A Mapping Interface for UrbanSim and OPUS
Justin Meyer
Tuesday 6/2, Allen Center 128, 1:30-2:20.
The Open Platform for Urban Simulation (OPUS) allows for the visualization of simulation indicators by producing a map image colored by region using a color ramp which correlates specific indicator values to specific colors. Originally, the color coding was implemented using matplotlib, a python 2D plotting library, to create raster-based map images colored using a simple color ramp with linear scaling. This system did not allow for map customizability and produced maps that could be visually difficult to interpret.
Matplotlib has been replaced with mapnik, a toolkit for developing mapping applications to use shapefiles to create cleaner maps with vector-based graphics, implement map customizability options for the colors, scaling types, and image sizes, create animated maps, and allow for future development to lead to map interactivity features.
In the presentation, I plan on discussing each of the map features, performing the example walk-throughs for creating mapnik maps that are included in the user’s guide, and also explaining (at the high level) how the mapnik features were implemented.
June 1, 2009
We are pleased to invite you to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Experience presentation by Space Grant scholar Pavan Vaswani. Please look below for the details. We will have snacks, coffee and some other goodies for you.
Speaker: Pavan Vaswani
Title: Breakfast with Buzz Aldrin and on the Launchpad of the Shuttle
Endeavor: The Astronaut Scholarship Experience
When: Thursday 5/14 from 3.30-5.00 pm
Where: JHN 117
Pavan’s Summary:
I had a chance to attend the Astronaut Scholarship Reception and Technical Conference in beautiful Cape Canaveral, Florida last week. It was an amazing trip — we had breakfast with Buzz Aldrin, Jim Lovell, Al Warden, Scott Carpenter, Laura Shepherd and many others; were able to go ONTO the launchpad of the Space Shuttle Endeavor and see the last time in history two shuttles will be on both launchpads; went to the Orbital Processing Facility to see Discovery being prepared for an upcoming trip; attended a Gala where we dined underneath a Saturn V rocket; talked to Astronauts, Cosmonauts, private aerospace corporation CEOs, space enthusiasts, and others.
Hope to you see you there,
Cheers,
Carlos Chavez
Washington NASA Space Grant
http://www.waspacegrant.org/announcement.html
May 13, 2009
Interested in what goes on in the world of Academic research? Have a particular interest in an area of CSE? Looking for something interesting and technical to do over the summer? Need to get started on that Honors thesis? Just have a feeling that research is a cool thing to do?
There are about about a million reasons to try out undergrad research. Whether you’re just curious or you’re already looking for a research project, you should check out RESEARCH NIGHT on TUESDAY APRIL 28th at 5PM. Magda Balazinska will give a brief talk about what it takes to get involved in undergrad research, we’ll have a Q&A panel on doing undergrad research, and finally we’ll have a poster session with CSE research groups looking to find undergrad researchers for Summer and Fall. Now’s your chance to find out everything you need to know!
See you on TUESDAY at 5PM.
Your Friendly ACM Officers
April 28, 2009
Tips for a Job Search in a Down Economy
Presentation by Christopher Milliken, Lockheed Martin
Tuesday April 28 3:30-4:30pm
Electrical Engineering Room 303
Chris Milliken, Campus Recruiting Representative from Lockheed Martin, will provide useful tips and insights for searching for a job in this economic climate. The workshop will focus on tips for your job search, how to market your existing experiences and skills, and ideas on what activities to get involved with outside the classroom that are of interest to employers. Learn how to stand out among the hundreds of other students looking for a job. Learn what employers are looking for in the ideal candidate. Learn what to do if you can’t find a co-op or an internship this summer.
We hope you can join us for this round-table discussion!
Dawn Wiggin
University of Washington
Engineering Advising and Diversity Center
Manager, Engineering Co-op Program;
Intel Research Experience for Undergraduates Program
Loew Hall 301, Box 352180
Seattle, WA 98195-2180
dwiggin@u.washington.edu
p: 206.543.8711 f: 206.616.8554
http://www.engr.washington.edu/industry/recruit/coop_industry/index.html
April 27, 2009
Hi everyone,
TalentSpring will be hosting a tech talk tonight in the Atrium from 5:30 – 7:30.
This will be one of the last employers to come speak to us for the school year, so please take advantage of this great opportunity to get that summer internship you’ve been looking for.
See you there!
Your Friendly ACM Officers
April 15, 2009
The math department is offering weekly talks on oombinatorics, and invited CSE majors to attend. Option to register for one credit!
Combinatorics is one of the most active and growing areas of research in mathematics today. It has application in fields as diverse as computing science, optimization, biology, physics, probability, algebra, and geometry. This spring quarter we are again offering a pre-seminar in combinatorics for undergraduates. (Non-undergrads are also welcome to attend.) (more…)
March 31, 2009
Please join us this spring quarter, Wednesdays 9:30-10:20, for interesting talks and exciting field trips!
More info: http://www.cs.washington.edu/590w
This spring quarter CSE 590 W, Computers and Disabilities, will have a series of guest speakers from outside academia who will talk about their experiences with accessible technology in the real world.
(more…)
March 24, 2009
There will be a unique and interesting talk this Saturday in the CSE building. Douglas Crockford of Yahoo! is visiting in conjunction with Yahoo!’s Hack-U event currently in progress. Crockford is perhaps the world’s foremost living authority on the JavaScript programming language. He also created the popular data interchange format known as JSON. Before joining Yahoo!, he previously worked on games, music, and multimedia at companies such as Atari, Lucasfilm, and Paramount.
He will be giving a presentation titled, “JavaScript: The Good Parts.”
In this talk Douglas will show several interesting features of the JavaScript language and why it is both beautiful and misunderstood.
He will also discuss the evolution of the language and some new features due to be added in its next version.
This talk will be held Sat, Feb 21 2009, 3:30pm, in the CSE Atrium.
(The Saturday time is because this coincides with the end of the Hack-U event.) This event is open to CSE majors and non-majors, so anyone is welcome to attend.
For more information, check out the links below, including the last link to a video of another of his talks:
http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/reges/crockford.pdf
http://www.crockford.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Crockford
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/111593/1710507
Hope to see you there!
Marty Stepp
February 20, 2009
HEY! UW CSE!
Yahoo! is sponsoring a 24-hour programming competition, preceded by a
week of tech talks on Yahoo! technologies! Tech talks each night will
be in the CSE Atrium with speakers like Rasmus Lerdorf, inventor of
PHP!
The overnight programming competition will start next Friday
afternoon, with teams of up to 4 members. You can code up whatever you
want, using whatever technology you want - may the coolest hack win!
You can sign up for teams here:
https://catalysttools.washington.edu/webq/survey/reges/69780.
Here's Next Week's Schedule:
Tuesday February 17th – HACK U Kickoff
Start Time 6:00pm
Wednesday February 18th - Searchmonkey & BOSS Brain Jam Dinner
Start Time 6:00pm
Thursday February 19th - YAP/Y!OS/YUI Open Technology Night
Start Time 6:15pm
Friday February 20th – Hack U 24 hour coding festival begins
Start Time 2:00pm
Saturday February 21st:
2:00pm Hack day ends, and all submissions are due
4:30pm Hack winners announced, prizes, after party
More info is available at:
http://developer.yahoo.com/hacku/
You can also join our Facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=48145928387&ref=ts
This event is open to everyone - you can invite your friends, CSE or
not, freshman through super-senior through grad student. Good luck!
Your Friendly ACM Officers
February 13, 2009
Date: 2/12
Time: 6 - 7:30 PM
Location: CSE Atrium
See you all there!
Your Friendly ACM Officers
February 11, 2009
