ITC, the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente, is an institute that aims at capacity building and institutional development, specifically in developing countries. In our Geoinformatics curriculum, we emphasise two principles. The first addresses the systematics of purposeful spatial data production and uptake into computerised systems; the second addresses the methodical construction of these computerised systems, applying principles of model -driven architecture, formal specification and transformational design of SDI nodes. The term Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) usually denotes large, complex systems, but its principles can also be applied in simple and cost-effective ways. This approach we have called SDI light and it is of particular interest to our students that come from developing countries. We work with and build a software stack consisting of free and open source components. To achieve interoperability, we emphasise the use of open standards from the Open Geospatial Consortium and others. In this paper, we explain how our students apply the SDI light approach in the Geoinformatics students apply their knowledge in a 'real-world' project, with a focus on geo-information engineering skills. We conclude with a section that evaluates the effectiveness of using the SDI light concept in teaching our Geoinformatics Master, and on the more general applicability of the methodology.ITC, the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente, is an institute that aims at capacity building and institutional development, specifically in developing countries. ITC is first and foremost an international educational institute, based in Enschede (the Netherlands), with almost 60 years of experience in the field of training in a wide range of disciplines, all closely related to Geoinformatics. ITC offers degree courses in various levels (M.Sc., Master and Diploma degrees) as well as various shorter courses and a graduate programme for students pursuing a Ph.D. degree. The courses aim to provide an in-depth study of a particular set of problems relevant to developing countries and emerging economies. Our students are not the typical university stereotype, but instead are usually mid-career professionals, with an average age of around 34 and a solid background, coupled with several years of working experience, in their chosen field. Consequently, professional relevancy and problem orientation are important factors in the courses, with the emphasis on the application of concepts and skills. The fields in which these concepts and skills are applied vary widely but always include the use of earth observation, collection and management of spatial information, and the development of data integration methods. The subjects of the programmes form a broad spectrum, from Applied
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) protects the personal data of natural persons and at the same time allows the free movement of such data within the European Union (EU). Hailed as majestic by admirers and dismissed as protectionist by critics, the Regulation is expected to have a profound impact around the world, including in the African Union (AU). For European–African consortia conducting research that may affect the privacy of African citizens, the question is ‘how to protect personal data of data subjects while at the same time ensuring a just distribution of the benefits of a global digital ecosystem?’ We use location privacy as a point of departure, because information about an individual’s location is different from other kinds of personally identifiable information. We analyse privacy at two levels, individual and cultural. Our perspective is interdisciplinary: we draw from computer science to describe three scenarios of transformation of volunteered/observed information to inferred information about a natural person and from cultural theory to distinguish four privacy cultures emerging within the EU in the wake of GDPR. We highlight recent data protection legislation in the AU and discuss factors that may accelerate or inhibit the alignment of data protection legislation in the AU with the GDPR.
Automated delineation of smallholder farm fields is difficult because of their small size, irregular shape and the use of mixed-cropping systems. Edges between smallholder plots are often indistinct in satellite imagery and contours have to be identified by considering the transition of the complex textural patterns of the fields. We introduce a strategy to delineate field boundaries using a fully convolutional network in combination with a globalization and grouping algorithm to produce a hierarchical segmentation of the fields. We carry out an experimental analysis in a study area in Kofa, Nigeria, using a WorldView-3 image, comparing several state-of-the-art contour detection algorithms. The proposed strategy outperforms state-of-the-art computer vision methods and shows promising results by automatically delineating field boundaries with an accuracy close to human level photo-interpretation.
On Monday, the 21st of August, 1989, preceding the VLDB'89, a workshop on dynamic specifications and temporal semantics in conceptual models was held at the Free University, Amsterdam. Since the VLDB brought many distinguished database researchers to Amsterdam, it provided an excellent opportunity to bring together researchers working in the area of dynamic and temporal aspects of conceptual models of databases, in order to exchange ideas and discuss results.There was no intention of publishing the talks in the form of "proceedings, but during the day it was decided that we would try and see whether the journal Data & Knowledge Engineering could devote a Special Issue to the topic of the workshop. Some authors and one of the organizers submitted papers describing their current research in dynamic or temporal conceptual models to the DKE refereeing process. Since the idea of publishing some of the material arose only during the workshop, we set a rather late deadline for submission. In addition, due to some delays in submission and refereeing, the revised papers were available later than we foresaw. Our patience has been rewarded, though, by an excellent collection of papers giving a stimulating overview of different kinds of research done in the dynamics of conceptual models and the semantics of time. The paper by Ariav discusses the schema evolution of databases holding temporal data. The problem is addressed by making provisions for dealing with the problem in the temporally oriented data model itself. Durchholz treats the important topic of real time in conceptual models and the elusive phenomenon of deadlines. In turns out that the notion of a clock that indicates a deadline for events is essentially incompatible with the events whose deadline it indicates, so that the clock cannot be modeled in the same specification as the events that should meet the deadline. The paper by Sernadas and Fiadeiro shows how the dynamic behavior of objects can be specified in an elegant formalism based on category theory. Their paper aims at the definition of an integrated set of concepts pertinent to dynamic object-oriented conceptual models. Finally, Wieringa discusses issues in objectoriented analysis of dynamic conceptual models. The paper applies results from the formal specification of dynamic objects to Jackson system development in order to get elements of a method to model object dynamics that is founded in both theory and practice.We would like to thank our respective organizations, the University of Twente and the Free University, for giving us the time and the resources to first organize the workshop and then edit this special issue of DKE. We hope that this issue will reward its readers as much as participation in the workshop has been rewarding for us.
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