NASA International Space Apps Challenge 2018 in Tartu
Date
2018-11-29
Authors
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Publisher
Geograafia Osakond, Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
The Department of Geography, the Institute of Computer Science and the Tartu Observatory jointly organised and hosted a 48h hackathon event as part of the 2018 International NASA SpaceApps Challenge. This global event happened on the weekend 19.-21. October 2018 at more than 200 locations, 75 countries, world-wide over the course of the weekend, with Tartu as the only Estonian location.
The main goal was to provide a safe platform for motivated students from various backgrounds to work together on real problems in a hackathon event, while at the same time learning the benefits of interdisciplinary work, combined team work with different skills. The second goal was to foster networking between the research institutes and the geospatial industry in Tartu, and expose students to the field of geospatial and Earth Observation (EO) applications.
Description
Space Apps is a two-days international hackathon that occurs in cities around the world, globally coordinated by NASA. It is an annual event that pulls citizens together regardless of their background or skill level to address challenges we face on Earth and in Space. Project teams were formed to work on specific topics that they either developed themselves or were suggested by sponsors, the panel or ourselves. The teams' results were then presented and judged by a panel at the end of the event.
Overall it can be concluded that this was a very successful event: the teams developed substantial solutions and got engaged with industry and entrepreneurship; inter-departmental and inter-sectoral networks for the research institutes have been strengthened in particular between the organising institutes and with the Tartu Science Park/ESA Business Incubator and several leading innovative (geospatial) software companies.
Keywords
Technology, hackathon, geography, NASA, SpaceApps, Forestry, Landscape planning, Acricultural sciences