Mapping for Impact in a Dynamic California

18th January 2023

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Maggi Kelly (Professor at Dept. of Environmental Sciences, Policy & Management, UC Berkley) delivered the first RGS GISRUK GIScience Webinar of 2023.

“Geographical Information Systems have been changing radically in recent years with numerous innovations. We have new data streams – from models, from phones, from APIs, from satellites, from UAVs, from field sensor, and new technological advances in computing. There is more public focus on geography, and more scales of interest and ways to engage with spatial data. Data is more personal than ever and at the same time broader. In this seminar, Dr. Kelly argued that the spatial technological landscape is more relevant than ever, providing more chances to and more need to collaborate. In fact, many of us working in the field are using “spatial data science” rather than GIS to better describe the ways in which data, analytics, and collaboration intersect. In this talk, Dr. Kelly covered three case studies from her work in California: Mapping forests with lidar and the resulting emerging analytics landscape; using resilient historical ecological data to study vegetation change; and mapping vegetation with UAV imagery as an insight into public outreach”.

Dr. Kelly is Professor and Cooperative Extension Specialist and an expert in spatial data science. She has dedicated her career to redefining the boundaries of mapping-technology and its application to understanding dynamic landscapes. She has applied her technological expertise to crucial problems across the state, such as understanding and documenting wildfires, tracking and predicting forest diseases, improving agriculture and water usage, and climate change. She is Director of the ANR Statewide Program in Informatics and Geographic Information Systems (IGIS), and she is dedicated to bringing cutting-edge mapping technology to the UC network of students, staff, academics, and the public.

Seminar recording is now available on the GISRUK YouTube Channel (video link)

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