[Ica-osgeo-labs] Urban Science - City Analytics - first thoughts

Mon Feb 23 05:12:17 PST 2015

Charlie - thanks for this updates and this sounds perfect call.

The reason that we are now going to setup 5 region wise groups for GeoforAll (Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia) in addition to accommodate the rapid expansion is also to make sure the chairs of these regions can then look for appropriate funding calls to expand our regional collaborations. Maria Brovelli as chair of Europe has already started on this :) She will inform details in due course.

I will create wiki sites for all thematic groups (both regional and subject wise) later today and inform you all to start using. The seperate maillists etc will take few more days as after 25th Feb, i will send request to setup these maillists to OSGeo SAC.

Suchith
________________________________________
From: ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Charles Schweik [cschweik at pubpol.umass.edu]
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2015 12:43 PM
To: Chris Pettit
Cc: ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org; Ingo Simonis; Anthony Beck; Gabor Remetey; Doreen Boyd; Chandola,   Varun; Jim Miller (miller at ittc.ku.edu); Giuseppe Conti; MELICK Brandt
Subject: Re: [Ica-osgeo-labs] Urban Science - City Analytics - first thoughts

Hi,

On the US side, one program we might consider a submission to is the National Science Foundation's GENERAL Research Coordination Network program [1]. The geosciences directorate is involved in this.

The negative is that while they encourage international participation, the funding primarily goes to US participants, but we might be able to organize workshops and travel funds to US institutions.

I think we should try and sketch out what we want to do -- e.g., key research questions or the network research agenda, etc. -- and then we approach the appropriate program officer to see if they would be willing to entertain a full proposal.

Lastly, are there any other such network-building funding RFPs in other countries or the EU that we should look into?

Suchith - do you want me to start the OSGeo wiki page?

Charlie

[1] http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15527/nsf15527.htm

On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 6:44 AM, Chris Pettit <cpettit at unimelb.edu.au<mailto:cpettit at unimelb.edu.au>> wrote:
Hi All,

Great there is such enthusiasm for this thematic and I look forward to working with you all on it.

Suchith  is helping us set up our own OSGeo mail server and OSGeo wiki to support use. So I think once we have these sorted we can really start contributing and documenting all ideas on the wiki so we don’t lose any of these.

Charlie, like your 4 direction points. I would like to see we keep point 3 around inventory of key education needs/desires as a number of us will be keen to look at using the open source tools and data for teaching and researching into the area of urban science – city analytics, which in turn aim to address a number of real world issues facing our cities and built environment.

Regards

Chris

From: <Hogan>, "Patrick (ARC-PX)" <patrick.hogan at nasa.gov<mailto:patrick.hogan at nasa.gov>>
Date: Monday, 23 February 2015 7:23 am
To: "ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org>" <ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org>>
Cc: Charles Schweik <cschweik at pubpol.umass.edu<mailto:cschweik at pubpol.umass.edu>>, "Chandola, Varun" <chandola at buffalo.edu<mailto:chandola at buffalo.edu>>, Anthony Beck <ant.beck at gmail.com<mailto:ant.beck at gmail.com>>, Jeremy Morley <Jeremy.Morley at nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:Jeremy.Morley at nottingham.ac.uk>>, cpettit <cpettit at unimelb.edu.au<mailto:cpettit at unimelb.edu.au>>, SERGIO ACOSTAYLARA <sergio.acostaylara at mtop.gub.uy<mailto:sergio.acostaylara at mtop.gub.uy>>, Antoni Pérez Navarro <aperezn at uoc.edu<mailto:aperezn at uoc.edu>>, Doreen Boyd <Doreen.Boyd at nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:Doreen.Boyd at nottingham.ac.uk>>, "Phil Davis (pdavis at delmar.edu<mailto:pdavis at delmar.edu>)" <pdavis at delmar.edu<mailto:pdavis at delmar.edu>>, "Suchith Anand (suchith_anand at yahoo.com<mailto:suchith_anand at yahoo.com>)" <suchith_anand at yahoo.com<mailto:suchith_anand at yahoo.com>>, "Jim Miller (miller at ittc.ku.edu<mailto:miller at ittc.ku.edu>)" <miller at ittc.ku.edu<mailto:miller at ittc.ku.edu>>, MELICK Brandt <bmelick at springfield-or.gov<mailto:bmelick at springfield-or.gov>>, "Mueller, Thomas" <Mueller at calu.edu<mailto:Mueller at calu.edu>>, "Tkachenko, Nataliya" <N.Tkachenko at warwick.ac.uk<mailto:N.Tkachenko at warwick.ac.uk>>, "Ye, Xinyue" <xye5 at kent.edu<mailto:xye5 at kent.edu>>, Ruslan Rainis <rruslan at usm.my<mailto:rruslan at usm.my>>, Ingo Simonis <isimonis at opengeospatial.org<mailto:isimonis at opengeospatial.org>>, Gabor Remetey <gabor.remetey at gmail.com<mailto:gabor.remetey at gmail.com>>, "Maria Brovelli (maria.brovelli at polimi.it<mailto:maria.brovelli at polimi.it>)" <maria.brovelli at polimi.it<mailto:maria.brovelli at polimi.it>>, Giuseppe Conti <Giuseppe.Conti at trilogis.it<mailto:Giuseppe.Conti at trilogis.it>>
Subject: RE: Urban Science - City Analytics - first thoughts

Charlie,

Yes! We need a list of use cases that cities have for addressing their needs.
Then we need to boil that down into a set of requirements/functionalities.
We need to assess which are of more common interest and which might be easier or smarter (more fundamental) to build first.
And we’ll want real cities interested in participating, to be testing this out and providing feedback.

As for a foundational platform, yes World Wind is there, Java, iOS and Android. The interesting thing about the web version (JavaScript/HTML5/WebGL) we are developing now is that it will provide visualization for the subsurface. Much of a city’s infrastructure is underground, so this would seem an essential element. I think the only requirement should be that the OSGEO solution does not require proprietary software and has an open source license that allows others to continually advance the platform as needed.

And I don’t think this effort requires an education component (your item 3). It certainly would be free for GIS courses to include it in their real-world teaching experience. That will happen all on its own, especially if what we are doing proves valuable to the municipalities.

As for Goog docs or OSGEO wiki, the only reason Goog is being ‘nice’ is to sift you and sell you out. So I would prefer an OSGEo wiki.

-Patrick
 650.604.5656<tel:650.604.5656> (office)
 650.269.2788<tel:650.269.2788> (cell)

From: Charles Schweik [mailto:cschweik at pubpol.umass.edu]
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2015 12:33 AM
To: Hogan, Patrick (ARC-PX)
Cc: Chandola, Varun; Anthony Beck; Jeremy Morley; Chris Pettit; SERGIO ACOSTAYLARA; Antoni Pérez Navarro; Doreen Boyd; Phil Davis (pdavis at delmar.edu<mailto:pdavis at delmar.edu>); Suchith Anand (suchith_anand at yahoo.com<mailto:suchith_anand at yahoo.com>); Jim Miller (miller at ittc.ku.edu<mailto:miller at ittc.ku.edu>); MELICK Brandt; Mueller, Thomas; Tkachenko, Nataliya; Ye, Xinyue; Ruslan Rainis; Ingo Simonis; Gabor Remetey; Maria Brovelli (maria.brovelli at polimi.it<mailto:maria.brovelli at polimi.it>); Giuseppe Conti; ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org>
Subject: Re: Urban Science - City Analytics - first thoughts

Patrick, Chris, All:

One direction would be to use this common interest across the network to do these things:

1) Inventory who in our network is doing what development or application in this Urban Science area currently;
2) Inventory key needs or research questions on the development (and application) side;
3) Inventory key educational needs/desires;
4) Use this above to develop a shared document (Google Doc or OSGeo wiki page maybe?) that we could use to go after funding to support our network.

I'm now freeing up to start to think about research network grant proposal writing... I don't know if somehow NASA's Worldwind could be a foundational technology here somehow?

My two cents,

Charlie

On Sun, Feb 22, 2015 at 6:33 AM, Hogan, Patrick (ARC-PX) <patrick.hogan at nasa.gov<mailto:patrick.hogan at nasa.gov>> wrote:
Dear Urban Science - City Analytics Folks,

Chris Pettit is leading this and I am here to help. Each of you who are personally addressed, have expressed interest in moving this Urban Science - City Analytics theme into a bright future. If we think of this as putting the planet on track from the ground up, this is it, one city at a time! Solutions that we collectively share!!! To become a groundswell for all!

I think there may be a better name for this than "Urban Science - City Analytics" maybe 'Municipal Munificence' (just kidding) but at lease something less techno, i.e., SmartCity? This enterprise will not only address management of city infrastructure, zoning, permit process, taxation, flooding, traffic, routing of garbage trucks, and all the other munificent things integral to community living, but it will do this with an eye for constant improvement (analytics) to increase sustainability, prepare for climate change, and simply orient ongoing repair and growth in ways that continually improve the quality of city life.

This will necessarily decrease vehicle traffic, increase bicycle and pedestrian traffic, enhance more self-sufficient communities, increase cooperatives, and make schools, stores and services more accessible to more 'localized' communities. Then connect those local communities with each other via major public transportation arteries.

Okay, however ideal we orient, we must first address ^basic^ city management issues. Let's put together a list of what those are and then together prioritize them. At least that will establish the target. I see a lot of activity out there already thinking about these things. . .

Master programme in Sustainable Cities at Aalborg University Copenhagen
http://sustainablecities.aau.dk/

Climate Adaptation Guidebook for Municipalities
http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/documents/10180/14193/FY13-0119+Climate+Adaptation+toolkit+lowres.pdf

General background info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_city
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_energy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_transport
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_living

WoW! A place where I would like to live!
A rural town in Italy, a leader in energy sustainability:
http://reregions.blogspot.com/2010/03/varese-ligure-italy.html

Local Grocery
http://www.cooperativegrocer.coop/articles/2004-01-08/mondragons-eroski-mass-retailer
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/the-new-economy/mondragon-worker-cooperatives-decide-how-to-ride-out-a-downturn

Local Agriculture & Industrial Equipment
http://opensourceecology.org/gvcs/gvcs-machine-index/
http://www.ted.com/talks/marcin_jakubowski

Anyway, just a shot over our bow.
What shall we do? Where to from here?

-Patrick

 Patrick.Hogan at nasa.gov<mailto:Patrick.Hogan at nasa.gov>
 Project Manager
 NASA World Wind
 650.604.5656<tel:650.604.5656> (office)
 650.269.2788<tel:650.269.2788> (cell)

--
Charlie Schweik

Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Dept of Environmental Conservation and Center for Public Policy and Administration

Personal website: http://people.umass.edu/cschweik
Publications: http://works.bepress.com/charles_schweik/

Author, Internet Success: A Study of Open Source Software (MIT Press, 2012) - see http://tinyurl.com/d3e4545

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--
Charlie Schweik

Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Dept of Environmental Conservation and Center for Public Policy and Administration

Personal website: http://people.umass.edu/cschweik
Publications: http://works.bepress.com/charles_schweik/

Author, Internet Success: A Study of Open Source Software (MIT Press, 2012) - see http://tinyurl.com/d3e4545

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A: http://five.sentenc.es

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