Three "hackers" will each win $500 cash awards if they are in the winners' circle at the conclusion of the Hackathon organized by the Big Pixel Initiative at UC San Diego. Beyond the top three spots, however, the Hackathon to Discover the Planet could open up opportunities for UC San Diego students to eventually secure mini-grants ranging in size from $1,000 to $3,000 to continue research involving geospatial big data.
Date: May 23
Time: 10am - 5pm
Location: Calit2 Theater, Atkinson Hall
Register: http://bit.ly/1ExaA5F
What will your discovery be? UC San Diego has recently been given unprecedented access to the largest volume of the ultra-highest resolution satellite imagery of our planet. Imagine being able to count every car in every city, monitor illegal elephant poaching from your couch, or measure the total area of solar panels on the planet. This is an emerging industry, with nearly a billion dollars in cash flowing into satellite imagery and geospatial big data analytics startups in the last three years. The question on everyone's mind is: What will will we see? The organizers are calling on students from CSE and other disciplines to bring their thoughts to this exciting new field.
The Big Pixel Initiative is looking for smart, early-stage multidisciplinary ideas. While coding is not required, early proof-of-concept work will increase competitiveness. Students are encouraged to bring their own laptops and to use the software platform of their choosing. Support stations will be provided for students to tap into industry standard GIS software (ArcGIS, etc.).
The Big Pixel Initiative is developing geospatial capacity to address our world’s greatest challenges at scale. Founded in partnership by UC San Diego’s Qualcomm Institute and the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS), the Initiative has partnered with the Digital Globe Foundation to grow a living, learning laboratory related to everything spatial, to investigate and design best practices in geospatial data visualization user experience interfaces, and design techniques for scientific discovery and decision-making.