Personal reflections on Geocart

This year at the Geocart conference I was elected to the New Zealand Cartographic Society committee.  Geoff Aitken, the editor of Cartogram, asked me to write a piece for the society's newsletter.

Click through to read the full article: http://cartography.org.nz/images/files/cartogram/NZCS_Cartogram-077_Dec2014.pdf

I raised two key challenges for the conference and cartographic industry in New Zealand - the lack of student and female involvement in the conference (despite high attendance by women).  Let me know what you think!

Intergraph user conference

This might well be my last conference of the season. I've been invited to give a keynote talk on the transport project I've been working in with the ISCR (http://www.iscr.org.nz/n1.html).

A nice variety of talks so far but with a heavier emphasis on vendor talks than I would like. 

The break up of geospatial professions across the different platforms is still strange for me but it does mean that you meet different people at the different user conferences. And the Intergraph conference is very welcoming and inclusive. Worth going along to if you're scoping out the NZ geospatial scene. 

Geocart - mapsmiths unite!

I'm up in Auckland for the week, getting my cartography fix and catching up with what's new in the world of New Zealand mapping.  

The 2014 Geocart conference in Auckland got off to a good start on Tuesday night with an icebreaker.  Selfie with Roger Smith and Kenneth Field as the last cartonerds* or mapsmiths* standing.

The conference is an interesting mix of cartography and GIS so far spanning the hidden work of women cartographers, the need for critiques and the important role of cartography on the wider science stage.

Stuart Easton was the first of the MGIS students to present on his irrigation modeling work with LUCI on Wednesday.

Some interesting presentations on tools expanding the contemporary mapping methods such as GNS' use of leapfrog for a 3D geological map of Dunedin.

Ken Field's plenary was a personal whistlestop tour of much of current cartography and the difference between neo-and traditional cartography.  Ken also covered the difficulty in deciding what to call yourself - cartonerd, mapsmith, cartographer, map maker, the list is almost endless.  The talk was an interesting, if somewhat confrontational, approach to the importance of critiquing current map design.

Richard Law (the second of the MGIS students in the hotseat) presented on his public transport modelling work with the ISCR.  

Paul Goodhue (University of Canterbury MGIS student), Richard Law, Stuart Easton (Victoria University of Wellington MGIS students)

This is the first geocart (which is held every two years) with an MGIS student presence.  It was great to see the students holding their own and actively participating in the conference. 

New Zealand ESRI User Group Regional Meetings

Its the ESRI user group regional meeting season - if you're interested in attending any one of the local user group meetings - info is available here: http://www.gisuser.org.nz/events-amp-conferences/regional-meetings-amp-events/regional-meetings

Palmerston North is on this week (3 April) - I'll be making a guest appearance talking about the Geospatial Skills Shortage survey I ran in New Zealand a little while ago.  Wellington is up on the 11th of April and I'll be presenting on SET (a spatial econometric transport model developed with the ISCR).

Canterbury Software Summit

I'm down in Christchurch for the evening at the Canterbury software summit. Currently learning about Dell's changing marketing and business strategies. Some really interesting talks and have so far spoken to someone about the demand for GIS graduates. Sounds very positive for the MGIS masters students!