From June 20 to June 22, EcoCamp is a series of events promoting sustainability and the environment through technology
Philadelphia, PA, June 11, 2014 – Azavea, an award-winning geospatial analysis (GIS) software development company presents EcoCamp , a series of workshops, a hackathon, and an unconference focused on solving environment issues and questions through technology. The event, to be held at Friends Center located at 1501 Cherry Street, will kick off on Friday, June 20 at 9:00am with a full day of educational workshops. An unconference will be held on Saturday, June 21 from 9:00am to 5:30pm while a hackathon will run concurrently until 8:00pm. The hackathon will resume at 9:00am on Sunday, June 22 and end at 6:00pm. For a full schedule, visit: http://www.phillyecocamp.org/schedule/
Philadelphia is a vibrant place for civic hacking as well as a hub for significant environmental initiatives. From the Philadelphia Water Department’s world-leading work on green stormwater management; the Circuit Coalition’s mission to connect 750 miles of bicycle and pedestrian trails; to the Stroud Water Research Center’s many fresh water projects; a plethora of regional organizations are engaged in important environment ecosystem management projects, and information technology – sensors, software and data – are a critical component in each of these initiatives.
EcoCamp will bring together a diverse audience of environmentalists, researchers, teachers, and technologists to learn, share knowledge, and solve environment-related issues through technology. On Friday, representatives from the US Forest Service, the Philadelphia Water Department, the Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, the City of Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, the greenSTEM Network, the Penn Institute for Urban Research, OpenPlans and Azavea will lead workshops on urban forestry ecology and management, crowdsourced mapping with Shareabouts, working with building energy efficiency data, Arduino and sensors, and management of green infrastructure. On Saturday, a hackathon and an unconference will be held concurrently on topics like urban stormwater and ecosystem management, land conversion, gamification of socially conscious consumption, crowdsourcing environmental data, and approaches to motivate the public to take environmental actions.
At the end of Sunday, Chris Alfano of Jarvus, Sarah Low of the US Forest Service, and a third judge to be announced will judge projects developed during the Hackathon. Successful teams will receive prizes from Solar States, Uber, Zipcar and CartoDB.
“Azavea has been engaged with urban ecosystem and sustainability projects for many years. New technology innovation, from low cost sensors to open data and software, is providing unprecedented opportunities to improve our cities, protect ecosystems, and make our communities more resilient. EcoCamp will provide a forum to discuss regional initiatives, share knowledge, make new connections, and build tools aimed at addressing these challenges,” says Andrew Thompson, Community Evangelist for Azavea
Breakfast and lunch will be provided each day. A dinner option is also available on Saturday. A Happy Hour will be held at Field House on Friday. For more information, visit http://www.phillyecocamp.org/. Registrations for a single event or all three can be made at http://azavea.ticketleap.com/ecocamp/. EcoCamp is sponsored by Azavea, OpenTreeMap, Solar States, and Zivtech.
About Azavea – Azavea is a certified B Corporation that applies geographic data and technology for civic and social impact while advancing the state-of-the-art through research. Find out more at https://www.azavea.com/.
If you would like more information about Azavea or to schedule an interview with Robert Cheetham, Azavea CEO and President, please contact Amy Trahey at (215) 558-6184 or e-mail atrahey@azavea.com.
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