When I was 15 years old, I proclaimed I would be a cartographer

50+ Female Product Manager/Senior GIS Analyst at North Road, Program Chair FOSS4G Oceania 2022-2024, QGIS AU Committee

Q. Emma, Where in the world are you and what do you do?

In sunny South East Queensland where the winter temperatures are in the 20° (Celsius degrees), but I am more of a -1° Celsius gal. I came here via the Army, posted to Brisbane, a city on the upper east side of Australia just south of the Great Barrier Reef. (Although my ‘just south’ is actually about 1400km south of the Great Barrier Reef – in Australia we have a warped sense of distance as we all grow up on those long road trips!)

I live and breathe QGIS for work along with Nyall Dawson at North Road as the Product Manager – which is truly my dream job. I get to help build QGIS, SLYR and see how QGIS spreads across the world from meeting all our clients who have a pretty ethical and forward thinking spirit. I also get to help build the Australian QGIS community – and this is part of my job description!

I always poured over the maps from National Geographic for hours when I was young and when I was 15 years old, I proclaimed I would be a cartographer. But it wasn’t until 2000 that I jumped into it via the Australian Army to become a Geomatic Engineer where I learnt from all the old school manual mappers. Every map was reviewed by experts and I am so thankful for that.

Once I left the army, I went into environmental consultancies and then into government in the heritage, emergency services and transport fields. I took some time off for family duties and then went back into consultancy work in the engineering field which suited my curious brain perfectly as I got to deal with lots of different disciplines and projects.

I met Nyall when we employed him at the engineering company part-time on his move up to Queensland. It was great as he worked some time with us to see what QGIS was doing in the wild and then he would focus on developing QGIS and North Road for the rest of the time. Nyall encouraged me to present at the first FOSS4G Oceania in Melbourne and I immediately felt in awe of the people I met like John Bryant and Adam Steer, but having lunch with Paul Ramsay was a highlight! Since then, I always come back from our FOSS4Gs awestruck by the people I meet there.

With Nyall’s help, we made our large engineering company adopt QGIS as their corporate software and we had a wonderful, fun, passionate and inclusive team. We got to sponsor so much development in QGIS and seriously felt like this was the best place to work. However, once we had new management based in another software, we found that the culture and direction changed. By this time, North Road had kicked off with a bang so Nyall no longer worked with us. He offered me a position and I ecstatically accepted and every day is a pleasure to log into work.

Q. I asked John Bryant during the last interview – Have you ever jumped in a car and driven West until you ended up in Perth?

Well I know John probably did, but I jumped on a plane. My sister, when not working in AZ, USA, lives in Perth and my family on the maternal side originated from there as some of the first colonists. My ancestors have been colonists way back into the 12 Century (I recently found out that they were Gallowglasses) and in continuing that, one of my ancestors was the first white female to step on the shores of Boorloo (the Nyoongar name of what is now known as Perth).

‘Captain Stirling’s exploring party 50 miles up the Swan River, Western Australia, March, 1827’ Artist: William John Huggins (source: NLA)

When you are so strongly in support of Indigenous peoples rights to their land this can be a deeply shameful facet of your heritage to hold and a shock when you find out about it. But there has to be a way forward until we can find that time machine. Whilst you can be seen as an ally, you are still living on someone else’s land. As a descendant of Viking Scots, I don’t think I can even call Scotland my homeland, so I guess if I was to move anywhere, it would be Norway – but I think I naturally fit into the Finnish culture as a grumpy, coffee loving introvert! Or maybe over to the Isle of Jersey where the other side of my family comes from.

Ok back to the West Coast of Australia – it is such a different place to the East Coast, but still they have great coffee (this is by far the most important thing to Aussies) and their culture is strongly influenced by the mining sector and all those who come to work in it – Europeans, Africans and Kiwis – so great food, bbqs and rugby!

Fun fact, if you are swimming on the Perth beaches and the seals are sitting on the rocks, get out of the water pronto as there are probably sharks about. Australia has so many scary things that can hurt you from the invisible to the large – but still we coexist with them. I think it feeds into our Aussie culture that we recognise our threats, respect them, give them space and we each keep on doing our own thing.

Q. You have been involved in running FOSS4G Oceania for a number of years – how big is that area?

So how big is the area? We take our geographic constraints from how the UN dictates Oceania, but as with most western geographical ideas, it ignores those who have lived there before. There is a strong connection from Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines down to New Zealand as well as our Indonesian friends who don’t formally sit in Oceania. We are all facing the impacts of climate change, so for us in the Oceania region, I feel it is a way to address our issues, especially the island nations, as one and pool our resources for the future.

By source: Oceania_ISO_3166-1.svg: User:Tintazulderivative work: Cruickshanks – Own work, derivative of Oceania_ISO_3166-1.svg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30880556

Last year in November we had our FOSS4G Oceania in Tasmania – right down the bottom of Australia where it can snow in summer – which it did – we took a group up to Mt Wellington and got caught in a snow storm – it was the first time for many to see snow – seeing a warrior like Fijian man jump in excitement like a child was so joyful!

We have had a great core team since the 2018 FOSS4G in Melbourne and we are continually passing on the expertise when new team members are welcomed into the team. It is actually not that hard, just time consuming. As long as everyone on the committee shows up – the load is shared and it is super fun to be involved in. Handing over knowledge is super important in running these events, and you always need a back-up just in case people come unavailable. I am continually amazed at the professionalism and the level of delivery at these conferences. The village ethos is definitely there and for some reason, the food is always amazing.

Q. You have a Global FOSS4G comes coming to Auckland NZ?

This year, the global FOSS4G comes Downunder to Auckland in New Zealand and I am super excited as I get to enjoy this as an attendee. Auckland University of Technology are our hosts again as the venue was outstanding back in 2023. Auckland is an amazing place and the islands are beautiful and so accessible. The amazing food reflects the diverse nationalities who call Auckland home and the coffee is great.

I think I will extend my time there and grab a van and travel around either of the islands or canoe down the Whanganui River. If I was into mountain biking, well I would be spoiled for choices. I think this is definitely one of those conferences that if you can, you extend to go experience NZ or Oceania – the Pacific GIS and Remote Sensing Conference happens straight after and is hosted by one of its member nations.

Q. You have an Art History and Archaeology Background – How does that play into your Geospatial work?

Overall I am drawn to the visual side of life. I love to draw and I love seeing how people communicate. I also love stories about people and the economics of why people do what they do. In high school I always loved the fine arts but, apart from printmaking and sculpture, I struggled with originality. I love patterns and lines the best.

I started Archaeology as my Mother undertook that degree (we actually had the same lecturers) and she taught my sister and I a lot about geology and the Australian Aboriginals when we were very young. In the end I was really only interested in drawing stone tools and I was more drawn to studying languages that had a visual element to them (Ancient Greek, Mandarin and Arabic) – are you seeing a theme here?

My Mother also studied Art History, and I enjoyed studying it during my high school. It has been a valuable foundation for understanding the economics of Open Source. In studying art patronage, we see parallels: much like Open Source software, the only art that reached the public was that which was funded and supported by individuals or institutions.

All of these feed into my geospatial knowledge in various ways.The design of the product through placement, balance and colour. How to tell the story of the map’s intent whilst paying respect to the cultures involved in the map. Of course though, the area that is most interesting to me at the moment is the economics of Open Source.

Q. If I flew to SE Queensland, where would I have to go to fully experience the area?

Well first go have dinner at Southbank so you can experience the Brisbane River foreshore at night. It’s a very tropical city and the balmy nights are amazing. There is a great little grassy amphitheater at the southern end of Southbank that is perfect for this.

Then you have to experience the bush in the hinterland of the Gold Coast around Springbrook or perhaps Mt Barney Lower Portals for a bit of creek hopping. On the north side, NorthBrook Gorge from east to west is an awesome creek hop/splash through the pools type of hike too.

I would catch a ferry over to Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island) and go surfing at Cylinder Beach and walk along Deadmans and Frenchman’s beaches to have the best gelato ever at Point Lookout. You can snorkel and dive here with the Manta Rays as well – doesn’t matter the weather as you will still see them – they are majestic animals. Just don’t go swimming in the lakes as they hold a cultural significance to the Quandamooka peoples.

You have to go up to the Sunshine Coast as well and experience the amazing food from the local markets, surf at Wategos(Noosa), people watch at Noosa and go get some yummy ginger beer at the Big Pineapple. For a milder swim, head to Mooloolaba and make sure wherever you go for a beach swim, do it between the Surf Life Saving Flags. These guys are amazing and will look out for you. We have a really active drone shark program as well so they will let you know when to get out of the water.

Q. The last question is yours – anything you want to tell the Readers of Geohipster?

Currently, we have observed that many organizations world-wide are looking at QGIS as an option to replace their ArcMap workflow. This is a great opportunity for the FOSS4G community to respond with solutions that improve on this workflow and it benefits all. Whilst there is room for ecosystems that use both, however I am concerned about the market’s reaction? We have seen personally how when tribalism exists, both parties suffer with relationships destroyed and possibilities never realised. Yet we both need each other – particularly relevant when market leaders are relying on open source projects such as GDAL and OSM.

My hope is that new users of Open Source get an understanding of how Open Source works, of how to switch out budget expectations and concepts that dealt with the old model, and understand that whatever money they contribute to the QGIS project, goes directly to the development of the project, not into the pockets of shareholders, owners or executive bonuses.