Category: News

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City-Scale Urban Modeling at Stevens IT

Prof. Laefer was invited to speak on city-scale urban modeling at the picturesque Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. Her talk, presented on May 10th, 2017, shared recent progress and potential in the use of remote sensing for massive urban modeling, including the use of hyperspectral data to conduct material analysis.

Abstract

Despite tremendous advances in virtual reality and gaming environments, little of this has translated into city-scale models with engineering functionality, despite the pressing need for such models in a wide range of subjects (e.g. energy usage, urban heat island, pollution dispersion, pedestrian wind comfort, and blast vulnerability). As such, Prof. Laefer presented the current state of the art with respect to the creation of an automated pipeline for computational model creation that is representative of the actual built environment. Of particular interest is how the latest generation of laser scanning combined with hyperspectral imagery may prove to be a game changer in the auto-generation of computational models at a city-scale.

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Guest Speaker: Zorica Nedovic-Budic

Zorica Nedovic-BudicWe were delighted to hear Prof. Zorica Nedovic-Budic speak at CUSP on May 8, 2017. Prof. Nedovic Budic discussed the power of Crowd-sourced Data for Urban Planning and Emergency Response with case studies from Ireland and Iran.

Abstract

Since mid-1980s the advances in geospatial technologies and information and decision-support systems have offered planners and other professionals dealing with spatially manifested phenomena new tools for storing, analyzing and visualizing information. However, the pace of technological progress has been faster than our ability to fully explore, adapt and exploit the technologies and tools to meaningfully contribute to practice and policy. As we move from geographic information systems (GIS) and WebGIS, to spatial data infrastructures (SDI) and geoportals, and to user-generated content enabled by Web 2.0, our informational capacities are ever expanding, albeit with very little time allowed to understand the impact. Like their predecessors, the recent developments in volunteered geographic information (VGI) and crowd-sourcing facilities have opened up new possibilities. They promise to enable a further step into democratization of data- dependent processes and have blurred the boundary between data users and data producers to create a new hybrid of data producers. This presentation explored two applications of crowd-sourcing: 1. in planning for underutilized inner city properties (Dublin, Ireland); and 2. in assessing the situation for earthquake emergency response (Bam, Iran). The work focused on evaluating the contribution of data generated through crowd- sourcing to better understanding of the local issues and guiding further actions.

Bio

Zorica Nedović-Budić is a professor and head in the Department of Planning and Policy at University of Illinois in Chicago. She received her PhD degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was a faculty member at the University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign for 15 years and Chair of Spatial Planning at the University College Dublin for 7 years. Prof. Nedović-Budić’s research is about planning, cities and technology. From 2011 to 2016 she was the principal investigator on a 30-partner European FP7 project Transitioning Towards Urban Resilience and Sustainability (TURaS). She has published extensively in books and refereed journals, co-edited three volumes and served on editorial boards of several journals (including JAPA book review editorship and currently as an associate editor for the ASCE’s Journal of Urban Planning and Development). Prof. Nedović-Budić was on the Board of Directors of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) and the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS). She sits on the Executive Committee of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP).

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Urban Research Day at NYU

Professor Laefer was delighted to have the opportunity to present at NYU’s Urban Research Day hosted by the NYU Provost’s Office. We are looking forward to many new and productive collaboration with other urban researchers at NYU.

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Guest Speaker: Eleni Mangina

University College Dublin Professor, Dr. Eleni Mangina joined us at CUSP on Friday, March 31th to discuss emerging technologies (including VR, AR, and UAVs) for humanitarian applications.

Abstract

In this talk we reviewed emerging trends and technologies such as Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, mobile apps and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that are transforming humanitarian applications for efficient delivery of response in emergency situations and/or first responder’s management. In situ observations from UAVs or other cyber physical sensors can enhance ground level intelligence and aid in the creation of real time models to capture and estimate the extend of a disaster. Using a virtual command & control centre communicating with sensors in the field, up-to-date information from weather stations and satellite images can be incorporated in a dynamic feedback loop in order to determine the best action. The talk included the implementation of two case studies.

Bio

Assoc. Prof. Eleni Mangina carried out her PhD work at the University of Strathclyde (UK), Dept. of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, working on Agent-based applications for intelligent data interpretation. The research area focused on software analysis, design and development of multi agent systems, which utilise different Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques (Knowledge based systems, Artificial Neural Networks, Case Based Reasoning systems and Model based Reasoning systems). Dr Mangina holds an M.Sc. in Artificial Intelligence from the Department of Artificial Intelligence at University of Edinburgh in the UK and an MSc in Agricultural Science from Agricultural University of Athens in Greece. Dr Mangina joined School of Computer Science (UCD) in 2002 and is an active researcher in the area of Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in domains like engineering, power industry, bioinformatics, education, agriculture and supply chain management.  She has a track record of more than 150 publications in national and international peer reviewed workshops and conferences and international journals, including in IEEE and ACM and a number of book chapters and contributes as a committee member for reviews to many international conferences. Recent research focus includes Robotics, Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, Virtual and Augmented Reality applications as well as mobile applications for digital humanitarian applications. In 2014 she was certified in Robotics Academic Training from Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Lab. Dr Mangina is a member of the drone working group of European Emergency Number Association (EENA), UAV coordination group of World Food Programme (WFP), and Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Data IG group and has collaborations with Irish Red Cross (IRC) and International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC).

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Guest Speaker: Evan O’Keeffe

Evan O'KeeffeUCD PhD candidate, Mr. O’Keeffe, spoke at NYU MAGNET on March 24, 2017 discussing new methods of viewing large portions of massive remote sensing datasets through low cost VR headsets.

Abstract

This talk informed viewers on new methods of viewing large portions of massive remote sensing datasets through low cost VR headsets, using Google Cardboard, external controllers and smart phone technology. This talk included methods for managing point cloud data for real time streaming, to minimise latency to the headset. Looking at how users can interact with the data to extract more details than possible from previous technologies.

Bio

Mr. Evan O’Keeffe is a doctoral candidate at the University College Dublin Ireland and recipient of the prestigious Irish Research Council doctoral fellowship. He obtained his BSc in computer science from University College Dublin in 2014 and furthered his research with an MSc specializing in 3D aerial reconstruction/modelling in 2016.

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Prof. Laefer Featured in the Royal Irish Academy’s Women on Walls

Prof. Debra Laefer was 1 of 8 Ireland-based women researchers chosen for the Royal Irish Academy’s Women on Walls initiative. Each of these leading women researchers was honoured with inclusion in a group portrait to be hung in the Royal Irish Academy. Prof. Laefer was the only non-Irish researcher included in the project.

For more information on the project, visit the Royal Irish Academy website.

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Prof. Laefer Appointed to the Irish Research Council

Prof. Debra F. Laefer was appointed a board member for the Irish Research Council (IRC) for a three year term from 2016 through 2019. Prof. Laefer is the only engineering delegate represented on the Council Board. She looks forward to promoting Irish engineering research through IRC mechanisms.

The full list of board members is available here.