PhD Dissertation publicly accssible

My dissertation to achieve the degree 'Doctor of Philosophy' at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) has the title:

A Context-based Groundwater Data Infrastructure

Online access via the AUT Online Library: http://hdl.handle.net/10292/10740

Abstract

Groundwater bodies are among the most important and valuable natural resources available, but at the same time they are also the least understood. To better understand the hydrological state of the environment and groundwater dynamics, data sets and measurements need to be made available and accessible to scientists, planners, and stakeholders to allow for proper decision making support. Information exchange via the internet has become faster, but at the same time data sets remain scattered both in location and formats. Present research in hydrogeology and freshwater resources management can be significantly supported and accelerated by relating, reusing and combining existing data sets, models and simulations in a streamlined, computer-aided and networked fashion and yield more new and reproducible insights.

In this thesis Design Science Research, Grounded Theory and Case Studies are applied in order to design a spatial data infrastructure that addresses the full data life cycle in the context of hydrogeology in New Zealand. This 'Hydrogeology Infrastructure' design was successfully implemented and evaluated via a networked and open standards-based prototype. Formerly disconnected and distributed data sets may now, for the first time, be used for hydrogeological data analysis, visualisation and modelling within one data portal.


My Supervisor(s)

Many thanks go out again to my supervisors who supported me continuously.

Assoc Prof Jacqueline Whalley (AUT, New Zealand); Assoc Prof Hermann Klug (Z_GIS, Salzburg University, Austria); Prof Philip Sallis (AUT, New Zealand)

The interested reader can find the publication also via ResearchGate:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319164590_A_Context-based_Groundwater_Data_Infrastructure

A Context-based #GroundwaterData Infrastructure #Hydrogeology #GIScience # SpatialDatahttps://t.co/QMpSKTpsp2

— Scholarly Commons (@AUT_SC) 17 August 2017

2017 LA Conference on diffuse pollution

It was an awkward conference - not knowing anyone, but also, really experiencing America first hand, in LA. Presenting went well, with barely connecting to the audience, a comparatively anonymous dinner.

UCLA has a pompous campus, it was nice weather, dry and warm. Comparing it to other conferences like EGU, or ANZ Hydrological conferences, Hydrogeology Association and Digital Earth summits, that conference was a strange experience.