A quick guide for handling time-varying imagery with open python libraries — A while ago I wrote an article here covering some of the basics of remote sensing using python. Last time we covered the basics of geopandas, rasterio and google earth engine to manipulate satellite imagery and geospatial data. This time around, we'll be expanding on the concept of calculating vegetation…

A method for modeling environmental risk with GIS, statistical techniques and open python libraries — Recently the World Resources Insitute office in Brazil tasked me with a consultancy under the Cities4Forests project on modeling the risk for several hazards linked to climate change such as floods, landslides and heat waves at urban scale for the municipality of Campinas, Brazil's most populous city outside of a…

Using GIS techniques to include trees and forests in local GHG inventories — In a time when greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are the main driver of climate change, recent IPCC reports state that removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere is crucial in limiting the effects of global warming. …

A hands-on guide on how to make the best out of the world's leading OS Data Portal on OSX with docker-compose — CKAN is great. It's not only one of the most popular systems for open data portals around the globe: the plethora of plugins available and the thriving community make it a very flexible and powerful tool for different kinds of data and visualizations, including geospatial. When it comes to geospatial…

Don’t panic, it’s just public transit data — Since its release in 2004, the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) has revolutionized the way we work with public transit data. It defines a common format for public transportation schedules and associated geographic information. A GTFS feed is composed of a series of text files collected in a ZIP file…

Image classification with Google Earth Engine for the UN — For many years now, my experience as a GIS and remote sensing specialist has been marked by projects in the humanitarian sector: the UN, World Bank, Red Cross, WRI, Translators without Borders; you name it, I probably did some work for them. Back in 2018, when I worked for Urban…

A practical take on Ian McHarg's suitability analysis method. — The year of 2019 marked the 50 year anniversary of Ian McHarg's influential book, Design with Nature. I was first introduced to it back in 2013, and no book has made a deeper impression in me since. Back in 1969 when it was first published, the environmental movement was popping…

A hands-on guide for implementing some of the most beloved tools in the spatial python community — Over my career I’ve worked on many geospatial related projects using the ArcGIS platform, which I absolutely love. That means I get to consult in projects with cutting-edge geospatial technologies, like Multidimensional Rasters, Deep Learning, and spatial IoT automation. With that in mind, I always try to keep track of…

Recently I was faced with a new challenge when we at the Road Ecology Lab were asked to provide roadkill hotspots modeling for the State's Roads Company. They were looking for a tool for collecting on-site data and then visualizing it on a map. …