Miami Wraps it Up
We had a slow start to the morning on Sunday, April 22. Four of us stayed overnight at the Engineering Center. Some of us slept, some of us persisted through the night. A fresh set of muffins and a full carafe of piping hot arabica coffee were brought in to help rejuvenate the zombies. After wiping the rheum from their eyes, the Space App’ers were back up and running around 0900. By 1100, once the full team was back, they were at full speed.
The Miami team was still confronted by the issues with the Landsat data format and the programming language of our developers, therefore they had to abandon that part for now and continued working on the data collection for rainfall and water levels in the area of interest (Everglades National Park). In the end they were about to put together a strong foundation that brings in separate data sources for the same location (in this case for Everglades National Park) and then can display that in one easy to read map with interactive charts and graphs.
Dr. Syeda Ghouse, from the Indian Astronomy Group, was able to join us in Miami. She was able to work remotely on 5 different projects (e.g., Tour of the Solar System, Predict the Sky, Weather Symbols, Brightest Night, and the ISS Live) with teams all around the world, including Andreas and his team in Stuttgart, Germany. This collaboration was due in part by the etherpads , inter-connected location leads, and an amazing pool of world-wide participants. We thank Dr. Syeda for spending her weekend with us in Miami, before her busy travel plans.
Our local sponsor, CBIL360, stopped by to congratulate everyone on a job well done. They also discussed their commitment to keeping the motivation and innovation that flourished during the Space Apps Challenge in Miami alive. CBIL360, a web-marketing company, has so graciously offered the Miami Team a website that will show off their developed app, WET, as well as show off the team members, and the NASA International Space Apps Challenge. Big thank you to CBIL360!
The Space Apps Challenge in Miami was an amazing experience for me. This was the first event of this kind that I have participated, let alone organized. And it could not have gone any better. Everyone at the Miami location had a great time this weekend. The participants learned a lot about earth science from space and readily available public research data. And I had the chance to learn a little bit of computer programming. Through this whole experience I have had the chance to meet with and work with (personally and virtually) some really great people. The team in Miami has plans to continue working on their app, WET, and was already asking when the next Space App Challenge is. I hope that all the teams and participants from all around the world continue to be inspired by the innovation and creativity sparked by this world changing event and bring that enthusiasm for space exploration and environmental and social awareness to their communities.
I am anxiously and enthusiastically awaiting the next International Space Apps Challenge.
comments powered by Disqus