SpaceTech and EO data hackathon at Tartu Observatory - short notes

 
https://www.facebook.com/events/616218285490869/

Pre-Event talk about sharing free geodata and where to get it and what to do with it: https://kodu.ut.ee/~kmoch/SpaceTech_2019_open_geodata/
 

https://kaugseire.ee/ligip%C3%A4%C3%A4s-andmetele



https://github.com/allixender/meetup-notes/tree/master/2019-05-spacetech-geodata

- Team Stargazing

- Team Peatlog

Geoserver WMS dataset support for Leaflet web map

Great team with Garage48 and Tartu Science Park

SpaceTech and EO data hackathon at Tartu Observatory

WARREDOC International Winter School on Data Rich Hydrology 2019

The "Data Rich Hydrology" Winter School 2019 took place in beautiful Colombella, Perugia (Italy). It was jointly organised by the Water Resources Research and Documentation Center (WARREDOC) and UNESCO World Water Assessment Program (WWAP). The WARREDOC was established at the Università per Stranieri di Perugia (UNISTRAPG) since 1985 - developing research, advanced training and scientific communication in the field of water, environment and disaster risk management.

http://warredoc.unistrapg.it/en/events/2019-winter-school/

The days were organised into a serious of lectures and lab sessions and food and accommodation were provided all at the location of the Villa Colombella, that was an extraordinary experience. We were completely immersed in this place students and lecturers altogether.

The program encompassed mainly lectures of absolute high scientific standard and well presented by the experienced and well-known lecturers.

- The Era of Data Rich Hydrology, 1st keynote lecture, by Prof. Rafael L. Bras

Prof. Bras is one of the forefathers of hydrology (Google Scholar). He gave us a history lesson of conceptual, numerical and later computational hydrology and modelling of catchments. He concluded with the outlook of what we as young hydrologists should keep striving towards to improve understanding and modelling of the hydrological cycle.

- The WWDR and SDG 6 Synthesis Report, 2nd keynote lecture, by Prof. Stefan Uhlenbrook, also head of UNESCO WWAP

- Remote sensing and data assimilation in hydrology by Prof. Fabio Castelli

- Hydrologic modelling in a data rich world by Prof. Prof Riccardo Rigon

- Citizen science and big data in hydrology by Prof. Fernando Nardi

- Beyond traditional extreme value theory: lessons learned from rainfall and hurricane intensity by Prof. Marco Marani

More topics got covered by further renowned professors, researchers and practitioners in hydrological and hydraulic modelling:

- Groundwater hydrology and hydrological process mechanics
- The water-food-energy nexus
- Modelling scaling properties of precipitation fields
- Hydrologic measurements and novel observation technologies
- Drones in Hydrology (lecture & hands on)
- Hydrological risk assessment: Return period and probability of failure
- Advances in the space-time analysis of rainfall extremes
- Data poor vs. data rich cases for flood hazard (lecture & hands on)
- Distributed Data quality and urban flood modelling uncertainty
- Stream flow measurements: ground and satellite observations
- Remote sensing data and tools to foster inland water monitoring and flood modeling

I also had the pleasure to get interviewed by research fellow and PhD student Francisco Pena, who does a radio show on Disaster Risk Reduction. We had a great chat about our ideas and views on the topics and lectures during this Winter School on Hydrology and did some brainstorming:

http://www.radiophonica.com/podcast/13941 (link to the radio show)

If you like to check out Francisco's pages: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franciscope%C3%B1a/ (LinkedIn) and and https://twitter.com/FebronioPena (Twitter)

NASA International Space Apps Challenge 2018 Hackathon organized in Tartu

 

https://spaceapps2018.ut.ee/

The final report has been archived in the University of Tartu DSpace repository and can be referenced/cited/linked via: http://hdl.handle.net/10062/66924

Some really nice geospatial podcasts to enlighten your day

Geodorable: https://geodorable.com/

• If you like maps and location then you might find listening to a couple of middle-aged guys from the land of the long white cloud (New Zealand) chat irreverently about geospatial stuff just the ticket!

Isn't That Spatial: http://isntthatspatial.net/

• "Isn't That Spatial" is the podcast bringing everyday geography and urbanism into your earspace.

The Mappyist Hour: http://themappyisthour.com/

• Geographer and Geo types talking about how incredible their profession is "after hours"

The Scene From Above Podcast: https://www.geoger.co.uk/podcast

• The #scenefromabove podcast aims to present an informal podcast looking at the world of modern remote sensing and Earth observation, fuelled by their passion for all things raster and geospatial: a mix of news, opinion, discussion and interviews.

GeoGedöns (in German): http://geogedoens.de/

• Ein Podcast von zwei enthusiastischen Satellitennavigationsbegeisterten, die gerne Technik testen und Spiele spielen, die sich am Handy bzw Smartphone abspielen und für die meist eine Lokalisation via Satelliten nötig ist.

Radio OSM (in German): http://podcast.openstreetmap.de/

• Berichte und Neuigkeiten rund um OpenStreetMap, ​die freie Wiki-Weltkarte

Everyday Geo: http://soundcloud.com/everydaygeo

• JBGeoPro - Joe Bob Penor (United States), Soundcloud Podcast

A VerySpatial Podcast: http://www.veryspatial.com/

• Discussions on Geography and geospatial technologies. The VerySpatial blog is intended to be a location for the hosts and participants of A VerySpatial Podcast to link to interesting sites and articles on Geography and related information.

2018 Visit Tartu Observatory

In the beginning of September 2018, Evelyn and myself went to visit the Tartu Observatory, located in Töravere, about 20 minutes car drive South-east of Tartu. We had the pleasure to meet with the director of the observatory, Dr Anu Reinart. We used to the meeting to introduce our intention to host a NASA Space Apps Challenge hackathon, jointly with Tartu Observatory, which is in fact the Estonian Space Agency. The idea was greatly welcomed and organising the event proceeded.

Dr Anu Reinart gave us the honour of a short guided introduction to the buildings, departments and exhibition areas of the observatory. It was very interesting to learn about the 3 main pillars of work and research at the facility:

First and foremost, space exploration, astronomy, analysing space imagery from telescopes on Earth and in orbit. Secondly, Earth Observation and Remote Sensing. This is a field of joint interest and increasing collaboration between Tartu Observatory and the Department of Geography. And finally, a smaller fraction also works on innovation and satellite technology.

Tartu Observatory website: https://www.to.ee/

Tartu Observatory main building. It was renovated and houses the staff and research offices.

Various impressions from inside the main building. Baltic Sat Apps is a innovation / incubator program, supported by ESA, on uptake of Sentinal / Copernicus data.

Various impressions from inside the main building. History of satellite missions the observatory has participated in. 

Various impressions from inside the main building. The main satellite payload that was launched where Estonia's first own little satellite - the EstCUBE cubesat - was also lifted into space.

Various impressions from inside the main building. Educational and research information on space.

Various impressions from inside the main building. A nice open area, after the renovation of the building, the hallways have been redesigned in order to create more open spaces.