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    • Space Apps in Canada: 2020 and Beyond2020-12-19
    • GeoIgnite 2020: New Horizons in Space Apps Development2020-11-30
    • Deploy Sponsors Space Apps Ottawa 20202020-09-16
    • Space Apps Specialist Re-Launches At GeoIgnite2020-08-18
    • COVID-19 Special Edition Hackathon, and Impact on Space Apps Ottawa 20202020-05-24
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Space Apps in Canada: 2020 and Beyond

2020-12-19

As a proud Canadian and lifelong space enthusiast, Deploy Solutions Founder Nick Kellett recently took the opportunity to present at the Canadian Space Society’s Annual Space Summit — Canada’s foremost space science, research and technology conference.

Nick’s presentation, “Space Apps in Canada: 2020 and Beyond”, gave conference attendees an overview of Space Apps hackathons, annual events which unlock the potential of space data by bringing together the innovation and creativity of passionate creators, coders, thinkers and tinkerers.

Space Apps — software applications which make use of data from space — have been growing in popularity since NASA’s first Space Apps hackathon in 2012. Local versions of the international NASA hackathon have sprung up over the years and Deploy Solutions has been instrumental as an organizer and sponsor of the annual Ottawa event.

Planned Space Apps hackathons —like so much this year— were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the unique challenges of the pandemic also presented unique opportunities to make use of space data, and a consortium of space agencies hosted an online COVID-19 Space Apps Challenge. NASA, ESA, JAXA, and CSA joined forces to host a virtual hackathon with about 15,000 participants in 150 countries taking part.

As well as the COVID-19 special edition, this year’s ‘’regular’ Space Apps Hackathon migrated online. The event organizers —NASA, ESA, JAXA, CSA and CNES— hosted a virtual hackathon in October for 26 000 participants in 150 countries — with 341 participants in Canada. This worldwide collection of participants created 2300 projects between them, addressing a range of creative and technical challenges.

Despite the challenges of hosting an online event, the Canadian version 2020 Space Apps Hackathon was a resounding success. As well as bringing together like-minded space hackers, the event also offered an opportunity to take stock and plan for future hackathons. For example, the online event lowered barriers to entry, helping to make this year’s event more diverse. Another welcome development was the first nationwide sponsorship of the event by pioneer national sponsor MDA.

As well as the successes of the virtual Space Apps Hackathon, the online setting posed some challenges. Despite synchronous and asynchronous communications channels, it was still difficult to connect with all participants. The “one-time event” structure of the Space Apps Hackathon is also challenging, with little support for ongoing processes and follow-up after events. And, even with online access lowering barriers to entry, the events still struggle with diversity and inclusion.

In his presentation, Nick Kellett addresses these questions and proposes a way for the Canadian Space Society to provide pivotal support for Canada’s Space Apps hackathons. By coordinating at a Canada-wide level, Nick argues for an annual event which promotes diversity, innovation, and STEAM skills while benefiting Canada’s space industry and the country as a whole.

Want to see the full video? You can check out Nick’s presentation below:

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: big data, software, space, space apps

GeoIgnite 2020: New Horizons in Space Apps Development

2020-11-30

We are proud to have participated in GeoIgnite2020, the first-ever virtual version of the Canadian national Geospatial event, to showcase Deploy Solutions’ strategic importance to the future of the Space sector.

Last July, during the two sessions held, our Founder and CEO Nick Kellett talked about the benefits and potential of space apps, the business problems and technical challenges they can solve and how organizations can leverage them to achieve commercial success.

Nick began his talk delineating the emerging trends in the space industry, more specifically in the satellite launch and Earth observation markets, and continued acknowledging the rising tide of space data, as well as the urgency to meet the needs of end-users by providing value added service, rather than just raw data.

Nick also discussed the emergence of space apps hackathons – events where participants form teams to collaboratively tackle various challenges by designing solutions using open source data.

Space Apps and the Software Factory Approach

With the scene set, Nick introduced the concept of “space apps“, software applications that use data from space to achieve business goals and objectives. He compared them to traditional software applications, emphasizing the need for data processing pipeline, report visualization and good supporting infrastructure elements.

Nick concluded his talk by talking about the various challenges with custom development and how Deploy Solutions is tackling these with its Space Apps Software Factory approach – designed to rapidly produce turn-key business applications using Earth Observation and other data sources to meet business needs and put space data in the hands of end-users.

Our unique and proven software factory approach can help satellite data providers, governments, GIS developers and ISVs unlocking the true potential of space data.

Want to learn more? Watch the full presentation below:

“New Horizons in Space Apps Development” by GoGeomatics Canada on YouTube

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: software, space

Deploy Sponsors Space Apps Ottawa 2020

2020-09-16

Another year, another space apps hackathon!

Deploy Solutions is proud to be a continued organizer and sponsor of the fourth annual Space Apps Ottawa hackathon event, which is the local version of the global (and highly popular) NASA International Space Apps Challenge.

Ottawa, prepare for liftoff! The NASA International Space Apps Challenge is an intense 48-hour global weekend hackathon for developers, designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, astronomers and enthusiasts. Along with nearly 200 cities around the world, Ottawa teams will form and build products and prototypes against NASA- and CSA-designed challenges that leverage spacecraft, celestial and science data. This FREE and entirely VIRTUAL event will run from Friday evening, October 2 to Sunday, October 4. Find out more, including how to register, at http://www.spaceappsottawa.com.

The solutions to the challenges rely on publicly available open sourced data from NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and other international space agencies and organizations.

Each year this event is provides a fun and creative introduction to the world of open source and space industry projects. Due to COVID-19, this year’s event will be entirely virtual.

See you there!

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: hackathon, space

Space Apps Specialist Re-Launches At GeoIgnite

2020-08-18

The Pivot

Inspired by our long-running sponsorship and involvement of annual space hackathon events, Deploy Solutions has made a strategic ‘pivot’ to focus on the burgeoning commercial space sector.

We now provide our clients with access to valuable space data by creating innovative space applications — end user-focused software applications that harness information from space. Insights and analyses from satellite imagery and other data can benefit a wide variety of sectors, from agriculture and shipping through to urban planning and environmental protection. Our innovative 'software factory approach' streamlines the software development process, vastly reducing development cost, time, and risk for anyone looking to utilise space data.

Re-Launching at GeoIgnite

We made the decision to re-launch our brand to focus solely on the space sector during GeoIgnite Online 2020, the first-ever virtual version of the Canadian national Geospatial event.

With COVID restrictions preventing travel and space sector conferences postponed and cancelled all over the globe, the organisers of GeoIgnite Online conference decided to migrate the event online following the successful inauguration of GeoIgnite in 2019. Like other major sectorial events including the International Astronautical Congress and Utah’s Small Satellite Conference, GeoIgnite aimed to bring the conference and exhibition experience directly into the offices and homes of delegates and exhibitors.

We seized the opportunity to press on with our plans and take advantage of GeoIgnite Online 2020 as the virtual venue for our official brand re-launch as Silver Sponsors of the event.

New Horizons

Our Founder & CEO Nick Kellett presented two sessions at GeoIgnite, one entitled ‘New Horizons in Space Apps Development’ and the other a ‘social hour’ with Kevin Jones, VP of Product at PCI Geomatics. Kellett explained, “We had put a lot of research and planning effort into our pivot and re-branding effort and knew GeoIgnite conference would be the perfect venue to showcase our new exclusive focus on the space sector.” However, with the pandemic everything was suddenly thrown into doubt.

“The GeoIgnite
team made the decision to try an online format and it allowed us a chance to
move forward as planned, albeit with some adaptations.
”

He added, “The virtual event was a massive success and certainly harnessed the agile, dynamic, ‘can-do’ spirit of the geospatial community. And, it was fun and insightful!”

Jonathan Murphy, Managing Director and Founder of GoGeomatics Canada & the GeoIgnite event, stated, “GoGeomatics Canada was proud to have Deploy Solutions, one of Canada’s most exciting and innovative Space companies,  showcase their strategic importance to the future of the Space sector at GeoIgnite.  Deploy Solutions successfully connected with participants both in Canada and globally enhancing the experience for everyone.”

GeoIgnite Online 2020 welcomed a wide variety of remotely located delegates with heavy participation from across Canada’s geospatial sector and involvement from federal, provincial, and municipal government organizations such as the Canadian Space Agency, Natural Resources Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Statistics Canada, and Fisheries and Oceans.

Want to learn more?

At Deploy Solutions, we are excited by our new horizons. Want to learn more about what we do, and how it can help you? Book a call!

Filed Under: Events

COVID-19 Special Edition Hackathon, and Impact on Space Apps Ottawa 2020

2020-05-24

Space Apps Challenge – COVID-19 Special Edition

NASA will hold a virtual Covid-19 Special Edition of the Space Apps Challenge on the weekend of May 30-31. This is in addition to the annual event which will still be held in October. You will find more information about the special edition event here.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will take this opportunity to release data from MOPITT and Radarsat 2 satellites in the hope that participants across Canada and elsewhere will use them to tackle one of the Covid-19 challenges.

Space Apps Ottawa 2020: Online Only?

Our first concern is to hold our annual event in a way that is not only fun, inspiring, and educational, but safe and secure for all participants.

COVID-19 pandemic will require us to comply with new public safety regulations and bylaws and there is an enormous amount of uncertainty about what October might look like. We may not be able to physically hold this event.

Having said that – our hackathon is still a go!

The organizing committee has begun to plan for a version of this event that will be primarily virtual / online. We will provide updates when we know more.

Register now to help us plan your hackathon experience

Although event details are uncertain, it will be held October 2 to 4 as originally planned.

Please register online in order to ensure your space and allow us to provide you with the best possible experience. In addition, if you would like to assist with sponsorship, volunteering, organizing, or mentoring; or have feedback or suggestions on what a great online hackathon experience could look like, please email us at info@spaceappsottawa.com or contact me directly on LinkedIn.

We hope you will join us for another great year solving “out of this world” challenges in a fun (and now virtual) environment!

Filed Under: Events, Open Tagged With: hackathon, space

A New Horizon – Space Apps in Canada

2019-11-29

In October Deploy Software Solutions was an organizing sponsor of the third annual Space Apps Ottawa hackathon, which is the local branch of the global (and highly popular) NASA International Space Apps Challenge. The event is

…an intense 48-hour global weekend hackathon for developers, designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, astronomers and enthusiasts. Along with nearly 200 cities around the world, Ottawa teams will form and build products and prototypes against NASA-designed challenges that leverage spacecraft, celestial and science data.

This is a fun introduction to the world of open source projects and the space industry. The challenges are designed by both NASA and our own Canadian Space Agency. Solutions to the challenges rely on NASA’s publicly available open sourced data and require teamwork and creativity!

At this year’s Canadian Space Society annual summit, CEO Nicholas Kellett had a chance to speak about the opportunity Space Apps hackathons can play in Canada’s space industry. The presentation, called “A New Horizon: Space Apps in Canada” provided a

…satellite-eye view of hackathons and space apps globally and in Canada. What are they, what business problems and technical challenges can they solve, what is their history and how can the Canadian space industry leverage them to achieve downstream software excellence?

View the full presentation on SlideShare.

Filed Under: Events, Open Tagged With: hackathon, space

Space Apps Ottawa is back, October 19-21

2018-07-03

Deploy Software Solutions is once again proud to be a host sponsor of the annual Space Apps Ottawa hackathon, which is the local branch of the global (and highly popular) NASA International Space Apps Challenge. The event is

…an intense 48-hour global weekend hackathon for developers, designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, astronomers and enthusiasts. Along with nearly 200 cities around the world, Ottawa teams will form and build products and prototypes against NASA-designed challenges that leverage spacecraft, celestial and science data. This FREE event will run from Friday evening, October 19 to Sunday, October 21.

This is a fun introduction to the world of open source projects and the space industry. The challenges are designed by both NASA and our own Canadian Space Agency. Solutions to the challenges rely on NASA’s publicly available open sourced data and require teamwork and creativity!

Hackathoners
Some of the volunteers and organizers of Space Apps Ottawa 2017

Last year’s teams used artificial intelligence, GIS and mapping technologies, industrial design techniques, and many other cool ideas and technologies to meet their chosen challenges. Find out more, including how to register, at http://www.spaceappsottawa.com

We hope to see you there!

Filed Under: Events, Open Tagged With: space

Deploy Solutions Sponsors "Space Apps Ottawa" Event, April 28-30

2017-01-14

Deploy Solutions is proud to be a sponsor of the inaugural Space Apps Ottawa event, which is the local branch of the global (and highly popular) NASA International Space Apps Challenge.

Ottawa, prepare for liftoff! The NASA International Space Apps Challenge is an intense 48-hour global weekend hackathon for developers, designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, astronomers and enthusiasts. Along with nearly 200 cities around the world, Ottawa teams will form and build products and prototypes against NASA-designed challenges that leverage spacecraft, celestial and science data. This FREE event will run from Friday evening, April 28 to Sunday, April 30. Find out more, including how to register, at http://www.spaceappsottawa.com.

The solutions to the challenges rely on NASA’s publicly available open sourced data. It is our hope that this event will serve as a fun and creative introduction to the world of open source projects.

There is a lot of early interest from many Ottawa tech community groups and companies. See you there!

Filed Under: Events, Open

Deploy's New Company Website Launches

2016-11-18

Welcome to Deploy Software Solution’s newly-launched corporate website.

Our vision is to reduce the remarkably high rate of software project failures worldwide, by transforming the way companies manage them.

To that end, we have just launched this company website to showcase the growing list of consulting services and products we can offer our clients.

In addition, we are currently working hard on our software project delivery methodology, accelerators and tools, many of which we will share on a dedicated micro-site / blog. We plan to open that up to the public in the first quarter of the 2017. You can sign up to our “Software Projects” newsletter to get notified the instant it is live, or check back regularly for more news.

Filed Under: Events, High-Impact Consulting Services

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