[Geo4All] Africa Agriculture, Cartography /Remote Sensing & Optimal Production

Sat Nov 25 15:20:30 PST 2017

Charlie,

Assuredly we need to operate on multiple fronts, so as not to ignore the high end (hardware) while servicing the low-end (software). We’ve got to get solutions out there that can serve the masses. It is patently absurd that probably the cost of one bomb, or at most a single fighter jet, would more than cover the cost for every cow, goat and probably chicken, to have and IoT implant. We are probably next, even before the critters.

So meanwhile, back at the proverbial ranch, we’ve got to get el-cheapo solutions operating. And their successful implementation will certainly show what more is possible with additional support.

But I am with you 100%, any pressure we can put on the system to drive prices down, is a beautiful thing indeed!

Weather is going to get more koo-koo as we go on. Providing professional advice to farmers for what is smart to plant given their soil-type, terrain and expected weather, along with guidance on what they are plating now, given the current weather, is something we can do today. We need a team of agriculture, weather and CS majors to come together for that.
Could be a lot of fun, tremendously productive and worthy of UN recognition, if we can pull it off.

-Patrick
(650) 604-5656 (o)
(650) 269-2788 (c)

From: Charlie Schweik [mailto:cschweik at pubpol.umass.edu]
Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2017 2:03 PM
To: Hogan, Patrick (ARC-PX)
Cc: Charlie Martial NGOUNOU; GeoForAll; Dan Bwanika; Suchith Anand
Subject: Re: [Geo4All] Africa Agriculture, Cartography /Remote Sensing & Optimal Production

Probably right, Patrick.

Although I have two "existence proof" projects where students are building relatively low-cost open source hardware for air pollution and water pollution sensing. In the former, the students have a device that is under $100 and collects better data than a $1000 proprietary device in a controlled environment. In the latter, there is a device invented by some engineering students in Bogota Colombia who are now sharing their device build instructions and students at UMass are implementing their device and testing it. These still are cost prohibitive -- as you are suggesting.

My only point is as we move toward the Internet of Things and lower and lower cost sensors and things like Ardunios there is the prospect of GeoForAll labs to begin to work on geospatially-explicit environmental sensor collaborations in the same way we might be doing in software or educational products. If we, as a community, want to move toward smart cities with environmental sensors collecting data and mapping that data, we need to find applications within our network to try and start building collaborations.

But your suggestion on weather information is probably a very good first step and great to see your GitHub project work, Patrick!

Charlie

From: GeoForAll [mailto:geoforall-bounces at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:geoforall-bounces at lists.osgeo.org>] On Behalf Of Hogan, Patrick (ARC-PX)
Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2017 1:11 PM
To: Charlie Schweik; Charlie Martial NGOUNOU
Cc: GeoForAll; Dan Bwanika
Subject: Re: [Geo4All] Africa Agriculture, Cartography /Remote Sensing & Optimal Production

Dan and Charlie(s) Suchith and All,

The hardware in for tracking cows, is not a cheap passive implant but a powered collar affair, and given the cost, seems more a proposal for the Gates Foundation.

Meanwhile, getting weather and other agricultural support to these communities would seem a worthy enterprise.

The thing we are weakest on is assuring each farmer has the best weather information, short-range and medium-range (www.ecmwf.int<http://www.ecmwf.int>), and highly localized.
https://github.com/NASAWorldWindResearch/AgroSphere/wiki
https://github.com/NASAWorldWindResearch/WorldWeather/wiki

Ideally this would provide guidance on respective crops given the soil type and expected weather pattern. The two top winners of the Europa Challenge this past year, both NASA Intern teams, have basic apps that are relevant to serving the local farmer. I am glad to mentor any student or teams that might wish to do more serving these priorities, the same priorities of www.GODAN.info<http://www.GODAN.info>.

-Patrick
(650) 604-5656<tel:(650)%20604-5656> (o)
(650) 269-2788<tel:(650)%20269-2788> (c)

From: GeoForAll [mailto:geoforall-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Charlie Schweik
Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2017 12:22 PM
To: Charlie Martial NGOUNOU
Cc: GeoForAll; Dan Bwanika
Subject: Re: [Geo4All] Africa Agriculture, Cartography /Remote Sensing & Optimal Production

Hello everyone,

So this seems like a problem area where the GeoForAll lab network could establish a cross-university team of students to develop a low-cost open source hardware/mapping application, perhaps under a coordinated independent study?

Are there any labs interested in trying to do this? I *might (no promises yet!)* be able to find a student willing to try on my campus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, to try and collaborate with Daniel over the Internet between January-May. Anyone else?

Charlie

On Sat, Nov 25, 2017 at 4:00 AM, Charlie Martial NGOUNOU <cmngounou at gmail.com<mailto:cmngounou at gmail.com>> wrote:
Hi Daniel

I like what you say here.
Problems you observe in Uganda are similar to what we have in Central Africa.
We need to leverage Geo tools to cartography everything in our countries, because it is very difficult to locate anything here.

Thank you !

Best Regards
---------------------------------------------------------
Charlie Martial NGOUNOU, Founder
AfroLeadership, Promoting Data Revolution in Africa
Tel. 00237 69999 7093, Yaoundé - Cameroon
Click about Charlie M. NGOUNOU ?<http://www.linkedin.com/in/charliemartialngounou/>

On Sat, Nov 25, 2017 at 8:39 AM, Dan Bwanika <bulemezi at gmail.com<mailto:bulemezi at gmail.com>> wrote:
Dear Forum

Recently, I was in the northern central part of Uganda where cattle
keepers have farms in the region of 300 -600 acres. It took me three
hours to locate where the cows had grazed that day.

Then I thought to myself, maybe if each cattle had a GPS/GSM tag, I
would locate the cows in a few minutes instead of walking in an
endless bush. Even then do these people need such huge land for cattle
keeping if they had good aerial data on vegetation, water etc.,?

Uganda key socioeconomic activity is still agriculture and it will
remain the same for some time to come. Uganda if you look closely at
the map is endowed with huge water resources.

For the above reason, this country will need huge cartographical data
on soil profiles, vegetation, crops, water sources, animal husbandry
etc.

That is how technology is converging on Africa in a massive way.

Can we work together on this – get in touch.

Best

Daniel Bwanika

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Daniel Bwanika
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--
Charlie Schweik
Professor
Department of Environmental Conservation &
School of Public Policy
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

"Make positive change in your sphere of influence." -- CMS

--
Charlie Schweik
Professor
Department of Environmental Conservation &
School of Public Policy
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

"Make positive change in your sphere of influence." -- CMS
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