The AGI GeoBig 5 - Policy

Policy! Policy! Will anyone come along?

Well that was the first reaction from the AGI Cyrmu steering group when we discussed this theme for our part of the GEO Big5 programme. Compared to some of the slightly more sexy themes on the agenda we thought it would be an uphill struggle to deliver a stimulating and appealing day. 

How wrong we were.

As we got into the topic and considered both its significance to what we all do and the varying aspects for how we could run an engaging and exciting day we quickly found out a number of really interesting themes that we could focus in on for an interactive and lively GEO; Big5  event. 

Policy affects us all. Sometimes we moan about it and it seems overcomplicated and a burden. At other times it’s exciting and innovative and it moves us all forward in our jobs. The GIS community has to interpret policy, advise and convince management what the best options are for its adoption. Suppliers develop solutions to help people implement and comply with policy– a challenge as guidance never stays still! Then there is the effect GI has in shaping policy itself – location is a fundamental principle in helping to draft, deliver and measure the benefit of policy. There is also the policy of GI itself.

So at first what seemed a topic that would send us all to sleep has made us all think and got us really excited as we have put the programme together.

The AGI Policy event is certainly fast approaching, and scheduled to take place on 9^th October at the SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff.   The event is sure to attract a variety of public and private sector delegates as well as several exciting exhibitors, including our Platinum Sponsors Ordnance Survey and ESRI UK.  Following some great keynotes, the day will focus on the relationship between Policy and Geospatial with a split stream session of “Policy influencing GI” and “GI Influencing Policy”.  The afternoon sessions includes a series of lightning talks and a highly anticipated GI Interactive group event which will provide voting, networking and debating opportunities about some of the issues you should really care about.

Directly after the event will be a tips and tricks session, where you may find yourself learning some new skills and getting some value you can take back into your organisations and implement straight away.

If you want a bit of an ice-breaker before the event, come and join us at Y Mochyn Du pub at 7pm on 8^th October for a drink!

The AGIC Team

View the event programme here

Platinum Sponsor Comments:

Esri UK is delighted to sponsor the GEO: The Big Five Policy event in Cardiff on 9th October. Esri UK is committed to helping organisations across the public sector meet the most pressing policy challenges and implement government priorities – giving the geographic insight needed to make better decisions.  Esri GIS solutions help the public sector enrich operations, meet missions and better communicate with the public.

For further information on how Esri UK supports Government Policy, email info@esriuk.com or visit www.esriuk.com/government .

Ordnance Survey is proud to sponsor the GEO: Big Five Policy event in Cardiff on 9th October. Through the Public Sector Mapping Agreement (PSMA) we are already supporting the majority of Welsh public sector organisations in identifying efficiencies and cost savings in policy creation, monitoring and delivery. We would like to ensure this opportunity is exploited by all our public sector customers and look forward to discussing how we can work together to make this happen.

AGI announces Professor Iain Stewart as Guest Compère at its annual awards evening - 13/11/14.

The Association for Geographic Information (AGI) is pleased to announce Professor Iain Stewart as Guest Compère at its new annual awards evening – The AGI Awards for GeoSpatial Excellence -  to be held at the Chesford Grange Hotel, Warwickshire, during the evening of November 13th 2014.

The AGI Awards are a prestigious event recognising the very best achievements in the field of Geographic Information throughout the year. The purpose of the awards is to recognise excellence within the industry and to foster a spirit of innovation to the betterment of Geographic Information in the UK. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the AGI and as a result the AGI has launched an exciting new set of awards for 2014 and beyond! The AGI Awards for Geospatial Excellence move beyond the traditional sector based approach to generate an open and engaging competition for each award relevant across the whole industry! For more information about the awards and how to nominate yourself or your project please visit: http://www.geobig5.com/events/agi-awards-geospatial-excellence/. 

The deadline for nominations is 30^th September 2014.

About Professor Iain Stewart:

Iain Stewart, professor of Geoscience Communication at Plymouth University (UK), is an Earth scientist and broadcaster who specialises in recent geological change. He has presented major television series for the BBC on the nature, history and state of the planet, most notably ‘Earth:  The Power of the Planet’; ‘Earth: The Climate Wars’; ‘How Earth Made Us’, ‘How To Grow A Planet’; ‘Volcano Live’, and ‘Rise of the Continents’. He regularly fronts BBC Horizon specials on geoscientific topics, such as the Japanese earthquake, the Russian meteor strike, Shale gas/ Fracking, and Florida sinkholes. In 2013 he was awarded the American Geophysical Union’s Athelstan Spilhaus Award for conveying to the general public the excitement, significance, and beauty of the Earth and space sciences.

Learn more about the future of water infrastructure at a free AGI Asset Management SIG event

Jeremy Hidderley - AECOM & AGI Asset Management SIG

With ageing water infrastructure and the move towards total expenditure regulation in AMP6, UK water companies face tough decisions about how to spend their budgets most effectively.

Combining these decisions with delivering outcomes rather than outputs and increasing service demands from customers and the environment, the emphasis is on delivering effective operational and asset management. To help keep abreast of these challenges, the AGI’s Asset Management SIG is hosting a water utilities seminar in Bristol on Tuesday 9^th September. 

All water companies have recently submitted their PR14 business plans to OFWAT.  The next great challenge will be applying asset management expertise to help translate these plans into tangible benefits for their customers. 

At the forefront of this challenge will be the need for accurate and complete data, the lifeblood of effective asset management.  The transfer in ownership of underground assets since 2011 has made this requirement a greater issue as the householders were the previous owners of the asset, and of course, very few formal records were maintained. 

Water companies are tackling these data issues either by proactively mapping assets from paper records or predicting the number, length and age of those assets using any available data.  In addition to this, mobile mapping technology has truly come of age with operatives now able to collect location and attribute information in the field which can be returned to the corporate GIS quickly and efficiently as certain attributes can be mandated during the collection phase. 

Wessex Water and Arup will be sharing their perspective on some of these issues and how they are using geospatial technologies and geographic information to solve them.  South West Water will be sharing their approach to fast and accurate asset data collection with their new black-lining system.      

In addition to the completeness and accuracy of data, the volume and speed at which data is being created is increasing.  Networks of sensors across water company assets already provide a wealth of information about the performance of a system. Further investment is still needed in this technology to increase coverage, allowing the performance of whole catchments to be viewed at the click of a button. This will help water companies move towards real-time operational management, and even take this to the next level of self-learning asset control. For example, if water companies could link the effect of prevailing weather patterns to the need for additional network storage or a temporary increase in wastewater treatment capacity this could increase operational efficiency and reduce customer disruption.

By utilising this wealth of data that is (and could be) available, the industry can start to build up a greater understanding about how and when assets fail.  In a similar fashion to using weather and climate data to predict capacity requirements, the industry can start to look more at the environment in which an asset resides. On this subject, Cranfield University will be talking about some of their research into the impact of soils upon underground assets.  As we begin to better understand modes of failure, the industry can begin to fine tune their predictive capabilities. 

To learn more about the above, please register for the event at: http://bit.ly/1nDNMv5

Geo: The Big 5 - News Round-up

Big Data (IBM, London, 30 Sep) in Partnership with the Demographics User Group – programme online, book now!

There is still chance to book a place for this highly anticipated event and gain insight into one of the hottest topics in future IT thinking. The AGI’s Big Data event features world leading experts from big data (IBM, Cloudera, MapR, Deloitte), major commercial users (Marks and Spencer, Telefonica) and geospatial sectors (Esri, Ordnance Survey). Two parallel streams will run through the day, one focussing on Strategy and the other Best Practice. The conference is accompanied by an exhibition and the full programme can be viewed here.

Geocom - The Changing Face of Geo (Chesford Grange Hotel, Kenilworth, 11th-13th Nov) - early bird ends 12th September

This year’s new format Geocom (marking the AGI’s 25th year) will see talks from leading industry speakers and Government Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Mark Walport. Talks will explore the challenges, opportunities and business benefit of integrating geospatial with a host of other tools alongside skills focused workshops, hands on training and an innovation theatre. Regardless of your sector or interest GeoCom will allow you to debate, engage with and shape the future of the geospatial industry. Logistics information and the conference registration form can be found online.

 AGI Awards for Geospatial Excellence (Chesford Grange Hotel, Kenilworth, 13th Nov) - still time to gain recognition for your work

There is still plenty of time to submit an entry for the AGI Awards for Geospatial Excellence and be recognised for your achievements in and commitment to geospatial in 2014. Detailed descriptions of our ten prestigious awards are available on the Geo Big 5 site. 

AGI Awards for Geospatial Excellence – why you should enter, sponsor & attend

There is still plenty of time to submit an entry for the AGI Awards and be recognised for your achievements in and commitment to geospatial in 2014. Ten prestigious awards (new for this year and beyond) will recognise excellence in visualisation, education, research & development, business benefit, impact and sustained commitment to geospatial. 

Reflection and celebration is not often at the forefront of an employee's to-do list; award entries take time and effort (though the AGI's entry form really is quite concise) and other deadlines will often take priority. However, awards are an important way of acknowledging achievement and commitment. The AGI awards aim to inspire through showcasing the very best practice in the geospatial industry, fostering a spirit of GI innovation in the UK.

This post details a plethora of reasons to submit an entry for, sponsor and attend the 2014 AGI Awards for Geospatial Excellence: 

Why Enter?

• Obtain recognition of your success among your industry peers – being shortlisted for an award will raise your profile among the most renowned names in the industry
• Showcase your company at one of the UK’s biggest gatherings of GI professionals
• Demonstrate your company’s success stories to prospective clients – the awards are an opportunity to prove that you are at the forefront of the GI market
•  Keep an eye on the competition - the awards are a great opportunity to measure your own performance against your competitors’ and see where you sit alongside the best in the industry
• Share your stories and excellent case studies of exemplar projects to help the AGI to sell the value of investing in geospatial to a wider audience.

Why Sponsor?

• Showcase your company at of one of the year’s premier geospatial events and position your company as a market leader
•  Stand out from your competitors with branding throughout the conference and ceremony
•  Differentiate yourself from competitors by demonstrating your support and commitment to the GI industry and its achievements
• Participate in the judging process and present an award on the night
•  Benefit from visual marketing at the event and coverage in the AGI Geocommunity Brochure.

Why Attend?

• Learn about the projects which your peers and competitors are undertaking - see state of the art projects and learn from the entrant’s experiences
• Network with Geospatial leaders from a range of sectors and network in a relaxed environment
• Celebrate the industry’s success with clients
• Establish face to face relationships and create new business opportunities
• Reward your team with a glamorous night out
• Meet our distinguished panel of judges.

Diamond Sponsors:

Awards Sponsors:

Getting Ready for Summer at the AGI

I've managed to find time from website specs, CRM user stories and PR plans to write the first blog in ages. It’s very very warm in the office which must mean it’s nearly time for the summer holidays so before everyone disappears to somewhere exotic and exciting I thought I’d give a quick preview of what you’ve got to look forward to when you come back.

GeoBig 5 - Big Data:

The next of the GeoBig5 events is looking at big data from both the perspective of how technologies and practices can and are impacting geospatial data collection and analysis and the opportunities provided by so much big data containing a geospatial element. The full programme will be released next week for what’s going to be a great event at the IBM hub in London on 30 September.

GeoBig 5 - Policy:

The final one day event of the GeoBig5 series will be exploring both the implications of policy on geospatial (INSPIRE, Open Data etc) and also the positive impact geospatial can have in informing policy decisions. The call for papers for this event closes on the 1 August so there is still time to submit. The event takes place in Cardiff on 9 October.

GeoCom ’14:

The culmination of the fantastic GeoBig5 series. Having been at the recent planning meeting and paper selection for this event I can safely say GeoCom ’14 is going to be something special and unlike any previous AGI conference. As well as having secured Sir Mark Walport (Government Chief Scientist) as our keynote we’ve got a mixture of presentations, lightning talks, workshops and training that will make the whole conference a lot more vital and dynamic. GeoCom ’14 takes place between the 11 and 13 November at the very pleasant Chesford Grange Hotel, earlybird booking with a 10% discount is still open.

Awards:

The final event of the year and a fitting end to 2014 will be the new AGI Awards for Geospatial Excellence. Replacing the previous AGI awards these will take a much broader and more outward looking view of the industry to promote and recognise excellence and innovation. Compared by TV’s Professor Iain Stewart (A great evangelist for the power of Geography and GI) this will be a great showcase for the industry and a chance to see some of the great ideas from 2014. This will take place on the 13 November at the Chesford Grange Hotel following on from GeoCom. Awards submissions are still open.

Website:

The project that has been absorbing my blogging time is well underway and the new look AGI website should be greeting our members as they return from their summer holidays in September. Complete with content hub, best practice documents, space for SIGs and other AGI groups to interact the new site will provide both a showcase for the AGI and UK GI and a resource and benefit for our members.

And Finally

It’s hot, the evenings are bright and we’re not quite ready for summer yet so why not come along to the next AGI Geodrinks on the 23 July? These are being hosted by the Insurance and Risk SIG at the Crosse Keys (extra e not a typo) on Gracechurch Street, London. Its an Insurance and Risk event but other Geo talk is more than welcome!

Big 5, GeoCom and the call for Abstracts – Why you should submit!

Over half of the one day Geo: The Big 5 events have taken place now and the feedback from delegates, sponsors and speakers has all been excellent. The themed events have really added a new dimension to the AGI programme and have catalysed debate and the debate is changing.

A common point that has come through all of the events so far is how interconnected all the issues are and how collaboration of ideas and technologies across sectors is key to furthering the positive impact geospatial can have. Related to this is in increasing feel the GI and geospatial have gone ‘mainstream’ to the point that many people using these technologies and techniques don’t even realise that is what they are called. GI is just one of the tools businesses, governments and other organisations are reaching for to help them make better and more efficient decisions.

This growth bring a whole host of challenges and opportunities and massively increases the audience for whom GI is relevant (whether they call it GI or not). GeoCom will seek to tackle this head on with varied content from that aimed at policy makers with no technical experience to workshops seeing to grow practical GI skills.

Get Involved!

The call for abstracts for GeoCom ends on the 30 June and I cannot stress strongly enough that this is your chance to get involved in the debate! There are crucial conversations to be had and you can help frame the debate by speaking at one of the events. The submissions process is simple this year and all you need is a short abstract (more details here). With shorter and longer presentations, debate sessions and workshops there are more ways to get involved in the most interactive GeoCom ever.

The call for papers for the remaining Geo: Big 5 events (Big Data and Policy) is also still open with deadlines of 20/06 and 01/07 respectively. This is a great chance to influence the debate at the last two events of this exciting series. Both of which will help to inform the discussion at GeoCom and the AGI Foresight Study for 2015.

Don’t forget you can also submit your paper to be considered in the AGI Awards for Geospatial Excellence taking place at the end of GeoCom.

Come Along!

Obviously we also encourage you to come along. With early bird prices from £290 for two days packed with content, debate and workshops (as well as networking and the exhibition) GeoCom represents great value and a very different event to last year. You can view details and book here.

With presentations ranging from the technical to the strategic there will be content for ‘hardcore’ GIS users as well as strategists, CIOs and the like so if you are a long suffering GI manager drag your boss along to reinforce the value of the expertise you provide!