Maps and Mappers of the 2017 GeoHipster Calendar: Nathaniel Jeffrey

Nathaniel Jeffrey – August

Q: Tell us about yourself.

Before I fell into GIS, my studies in Environmental Science led me to a freshwater conservation project in Kenya, and down sewer pipes in my home city of Melbourne. Honestly, sewers are kind of fascinating if you have a background in biology.  You think tapeworms can only survive in a digestive tract?  Think again!

Professionally, for the last 10 years I’ve worked as a GIS analyst for Urbis, which is an international urban planning consultancy.  It’s an ever-changing, data-driven job, which makes it a fun geo playground.

Apart from that: I cook, I eat, I game, I poke Raspberry Pis while frowning, and I travel (mostly to Japan, it seems).

Q: Tell us the story behind your map (what inspired you to make it, what did you learn while making it, or any other aspects of the map or its creation you would like people to know).

I’ve lived in Melbourne for 25 years after coming over from the USA with my parents as a kid.  And as any Melburnian will tell you if you give them half a chance, it’s the World’s Most Liveable City.

So one of the big factors influencing “liveability” is the ability of a city’s infrastructure to adequately service its growing population. Melbourne has been growing at a rate over 2% per year for more than a decade, adding 80,000+ new people every year. Melbourne’s population has grown from just over 3 million in 1991 to 4.5 million today, and is projected to hit 6 million by 2031.  I can’t do much to solve the many political headaches that spring up due to such rapid growth, but I sure can make a map.

Q: Tell us about the tools, data, etc., you used to make the map.

The population data I used is a mix of counts from past censuses (1991 to 2011), and future projections (2016 to 2036).  I would have loved to go further back in time, but the small-area population data isn’t easy to come by.

I converted the population counts for each year into a raster surface representing population density, and then smoothed the heck out each one.  This was a bit tricky, because I wanted to generalise the data enough to create an easily-readable map, but I didn’t want to misrepresent the truth in the underlying data.

Through trial and error, I then found a density value that more or less matched up with the edge of the suburban fringe for each year, based on aerial and planning maps. Applying that density cutoff to each year gave me the isopleths you can see on the map — lines of constant density.

Obviously this approach makes the assumption that the chosen density threshold has accurately represented to suburban boundary in the past, and will continue to do so in the future.  This might not be the case, with a shift towards higher density developments at the urban fringe.  But I think the approach is fine for a map that’s just trying to give a high-level view of the amoeba-like spread of Melbourne’s population.  I would hope that no one tries to make any policy decisions based on this map!

Cartographically I went with a dead simple basemap — just roads and locality names for context.  I made a deliberate effort to label locations where interesting things were happening in the data — lots of growth in a given year, for example.  The colour scheme I chose for the isopleths is…striking.  What can I say; it’s tricky to find ten colours that are distinct enough when placed next to one another, but still look reasonably harmonious as a whole.  I had a bit of fun with the look of the title and legend — I’m no graphic designer, but I like to dabble in design, and steal things that look cool.

Jim McAndrew: “There’s always going to be some next big thing, but the basics remain the same”

Jim McAndrew is a Geospatial Database Developer. Before adding ‘geospatial’ to his job title, he worked on large Oracle databases for pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies. For the last few years, he has been working with the US Geological Survey and the National Park Service to create tools that provide public access to government data.

He sometimes tweets @jimmyrocks.

Jim was interviewed for GeoHipster by Atanas Entchev.

Q: How did you get into GIS?

A: I have loved maps for as long as I can remember. I used to study the maps in the phonebook, and I knew where every local road went. In college, I decorated my apartment with maps I had purchased from the Department of Transportation.

After a few years working as a software developer in manufacturing, I saw something called a “Mapping Party” for this open source mapping project claiming to be a “Wikipedia of Maps”. I was in luck, they would be holding a party in New York City the next weekend. I bought a bus ticket to New York, paid the extra fee to bring my bike, and I was introduced to OpenStreetMap.

I was hooked, and I thought that maybe getting into mapping could actually be a viable career option. I started attending different conferences and meetups that sounded interesting, and tried to learn all I could about the industry. I started a graduate certificate program in GIS, and eventually got a GIS job.

Q: Where do you work and what do you do there?

A: I am a researcher at Colorado State University working for the National Park Service (NPS) as a Software Developer. I started working on a new system to collect data from all the NPS units using an OpenStreetMap-style approach. I work on tools that allow data from this, and other internal systems, to be displayed on web maps. Now I am the Lead Developer on some of the NPS tools, including the internal side of the NPS mobile app project.

Q: Tell us about a cool project you are working on

A: The NPS mobile application project is the coolest thing that I’m working on, because it’s easy for everyone to access and use. It also involves working with Park Rangers that are extremely knowledgeable about their parks and are excited about sharing that knowledge. The coolest part of it for me is the opportunity to visit the parks and to do a little bit of field work.

Q: What technology (GIS and otherwise) do you use?

A: I try to do all my work using vi and tmux within an Ubuntu Linux virtual machine. For GIS work, I prefer to do most of the processing in PostGIS with a lot of help from GDAL and OGR. I have been working on some fun projects with Python and GeoPandas recently. For work, I do most development in Node.js and browser-oriented JavaScript.

Q: Open source — Y/N? Why?

A: I prefer to use open source software whenever possible. The best part about open source software is that if you can’t figure something out from the documentation, you can always go look right at the source. If there is a bug in the source, you can find it yourself and suggest a patch. It is also easy to package software in a VM or a Docker image and share it with others as a working system without worrying about licensing.

Q: Is open source for everyone, or just for tinkerers?

A: Open source is for everyone! Open source tools tend to be a little less user-friendly and sometimes lacking in support. This has created a market for companies such as Red Hat and Boundless Spatial to provide support and integration for businesses. While the “Linux on the Desktop” dream may never really come true, the future will include more open source tools packaged in commercial software.

Q: Biking, hiking, any other hipster attributes?

A: I enjoy biking, hiking, and kayaking whenever I get the chance. I enjoy craft beer, I sometimes homebrew beer, and I enjoy working with yeast to make breads, pretzels, and pizzas. I was on a locally-roasted-coffee kick for a while (OQ Coffee in Highland Park is very good), but I have recently switched to drinking mostly tea and tisanes. I enjoy listening to a lot of obscure music. I also love emojis. 🎉

Q: Are you a geohipster? Why / why not?

A: No true hipster would self-identify as a hipster, at least according to the Wikipedia article on the subject. I do enjoy following the latest JavaScript and geospatial trends outside of the mainstream. Maybe not enough that I will go back and refactor code just to use the latest JavaScript functions, although I do really like await/async. I also enjoy hand-crafted maps that capture more than just raw data, but instead show how the cartographer views the world. I make sure to get a GeoHipster wall calendar every year.

Q: Words of wisdom for our global readership?

A: A few years ago I went skiing in Aspen, Colorado. If there’s still snow on the mountain, they open on Memorial Day, and charge a severely discounted price. I brought my skis that were a hand-me-down from the 1980s. People started commenting on how cool and “retro” my skis were. They were so out of date that they were cool again.

There’s always going to be some next big thing, but the basics remain the same. Don’t focus on doing what’s cool now, but instead focus on what you want to work on or learn, even if it’s something completely different than what you’re doing now; eventually, it’ll be cool again.


	

Amy Sorensen: “Keep pushing the arbitrary boundaries between geospatial and IT”

Grew up on a farm in Iowa. Started my GIS career as an intern for Emmet County, working on first iteration of E-911 for the sheriff’s department. Moved to South Dakota from there and worked for the SDDOT for a while with the esteemed title of “Automated Mapping Specialist”. Really enjoyed the work but was looking for a faster pace and more of a challenge. Ended up taking a project-related position with a consulting firm working for DM&E railroad out of Sioux Falls. Had great fun learning all about rail, sidings and frogs. When that project ended, I decided to take a position with HDR and moved down to Omaha, Nebraska, where I am currently.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arsorensen/

Amy was interviewed for GeoHipster by Atanas Entchev.

Q: How did you get into GIS?

A: I had been doing in-home child care, I have an Associates degree in Early Childhood Education. I was bored and broke and wondering what I should do. Driving down the road I heard a radio ad for the local community college that talked about computers and mapping. I thought… “I love maps!” and went and signed up for the program after that.

Q: You work for HDR, an engineering company. Tell us what you do there.

A: What I do day by day really varies based on the projects I’m on. The funnest part of my job is the variability of what I am involved with on a week by week basis and meeting new people and learning about what they do. I work on hydrology projects where we are looking at flood zones, levees, or stream flows for one project, and then I am managing the GIS database for a large transportation project and dealing with right of way, utilities, and shifting contracts. I also like to code, so I will put together web maps or write some scripts to automate work flows. It’s really fun to listen and evaluate what is currently being done and then to apply some type of technology to help streamline and document the work as well. Recently I’ve gotten involved with the sustainability group here at HDR, and now there is great potential to mix my love for GIS with my desire to make the world a better place.

Q: Do engineers “get” GIS?

A: Yes! I would say there are varying levels of “get” involved. I find that if you are on a project, and learn as much as you can about the overall big picture, then it is easy to plug GIS into it in ways that make sense and help meet those project goals. If someone isn’t getting the point of using GIS then it could be that you aren’t getting what the big picture is for them.

Q: What technology — GIS and other — do you use at work? What do you / don’t you like about it?

A: Of course the big technology provider I work with is Esri, I work with the full suite of Esri products. I really love working with Python and use Notepad++ for the majority of that type of work. It’s simple and straightforward. When I’m working with JavaScript I have been using Atom, which has been a good editor. I’ve gotten to use Jupyter Notebook on projects as well now, and really have found the power in being able to quickly write code, see the results, then tweak. Being able to revisit later and use the notebooks to document what has been done is priceless. I’m digging into some new (to me) JavaScript frameworks, and am really interested in playing with Ember. I’ve heard good things, and Esri uses it a lot and is starting to push out add-ons using it.

Q: You were a volunteer in a GISCorps project for North Korea. Tell us about the project, why you did it, and what you got out of it.

A: This project was for the World Food Program (WFP) and the information Management and Mining Action Program (iMMAP). We digitized features like roads, cities, rivers, and rail from historical maps. The idea was to create this data to support their humanitarian efforts. I got involved since I had been listed as a GISCorps member for some time and was waiting for a volunteer opportunity to come up that I could do at home. This project was great and I was able to put a couple hours in on a weekly basis. I am always trying to save the world and it really gives me a great sense of satisfaction to be able to do something with the skillset I have to help the world be a better place.

Q: You do lots of volunteer work, not just GIS. Tell us about your other volunteer activities.

A:  I do like to do volunteer work, it’s my desire to make a difference that drives it. Though I would say I’m not doing a ton right now, there are a few things I’m involved in. I do manage a website for a local grassroots organization. For the last couple years I’ve been able to create some mapping for a local group that puts together garden tours in Omaha and hosted for them as well. Over the years I’ve done things like volunteer for Boys and Girls Homes, and also was a baby rocker at a NICU for some time. I think volunteering really does add a lot to your life and gets you out in the community, which is fun.

Q: What is the tech scene like in Omaha?

A:  I think the tech scene is good. We have some good coding school options in Omaha, which have fast turnaround to get people into the workforce. There are coding groups that happen for kids and teens like Girls Who Code, and we have a really innovative tech library that offers classes and opportunities to work with and learn all kinds of software and cool things like 3D printers and maker events. There are also some good groups I’ve found through Meetup — Women In Technology of the Heartland is one, and it has great social events and is a good support group for those working their way up or into technology fields. There are other groups I’ve not joined yet based on Python and JavaScript that I plan on checking out soon as well.

Q: What is the hipster scene like in Omaha?

A:  Isn’t that the same as the tech scene? 😉 Ok, maybe not but there is some crossover. The hipster scene is good. There are some known areas in town where you will find great local music, food, and events. One of my favorite is the Benson First Friday Femme Fest — it’s an amazing opportunity to see all kinds of females taking the lead role and sharing their music, poetry, and art to the masses.

Q: Knitting and Dr. Who — is that hipster or what?

A: Probably. I still need to knit my Dr. Who scarf, I think once that is completed then I can really grab the hipster trophy. My list of nerd interests is strong and I think if I could pull together a group of geohipsters to crash the UC dressed in Dr. Who cosplay, then my life would be complete.

Q: Do you consider yourself a geohipster? Why / why not?

A: Sure. You know, unless in considering myself one I negate the title. 🙂 I think a geohipster is anyone who is constantly striving to do new and cool things with geospatial data. With that definition, I’m 100%.

Q: On closing, any parting words of wisdom for our global readership?

A: Keep pushing the arbitrary boundaries between geospatial and IT. Data is data and we all can and should be playing and working together. Also — volunteer for something. You do need to get away from the computer once in a while, and it will change your life to do so. And finally, if you love Dr. Who we should talk. 🙂


	

Nate Smith: “Visit a new place in the world; reach out to the OSM communities there”

Nate Smith is technical project manager for the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team. He leads out the OpenAerialMap project and dives into all things technical across HOT’s operations. Originally from Nebraska, he is now based in Lisbon, Portugal, slowly learning Portuguese and attempting to learn to surf.

Nate was interviewed for GeoHipster by Amy Smith.

Q: We met at State of the Map Asia in Manila! What was it that brought you to the conference?

A: I came to State of the Map Asia through my role in two projects with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team: OpenAerialMap and a new project called Healthsites. I had the chance to give short presentations about the projects, plus I wanted to connect with the OpenStreetMap community in Asia about the projects to get feedback and input on the direction of the projects.

Q: Tell us about the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) and how you got involved.

A: I’ve been involved in HOT in one way or another since 2011. At the time I had just joined Development Seed in Washington DC. I began to get involved in any way I could with HOT, most of it started with trainings about Mapbox tools or collaborating on projects. Most of it initially revolved around helping identify data that could be helpful in an activation or joining in tracing. Over the years, I gradually got more involved in working groups which is the best place to get involved beyond contributing time to mapping. I’ve since joined HOT as a technical project manager to help build and manage projects around some of our core tools like OpenAerialMap or OSM Analytics.

Q: For those who may not be familiar with HOT, “activation” is kind of like bringing people together to participate in disaster mapping or a similarly geographically-focused humanitarian mapping effort, did I get that right?

A: Right, a HOT activation in the traditional sense is exactly that. It is an official declaration that the community is coming together to aggressively map an area for a disaster response. The Activation Working Group is one of several working groups where anyone can get involved, and they define the protocols, monitor situations, and are in contact with many OSM communities and humanitarian partners around the world.

Disaster mapping is a core part of the work HOT does. Not everything but still a big part. If you’re interested in helping think about activation protocols or want to help organize during an activation, come join and volunteer your time to support the work.

Q: What are some interesting projects you’re working on?

A: I’ve been actively working on two interesting projects: OpenAerialMap, and for lack of a better name at the moment, the Field Campaigner app. OpenAerialMap launched two years ago and we’ve been slowly rolling out new features and working with partners on integrating new data since. What’s interesting is the work we’re doing this summer — we’re rolling out user accounts, provider pages, and better data management tools. This is exciting as it lowers the barrier to start collecting imagery and contributing to the commons.

The second project is our new Field Campaigner app. It has a generic name at the moment but it’s part of a move for us to have better tools to manage data collection in the field. A majority of the work the global HOT community does is remote mapping. While this is super critical work and extremely helpful for people on the ground, there is a gap in how work is organized on the ground. This work looks to help improve the way data collection is organized and coordinated on the ground — we want to see field mapping in OpenStreetMap to be distributed and organized well. This work also crosses over some similar work that is happening across the board in this area — Mapbox is working on analyzing changesets for vandalism and a team from Development Seed and Digital Democracy through a World Bank project are working on an improved mobile OSM data collection app.

Q: How easy/hard is it to build these tools? Once they’re out in the world, what are some ways that people find and learn how to use them?

A: It’s not easy building tools to meet a lot of needs. A core thing for success many times is dogfooding your own work. We’re building tools that serve a wider audience but at the core we’re testing and helping spread the word about the tool because we use it.

But just because it’s not easy doesn’t mean people shouldn’t be trying. The more we experiment building tools to do better and faster mapping, whether it is remote or in the field, the more information we will have to improve and address the challenges many communities face.

Q: It looks like your job is fairly technical, but also involves outreach. Is there a particular aspect of your work that you enjoy the most?

A: I think the mix of technical and outreach is what I love most. Spending part of my day diving into some code while the other part talking or strategizing with organizations is what I’ve had the chance to do over the last six years through working with Development Seed and now HOT. I enjoy trying to be that translation person — connecting tools or ways of using data to solve real-world problems. I think one of the things I enjoy the most is the chance to help build products or use data with real world impact. Being able to support MSF staff responding to an Ebola outbreak at the same time working with world-class designers and developers is pretty great.

Q: Looking at your Twitter feed, you seem to travel a lot. What’s your favorite / least favorite thing about traveling? Favorite place you’ve been? Any pro travel tips?

A: I traveled a bit while living in DC but now that I’m living in Lisbon, Portugal I’ve had the chance to do some more personal travel throughout Europe which has been great. This past year I’ve had a chance to travel through Asia a bit more through HOT-related projects. My favorite part of traveling is the chance to meet people and experience new cultures or places. There are some incredible geo and OSM communities around the world and it’s been awesome to meet and work with many of them. Least favorite — awkwardly long layovers – you can’t get out.

I think my favorite spots have been Bangkok and Jakarta. I find that I enjoy big cities that have great food options. As for tips, I would say pack light and do laundry when you’re traveling, and always make time for good local food.

Q: Would you consider yourself a geohipster? If so, why, and if not, why not?

A: Heh, that is a great question. I think I’ve become less geohipster moving to Portugal. I drink light European beer, I don’t bike because there are too many hills, and drink too much Nespresso. Although I’m still a Mapbox-junky, work at a cowork in my neighborhood, and love open source, so maybe I still lean geohipster. 🙂

Q: On closing, any words of wisdom for our global readership?

A: Get out and visit a new place in the world if you can. And while you’re at it, reach out to the OSM communities there and meet them in person. You’ll meet some incredible and passionate people.