Space · Time · Scale
Work
My work keeps returning to the same problem: making data about space and time useful at scale. I’m now focused on new methods of advanced space-time analysis and automating semantic pattern analysis in large collections of text.
Open source
- timehash
An open-source algorithm for variable-precision sliding windows of time, used to bin time values in large data collections. Implementations exist in Python, Go, Java, C, C#, and Perl, with community ports in JavaScript and Rust.
- geohash2kml
An open-source tool that converts geohashes to a 3-D thematic map in Google Earth KML.
Patents
US 11,797,508 · Granted 24 October 2023
Systems and methods for geospatial correlation
First-named inventor. Co-inventors: Samuel Stowers, Scott Barnes, Stephen Corbo, and Scott Fairgrieve.
US 12,038,895 · Granted 16 July 2024
Systems and methods for geospatial correlation
First-named inventor. Co-inventors: Scott Fairgrieve, Scott Barnes, Stephen Corbo, and Samuel Stowers.
The patents describe indexing observations by encoding time and location into spacetime hashes. That work builds on timehash.
Companies
- Black Cape
I co-founded Black Cape with Al Di Leonardo and Brian Poe and serve as Co-CEO and Lead Engineer. Black Cape engineers trustworthy AI systems that give US defense and intelligence teams a decisive edge.
- HumanGeo
I co-founded HumanGeo and served as CTO. The company grew from a start-up to $24 million in annual revenue and was acquired by The Radiant Group.
- The Radiant Group and DigitalGlobe
I served as CTO of The Radiant Group, then as CTO of DigitalGlobe Intelligence Solutions and Vice President of Radiant Solutions, a Maxar division.
- Google
I was a senior engineer in Google Enterprise, working on search and geospatial technology including Google Earth and Google Maps.
Publications
- Detection of Behavior Patterns of Interest Using Big Data Which Have Spatial and Temporal Attributes
2017
La Valley, Usher, Cook. ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences.
- Big Data in Survey Research: AAPOR Task Force Report
2015
Japec, Kreuter, Berg, et al. Public Opinion Quarterly 79(4), 839–880. Task force co-author.
- Detecting Dark Networks Using Geo-temporal and Pattern-Based Network Analysis Techniques
2015
La Valley, Usher, Halman. Chapter 5 in Illuminating Dark Networks, Cambridge University Press, pp. 71–83.
- Skills Required to Integrate Big Data into Public Opinion Research
2015
Usher. 70th Annual Conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.
Recognition
- FCW Federal 100
2015
Recognized for building an engineering team that delivered four analytic tools in four months.
- MORS David Rist Prize
2016
Shared for the study “Data Science for Threat Finance Intelligence.”