If you are on the hunt for more than just Consumer Reports and Game of Thrones fan theories to add to your afternoon readings, you have come to the right place. "Variety is the spice of life" seemed to be the theme of this week's #DailyBrainCandiii posts, with news about everything from the Appalachian Basin to drone technology and on to water resources. Read on and enjoy!
When we think of the benefits of Natural Gas, our thoughts tend to initially wander to how it is used to heat homes and supply electricity. What about those other “little” things, like plastics? Improvements in technology over the years have helped to make acquiring this resource much easier.
Another impact it has had – whether intentional or not – is to ignite the production of commodities that require Natural Gas in areas where they were previously unavailable. One such in particular is plastics.
This article expounds upon how its production has changed over the years as well as how regions like the Appalachian Basin are now booming because of it.
It seems like something straight out of an FBI movie. I mean, it isn’t every day that we can use high-tech applications, satellite imagery, and machine learning to tell us the economic status of an area…right? #WeekliiiRoundUp, meet PENNY. Rather than a witty blonde on the Big Bang Theory, this PENNY is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system developed to predict areas that have low, medium, and high (as well as those ranges in between) income levels based on the surrounding building, structures, parking lots, green space, etc. It also goes one step further, as mentioned in this article, to allow you to “play” and adjust what those income levels might be if a new structure were added.
Okay, I will be the first to admit I was not the ideal Physics student. That seemed to be the class where my inner chatter box shined. Unfortunately, chit-chat does nothing to help you retain basic Physics equations beyond cramming for exams. However, this article helps to remind those of us who may have forgotten just how useful several of its concepts tend to be. The author poses these ideas in an interesting way, incorporating out-of-the-box methods for approaching them – including with code and models.
We aren’t saying that Silicon Valley is “so last season”, but it may not hold onto its title of the King of Tech Metros much longer. A new report identifies America’s 25 leading high-tech metro areas, giving an idea of those economies that are booming, bringing in business and Bachelor’s Degrees.
We have shared many an article on the usefulness and impact of drone technology. They touch everything from Geographic Information System (GIS) applications to surveying to farming and even to…criminal justice? This article talks about how one police force has employed the technology to aid in cases when an emotional component is not necessary, allowing them to accomplish feats never before imagined.
It’s no secret just how important of a resource water is. From the beginning, communities have been built surrounding waterways as they provided a means of transportation, irrigation, and the like. Unfortunately, this resource is not available in equal measure as you move from country to country – neither is the density of the population (read here as, “the need for water resources”) the same throughout every region. Because of this and other factors, it is common practice for water resources to be reallocated, as shown in this week’s pick for #MapOfTheDay. It is an interesting look at a phenomenon we do not often put into consideration.
Planners Anonymous
Did you get a chance to read up on the Integrated Offsite post we shared this week? No worries, catch it here.
#DailyBrainCandiii and #WeekliiiRoundUp are inspired by brain candiii, a division of Integrated Informatics that develops Geographic Information System (GIS) training for Energy and Natural Resources professionals.