Our data experts
are always stirring up conversation so we decided to
let them go global with their own blogs.
Join the conversation about data with Fred Zimmerman,
the Global
Data Hound or about frameworks for organizing spatial
data with Dave Carson at Spatial
Structures.
GLOBAL DATA HOUND
As a Research Scientist our data hound, Fred Zimmerman,
spends much of his time sniffing out data. Fred makes
use
of the collective skill set here at ISciences. We
have
years of experience
in identifying, acquiring, and creating global datasets to
illuminate complex scientific, socio-economic, and
policy problems. Find out what the Global
Data Hound has sniffed out today. You'll find a discussion
of pixel sizes and map scales for global gridded datasets and
some thought-provoking images like the HANPP data
from CIESIN.
SPATIAL STRUCTURES
Dave Carson, Director
of GeoSpatial Solutions at ISciences, hosts Spatial
Structures, our blog about the challenges of organizing
digital spatial data. For the serious researcher the
benefit of good digital organization is flexibility.
In this context that means a researcher can quickly
search through a library of spatial information and
choose
the most
appropriate based on the data’s pedigree, can
see data visualization immediately, and can quickly
access tools for full data analysis. Dave's ready
to show you
how to accomplish all of this without having to perform
any GIS transformations.
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Map: Human Appropriation of Net Primary
Productivity, CIESIN.
Image Source: CIESIN
Remarks from the Global Data Hound: "HANPP
shows human appropriation of net primary productivity
as a percentage of local
primary productivity, so you can think of it as a
measure of the stress that humans are putting
on the local
ecological resources (or, if you will, as a measure
of the efficiency with which humans have turned the
local ecology to our purposes). The point is not
that the HANPP map is exactly 'right' as
a literal representation of reality, but
rather that it is directionally illuminating
and thought-provoking. That’s often
the case for any global map that does more
than count known entities. Cartography has
a strong element of art."
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