What a wonderful World ... Stuart Martin

"You can't manage anything if you don't measure it," says Stuart Martin on the iStart2 Show this week. "I am passionate about Geography. It is about social patterns, it's about relationships between things, it's about textures and contexts .... A picture paints a thousand words." 

"We can make a difference in the way we interact with this world"

- Stuart Martin

Our Sustainability Hero of the Week is Geoscientist, Stuart Martin. He specialises in the extraction of information from satellite imagery and aerial photography. This information is modelled and integrated with other data sources to provide valuable business intelligence. 

Stuart answers the call for Earth scientists to contribute directly to the health, prosperity and well-being of all people by emphasizing the importance of evidence-based decision-making. He says we must understand the implications of what we are doing and not only focus on our little world: "Stand back ... zoom out and look from afar. We live in this wonderful world and we have a treasure around us." 

We chat to Stuart about his passion for Geography, the work they do in the areas of drought, small scale farming, urban development and human settlement and the art and importance of mapping. Listen to the show below:

Thought of the Day:

Something to think about ...

Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill. Stephen Hawking
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/stephenhaw627122.html

 population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill.

    

Sustainability Conversations ... Improving Business Intelligence

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals emphasize the importance of evidence-based decision-making. This is a call for Earth scientists to contribute directly to the health, prosperity and well-being of all people.

Satellite and Arial Photography

In the fields of satellite imagery and aerial photography, the geospatial community has a myriad of choice with respect to sensors, resolutions, revisit times and capabilities in terms of imagery. Within the community, the ability to extract information and knowledge from these images seems to be lagging behind as most applications stop at using the imagery as a source of “line mapping” or even more simplistically an image backdrop or pretty picture.

Stuart Martin highlights some of the underutilised capabilities of image resources in This article

Solar can also bring important benefits to people even if it is just a few watts at a time. The inspiration to bring solar power to Africans who live off the grid came to Xavier Helgesen a few years ago.

On a business trip to Malawi, he decided to spend the night in a small city with 30,000 inhabitants. He was amazed to see the entire city was dark after the sun went down. People carried kerosene lamps at night. When a family invited him to dinner, they all huddled around one dim indoor light.

Read how Off-Grid Electric has solarized 100,000 African households because of a dream. Read the full story here

Our Sustainability Hero of the Week is Geoscientist, Stuart Martin. He specialises in the extraction of information from satellite imagery and aerial photography. This information is modelled and integrated with other data sources to provide valuable business intelligence. Tune in to the iStart2 Show and find out how Stuart Martin from GeoTerra Image makes his contribution to creating a more sustainable world.

Keitu Gwangwa & Pierre du Toit host the iStart2 Show on Thursdays at 17h30. Radio Today broadcasts on 1485 MW (AM) in greater Johannesburg and countrywide on ‪#‎DStv‬ audio channel 869. 

Radio Today also streams globally on www.1485.org.za.

Something to think about

 

“All I ever wanted was a world without maps.”
― Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient