My Mission
To promote the use of open-source GIS software, particularly in the geotechnical sector and to build a community of users.Biography
I am a semi-retired geologist living in Hobart, Australia who has used GIS software for much of my career making geological and natural hazard maps.
Since 2016 I have been offering courses using open-source QGIS software to geotechnical practitioners principally in New Zealand and Australia. Training engineering-geologists and geotechnical engineers in being hands-on users of GIS technology has much value for engineering companies. This is especially true as GIS is more than a finished map in a report, but a data-source to make decisions on during investigations.
In addition, I am currently a coordinator with the QGIS Australia User Group organising webinars and meetups.
Other than teaching my courses, I am collaborating on a project in New Zealand mapping the geology of an eroding catchment subject to downstream flooding and overall landscape degredation. This has been an opportunity to rethink the datamodels underlying geological maps in order to maximise the use for land managers and the broader community. QGIS and WebODM software have been critical given this is a self-funded exercise and that I am doing this remotely from the area. Various spatial imagery, but especially LiDAR, provide methods for understanding the landscape in a way not previously available from when I first mapped the area 26 years ago.
