Geospatial Scientist
Mike has a PhD in mathematics and is professor of spatial informatics in the Department of Computing and Information Sciences, University of Greenwich, London, England, where he is leader of the Greenwich GI Science Research Group (g3). Until the end of 2012 he was director of the School of Computing and Information Science, and a professor in the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) at the University of Maine, USA. He was an honorary professor at the University of Edinburgh, and held a professorial fellowship at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Mike is a Distinguished Scientist of the ACM, a Life Member of the London Mathematical Society, and received the 2008 UCGIS Research Award. He was a member of the Mapping Science Committee of the National Research Council, under the auspices of the US National Academies of Sciences and Engineering, and Institute of Medicine.
Mike is co-author, with Matt Duckham, of the 2nd edition of the textbook GIS: A Computing Perspective. Mike is also founding editor of the Journal of Spatial Information Science (JOSIS). JOSIS is an international, on-line, open access journal, that publishes top-quality research and review papers in geographic information science.
Mike has worked for many years at the boundary between computer science, mathematics, and geographic information science. His current research interests include:
- Ontologies and data models for dynamic geographic phenomena, including those sensed by wireless sensor networks;
- Formal models of the topology of spatial scenes;
- Unified models of indoor and outdoor spaces;
- Qualitative approaches to spatial reasoning under uncertainty;
- Geospatial technology in the emergency management domain.
Composer and sound artist
Mike is a composer and sound artist, having an interest in instrumental, vocal and electroacoustic music. His instrumental and vocal music has been performed at the London Institute for Contemporary Arts (ICA), the National Maritime Museum, other venues around London, the St. Magnus Cathedral, Orkney, Durham Cathedral, the University of Durham and the Berwick Music Series. His instrumental and vocal music has been performed by Quatuor Bozzini, the Ives Ensemble, EXAUDI, the Frankland String Quartet and many others. His piano work, ‘Bone Memories’, won first prize in the John Halford competition for piano and composition judged by pianist Ian Pace. He also composes electroacoustic works, and has collaborated with artists, Charles Paulsen and Pauline Burbidge for an electroacoustic installation at the Edinburgh City Art Centre in 2017. A forthcoming work is an electronic reimagining of Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis, for a choir of 40 electronic synthesisers.
As an artist, Mike works on the boundary between art and science, often using mathematical structures as frameworks upon which to build musical works. Another boundary of interest is that between what we call music and the everyday sounds. “There is music in every sound if we can only hear it.”
He has a PhD in Music (Composition) from the University of Durham, working with James Weeks, Eric Egan and Nick Collins. He was earlier awarded an MMus with Distinction in Composition from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where he worked principally with Paul Newland, Sam Hayden and Gwyn Pritchard.
