by Matt Ball on February 10, 2012
SmartBin, an Ireland-based sensor system that monitors the fill levels of recycling containers, and Trimble, a Calif.-based positioning technology company, have teamed to combine sensors and location for more efficient solutions for the environmental services and recycling markets. The bin sensors will be coupled with positioning technology, fleet management, asset management and other logistics and [...]
by Matt Ball on February 5, 2012
As growing season approaches, I’ve been doing some online research into how I can better manage my garden this year. I stumbled across videos from Bigelow Brook Farm, and want to share the inspiring engineering of this automated hydroponic system. It’s a great example of a finely tuned sensored system, with an automated hydroponic system [...]
by Matt Ball on February 2, 2012
The Open Geospatial Consortium has recently released a professionally-produced video that condenses the value of interconnected geospatial data (particularly through sensors) as well as the value of the consortium. The piece uses a multi-narrator approach, where different actors from different nationalities finish each other’s sentences. The result is a compelling global appeal for the value [...]
by Matt Ball on February 1, 2012
The United Nations has just launched an information system to improve the exchange of weather, climate and water data. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Information System simplifies the international exchange of this information, while reducing costs, and exploiting the latest communications technologies. This service is expected to aid disaster risk reduction, water management, food security, [...]
by Matt Ball on January 26, 2012
The U.S. Geological Survey’s NetQuakes project is rolling out a new network of seismograph sensors that will form a denser network of readings to better measure ground motion during earthquakes. The new type of digital seismograph connects to a local network via WiFi and transmits its data direct to the USGS after an earthquake of [...]
by Matt Ball on January 23, 2012
Safe Software continues to innovate far beyond the extract, transform and load of different spatial data formats. The company takes its role of being an aid to workflows seriously, and has recently added functionality to their FME Server that provides a conduit between sensors and systems. I spoke to Dale Lutz, co-founder & VP Development, [...]
by Matt Ball on January 19, 2012
The Living Labs Global Award aims to improve the living standards of more than 100m citizens through an effort to find innovative urban solutions. There are twenty global cities participating in this challenge, including Barcelona, Cape Town, Lagos, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and San Francisco. Th challenge is organized by Living Labs Global with [...]
by Matt Ball on January 16, 2012
In a telling news story of the times, the Lake Champlain Basin monitoring program nearly lost its funding and narrowly avoided being shut down. The program has received earmarked congressional funding for NOAA and the USGS to run monitoring stations through the efforts of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), which has recently been closed as a [...]
by Matt Ball on January 11, 2012
Braden Allenby gave a keynote at last week’s GeoDesign Summit, and I had the pleasure of sitting down with him for an interview. I’ve been an Allenby fan for some time, having read and re-read Reconstructing Earth and just recently having read The Techno-Human Condition. Allenby is a big-picture thinker, an engineer that trains students [...]
by Matt Ball on January 6, 2012
Dr. Lilian Pintea, the Jane Goodall Institute’s vice president of conservation science, spoke today at the GeoDesign Summit about the Takare Project framework used to conserve great ape habitat in Africa. According to Pintea, GeoDesign is the only approach now possible with current human density in Africa where the areas they are working are seeing [...]