Alexander Brenning: Geospatial data science perspectives on physical geography

WIWI aktuell Gastvortrag am 27. Juni 2018, um 13:15 Uhr von Prof. Dr. Alexander Brenning vom Institut für Geographie der  Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Veranstalter: Institut für Geographie und Regionalforschung

With the rapidly increasing availability of geospatial data, novel geocomputing techniques and powerful software tools, geographical research and professional practice are undergoing a transformation that comes with many new opportunities but also challenges. This talk highlights and discusses issues related to (1) novel types and sources of geospatial data, (2) reproducible and open science, and (3) the potentials and pitfalls of statistical and machine-learning techniques. Which new opportunities arise from the growing amount of geospatial data? What best practices should we follow to make our research open and reproducible? Should we give up model interpretability to improve the predictive performance of our models? Practical recommendations are given based on case studies related to Earth surface processes, and implications for training young geographers are considered.

Prof. Brenning is full professor of geographic information science in the Department of Geography of Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany, and currently serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry and Earth Sciences. His research focuses on spatial modelling and geocomputing tools and their application in a variety of contexts, in particular landslide susceptibility and mountain permafrost modelling, and environmental remote sensing. He also actively contributes to the development of R software extensions for geospatial modelling and GIS integration. After studying mathematics with a minor in geography at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Catholic University of Santiago (Chile) and Technical University of Freiberg, Prof. Brenning received his Ph.D. from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in 2005. He was an assistant and associate professor in geography at the University of Waterloo (Canada) from 2007 to 2015.

Donnerstag, 27. Juni 2018, 13:15 Uhr – Sodalitas Bildungshaus, Propsteiweg 1, 9121 Tainach

WIWI Fakultät | Institut für Geographie und Regionalforschung

http://www.geo.aau.at