UC Berkeley is establishing a new institute to enable university researchers to harness the full potential of the data-rich world that today characterizes all fields of science and discovery. The Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS) will be part of a multi-million dollar effort supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
The new 5-year, $37.8 million initiative was announced today at a meeting sponsored by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) focused on developing innovative partnerships to advance technologies that support advanced data management and data analytic techniques.
The ambitious Moore/Sloan partnership, which also includes New York University and the University of Washington, will spur collaborations within and across the three campuses and other partners pursuing similar data-intensive science goals. The three PIs who lead the respective campus efforts – Saul Perlmutter at UC Berkeley, Ed Lazowska at the University of Washington, and Yann Le Cunn at NYU – will promote common approaches to form the basis for ongoing collaboration between the three campuses.
To provide a home for the new Berkeley Institute for Data Science UC Berkeley has set aside renovated space in a historical library building on the central campus in 190 Doe Library. The Institute is expected to move into its new quarters in spring 2014. In order to help address challenges related to creating and sustaining attractive career paths the new Institute will offer new Data Science Fellow positions for faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and staff to be shared with departmental partners across the campus. The new Institute will also offer support for graduate students, and organize short courses, boot camps, hack-a-thons and many other activities.
More information about specific BIDS programs will be forthcoming in the coming weeks. The new Institute will be launched at a campus event on December 12, 2013. If you or your students and collaborators are interested in participating in the Data Science Faire that day, please be sure to register at http://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/datascience/dec12-registration. The deadline is November 25, 2013.
For updates and more information, please visit http://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/datascience/overview-data-science and contact data science@berkeley.edu with any questions you may have.
YolandaPH is a ESRI-based mapping platform for post-disaster response in the Philippines. Snapshot above.
These maps were produced using a selection of photos from Twitter, Facebook, news articles, and other websites curated using the MicroMapper platform. The locations are approximate and more photos and information are currently being mapped and categorized by the GIS Corps.
Hundreds of digital humanitarian volunteers worldwide, including media monitors, translators, GIS specialists, statistical analysts, emotional support teams, and standby task forces, are working around the clock with rescue and recovery efforts, particularly in the hard-hit eastern city of Tacloban.
"DHN is sorting through very high volumes of social media information,” said Sara Jane Terp, a DHN volunteer with the Standby Volunteer Task Force.
Approximately 182,000 tweets have been collected and automatically filtered down to 35,715 based on relevance and uniqueness, according to Carden.
Volunteers use triangulation (comparing information against two other sources, such as traditional media and official government reports) to verify information. The time-consuming work is made easier because of the large number of volunteers working in different time zones.
Useful slideshow of the workflow is found here.
from: http://www.irinnews.org/report/99102/micro-mapping-philippine-s-typhoon-disaster
The United Kingdom (UK) Forestry Commission has updated its P. ramorum larch outbreak map (http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-86ajqa) to include Northern Ireland.
The map at left identifies areas where there is or has been confirmed or presumed infection in larch trees. Laboratory analysis of samples returns conclusive results in only a minority of cases, so a presumption of infection is used where all the other indications point to the presence of P. ramorum infection.
The colored dots on the map indicate sites where P. ramorum has been confirmed or presumed, and statutory plant health notices (SPHNs) have been issued. Each colour represents the April-March year in which this occurred.
The Galloway Red Zone in southwest Scotland has also been added to the map. The Red Zone is the region of Scotland where the rate and severity of disease spread is too intense for control through tree felling; consequently, this region will have requirements put in place regarding the movement of infected timber and bark. Control by statutory plant health notices requiring sanitation felling will continue elsewhere in Scotland. For more information on the status of the situation in Scotland, go to http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-9bglrr.
- Author: Shane Feirer
The UC system and Esri, the world leader in GIS software, have an agreement that allows each UC campus to distribute software to students and faculty. IGIS worked collaboratively with UCOP and the UC system to expand the master site agreement to enable academics and staff within UC ANR access to software and tools provided by ESRI. Because UC ANR is covering the cost for the whole division, UC ANR users will have access to these software and tools at no additional cost.
This change in the master site license will benefit UC ANR in several ways. First, academics and staff who want to use ESRI GIS software (ArcMap) will not need to buy the software from an affiliated UC campus. We can now distribute ESRI GIS software and licenses to academics and staff in UC ANR at no additional cost. Second, UC ANR will have a cloud-based geoportal hosted by ESRI on ArcGIS Online for Organization (http://ucanr.maps.arcgis.com/home/) where academics and staff will be able to browse maps and data created by others within UC ANR. At the geo-portal we will be able be to create and share data and maps containing mash-ups of our data, as well as data from others available from the web. These online maps can then be used to create web mapping applications, mobile apps and dynamic maps for use in presentations. Third, with the access to the new software and tools, problems will arise that we may not be able to resolve on our own. In the past we would have had to work through one of the campuses to receive technical support; now we have direct access to technical support within ESRI.
How do you get access to the new tools?
ArcGIS Software and Data— Desktop application and data that academics and staff can use to create maps and analyze spatial data. To get access to the software you need to go to http://ucanr.edu/sites/IGIS/ESRI_Software and login with your ANR Portal credentials and submit the ESRI Download form. After you submit the form you will receive the links to download the image files for the ESRI Software. Staff at IGIS will create an authorization file and email it to you to complete your installation.
ArcGIS Online for Organization— A cloud-based geo-portal where academics and staff can browse maps and data created by others within UC ANR. To get access to the geo-portal at http://ucanr.maps.arcgis.com/home with the ability to add data and create maps and apps, you will need to request a login from igis@ucanr.edu and complete the user registration.
For more information, contact Shane Feirer at (707) 744-1424 x114 or stfeirer@ucanr.edu.
From Greg Brown.
Helsinki, Finland is developing a new city plan for the future (http://www.hel.fi/wps/portal/Kaupunkisuunnitteluvirasto_en). Helsinki becomes possibly the first major world city to use PPGIS to inform its comprehensive city planning process. The PPGIS website was developed by Mapita (http://mapita.eu/), a software company founded by Prof. Marketta Kytta and others at Aalto University. The website launched several days ago and has already had over 5500 participants map places and preferences for the future of Helsinki.
You can visit the website here: https://helsinki.asiatkartalle.fi (There is an option to try out the website without having your map markers or survey responses included in the results…see option below the “Begin” button that says ”Try without saving answers”).
https://helsinki.asiatkartalle.fi/
