Locatum

As Richard Pope attests in his recent blog there is some pretty boring-to-the-ordinary-person aspects to the whole transparency, tracking and contact tracing narrative. To an extent we appear to be becoming desensitised to the who and the how, the centralised/decentralised, the open/proprietary, the technology choices and how inclusive or otherwise they might be, and to the notion of privacy. On this last point language plays a key role. You'd hope this was clear language on the back of a truck in Sri Lanka The Coronavirus (Safeguards) Bill 2020 proposes protections for 'digital interventions'. Though the ambition is understandable and the intent and brevity admirable its reliance on the same language, in relation to privacy, GDPR, anonymisation, digital exclusion, sharing, containment, research and time merits some exploration: Digital exclusion is highest in those communities most at risk notably the poorest and the elderly, sub-sections of whom are at the fo...

As Oasis never said, some might say that R (and/or python) is the language of geospatial, or at least languages for geospatial scripting, applications, data processing, analysis and modelling. But to misquote Chris Tarrant, well Quiz has been on, I don't want to give you that. Instead, in these harrowing times, what is the language that both goes to the very heart of the world of 'geographic information' and effectively engages the widest audience. The AGI bears that name and over 30 years we (am currently Vice Chair myself) have borne witness to the challenge our own nomenclature, our own domain, represents whilst simultaneously proclaiming that "everything happens somewhere". it does, even out there This post is in part rooted in that history and posits that finding a common argot with which to talk about that "somewhere", that location - location data, location analysis, location intelligence and its manifestation, typically in visualisatio...

And now for a bit of location fun - that post featuring in the early morning desert of Oman's Wahiba Sands circa Jan 1986 courtesy of the RGS programme ( Journal of Oman Studies Special Report is even available on amazon) initiated in me an urge to see if my recollection of that image having been used in a Rolex ad was indeed correct. After all I have said so out loud many times even though the absence on my wrist that day and even to this day (hey Rolex) of any form of Rolex only spurred on the doubters! And what do you know....that image was taken by none other than the inimitable Michael Keating , possibly amongst the quieter of his assignments! The roll call of those involved is worthy of a separate post sometime. As featured very occasionally (perhaps once only?) in The Geographical Magazine and National Geographic in c.1987. I would like to be able to share anecdotes (hell, any anecdote) about my times with all the other genuinely ground-breaking people who have gr...

After 20 years at the helm of emapsite, taking the company from start-up in the dying days of the dot com era to successful and respected multi-million pound business with a team full of talents and a portfolio of loyal blue chip customers for our unique array of products and services, I am stepping aside as CEO. Two years after leading the relocation to Farnborough and setting in train the next phase of emapsite’s evolution with a doubling down on the company’s strategic ambitions including succession planning, the company is set fair for the next steps in that journey. The company has been blessed and is made by its people, past and present – emapsite’s customers, suppliers and partners will know that from day one the company sought to delight and to exceed expectations in making location content accessible and insightful. This team will continue to thrive at emapsite and enrich those experiences. Always one for looking forward, in the immediate short-term I will be looking...