Spring 2016 GIF Workshops
The Geospatial Innovation Facility is excited to announce that we will be offering our standard workshops series for FREE this spring to UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff. Currently we still need to retain our pricing of $224 for all non-UC affiliates. However, space is limited and the workshops will be filled on a first-come first-served basis, so register today at to take advantage of these great training opportunities!
GIF workshops offer hands-on applications oriented training in a variety of geospatial topics. Our Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Introduction to Remote Sensing workshops are designed for participants with little to no experience in GIS, or those who would like to refresh their geospatial skills. Each workshop teaches core geospatial principals and techniques through a combination of lecture and hands-on interactive activities.
We are currently accepting registration for our introductory series of workshops offered over the next several weeks. See more detailed descriptions and register for any of the upcoming trainings at: http://gif.berkeley.edu/support/workshops.html
January 29: Intro to GIS: Social Science Focus
The presentation will get you up to speed on what kind of analyses GIS may be used for, as well as the basic structures of spatial data. After the lecture you will follow an interactive exercise that has been designed to introduce you to ArcGIS Desktop software while analyzing street and census data around the City of Berkeley.
February 5: Intro to GIS: Environmental Science Focus
The presentation will get you up to speed on what kind of analyses GIS may be used for, as well as the basic structures of spatial data. After the lecture you will follow an interactive exercise that has been designed to introduce you to ArcGIS Desktop software while analyzing environmental data from around Lake Tahoe.
February 12: Intro to Open Source GIS: Using QGIS
QGIS is a free and open source geospatial desktop application that has been developing at a rapid pace. Its ease of use and accessibility (available for PC, Mac, and Linux platforms) has created a strong and active user community. In this workshop, we will explore the basic functionality of QGIS so that you may quickly learn how to load and format vector and raster data, edit shapefiles, and query attributes.
February 19: Intro to GIS for Agriculture: Rangeland Focus
An introductory presentation will get you up to speed on what kind of analyses GIS may be used for, as well as the basic structures of spatial data. After this brief lecture you will follow an interactive exercise that will introduce you to using free and open source online data to analyze and map rangelands in the California Central Valley.
February 26: Intro to Remote Sensing: Understanding Digital Imagery
This workshop introduces basic principles of understanding digital imagery, both satellite and aerial. Through a combination of lecture and interactive activities, we will explore what makes up a multi-spectral image, where to find and download them, and how to view and manipulate imagery.
These workshops are held in 124 Mulford Hall and run from 1pm – 4:30pm. Sign-up now for this great opportunity for intensive, hands-on training in geospatial methods, tools, and analysis!
/span>/h2>- Author: Shane Feirer
IGIS goes to the ESRI Open GeoDev Hacker Lab at the University of California Berkeley – GIF on January 15th. ESRI came to the GIF to demonstrate their open tools and data. We were able to create free developer accounts at http://developers.esri.com, with these accounts were able to create feature layers that could be used in webmaps, webapps, and mobile apps hosted by ESRI through ArcGIS online. We also learned how to use these services with other open web mapping tools such as leaflet. With a little javascript programming and patience it seems like the sky is the limit when it comes to what we could create with these tools. In the future IGIS plans to develop a training on using the ArcGIS Online system to its fullest potential and some of the things we learned at this event will be included in the training as well.
Thank you to ESRI and the GIF for making this training opportunity possible.
GIS Day 2015! Happy 10th Birthday to the GIF!
A quick look at the past decade:
The GIF began in November 2015 on a wave of excitement around geospatial technology. In the months leading up to our first GIS Day in 2005, Google Maps launched, then went mobile; Google Earth launched in the summer; and NASA Blue Marble arrived. Hurricane Katrina changed the way we map disasters in real time. The opening up of the Landsat archive at no-cost by the USGS revolutionized how we can monitor the Earth's surface by allowing dense time-series analysis. These and other developments made viewing our world with detail, ease, and beauty commonplace, but these were nothing short of revolutionary - spurring new developments in science, governance and business. The decade since then has been one of intense innovation, and we have seen a rush in geospatial technologies that have enriched our lives immeasurably.
As 2015 ends we can recognize a similar wave of excitement around geospatial technology as we experienced a decade ago, yet one that is more diverse and far reaching than in 2005. This GIS Day we sought to highlight the societal benefit derived from innovators across academia, non-profits, government, and industry.
GIS Day/GIF 10th Anniversary
On November 18 we co-hosted GIS Day with BayGeo (formerly BAAMA) as we have in the past and had well over 180 attendees. Our GIS Day featured posters, lightening talks, presentations, and a panel session that included local innovators from Bay Area Industry, Government, and Non-Profits. Our panel speakers included: Cindy Schmidt (NASA); Gregory Crutsinger (3D Robotics); Karin Tuxen-Bettman (Google); Ken-ichi Ueda (iNaturalist); Sara Dean (Stamen Designs); Jeffrey Miller (GeoWing); and Kyle Brazil (Urthecast). The discussion included what skills they look for in recruiting and where they see the geospatial world going in the next 5 years. It was a fun evening and we got great feedback on the event!
Academic Coordinator III Position
The University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR), Informatics and Geographic Information Systems (IGIS) Program is seeking a Statewide Program Coordinator for both local and statewide program development and delivery. The IGIS Statewide Program seeks to provide innovation, technology, training, and data support for UC ANR’s research and extension mission through the collection, analysis and visualization of geospatial data. We are interested in developing and delivering data-driven tools, research results, and training to support UC ANR Strategic Initiatives: Endemic and invasive pests and diseases, Healthy families and communities, Sustainable food systems, Sustainable natural ecosystems, and Water quality, quantity and security.
The program coordinator will help fulfill the goals of the IGIS Program by facilitating the delivery of research, training, and data support to the UC ANR network. We are looking for a highly specialized academic who will provide vision and leadership on geospatial data resources, analysis and visualization that will serve multiple scientific constituencies at the state and national level. These data resources include: sensor networks, ecological datasets, existing statewide research databases, web-based data frameworks such as APIs, open data collections, and remote sensing collections.
This is a unique academic position within the University of California that allows for intellectual growth, interaction with multiple scientists and academics, and the development of impactful datadriven solutions to California’s agricultural and natural resource challenges.
If you have questions, you can email me: maggi@berkeley.edu
Website: http://ucanr.edu/Jobs/Jobs_990/?jobnum=894
Closing Date: December 31, 2015
Job Description: Download
Download Application: Word | PDF
Minimum and Required Qualifications:
- A PhD Degree in Ecology, Geography, Agriculture, Statistics, or an appropriate related field with experience in data science, geographic information sciences, remote sensing, or ecological informatics is required.
- Experience synthesizing large ecological or socio-ecological datasets and using them in complex local and statewide research projects is required.
- Experience developing and managing research projects including agriculture, ecology, or climate change is required.
- Experience using GIS, remote sensing, and/or web programming software is required.
- The ability to communicate and extend technical information in an understandable manner is required.
- Strong leadership, administration, financial, and management skills are required.
- Knowledge of human relations is required including the ability to work with people with a diversity of views and values, to motivate people and adapt to changing situations.
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More information coming soon.
On January 15th we will hold a full day free workshop on Open Mapping Tools using ESRI.