Azavea’s Brown Bag Lunch program provides a unique monthly opportunity for Azavea staff to talk about projects they are pursuing inside/outside of work as well as hear from community leaders in the Greater Philadelphia region.
Our speaker for March was Thaddeus Squire, founder and president of CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia. CultureWorks is the next evolution of Peregrine Arts, the organization that presented the spectacularly successful Hidden City event in 2009. During the Hidden City festival, performing and visual artists created dance, music, sculpture, video, print, and mixed media pieces inspired by the history and architecture of ”hidden” sites that people are not usually able to see. [Azavea participated in an early brainstorming session and also developed a transit map to help Peregrine Arts determine which hidden places would be the most accessible to visitors]. As part of his talk, Mr. Squire described the process of bringing some of the city’s best-unknown historical and architectural landmarks back to life and how excited he was that some of the old buildings, many of which are in various states of disrepair, are currently being repurposed due to the renewed interest generated by Hidden City. Those of you who attended the 2009 event will be pleased to know that a new Hidden City festival is currently being planned for 2013 and will encourage even more interest in redevelopment and reuse of neglected historic sites.
With fully 47% of all arts and cultural organizations in southeastern Pennsylvania currently operating at a deficit, the overarching goal of the new CultureWorks venture is to provide arts and heritage organizations with affordable access to the support and strategy they need to be resilient and sustainable in a constantly changing environment. A major challenge for non-profits is reliance upon government and foundation grants. When they end or decline, many organizations are forced to shrink and eliminate programs. CultureWorks aims to improve the financial resilience of non-profits by lowering costs and developing or improving their business models. These services are provided through three important programs:
- Cultural Sustainability Initiatives that provide partnering and resource support for large organizations with a particular project or goal in mind;
- Management Services for smaller organizations in need of financial, fundraising and marketing support; and
- Cultural CoWorking space to provide organizations of all sizes with the opportunity to network and support each other.
Mr. Squire indicated that arts and cultural organizations often find themselves competing for both funding and community support not only against other like-minded organizations, but also with the educational and community development projects that are often perceived by the general public as being more important. The recent announcement that the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra was filing for bankruptcy really drives home the challenges faced by arts and cultural organizations throughout the nation. CultureWorks has been founded to improve the chances of both survival and prosperity for cultural organizations.
There are a number of elements to Azavea’s staff research program, including:
- 10% time for personal research projects, training or open source projects
- Pro bono spatial analysis mini-projects for non-profit organziations
- Quarterly R&D social
- Monthly R&D code sprint day
- Monthly brown bag lunches
While we have had the 10% research program for several years, some staff found it difficult to carve out the time to work on research projects. So last fall, we started setting aside one day a month where there is both explicit social permission and peer pressure to invest in research projects. We also align this day with our long-running Brown Bag Lunch events.
The day starts with a stand-up meeting attended by the whole company. Each person with a research project says a brief word on what their goals are for the day. Robert then provides a summary of major accomplishments for the past month and priorities for the coming month. Around noon, food arrives and we gather to listen to a lunch-time speaker. Brown bag lunches are an opportunity for either an Azavea colleague to talk about a personal project they are developing outside of work or to invite someone from outside the company to talk about a project about which they are passionate. These presentations have included an incredible range of folks including:
Azavea will be blogging about these monthly events beginning with a summary of our March presentation by Thaddeus Squire of CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia. Stay tuned.
The Schuylkill River Watershed stretches through portions of eleven counties in southeast Pennsylvania and provides drinking water for approximately 1.5 million people. Azavea is working with the Stroud Water Research Center, Millersville University and the Cartographic Modeling Lab to develop WikiWatershed™, a suite of web-based, wiki-style tools that will engage users in understanding and managing this important water resource.
WikiWatershed is a multi-year project being funded by the National Science Foundation, the same organization that funded Azavea’s GPU research. One of the overarching goals of the WikiWatershed Project is to help students understand how present and future actions can impact environmental changes, and to potentially interest them in pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) careers.
The first of several planned modules for the WikiWatershed Project is already live. The Model My Watershed Information Portal is streaming real-time stream gauge and weather station data for the entire Schuylkill River watershed. Stream gauge data from the United States Geological Survey is used for a broad range of important watershed management activities nationwide, including flood prediction, water allocation and recreational safety enhancement. Local weather data includes temperature, wind speed, barometric pressure and precipitation totals. WikiWatershed users have the option to view current stream gauge or weather station data for a particular location, or to visualize historic data through the use of graphs and tables.
Keep checking back over the next several months as new modules are added to the site, including interactive applications that will support the simulation of stormwater runoff and infiltration. Once complete, the WikiWatershed website will provide a collaborative platform where local students and other users can share their observations, ideas and resource data to enhance environmental stewardship.
The Model My Watershed Information Portal enables users to visualize historic stream gauge data with graphs and tables.
Russia’s GLONASS constellation moved a step closer to full global coverage with the launch of three new satellites on September 2, 2010. At present, twenty-one GLONASS satellites are operational, and two others are considered spares. Three additional satellites are scheduled for launch in November, and the first in a series of GLONASS-K satellites is scheduled to launch in December. The new GLONASS-K series will feature a longer lifespan of up to ten years and additional signal capacity. With a full constellation expected to be complete by the end of the year, Russia is currently promoting its GNSS technology to both foreign and domestic manufacturers of navigational receivers and related products.
On September 11, 2010, Japan launched the first in a series of three satellites that will provide enhanced navigation signals for Japan and portions of the surrounding Asia-Pacific region. The Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) is named for the asymmetrical Figure-8 orbit that will keep at least one satellite almost directly overhead – at the zenith – at all times. For high accuracy positioning, the ideal satellite geometry is to have one satellite at the zenith and three others broadly scattered around it. The new satellite, also known as “Michbiki,” will send signals that are interchangeable with those of the United States’ GPS constellation, thus allowing the QZSS to augment the eight to eleven GPS satellites that are normally available over Japan at any given time. When fully operational in 2013, the three QZSS satellites will reduce ranging errors and increase positioning accuracy even in areas of Japan where urban canyons or mountainous terrain have previously been an issue
Even before Michibiki was launched, it had its own iPhone/iTouch application. QZ-Finder allows users to keep track of QZSS and GPS satellite positions overhead with a compass-like skyplot view as well as a world map view that shows how the satellites are distributed around the globe and even tracks the QZSS orbit trajectory. The new app also features an augmented reality view of the satellites that can be accessed through the user’s iPhone camera and even incorporated into a photograph for an image that is truly “out of this world.”
The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology announced the successful launch of the first geosynchronous satellite in China’s Compass constellation on July 31, 2010. China has already launched four geostationary satellites that will provide navigation coverage within the Asia-Pacific region by late 2012. The first geosynchronous satellite is part of China’s proposed plan to provide full global coverage by 2020, similar to what is currently provided by the United States’ GPS constellation.
Japan is also moving ahead with its Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS). The QZSS will provide navigation coverage for Japan and portions of the surrounding Asia-Pacific region, with full operational status anticipated in 2013. The first satellite was originally scheduled to launch on August 2, 2010, but the launch was postponed due to a suspected defect in the satellite’s reaction-wheel assembly system. The defective part has since been replaced, and the launch has been rescheduled for September 11, 2010.
The QZSS will provide high accuracy positioning to most of Japan, even where urban canyons or mountainous terrain might otherwise be an issue. Following a campaign by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the satellite has been nicknamed “Michibiki,” which means “guiding star” or “showing the way.” The satellite also has its own mascot as well as a dedicated website that will provide 3-D interaction and information about the satellite beginning on August 23.
The Quasi-Zenith Satellite System Orbit will keep a navigational satellite almost directly overhead at all times, providing greater positioning accuracy for GNSS users in Japan (public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).
The fourth navigation satellite in China’s Beidou or Compass constellation was successfully launched on June 2, 2010. This satellite is one of five planned geostationary satellites that will ultimately provide navigation coverage within the Asia-Pacific region. An additional thirty non-geostationary satellites are expected to be in place by 2020 in order to bring the Compass constellation to full global coverage similar to what is currently provided by the GPS constellation. China is planning to have a total of twelve satellites in orbit by the end of 2012 to provide positioning, timing and short messaging communication services for much of Asia and the Pacific region. The system is expected to provide a positioning accuracy of approximately thirty feet for civilian users. A more accurate service will be available to authorized and military users only.
Once all currently planned satellites have been deployed and added to those already in orbit in existing constellations, it is anticipated that positioning services, particularly in “urban canyons” and other locations where signal strength has previously been an issue, will be significantly enhanced for navigation system users around the world.
The Compass Navigation Satellite System will initially provide service to the Asia-Pacific region (public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).
After a week of delays caused by everything from technical malfunctions to bad weather, the first in a series of
GPS IIF satellites was
finally launched from Cape Canaveral late in the evening on May 27, 2010. A total of twelve IIF satellites are expected to launch through 2014, with the next launch tentatively scheduled for November 2010.
The IIF satellites are part of the ongoing modernization of the GPS constellation by the United States Air Force. The IIFs have improved atomic clocks used for timing and are therefore expected to provide more accurate navigation signals than those currently available from the rest of the GPS constellation. The IIFs will also broadcast the civil L5 signal for safety-of-life applications, which has the potential to enhance indoor reception with its wider bandwidth and lower frequency. The new satellites will also be compatible with the Galileo, GLONASS and QZSS constellations. In addition, the IIFs will assist the IIRM series already in orbit with military-specific M-code, a unique encryption for military users requiring secure access.
The new satellite, officially known as GPS IIF-1 SV-1, is expected to begin broadcasting its signal to GPS users following a three- to four-month testing period. In addition to being the first in the new IIF satellite series, this launch was significant for another reason as well. GPS IIF 1 SV-1 was carried into orbit on a Delta IV rocket, making it the first GPS satellite since 1985 that was not placed in orbit by an Atlas rocket.
The new IIF satellite series has finally launched. (Public domain image courtesy of http://pnt.gov/public/images/.)
Articles by Mary L. Johnson
