Speakers Bio & Abstract

Biography
Stephen Grant is a product manager at Trimble in the Geospatial division. He is working in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation''s 100 Resilient Cities initiative to develop software applications using eCognition technology to improve city resilience against shocks and stresses. Mr. Grant has a BA in Natural Resource Management from Colorado State University and is passionate about improving the world''s living conditions.Abstract
Urban Development for Smart Cities ? Looking at Cities through the Lens of Geospatial Data AnalyticsCities around the world face numerous shocks and stresses that are occurring more frequently and with increased intensity. Developing strategies to mitigate these threats is difficult when decisions are commonly made retrospectively following crisis. In order to improve city management and resilience, cities need to become smarter and geospatial data analytics can help.

Over the past decade, geospatial data has become increasingly more accessible, imagery analysis software more powerful and cloud computing more attainable which has led to massive data analytics and intelligent decision making possibilities. A common problem cities experience though is overcoming the complexity of collecting, managing, executing and repeating all of the necessary steps for actionable geospatial data analysis. Cities are looking for the answers they need ? not the tools to find them.

Trimble is a platform partner of the Rockefeller Foundation?s 100 Resilient Cities organization and is focused on developing the answers cities need to become more resilient to their inherent shocks and stresses.

Attendees will learn about the growing need for city resilience, why geospatial technology is disruptive for local governments and how Trimble is leveraging its vast repository of technology, including eCognition?, to help Boulder, Colorado, Los Angeles, California and Melbourne, Australia today in hopes of helping cities around the world tomorrow.