NORTH51 Keynote Line-up Announced

Plus confirmed speakers, sponsor announcements, and the preliminary program.

NORTH51 is set to take place in beautiful Banff on May 10-12, 2023 and features speakers from around the globe. While the program continues to be developed, today we’re announcing the keynote line-up and other confirmed speakers, the launch of the preliminary program, and highlighting our first round of sponsors.

THE KEYNOTES

The 2023 theme Alchemy speaks to the ongoing growth of geospatial data and the myriad systems that collect, create, and generate spatial data every day. The Keynotes for the 2023 edition were invited with this in mind. They’ll speak to spatial finance, environmental management, augmented reality, and the impacts and challenges of geospatial in a world affected by climate change.

David J. Patterson is a conservationist, a former field ranger and conservation scientist. In 2017, after seven years of fieldwork he joined WWF to specialize in geospatial data applications; working to understand the status of the natural world via geospatial data-driven approaches. Since 2019, he’s led World Wildlife Fund’s Conservation Intelligence team and their development of WWF-SIGHT, WWF’s global mapping platform.

Janine Yoong believes in making more accurate, more relevant, and more engaging maps to build a better shared understanding of the world.  Most recently, she led the location-based Augmented Reality program at Snapchat, where she connected new AR technology and 3D maps to local communities and venues. Prior to Snapchat, Janine was the Chief Operating Officer at Mapillary, a street-level imagery platform acquired by Facebook in June 2020. Currently, Janine is the COO at Remedy Robotics, a company building the world’s first remotely operated endovascular robot.

Dr. Shay Strong received her PhD in Astrophysics from The University of Texas at Austin, studying gas giant planet climatology and infrared spectroscopy. In 2014, she joined the Washington DC startup OmniEarth as the Chief Data Scientist and after a successful acquisition of the startup, she migrated with her team to the Seattle-based mothership, EagleView, as Director of AI and ML to focus on the creation of deep-learning geospatial pipelines for insurance underwriting/claims applications. In 2020, she joined ICEYE as the VP of Analytics based in Finland, where she leads her team to develop comprehensive Natural Catastrophe solutions that leverage high-resolution SAR imagery.

THE PROGRAM & SPEAKERS

The first edition of the program has been released and features ample networking time amongst a variety of talks and panels. The panel discussions will focus on engaging with the audience to create an impactful discussion around topics like augmented reality, modern open source, and real-world examples of how data is put into action.

Confirmed speakers include Mike Jeffe, Technical Business Development Manager on the Open Data Team at AWS. As the Geospatial Lead he supports global initiatives that leverage open geospatial datasets made available through the Open Data Program. Todd Barr also joins us as the Director of Geospatial Strategy at Verisk – Extreme Event Solutions, and has spent most of their career in the Defense and Homeland Security space.

SPONSORS

We’ve confirmed participation from some of the geospatial industry’s most influential brands, and we’re excited to have them support NORTH51.