Thanks Kerry for introducing me last week

Hello,

Let me introduce myself further to those who may not yet know me.  I am Byron Cochrane and work for Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).  In relation to this group, I have been deputised to represent the Department of Internal Affairs to the W3C.

Originally from the American State of Idaho, I am a 22 year geospatial veteran.  In that time I have worked in local, state, and national governments, the military and private industry as Analyst, Data Manager, Developer and most recently Technical Advisor / Leader.  My focus has become SDI implementations with special emphasis on metadata and catalogues.  Over the past couple of years I have developed a great interest in semantic / linked data and the role that has to play in SDI geo-enabling the internet.

I first became involved in LD in April 2014 when I organised a two day GeoSemantic workshop in Canterbury with help from people like Rob Atkinson. Following this, I initiated semantic meetup groups in Christchurch and now Wellington.  The focus of these groups is not exclusively geo, but still greatest representation comes from this domain. Over the past couple of years I seem to have become the "go to guy" for semantic / linked data in New Zealand.  I think this must be more from my curiosity and willingness to ask questions and organise than any great wealth of knowledge. I am now also a member of the ALGIM Linked Data group here in NZ which has Paul Davidson of Sedgemoor District council in the UK as a technical advisor.  We are looking to implement some of his successes in LD in local government here in NZ.

>From previous work with the OGC on behalf of LINZ (OGC Testbed 11 Sponsor, and TC Meetings), I am familiar with many of the people and much of the work here.  However, I have not been deeply involved for some time and see I have a lot to learn.  In the meantime I have continued to be involved in several activities which could both benefit or contribute to this work.

Much of my current work as SDI Technical Leader has Linked Data aspects.  For instance my Rivers Monitoring (Sensors) project is based on the architecture of the Soils IE presented at the December OGC TC. The goal is to role a successful interoperable sensor information system across many environmental domains.  This work utilises a hybrid SDI / LD architecture.  I will likely briefly speak about this effort at the Dublin TC.  I also have strong interest in DCAT/GeoDCAT.  The work I am doing in the area of modernising/rationalising our various data catalogues and metadata capture systems could benefit greatly from this.

The thing is that I do not see myself as all that technically competent in this area but am learning a great deal. Through my community building efforts I do have go to people to help me through the tricky bits.  It is proving to be quite a challenge to jump in midway through with people a whole lot smarter than me.  But it is a good challenge.  Right now I am in listening and reading mode trying very hard to catch up with all that has happened here to date.  I hope to be able to usefully contribute soon.  I will be catching up with a few of you who I know individually soon to discuss how I best come up to speed and how I can best contribute.  I hope to catch up with many of you in Dublin.

Please feel free to contact me to discuss how I could best contribute.

Cheers,

Byron Cochrane
SDI Technical Leader
New Zealand Geospatial Office

E  bcochrane@linz.govt.nz<mailto:bcochrane@linz.govt.nz>| DDI 04 460 0576| M 021 794 501

Wellington Office, Level 7, Radio New Zealand House, 155 The Terrace
PO Box 5501, Wellington 6145, New Zealand | T 04 460 0110
W  www.linz.govt.nz<http://www.linz.govt.nz/> | data.linz.govt.nz<http://www.data.linz.govt.nz/>
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