Efforts to improve the scalability and interactivity of state-of-the-art spatial data systems provided the backdrop for a recent webinar hosted by the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU).

Led by Mohamed Sarwat, assistant professor of Computer Science at Arizona State University, Building Systems to Enable Spatial Data Science at Scale provided an overview of technologies that enhance data scientists’ abilities to better work with geospatial data. These include GeoSpark, an open source data system that efficiently processes large-scale geospatial data in a cluster computing environment. Consideration was also given to Hippo, a lightweight indexing scheme that outperforms de-facto database indexes in terms of storage and maintenance overhead.

Building Systems to Enable Spatial Data Science at Scale continued with a presentation of a sampling middleware system called Tabula. This technology sits between the data system and data science tool to make human-in-the-loop analysis processes more seamless and interactive. Dr. Sarwat ended his discussion by outlining his future plans for spatial data systems support for the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Data Science for Cities initiative. Proceedings concluded with comments and questions from participants. 

Speaking after the webinar, Dr. Sanjay Chawla, research director at QCRI, said: “It was undoubtedly an honor to host Dr. Sarwat. Few are as familiar with the exponential growth of geospatial data over the past two decades, not to mention the emergence of the field of spatial data science. Consequently, few are better placed to understand the challenges of extracting and working with geospatial data using current applications and processes. Building Systems to Enable Spatial Data Science at Scale demonstrated that the tide is starting to turn. QCRI will continue to watch Dr. Sarwat’s work with great interest.”

For more information on Qatar Computing Research Institute, please visit qcri.hbku.edu.qa