduce ABM and its utility for studying geographical systems. We discuss how agent-based models have evolved over the last 20 years and situate the discipline within the broader arena of geographical modeling. The main properties of ABM are introduced and we discuss how models are capable of capturing and incorporating human behavior. We then discuss the steps taken in building an agent-based model and the issues of verification and validation of such models. As the focus of the article is on ABM of geographical systems, we then discuss the need for integrating geographical information into models and techniques and toolkits that allow for such integration. Once the core concepts and techniques of creating agent-based models have been introduced, we then discuss a wide range of applications of agent-based models for exploring various aspects of geographical systems. We conclude the article by outlining challenges and opportunities of ABM in understanding geographical systems and human behavior.

Keywords: Agent-based modeling; Calibration; Complexity; Geographical information science; Modeling and simulation; Validation; Verification.

Full Reference: 

Crooks, A.T., Heppenstall, A. and Malleson, N. (2018), Agent-based Modelling, in Huang, B. (ed), Comprehensive Geographic Information Systems, Elsevier, Oxford, England. Volume 1, pp. 218-243 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.09704-9. (pdf)

1. [Readers of this blog might of expected the chapter would be about Agent-based Modeling, but its still worth a read!]↩

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ABM, ABM Examples, ABM Platforms, GIS

Bridges of London

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The River Thames is London’s defining geographical feature and its inclusion is almost mandatory on any map attempting to cover the whole of the capital. Bridges are most Londoners’ visible contact with the river, with over 30 spanning the river in London, including elevated crossing by the so-called “Underground”. As such, illustrated maps of the […]

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Art, bridge, bridges, Lis Watkins, river, River Thames, thames, Watkins

Changing departments – the pros and cons of being away from home discipline(s)

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Last weekend, I updated my Linkedin page to indicate that I’ve now completed the move between departments at UCL – from the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering to the Department of Geography. It’s not just me – the Extreme Citizen Science group will be now based at the Department of Geography. With this move, … Continue reading Changing departments – the pros and cons of being away from home discipline(s)

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Academia and business, academic career, citizen science, engineering, Extreme Citizen Science, Geography, GIS, GIS Usability, Interdisciplinary research, VGI

Highlights from RGS-IBG

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PGRG Blog #3, September 2017 Negotiating Brexit: Migrant spatialities and identities in a changing Europe By Kate Botterill and David McCollum Three sessions on ‘Negotiating Brexit’ at the 2017 RGS-IBG Annual Conference showcased emerging research on the impacts of Brexit on EU and non-EU nationals in the UK, British nationals in Europe and on established … More Highlights from RGS-IBG

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New paper – Exploring Engagement Characteristics and Behaviours of Environmental Volunteers

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A new paper that is based on the PhD work of Valentine Seymour is out. Valentine has been researching the patterns of volunteering in environmental projects at the organisation The Conservation Volunteers. In the paper, we draw parallels between the activities of environmental volunteers and citizen science participants. The analysis demonstrates that the patterns of … Continue reading New paper – Exploring Engagement Characteristics and Behaviours of Environmental Volunteers

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citizen science, environmental volunteering, Papers, Participation Inequality, Research projects, TCV, The Conservation Volunteers

TfL seeking permanent customer wi-fi data collection on the Tube – Rail Technology Magazine

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Rail Technology Magazine

TfL seeking permanent customer wi-fi data collection on the Tube
Rail Technology Magazine
Dr Hannah Fry, from the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London, added that wi-fi data offers a “completely new way” of viewing what’s happening underground, exposing the network’s pinch points and helping understand how and …
Wi-Fi use + big data analytics = better passenger journeys in London?SmartRail World (press release)

all 8 news articles »
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GDP may partly be “based on randomly generated numbers”

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GDP is easy to describe. It’s one of the reasons it is so popular as a measure of what a country “does” economically. You just add up everything that’s produced in a given year, and subtract all the stuff that went into making it. What’s left is the genuinely “new” stuff the economy produced that … Continue reading “GDP may partly be “based on randomly generated numbers””

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TfL seeking permanent customer wi-fi data collection on the Tube – Rail Technology Magazine

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Rail Technology Magazine

TfL seeking permanent customer wi-fi data collection on the Tube
Rail Technology Magazine
Dr Hannah Fry, from the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London, added that wi-fi data offers a “completely new way” of viewing what’s happening underground, exposing the network’s pinch points and helping understand how and …
Wi-Fi use + big data analytics = better passenger journeys in London?SmartRail World (press release)

all 8 news articles »
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TfL seeking permanent customer wi-fi data collection on the Tube – Rail Technology Magazine

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Rail Technology Magazine

TfL seeking permanent customer wi-fi data collection on the Tube
Rail Technology Magazine
Dr Hannah Fry, from the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London, added that wi-fi data offers a “completely new way” of viewing what’s happening underground, exposing the network’s pinch points and helping understand how and …

and more »
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Crowdsourced: navigation & location-based services

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Once you switch the smartphone off from email and social media network, you can notice better when and how you’re crowdsourced. By this, I mean that use of applications to contribute data is sometimes clearer as the phone becomes less of communication technology and more of information technology (while most of the time it is … Continue reading Crowdsourced: navigation & location-based services

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GIS, GIS Usability, Google Maps, GPS, Navigation, SatNav, TripAdvisor, Usability, VGI, Volunteered Geographic Information, Waze

Pilot shows how WiFi data can improve Tube journeys – WebWire (press release)

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WebWire (press release)

Pilot shows how WiFi data can improve Tube journeys
WebWire (press release)
Dr Hannah Fry from the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London, said: “By doing this study, TfL have demonstrated the very real way that big data can benefit us all. Using WiFi to understand how people are moving through …

and more »
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