2021 Feedback

Now that the dust has settled and the majority (I guess) of the feedback has been received, I just wanted to give a quick summary responses from the event follow-up form.

These plots are really heartening – it seems that I managed to get the focus about right, but it’s good to know that there are still a few things that could be tweaked to make it even more engaging and enjoyable for the attendees.

There have also been a host of positive comments which really make me smile – it’s great to know that the event, organised because I was looking for a something a bit different in the events I go to, has been accepted so positively by others:

Using Discord worked really well for getting discussions going, better than any other platform I’ve seen used.

The info for delegates was great – really handy doc with the agenda and links etc. I loved that and also that at the start of every session we got a link to it again.

Really interesting range of topics covered, especially compared to more research / academic focused conferences.

Thanks for organising and putting so much thought and effort into something which worked well virtually.

Of all the virtual conferences I have attended I can genuinely say this has been the best from an experience and interaction point of view. Well done!

Whole event was very well put on with great guest speakers. Hoping very much there will be another one!

Rasters Revealed was a friendly, enjoyable and valuable one-day conference. It brought together an enthusiastic crowd of raster data users willing to share their knowledge and positively contributed to developing the community. I’d definitely attend again.

Thank you to everyone who left comments on Discord or via the feedback form. Some of the comments that suggested things to improve on or do differently included:

  • to be more explicit about timings and time-zones to account for a global audience
  • to promote the fact that Discord was open for joining before the event, and that those who joined could start discussions ahead of and after the event itself
  • introductory sessions could be a useful addition for newcomers

And finally we come to whether to repeat the event and when that might be. I asked the attendees in the feedback form whether and when they would like to see another Rasters Revealed:

  • No one said they didn’t want another event (Phew!)
  • 2% said in another 4 years
  • 7% said in about 2 years time
  • 34% said every six months would be good
  • 57% asked for an annual meeting

This is great and gives me plenty to think about. With virtual events being more common and flexible in their format there could indeed be the opportunity for another event in less than the 4 year gap between 2017 and 2021!

Thank you everyone for your support and comments.

Thank you

And that’s a wrap on Rasters Revealed 2021 Online. Thank you to all the speakers and presenters, moderators, OSGeo:UK and attendees. There’s a more comprehensive review on the day at the following link:

Rasters Revealed Reviewed

Updated Agenda

Just to let you know that there is now an updated provisional agenda available for Rasters Revealed 2021 Online. You can access it here

Registrations are also still open for the event on the 15th January.

Agenda

The agenda is nearly finalised and will soon be on its way to registered delegates! A summary of the sessions and speakers can be seen here.

Data Applications

In a session on applications, we have speakers Andy Tatem from the University of Southampton, and Rebecca Bennett from Pushing the Sensors who will be talking about population grids and elevation data for archaeology, respectively.

Andy is a professor of spatial demography and epidemiology and is the Director of WorldPop and Flowminder, so given the year that was 2020 I can imagine that there will be loads of relevant content – not just for Rasters Revealed but for understanding the wider world around us too.

Rebecca is an archaeologist specialising in aerial and ground-based landscape studies and the application of airborne remote sensing. Understanding elevation data and the other forms of raster data that are used in archaeological studies is critical for making informed decisions about what may have happened at a site.

Keep an eye on the #rastersrev website (https://rastersrevealed.net/) for all and any updates to do with the day, and remember to register and get ready for using Discord for interacting with speakers and fellow attendees.

Dealing with data

A further session will look at how you can visualise and process different types of raster data. This looks like a fascinating series of talks. Khalid from Sensat will be discussing land cover prediction using deep learning methods, Jakub from the Adam Mickiewicz University will be explaining patterns in categorical data and Ivan will be introducing WebGL to us all.

Being able to understand, process and visualise the data that we deal with is a key component of the way that raster datasets are utilised, and this session promises

I’m really looking forward to hearing all about this, and if this sounds like the sort of thing you’d be interested in too then I hope to see you at the session on 15th January 2021.

Keep an eye on the #rastersrev website (https://rastersrevealed.net/) for all and any updates to do with the day, and remember to register and get ready for using Discord for interacting with speakers and fellow attendees.

The Data Workflow

The Data Workflow session in Rasters Revealed 2021 Online will involve presentations from, and discussions between, representatives from the following organisations:

The concept behind this session is to take the attendee on a journey from the construction of a data capture platform, through data storage and dissemination, to data visualisation and analysis. Alba Orbital constructs small satellites and currently captures night-light imagery; Amazon has a whole host of EO data related services but the most relevant are likely to be the AWS Ground Station and Open Data Registry offerings; and the University of Geneva is involved in constructing the Swiss Data Cube, a great example of how fine resolution data can be combined in the data cube model.

I’m really looking forward to hearing all about this, and if this sounds like the sort of thing you’d be interested in too then I hope to see you at the session on 15th January 2021.

Keep an eye on the #rastersrev website (https://rastersrevealed.net/) for all and any updates to do with the day, and remember to register and get ready for using Discord for interacting with speakers and fellow attendees.

The State of EO

I’m really excited by some of the sessions that are scheduled for Rasters Revealed 2021 Online (well, planned – I still need to finalise the agenda 😀 ) and over the next few days I’ll give you a flavour of the types of sessions to expect.

First up, I can announce that we are going to have what promises to be a lively and informative panel session on the State of Earth Observation with three key influencers from the world of modern remote sensing:

I think that this will be a great discussion between three noted members of the sector, all of whom have fascinating views and opinions on how the sector is operating at the moment.

Keep an eye on the #rastersrev website (https://rastersrevealed.net/) for all and any updates to do with the day, and remember to register and get ready for using Discord for interacting with speakers and fellow attendees.