Indexing the Real World: Spatial Data, Sensing and Cloud Computing

This is the fifth lecture of Helsinki Distinguished Lecture Series on Future Information Technology.

The event is open for everybody. Registration (for logistic purposes): https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/44071/lomake.html

webcast http://www.ictlabs.ubicast.tv/lives/helsinki/ 

The lecture is followed by cocktails.

Abstract

In this presentation, Dr. Henry Tirri, EVP & CTO of Nokia and UC Berkeley, will share insights into the use of large scale multi-device, cloud based computing together with spatial data analysis to create a new index of the real world. The cloud has already fundamentally transformed everyday experiences visible to consumers through their access to streaming media, social networking and location services via multiple different computing devices, from phones and tablets to connected accessories. As bits continue to eat atoms, more elements of the physical world will turn first into code and then into code that lives in the cloud. This is driven by the enormous advantages in sharing, indexing and elasticity of computing code has with respect to physical objects. Due to the pervasiveness of this change, the next phase of the cloud era will see increased partnerships between public and private sectors around long-term technology trends in areas ranging from urban planning to health care. It can be anticipated that connected hardware will continue to diversify, with an increased emphasis on "multi-sensing". Wearables, sensor clusters in vehicles and smart devices, and independent sensors will all become first class citizens of the cloud: both feeding data into it and drawing it back out again. We will explore in depth one exciting example of this trend -- indexing of the real world made possible by global scale location services and the enabling of more complex latent variable analysis.

Biography

Dr. Henry Tirri is Nokia’s chief technology officer and an executive vice president, responsible for setting Nokia’s technology agenda both now and in the future and driving core innovation to enable business development opportunities. He joined Nokia in 2004 and was named to the Nokia Leadership Team in September 2011. He reports to the CEO.

Henry holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Helsinki, Finland and joined Nokia in 2004 as a Research Fellow in the Software and Applications Laboratory. Previous positions include working as an MTS at AT&T Bell Laboratories and Visiting Scientist at NASA AMES where he contributed to the Mars Rover for the 2003 mission. He is the author and co-author of more than 175 academic papers on computer science, social sciences and statistics and holds five patents.