Posted on July 5, 2016 - GC1612
Company: CANUE
Position: Geospatial Data Lead - CANUE Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium
Location: Prefer Victoria, Vancouver or Toronto
Salary: $65,000 to $70,000
Contact Name: Eleanor Setton, Managing Director
Deadline: July 29, 2016
Job Description
The CANUE Health Research Consortium is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research as part of their Environments and Health Signature Initiative. Led by Dr. Jeff Brook at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, CANUE includes members affiliated with more than 15 Universities across Canada as well as key representatives from non-governmental organizations and federal, provincial and local government. CANUE’s mandate is to develop spatial measures of urbanization for every postal code in Canada, with the aim of supporting quantitative research on the effects of urban form on human health. We will be working on noise, air pollution, greenspace, walkability and many other neighbourhood factors.
The Geospatial Data Lead will be expected to focus in particular on developing Google Earth Engine algorithms to produce and link postal code-level metrics of urban form going back to the 1980s. These will include, for example, NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) and other metrics of greenspace; local climate zones (http://www.wudapt.org/); and various measures of transportation features, building density, and land use. Once developed, the algorithms will also be used to calculate metrics for future time intervals as well.
The Geospatial Data Lead will also be responsible for:
- acquiring, standardizing and documenting existing urban metrics according to directions provided by CANUE members;
- developing methods to expand existing urban metrics to national coverage as required, including the acquisition of existing supporting input data;
- leading the implementation of new urban metrics in consultation with CANUE members;
- developing data processing tools for calculating urban metrics that can be openly shared via a methods portal;
- maintain the CANUE data holdings and methods portal;
- providing support and informal training to graduate students and faculty as required , providing tool development, analysis and training related to specific projects;
- contribute to CANUE knowledge transfer activities, via presenting at webinars, meetings and conferences as required;
- working with other Data Specialists to ensure coordination within CANUE.
The Geospatial Data Lead will work closely with the Managing Director (University of Victoria) and with CANUE’s Exposure Team Leads, made up of faculty members at various Canadian universities.
Job Qualifications
Required skills
- Minimum MSc in Geomatics (or equivalent degree/experience).
- Strong analytical skills and expert understanding of Geographic Information Systems, remotely sensed data, image classification approaches and Google Earth Engine.
- Expertise in APIs, JavaScript, python and R.
- Proven ability to work collaboratively and independently.
- Strong writing skills; experience preparing technical documentation.
Preferred skills
- Knowledge of environmental modelling (for example: air quality, noise, transportation)
Other Information
This is a full time position, renewable annually to March 2020.
The preferred work location is University of Victoria, University of British Columbia, or the University of Toronto.
NOTE: Employment is offered by letter of agreement with the grant holder, not by the University. This is a full time position, with annual renewal until March 2020.
To apply, please include your CV and a cover letter describing your interest and qualifications.
CANUE
UVIC - Geography
PO Box 3060 STN CSC
Victoria, BC
V8W 3R4
Homepage -
E-Mail - eleanor.setton@canue.ca
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