Contract - Geospatial modeler

RMS California

East Bay, CA (Newark, CA, United States)

Description

Geospatial Modeler (Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analytics). Position: 14490.

In this role you will be working in a fast paced environment with a multi-disciplinary team of catastrophe modelers, analytical professionals, remote sensing scientistis and geospatial modelrers developing exposure models for earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and other peril for different geographies across the globe. The candidate must be detail-oriented with a positive attitude and with excellent work ethic. Strong computer skills and a capacity to learn new emerging technologies is a must.

Key Accountabilities & Deliverables:

Design and implement required procedures (classification, segmentation, etc.) and develop data products related to Remote Sensing and GIS projects.Identify suitable baseline and historical imagery sources from both internal and external sources.Manage or analyze data from remote sensing platforms to obtain meaningful classification and segmentation results. This includes:Research, collect, analyze and consolidate available datasets (Land Use and Land Cover/LULC, building footprints, industrial facility polygons, road networks etc.)Analyze remotely sensed data from airborne, satellites, or ground-based platforms, using statistical analysis software, image processing software, or GIS software.Capture and delineate building footprints using Remote Sensing technologyInterpretation of building attributes (occupancy, year of built, number of floors etc.) using photo interpretation techniques and diversified internet resourcesCreate maps and graphs for presentations, technical papers, or reportsCompilation of metadata and other documentation.

PhD - Remote sensing

Department of Geography, University of Calgary

Calgary, Canada

Deadline date: January 26, 2014

Description

The Foothills Facility for Remote Sensing and GIScience (www.ucalgary.ca/f3gisci), a research lab within the Department of Geography, University of Calgary, is seeking MSc and PhD candidates for several fully‐funded positions starting in the Fall of 2014.  

PhD - Geography & GIS Science

GIScience Center, Department of Geography

University of Zurich, Switzerland

Description

Position A: Place descriptions from user generated content and unstructured text

Position B: Place-based map generalization

The GIScience Center at the Department of Geography, University of Zurich invites applications for 2 PhDs position to work on a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) grant investigating the use of user-generated content and unstructured text in the map generalization process to generate place-based maps.

Position A will focus on the generation of place descriptions using UGC and unstructured text. These descriptions will address three aspects of place as defined by Agnew (2012): location(placenames and associated regions), locale (the environment and associated affordances within such a region) and sense of place (the experiences offered by a place to a group and the shared conceptualization of a place important to that group). Place descriptions will take two forms – population of a schema designed directly to drive the generalization process with traditional geometric data, and richer, more textually based descriptions, requiring more novel methods of incorporation into place-based maps. The PhD candidate will be supervised by Prof. Ross Purves and will be a member of the Geocomputation Unit in the GIScience Center, whose research focuses on the computational methods for the analysis of a wide range of geographic data sources.

Position B will develop processes that allow controlling the automated generalization operations, using place descriptions generated in the related PhD project A, such that place-based maps can be obtained. Work will start with a design of the components of place-based map generalization (data types, data flows, generalization operators, and map designs). Procedures will be developed that allow integrating the geometries, semantics, and textual descriptions of place descriptions into a form that can be usefully displayed on a map. Specialized generalization operators will be developed that can exploit place descriptions, with a focus on abstraction and schematization. Finally, coherent processes of place-based generalization will be built from these operators. The PhD candidate will be supervised by Prof. Robert Weibel and will be a member of the GIS Unit in the GIScience Center, whose research focuses on themes such as digital cartography and mobile systems as well as movement analysis.

Although clear initial research goals have been developed within the SNSF proposal, the PhD candidates will be expected to develop and refine these, in collaboration with their supervisory team and colleague, as a first stage of their research work.

The GIS and Geocomputation Units form part of the GIScience Centre, which hosts research groups working on diverse topics including language and space, geographic information retrieval, digital terrain modelling, uncertainty modelling, movement analysis, digital cartography and mobile systems, geovisual analytics, and spatial cognition.

Requirements

We are looking for highly motivated original thinkers, with a desire to develop a research career and with a passion for science. In return we offer excellent working conditions, a stimulating environment and Zurich’s high quality of life. Applicants are required to have completed, or to complete before appointment, a Masters level degree at a high standard in a relevant field such as Geographic Information Science (GIScience), computing science, geography or geomatics. Additionally, computational linguistics (for Position A) or cartography (for Position B). Basic programming skills, as well as a willingness to develop these are a prerequisite.

Applicants should also have a very good standard of written and spoken English. Fluency, or a willingness to learn, of one or more of Switzerland’s national languages would also be an advantage, especially for Position A.

More information and applications

PhD - Earth Surface Dynamics

Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Lausanne

Lausanne, Switzerland

Description

Applications are invited for a PhD student position in the field of Earth surface dynamics at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. The position is fully funded for three years with the possibility of extension for one additional year. The PhD research project will focus on glacier dynamics and erosion. The project involves modeling and/or fieldwork. We currently have ongoing projects in the European Alps and Southern Alps of New Zealand.

Requirements

Applicants should have a Masters degree in geology, geophysics, physics, engineering, applied mathematics or any related quantitative discipline. Some interest in glaciology or quantitative geomorphology is essential. A strong command of written and spoken English is required and, although not critical, an understanding of French is an advantage. Some programming experience would be appreciated.

More information and applications

GIS Technician

University of Cambridge

Cambridge, United Kingdom

Description

CASP is a geological research organisation affiliated to the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Funded entirely by the international hydrocarbon industry, CASP is widely valued by its sponsors for combining original field-based research in remote areas with innovative regional synthesis.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are used in all aspects of CASP research, aiding our geologists to store, manage, manipulate and visualise data effectively. GIS data processing, presentation and development are fundamental to CASP's unique geological research reports. CASP actively develops ArcGIS tools and add-ins to enhance geological data acquisition, analysis and presentation.

We are seeking to recruit a GIS Technician, who will be part of our GIS team, providing GIS support and technical help to our geologists within different research projects. Your main tasks will consist of the input and maintenance of spatial and non-spatial data into ArcGIS databases. As part of CASP's on-going research, you will use ArcGIS for Desktop to create publishable map projects for our sponsors. The role also involves georeferencing and digitisation of geological and geographical data and using graphics packages to produce documents to a publication quality standard.

Requirements

A background in Earth Sciences or a related discipline.

Proven working experience with ArcGIS for Desktop 9.3 or higher by ESRI.

Excellent computer and organisation skills and excellent attention to detail.

Good written and oral communication in English.

The ability to work independently as well as part of a team.

More information and applications

PostDoc - Spatial analysis and land use

Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Spatial

analysis and land use

Dublin, Ireland

Description

This position offers an exciting opportunity to be part of a large multi-disciplinary Irish project, with partners in Irish Universities that will research and develop additions and refinements to the Irish forest carbon accounting and reporting tool. This part of the project intends to develop a system of stratifying national area into constituent soil, climate and land use layers. Best available data will be used where appropriate and new layers will be constructed where required. These will be integrated into a redeveloped national reporting system. The advertised role will ensure the interoperability of research inputs into the modelling and reporting system. The successful candidate will play a key role in facilitating collaboration with the National GHG Network for Agriculture and LULUCF.

Duties & Responsibilities specific to this project:

To develop a suite of data products for integration into modelling activities across the project.

To investigate suitability of existing national soil, land use and climate data products for project purposes

To develop methods of integrating existing data and developing derived interpreted products where required.

To collaborate closely with other team members and work packages in establishing their data needs.

To complete additional data development and management duties as they may arise and be assigned by the line manager.

Requirements

PhD in Geography/GIS or equivalent research experience (as determined by Teagasc)**.

Relevant research experience not to exceed 2 years' post-PhD.

Demonstrated research and technical expertise in GIS and spatial analysis.

Detailed working knowledge on the theory and application of GIS and spatial analytical techniques for environmental mapping.

Knowledge of GIS based data integration techniques in developing cartographic output.

Spatial Data Models, including grid, raster, topological, vector.

Data Considerations for Mapping, including source materials, data abstraction (classification, selection and generalization).

Evidence of research activity (publications, conference presentations, awards) and future scholarly output (working papers, research proposals etc).

Excellent project management, analytical, report writing and data analysis skills.

Excellent communication skills (oral, written, presentation) with an ability to enable effective knowledge and technology transfer.

** Equivalent research experience will be determined as 'at least three years post Masters Degree (Level 8/9) (not more than five years) or at least five years post primary Degree (Level 8) (not more than seven years) research experience in a relevant discipline'.

It will be desirable:

Experience in GIS and spatial analytical techniques as applied to research challenges in soil mapping, climate or land-use would be a distinct advantage

Experience on issues surrounding soil, land use and environmental mapping, e.g. scale, applicability, limitations, etc...

Familiarity with enterprise GIS.

Data management in industry standard database software (MS SQL Server & MS Access).

Aptitude for multidisciplinary approaches.

Reporting writing for stakeholders and funding agencies.

Strongly self-motivated and organised approach.

Experience in setting own research agenda.

Evidence of teamwork and collaboration with relevant partners.

More information and applications

PhD & PostDoc - Geohydromodelling

 Institute for Geosciences of the Christian-Albrechts

 University Kiel, Germany 

Description

1 Postdoctoral Scientist and 2 PhD positions, which are available within research projects and to be filled by 1.10.2013 or later.

The research area of the working group Geohydromodelling is modelling and numerical simulation of flow and reactive transport processes in single and multi-phase systems in the subsurface as well as simulation of geothermal heat flow and geomechanical effects. Application areas are e.g. contaminated ground water sites, subsurface storage of greenhouse gases, geothermal energy and storage of renewable energy in geologic reservoirs. For this, the required numerical codes are developed and applied in real case studies. The working group participates in national research programs, funded by the German Research Foundation or the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, but is also involved in projects with industry.

The positions are part of the research project ANGUS+, investigating the subsurface storage possibilities for renewable energy in the form of hydrogen, methane, compressed air or heat in geologic reservoirs. Aim is the development and application of the corresponding scientific simulation software. The main focus of research will be the development, verification and application of the software for simulating the non-isothermal multi-phase flow and reactive multi-component transport processes. Using scenario simulations, the requirements for geologic storage, the effects of the individual storage options as well as mutual influences are investigated.

Requirements

You have a university degree in geosciences, physics, geophysics, mathematics or engineering sciences. In case of the Postdoc position, you have obtained a Ph.D. in one of these fields. You are interested in working on geoscientific questions and have a good knowledge of mathematics and informatics. You have ideally experience in developing and applying scientific software. Knowledge on flow- and reactive transport processes as well as on the C/C++ programming language are beneficial for all positions.

PostDoc - Geovisual Analytics and visual temporal reasoning

The University of Twente.

The Netherlands

 

Description

 

We stand for life sciences and technology. High tech and human touch. Education and research that matter. New technology which drives change, innovation and progress in society. The University of Twente is the only campus university in the Netherlands; divided over six faculties we provide more than fifty educational programmes. The University of Twente has a strong focus on personal development and talented researchers are given scope for carrying out pioneering research. The Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente provides international postgraduate education, research and project services in the field of geo-information science and earth observation using remote sensing and GIS. The aim of ITC's activities is the international exchange of knowledge, focusing on capacity building and institutional development in developing countries and emerging economies. The ITC Department of Geo-Information Processing addresses and studies the technological and methodological aspects of geo-information processing and infrastructure to develop technology oriented concepts for the new geo-information society and solve complex application problems. The faculty ITC invites qualified persons to apply for the Postdoc position of Geovisual Analytics and visual temporal reasoning. The demand for geo-information products in both the public and private sectors continues to grow and diversify almost exponentially. Alongside with this, there is also an increasing demand for geo-information services and knowledge on how to best use geo-information, so that informed decision-making can occur. The Department of Geo-Information Processing focuses on methods and techniques to derive meaning from and insight in the diversity of ever increasing data collections and products. In particular, part of the research of the department is driven by the questions ‘How to offer a diversity of visual representations that support the user during any phase of the spatio-temporal data handling process?’, and ‘How can these visualizations help to understand the information displayed, improve insight, and support reasoning and decision making?’ A third question that links both previous questions is 'Does it work?'. The activities of the Post-doc should focus on the

temporal component of the above questions. In other words, how can a set of novel temporal representations be designed, implemented and used in a particular context, such that it visually supports users in their temporal reasoning process? The post doc should also investigate, and implement, analytical requirements for such temporal representations so that he/she can push forward the scientific boundary of geovisual analytics. You conduct and guide research and develop research cooperation, both inside and outside of the Faculty ITC, thereby contributing to the development of the departmental fields of expertise. You co-supervise PhD students working on a wide range of visual and analytical topics. You support the development and execution of educational tasks by integrating cutting edge research results in the academic curriculum of the department.

 

PhD - Volunteered geographical information for public health applications

The University of Twente.

The Netherlands

 

Description

 

We stand for life sciences and technology. High tech and human touch. Education and research that matter. New technology which drives change, innovation and progress in society. The University of Twente is the only campus university in the Netherlands; divided over six faculties we provide more than fifty educational programmes. The University of Twente has a strong focus on personal development and talented researchers are given scope for carrying out pioneering research. The Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente provides international postgraduate education, research and project services in the field of geo-information science and earth observation using remote sensing and GIS. The aim of ITC's activities is the international exchange of knowledge, focusing on capacity building and institutional development in developing countries and emerging economies. The ITC Department of Geo-Information Processing addresses and studies the technological and methodological aspects of geo-information processing and infrastructure to develop technology oriented concepts for the new geo-information society and solve complex application problems. The faculty ITC invites qualified persons to apply for the PhD/AIO position:

 

Volunteered geographical information for public health applications

 

Information and communication technologies have greatly facilitated the acquisition, online storage and exchange of large amounts of georeferenced data by non-professionals. Activities in this relatively new domain fall in the realm of Volunteered Geographical Information (VGI), as most of the data is processed by volunteers. VGI data is often highly heterogeneous and might be massive – if volunteers get organized to crowd source it for a particular citizen science project. These two characteristics have resulted in limited research efforts to derive new and/or improved geospatial products and knowledge based on VGI. However, such products and knowledge are needed to support informed decision-making and to move towards a true “information society”. This research project thus deals with the development of novel methods and tools to properly visualize and analyze VGI data. As case study, we will focus on the role of VGI data to understand the impact of global environmental changes on public health. In this research project, we propose using geovisual analytics to derive meaning from and insight in the diversity of ever increasing VGI data collections and geo-products that can support public health applications such as the mapping and modeling of the spatial and temporal distribution and seasonality of vector-borne diseases. Geovisual analytics, is a developing discipline that integrates knowledge, methods and techniques from scientific geovisualization, human-computer interaction and spatio-temporal data management and analysis. As stated above, we envisage case studies strongly linked to public health where the integration of formal (GIS layers and remote sensing products) and informal (volunteers observations) datasets is expected.