Very pleased to confirm Aaron McCallion as a speaker at our Annual AgTech Conference LandWISE 2017: Are we ready for automation?
Aaron’s presentation will focus on how public and private data are being integrated to provide better land management outcomes.
For example, a recent European initiative has used data integration to automate pesticide application to crops in a way that protects adjacent natural ecosystems through the use of legal buffer zones identifiable by machine readable maps.
In New Zealand, integration of public and private data is being piloted to assist Maori land owners in achieving economic returns within their environmental, social and cultural values. This is being enabled through open government data initiatives that include legal land titles, vegetation cover maps, soil databases, digital elevation models and remote sensing.
The impact of different land management approaches can be assessed when such public data is combined with private data that includes historic land use practices, climate monitoring, ecosystem health indicators, inputs and financial data.
Visual representation of this spatial data in interactive mapping and analysis tools can then allow users to understand land management issues as well as aid the identification of risk mitigation or restorative strategies.
Aaron will discuss what is needed for such approaches to be effective, and ethical and legal requirements that need to be maintained with respect to privacy where the public or private data could identify individuals.
Aaron McCallion is Executive Director of Waka Digital, a leading Information Technology firm established in 2006 to deliver IT and communications based products and services.
Aaron combines system dynamics modelling, economics and management with his understanding of sustainable development and environmental restoration. His skills include assessment of effectiveness, efficiency, user satisfaction and accessibility to measure or improve the usability of new or existing products or services, including prototypes.
He is a Key Researcher in the MBIE programme, Oranga Taiao, Oranga Tangāta – Knowledge and Toolsets to Support Co-Management of Estuaries and previously in the MBIE gold-rated programme, Manaaki Taha Moana-Enhancing Coastal Ecosystems for Iwi. (2009-2015)
Aaron has a BBS from Massey University and an M.B.A. through the global program operated jointly by Sejong University in Korea and Syracuse University in the United States.