Victoria, BC, Canada.
September 2021
I am a freelance GIS consultant in search of interesting systems to tell stories about.
Skills
Big picture: taking a mass of data and turning it into maps and charts that you can use to understand a system and make better choices about it.
Nuts and bolts: I have lots of experience with—and take great pleasure in—imposing order on the messiest of data. I’m also good at automating data import and management processes so we can all spend more time on analysis & meaning, and less on repetitive tasks.
Technical buzzwords for the robots: ETL, PostGIS, QGIS, Python, SQL, PostgreSQL, GDAL, GeoPandas, Go, Tableau, JavaScript, Mapbox, Leaflet, D3, Rasterio, Geoserver, Google Cloud. 1000001 01 01 111
Values
It’s important to me to work on things that promote sustainability in a thoroughly humanistic sense: making life better for people alive today without borrowing from the future. There are many ways that can work, but if you can’t tell me how your project makes the world better in at least some small way, you’ll have to find someone else to work on it.
Current & recent projects
- Data import and API development for the Allen Coral Atlas, an effort to map all the world’s warm-water coral and monitor it for changes from satellite imagery.
- A web map to showcase the World Justice Project‘s global library of legal needs surveys.
- Automation to add elevation data to 2D maps allowing for more realistic bike and pedestrian route modeling.
- A web map generator that allows Washington Hometown to quickly release and update specialised recreation maps as the COVID rules shift.
- More examples.
Older work
- Spatial analysis used by Hatchback Cottages to identify suitable sites for detached accessory dwelling units under Seattle’s zoning rules.
Data import, analysis and visualisation for FINclusionLab, a global financial inclusion project.- Automated data import pipeline for HazardReady’s disaster preparedness websites.
- Built most of the software for DR-i-VE Decisions, a virtual environment that lets you explore urban systems and the impact of potential development on them.
- Interactive web maps for various clients, for example: one I was the solo developer for; one I subcontracted on to help get the interaction details right.
- Data export & packaging automation for a repository of outdoor recreation geodata in Washington State.
- I was responsible for survey and indicator data at The Happiness Initiative, a project to get wellbeing taken seriously as a public policy goal.
- I researched issues for Chris Jordan and wrote background pieces about his artwork, explaining the issues he illustrates, why people should care and what they can do to help.
- Wrote the data analysis parts (pp 8-33) of a happiness report card for Seattle’s local government.
- Organised a symposium about the likely impacts of climate change on water resources in the Pacific Northwest.
- Managed groups of volunteers, interns and employees on projects ranging from habitat restoration to launching a new business venture.
- Helped produce an art show full of machines that go ping.
- Taught computer programming and web site development to beginners, and the use of Excel for data analysis to more advanced students.
Tested an artificial intelligence technique based on ideas from biology, to show that it could be practical for a specific real-world application.- Had photos published in a couple of books, magazines and a few websites.
Elsewhere
Collaborations
I am one half of Meldanco International, along with my partner Melinda Minch, who is more of a generalist software developer. I also frequently collaborate with Matt Stevenson of CORE GIS and Karsten Vennemann of Terra GIS on web mapping projects.
Let’s talk
If you think I could help your project, then just drop me an email.