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Geographical Information Systems (GIS) represents
one of the most rapidly expanding areas in Information Technology. GIS is seen increasingly
as an essential tool in many areas of government and business.
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Here is the fourth electronic UNIGIS Newsletter, edition Winter 2008. Ahead of us is a whole new year.
You might think that we have a lot of snow here in Amsterdam, as the image in the upper-left of this newsletter suggests, but we all know that images
(and maps) can be deceiving! 2008 is the year in which UNIGIS Amsterdam exists 15 years! This milestone will not pass unnoticed off course.
Enjoy reading your UNIGIS news!
Unigis Amsterdam General News
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Great Expectations for the New year!
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by Henk Scholten
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What can we expect from UNIGIS in 2008? I like to phrase the question a little bit different, where would I
like to invest in 2008, in relation to UNIGIS activities?
That question is a lot easier to answer. I look forward to finalize our Module on GIS and Health. Mark Cresswell is coordinating our activities
in a wonderful way, and you can be sure that the module will be available during our workshops in June! We also promised to finalize our Oracle
Spatial Module in 2008, and with our 'new' colleague, Ronnie, it will happen, so be prepared.
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But I will also be proud if our book on the use of GIS in other sciences will be ready, and that you will be
interested in reading some of the chapters. I look forward to the students who have started their Msc thesis, we will have quite a number of
them who will finalise their study in 2008, so, parties and nice experiences.
But without any discussion the workshops in June will be the real highlights of 2008. The last two years were already very successfull, but the
preparation for 2008 already started, and having a distance learning environment is nice, but meeting each other is even nicer!
Henk
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Introducing the Board of Education
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by Jasper Dekkers
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Now that our distance-learning programme has been accredited by the Dutch-Flemish Accreditation Organisation (NVAO), we
are in the process of formalising certain organisational aspects of the Master of Science in GIS. One of the steps we have recently taken is the establishment of a
Board of Education. The members of the UNIGIS Educational Board have been formally appointed by the Faculty Board from June 2007 onwards.
The Board consists
of two staff and two student members. It's goal is to evaluate the educational quality of the UNIGIS programme and to give advice on how to improve parts of the
programme if necessary. Students who have questions or remarks regarding the Study programme (both contents and scheduling), Examination rules, or any other aspect
related to their studies are invited to contact one of the student members, so that they can pose their question or remark in a meeting of the Board of Education
when appropriate.
The two staff members of the Board of Education are
Joop van der Schee (Chairman) and Jasper Dekkers (Secretary). The two student members are Fiona Smith and Frank Kooij
and are briefly introduced below.
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Fiona Smith
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Fiona Smith is a student-member of the new GIS Curriculum Committee and has been a UNIGIS student since September 2006.
Fiona has a background in ecology and combines her ecological knowledge and GIS. Fiona is currently working as a GIS consultant for various companies.
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Frank Kooij is a student-member of the new GIS Curriculum Committee and has been a UNIGIS student since March 2004.
Frank has a special interest in spatial analysis and modeling and a background in operations research and information analysis. He lives in the Netherlands
with his girlfriend, who is a neuroscientist. Frank has worked as a GIS researcher, in various consulting positions, and is a former city councilor.
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Frank Kooij
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Hello and Goodbye
We welcome two new colleagues at the SPINlab, who will be working on various projects in both
Research and Education: Ronnie Lassche and Chris Jacobs. Welcome! Both of them briefly introduce themselves below.
Unfortunately, we also have to say goodbye to some of our colleagues. Both Simone Verzandvoort and Irene Pleizier are on maternity leave at the moment and they are both not
returning to the office after their leave. Simone will join her former employer Alterra at Wageningen University again and Irene is going to work for Geodan.
We wish both of them all the very best with their new babies and the continuation of their careers elsewhere and we hope to stay in contact.
Also, Bas Jansen is leaving us. He has been doing research in the area of RFID and medical healthcare together with Remko van der Togt. We wish him good luck and hope to continue
meeting him in the GIS work field.
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Ronnie Lassche
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I'm Ronnie Lassche and I studied earth sciences at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. During my study I did a GIS
course and as a follow up I did some GIS research. Following my graduation I worked for about two years at the Vrije Universiteit as a teacher and
researcher. After this I worked for several IT companies in different fields like health care, housing, psychological testing, warehouse management
and advertising. Although these are completely different subjects databases where a major part in all the applications I worked on.
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Furthermore I'm involved in the Edugis project and in seceral research projects.
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Hello, my name is Chris Jacobs and I am originally from Lelystad,
a suburb in Flevoland. I studied Traffic and Transportation Planning at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, and finally received
my MSc in September 2007. The last 3 years, I have been working as a modeling specialist and programmer for online
and offline mapping systems at Goudappel Coffeng, a consultancy agency in Deventer.
For my thesis, I have been researching the functioning of shopping centres as if they were part of a network society.
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Chris Jacobs
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Furthermore, the last years I have been working on the modeling of consumer choices
for Goudappel Coffeng’s `KoopStroomPrognoseModel’.
I’m especially interested in the dynamics between land use and accessibility, and mapping these dynamics. The next 3-4 years
I will be at the VU to research land use modeling, and more specific the communication of modeling results.
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Calendar &
Activities
February 2008
Information Session Intake March 2008
Are you interested in GIS and do you want to learn more about the subject? Unigis can help! An Information Session for the new intake will be
held on Friday February 22 at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam: from 15.00-17.00 in room C541 (W&N-building, De Boelelaan 1085). Come and visit us!
Information will be made available through our website in due time.
And of course you can always contact us, through our website or by phone should you not be able to visit us.
March 2008
Start Intake March 2008
The new intake will start at Friday March 14th at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam with Workshop 1. This starting-session is an informal,
non-obligatory meeting during which further (practical) information will be given about the course and the first module. You are kindly requested to confirm your participation
by email (unigis@feweb.vu.nl) so that we can make arrangements accordingly.
The workshop is held from 14.30 - 17.00 in room C541 of the W&N building, De Boelelaan 1085. See also our website for a route description.
May 2008
AGILE Conference
May 5-8, 2008, the 11th AGILE International Conference on Geographic Information Science will be held in Girona Spain. An excellent opportunity to
increase your knowledge about the latest developments in GIS, meet new people who work and do research in the GIS field and to visit the beautiful city that also hosts our sister-organisation
UNIGIS Girona.
More information is available through the Conference website.
June 2008
UNIGIS Conference
From Monday June 16th to Friday 20th June, the Annual UNIGIS Conference will be held at the VU University in Amsterdam.
Workshops 2 and 3, plenary sessions and an Alumni event will be all part of the Conference
Information will be made available through our website in due time.
Alumni event 2008
Friday June 20th, an Alumni day will be organised at the UNIGIS Conference. Special guest speakers will be invited and we also want to
discuss with you the possibility of giving Alumni access to new UNIGIS study material.
Information will be made available through our website in due time.
And of course you can always contact us, through our website or by phone should you not be able to visit us.
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