Staff Profile
Professor Philip James
Professor of Urban Data
- Email: philip.james@ncl.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 6388
- Fax: +44 (0) 191 208 6502
- Address: School Engineering
Urban Sciences Building
Newcastle University
1 Science Square
Newcastle Helix
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE4 5TG
Background
I joined the then Department of Surveying in 1995 as a Systems Programmer and IT advisor. Previously I had worked at Nissan as a Software Developer writing in-house system software and participating in the development of 3D Cad. I have continued to focus on the development of systems and software in the geospatial field. My research interests include:
- The internet of things - specifically geosensors and embedded sensors and their incorporation into the geo-information stream
- Next generation analytics - the application of real-time data and spatial data to facilitate near real-time processing, modelling, simulation and prediction
- Spatial data management in traditional relational systems and NoSQL type structures
I work closely with many different groups in the University including Engineering, Computer Science, Agriculture and the social sciences.
Roles and Responsibilities
I lead the Urban Observatory Programme in the University and co-lead the national UKCRIC observatory programme through the CORONA project. I lead the Smart CIties theme within the £4.9m Pitch-IN project removing barriers to the uptake of the Internet of Things.
I am deputy DPD for the Geomatics UG degrees
I head up the Geoinformatics Group as part of the Digital Research Institute
Qualifications
BA (Hons) Japanese (Newcastle, 1991)
Industrial Experience
I work closely with a large number of industrial stakeholders including Northumbria Water, Siemens, the Ordnance Survey, the Environment Agency and others. Through the Observatory programme we work with national and local stakeholders including the combined authorities.
Google Scholar: Click here.
Research Interests
I am interested in all aspects of data management. I have an abiding interest in maps, mapping and spatial data systems and the development of information systems (primarily on the web) and fundamental research in the fusion and integration of data for analytics and visualisation. I currently lead the Urban Observatory programme in Newcastle, a multi-million pound investment in sensing infrastructure providing millions of observations about the city. I am interested in managing and developing big data systems and developing novel ways of integrating data for research and enabling data access in a variety of ways. I am developing new systems to understand how smart cities could and should operate both at a technical level but also through citizen participation and governance and sustainability processes.
Postgraduate Supervision
I currently supervise 13 PGRs across 3 schools. I am active participant in the Digital Civics CDT, the cloud computiing and big data CDT and DREAM DTC.
Kaizer Moreiri - developing novel systems for integrating VGI into land management systems
Aare Puusaar - investigating how digital technologies and data can be used by communities to provide actionable information. Aare is developing the SenseMyStreet project with OpenLab.
Top Phengsuwan - developing big data systems to integrate multiple data streams of high velocity real-time data with a focus on natural hazards
Nipun Balan - investigating big data frameworks for natural hazard modelling
Kelsey Potlock - investigating novel means of acoustic identification of cetaceans (dolphins and porpoises) for impact assessment of wind farm developments
Sarah Kenney - developing flexible data and visualisation platforms for integrated monitoring of offshore wind farms
Jonathan Law - investigating the statistical properties of large scale environmental monitoring data sets.
Yonatan Shahar - investigating novel spatial database systems for precision agriculture
Claudio Piccinini - investigating spatial decision support support systems for viniculture
Fulvio Lupane - investigating resilient infrastructure networks for optimisation of resource location in floods
Tom Gilbert - developing modelling techniques for integrating indoor and outdoor spaces for seamless city modelling
Qingyuan Ji - developing a city modelling frameworks for high resolution topological and infrastructure analysis
Joe Parker - investigating large scale environmental data and risk in cities.
Completed
Gobe Hobona, Sanphet Chunithipaisan, Pannee Cheewinsiriwat, Aengus McCullough, Macarena Rodrigues, Javier Urquizo, Craig Robson.
Esteem Indicators
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
Program Vice Chair IEEE International Conference on Smart Cities and Informatizatuon (ISCi)
Chartered Geographer (CGEOG/GIS)
Reviewer EPSRC Standard Proposals
Organiser, international visit to Argonne Labs, Chicago University Urban Big Data Centre
Co-convenor and organiser International Urban Living Labs Symposium, Newcastle
EEO/AGI(S) Professional Seminar Series Invited speake
External Examiner PhD UCL
Invited Keynote Innovations In Environmental Monitoring international conference, York
IET Big Data Workshop Invited speaker
Invited Speaker, Roadmaps for Energy, Newcastle upon Tyne
Invited speaker Northumbrian Water Innovation Week
Invited speaker IoT Things Happening, Wuthering Bytes, Yorkshire
Reviewer International Journal of GIS
Google Span Design (Newcastle) workshop invited speaker
Reviewer Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing
Reviewer Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Multimedia, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT)
Co-organiser GISRUK 2019 Conference (Newcastle)
Connected City/Digital Newcastle
Funding
- 2018 Research England CCF, Rebuscov: Removing Operational, Infrastructural and Entry Barriers to Urban Scale Computer Vision Deployments (REBUSCOV) (£100,000), (PI: P.James)
- 2018 Research England CCF, RUBICON: Removing Barriers to air quality IOt moNitoring in Cities, (£101,000), (PI: P James)
- 2018 Research England Promoting the Internet of Things via Collaborations between HEIs & Industry (£4.9m) Theme lead for Smart Cities and Newcastle PI
- 2018 Department for Transport Transport Technology Research Innovation Grant, Detecting the impact of vessels on air quality using emissions monitoring systems (£30K)
- 2017 UK Natural and Environmental Research Council (NE/R014884/1) Novel low-cost methods for marine mammal and environmental monitoring (£400K) (PI: Dr Per Berggren)
- 2017 UK Environmental and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/R013411/1) CORONA: City Observatory Research platfOrm for iNnovation and Analytics (Total Award £1m PI Phil James)
- 2017 UK Environmental and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/P028527/1) IMAGINE: Innovative technologies for rapidly surveying, mapping and communicating waterborne hazards (GCRF: Total Award: £477,153)
- 2017 UK Environmental and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/P025641/1) Learning from Earthquakes: Building Resilient Communities Through Earthquake Reconnaissance, Response and Recovery (Total Award £ 457,939)
- 2017 UK Natural and Environmental Research Council (NERC NE/P017134/1) Flood-Prepared: Predicting Rainfall Events by Physical Analytics of REaltime Data (Total award £1,523,519)
- 2017 UK Natural and Environmental Research Council (NERC Public Engagement) The science of carbon capture: creating a carbon capture garden at Newcastle Science Central for people and nature (Total award £16,924)
- 2017 UK Natural and Environmental Research Council (NERC NE/P016952/1) Catchment Risk Assessments using Multi-Scale Data (CARISMA) (Total award £161,827)
- 2016 UK Natural and Environmental Research Council (NERC GCRF NE/P015476/1) Building REsilience to Multi-source Flooding in South/Southeast Asia through a Technology-informed Community-based approach (REMATCH) (Total award £167,389)
- 2016 UK Natural and Environmental Research Council (NERC SHEAR NE/P000681/1) Landslide Multi-Hazard Risk Assessment, Preparedness and Early Warning in South Asia: Integrating Meteorology, Landscape and Society (LANDSLIP) (Total award £881,560 NCL £114,347, 2016 ~ 2020)
- 2016 UK Collaboratorium for Research in Infrastructure & Cities (UKCRIC) (EP/P016782/1, EP/P016707/1) Urban Observatory Total award £14m (ci James £1.6m 2016 ~ 2021) (UKCRIC PIs Prof Richard Dawson, Prof Stephanie Glendinning)
- 2016 UK Environmental and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC EP/N01426X/1, £584,269, PI Dr Paolo Missier (01/02/2016 ~ 31/01/2019) ReComp: sustained value extraction from analytics by recurring selective re-computation
- 2015 UK Environmental and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC Digital Economy EP/M023001/1, £4 million, £286,569 CI James) Digital Economy Research Centre, 2015 , 4 years of RA development time to work on projects relating to urban sensing. (PI Prof. Patrick Olivier)
- 2013 UK Environmental and Physical Sciences Research Council (2013 , EPSRC: Digital Economy Sustainable Society Network EPSRC: EP/K003593/1, £50K) – Integrating Twitter and Urban Flooding ( iTURF) developed real-time systems to integrate tweets about flooding (location and intensity) into GPU based real-time flood modelling. (PI Prof Qiuhua Liang)
- 2012 UK Environmental and Physical Sciences Research Council (2012 , EPSRC EP/J501359/1) Long Term Urban Research Framework (LTURF) Led WP on development of integrated systems architecture for management of heterogeneous sensor systems and the dissemination and visualisation of the data. (PI Prof. Richard Dawson)
- 2012 Climate Change Development Network (UK Department for International Development), (2012-2015, CDKN (DfID), £664K (200K)) (CDKN: RSGL-0024H), Led development of climate web portal and underlying data and processing infrastructure for Caribbean region. (PI Dr Aidan Burton/Prof Chris Kilsby)
- 2012 UK Department for Environment and Rural Affairs, (2012~2013, DEFRA, £125k) led WP on development of embedded models of Source Apportionment of Pollution within a mapping and GIS framework (PI Dr Adam Jarvis)
- UK Department for Environment and Rural Affairs, UKCP09 Data Delivery Program (2007-2010, DEFRA, £2m (£400k Newcastle)) led the development team responsible for UKCP09 data and processing portal (PI Prof. Chris Kilsby)
I teach GIS and Informatics across a number of schools and 2 faculties and participate in 3 field courses annually.
Undergraduate Teaching
CEG1702 Introduction to GIS (module leader 70%)
CEG1710 Introduction to GIS (module leader 70%)
CEG1713 Informatics 1 (module leader 100%)
CEG2722 Informatics 2 (module leader 70%)
CEG 3701 GIS Fieldcourse (module leader 60%)
I also make significant contributions to CEG1711, CEG2712, CEG1604 & CEG1714
Postgraduate Teaching
CEG8702 GIS Fundamentals (module leader 100%)
CEG8705 GIS (module leader 100%)
- Urquizo J, Calderon C, James P. Engineering Modelling of Building Energy Consumption in Cities: Identifying Key Variables and Their Interactions with the Built Environment. In: Computational Science and Its Applications (ICCSA 2019). 2019, Saint Petersburg, Russia: Springer.
- Holliman NS, Antony M, Charlton J, Dowsland S, James P, Turner M. Petascale Cloud Supercomputing for Terapixel Visualization of a Digital Twin. Ithaca, New York: arXiv, 2019. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/1902.04820.
- Chandra Shit R, Sharma S, Puthal D, James P, Pradhan B, van Moorsel A, Zomaya AY, Ranjan R. Ubiquitous Localization (UbiLoc): A Survey and Taxonomy on Device Free Localization for Smart World. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 2019, 21(4), 3532-3564.
- Ji Q, Barr S, James P, Fairbairn D. Graph database implementation of fine spatial scale urban infrastructure networks. In: GISRUK 2018. 2018, Leicester, UK.
- Moreri K, Fairbairn D, James P. Issues in developing a fit for purpose system for incorporating VGI in land administration in Botswana. Land Use Policy 2018, 77, 402-411.
- Puussaar A, Johnson IG, Montague K, James P, Wright P. Making open data work for civic advocacy. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 2018, 2(CSCW), 143.
- Urquizo J, Calderon C, James P. Modelling household spatial energy intensity consumption patters for building envelopes, heating systems and temperature controls in cities. Applied Energy 2018, 226, 670-681.
- Urquizo J, Calderon C, James P. Modelling the spatial energy diversity in sub-city areas using remote sensors. In: 31st International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy System (ECOS 2018). 2018, Guimaraes, Portugal.
- Varghese B, Villari M, Rana O, James P, Shah T, Fazio M, Ranjan R. Realizing Edge Marketplaces: Challenges and Opportunities. IEEE Cloud Computing 2018, 5(6), 9-20.
- Gilbert T, Barr S, James P, Morley J, Ji Q. Software Systems Approach to Multi-Scale GIS-BIM Utility Infrastructure Network Integration and Resource Flow Simulation. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 2018, 7(8), 310.
- Ranjan R, Rana O, Nepal S, Yousif M, James P, Wen Z, Barr S, Watson P, Prakash Jayaraman P, Georgakopoulos D, Villari M, Fazio M, Garg S, Buyya R, Wang L, Zomaya A, Dustdar S. The Next Grand Challenges: Integrating the Internet of Things and Data Science. IEEE Cloud Computing 2018, 5(3), 12-26.
- Urquizo J, Calderón C, James P. Understanding the complexities of domestic energy reductions in cities: Integrating data sets generally available in the United Kingdom's local authorities. Cities 2018, 74, 292-309.
- Moreri K, Fairbairn D, James P. Volunteered geographic information quality assessment using trust and reputation modelling in land administration systems in developing countries. International Journal of Geographical Information Science 2018, 32(5), 931-959.
- Robson C, Barr SL, James P, Ford A. A framework for modelling the impact of spatial hazards on critical infrastructure networks. In: GISRUK. 2017, Manchester, UK.
- Ji Q, Barr S, James P, Fairbairn D. A heuristic spatial algorithm for generating fine-scale infrastructure distribution networks. In: 25th GISRUK 2017. 2017, Manchester, UK: GISRUK.
- Smith L, Liang Q, James P, Lin W. Assessing the utility of social media as a data source for flood risk management using a real-time modelling framework. Journal of Flood Risk Management 2017, 10(3), 370-380.
- Urquizo J, Calderon C, James P. Modelling household spatial energy intensity consumption patterns for building envelopes, heating systems and temperature controls in cities. In: 30th International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems (ECOS 2017). 2017, San Diego, CA, USA: International Measurement Confederation (IMEKO).
- Ranjan R, Garg S, Khoskbar A, Solaiman E, Philip J, Georgakopoulos D. Orchestrating BigData Analysis Workflows. IEEE Cloud Computing 2017, 4(3).
- Ranjan R, Phengsuwan J, James P, Barr S, Van Moorsel A. Urban Risk Analytics in the Cloud. IT Professional 2017, 19(2), 4-9.
- Urquizo J, Calderón C, James P. Using a Local Framework Combining Principal Component Regression and Monte Carlo Simulation for Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis of a Domestic Energy Model in Sub-City Areas. Energies 2017, 10(12), 1986.
- Urquizo J, Calderón C, James P. A spatial perspective of the domestic energy consumption intensity patterns in sub-city areas. A case study from the United Kingdom. In: Ecuador Technical Chapters Meeting (ETCM 2016). 2016, Guayaquil, Ecuador: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
- Jonczyk J, Quinn P, Heidrich O, Dawson R, Birkinshaw S, James P, Harris N, Pearson D. Demonstration of a green-blue approach for a strategic management of urban runoff. In: AGU Fall Meeting. 2016, San Francisco, USA: American Geophysical Union (AGU).
- Calderon C, James P, Urquizo J, McLoughlin A. A GIS domestic building framework to estimate energy end-use demand in UK sub-city areas. Energy and Buildings 2015, 96, 236-250.
- Harris N, Robson C, Barr SL, James P. Real time coupled network failure modelling and visualisation. In: GISRUK. 2015, Leeds, UK.
- Robson C, Barr S, James P, Ford A. Spatially modelling dependent infrastructure networks. In: GISRUK. 2015, Leeds.
- Fairbairn D, Moreri K, James P. Technological solutions for citizens’ participation into cadastral mapping. In: 27th International Cartographic Conference. 2015, Rio de Janeiro.
- Ford A, Barr S, Dawson R, James P. Transport Accessibility Analysis Using GIS: Assessing Sustainable Transport in London. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 2015, 4(1), 124-149.
- Robson C, Barr S, James P, Ford A. Resilience of hierarchical critical infrastructure networks. In: International Symposium for Next Generation Infrastructure. 2014, Vienna, Austria.
- Bell MC, Galatioto F, Hill G, James P. Decision support system monitoring and modelling platform to inform policy and management strategies to reduce environmental impacts of traffic. In: Road Transport Information and Control (RTIC) Conference. 2012, London.
- McCullough A, James P, Barr S. Near real-time geoprocessing on the grid: A scalable approach to road traffic monitoring. International Journal of Geographical Information Science 2012, 26(10), 1939-1957.
- McCullough A, James P, Barr S. A Service Oriented Geoprocessing System for Real-Time Road Traffic Monitoring. Transactions in GIS 2011, 15(5), 651-665.
- Stephens A, James P, Alderson D, Pascoe S, Abele S, Iwi A. The challenges of developing an open source, standards-based technology stack to deliver the latest UK Climate Projections. International Journal of Digital Earth 2011, 5(1), 43-62.
- Birkinshaw SJ, James P, Ewen J. Graphical user interface for rapid set-up of SHETRAN physically-based river catchment model. Environmental Modelling & Software 2010, 25(4), 609-610.
- Hobona G, Fairbairn D, Hiden H, James P. Orchestration of Grid-enabled Geospatial Web Services in Geoscientific Workflows. IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering 2010, 7(2), 407-411.
- Cheewinsiriwat P, James PM, Barr SL. Developing 3D GIS web services. In: 5th International Conference on Geographic Information Systems 2008 (ICGIS 2008). 2008, Istanbul, Turkey.
- Greenhalgh ATH, James PM, Fairbairn D. Geosemantics in Local Authority Licensing. In: WORLDCOMP'08: The 2008 World Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Applied Computing. 2008, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
- Calder IR, Garratt J, James PM, Nash EJ. Models, myths and maps: Development of the EXploratory Climate Land Assessment and Impact Management (EXCLAIM) tool. Environmental Modelling & Software 2008, 23(5), 650-659.
- Kilsby CG, Jones PD, Burton A, Ford AC, Fowler HJ, Harpham C, James P, Smith A, Wilby RL. A daily weather generator for use in climate change studies. Environmental Modelling and Software 2007, 22(12), 1705-1719.
- Hobona GE, Fairbairn D, James PM. Semantically-Assisted Geospatial Workflow Design. In: Proceedings of the 15th Annual ACM International Symposium on Advances in Geographic Information Systems. 2007, Seattle, Washington: ACM.
- Hobona GE, Fairbairn D, James PM. Workflow Enactment of Grid-Enabled Geospatial Web Services. In: Proceedings of the UK e-Science All Hands Meeting. 2007, Nottingham, UK: National e-Science Centre.
- Greenhalgh A, James P, Fairbairn D. Encoding semantics in the DNF. In: 9th AGILE Conference on GIS. 2006, Visegrad, Hungary.
- Hobona GE, James PM, Fairbairn D. Multidimensional visualisation of degrees of relevance of geographic data. International Journal of Geographic Information Science 2006, 20(5), 469-490.
- Hobona GE, James PM, Fairbairn D. Web-Based Visualization of 3D Geospatial Data Using Java3D. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications 2006, 26(4), 28-33.
- Abele SJ, Fairbairn DJ, James PM. A device independent approach to spatial data delivery to support mobile location service development. In: Proceedings of the 13th Geographical Information Systems Research UK Conference (GISRUK 13). 2005, University of Glasgow: GIS Research UK.
- Nash EJ, James PM, Parker D. A model for spatio-temporal network planning. Computers & Geosciences 2005, 31(2), 135-143.
- Hobona GE, James PM, Fairbairn D. An evaluation of a multidimensional visual interface for geographic information retrieval. In: ACM/SIGIR Workshop On Geographic Information Retrieval. 2005, Bremen, Germany: ACM Press.
- Hobona GE, Fairbairn D, James PM. An RDBMS-Supported, Web-Based, 3D GIS, Visualisation And Analysis Tool. In: 22nd International Cartographic Conference. 2005, A Coruña, Spain: International Cartographic Association.
- Nash EJ, Cope A, James PM, Parker D. Cycle Network Planning: Towards a Holistic Approach Using Temporal Topology. Transportation Planning and Technology 2005, 28(4), 251-271.
- Ford AC, James PM. Integration of 3D petroleum datasets in commercial GIS. In: 8th AGILE Conference on GI-Science. 2005, Estoril, Portugal: Association Geographic Information Laboratories Europe.
- Hobona GE, James PM, Fairbairn D. Spatio-Temporal Ontological Relevance Model (STORM). In: Proceedings of the 13th Geographical Information Systems Research UK Conference (GISRUK 13). 2005, University of Glasgow: GIS Research UK.
- James PM, Abele SJ. The development of wiki engines to support GI data attribution. In: Proceedings of the 13th Geographical Information Systems Research UK Conference (GISRUK 13). 2005, University of Glasgow: GIS Research UK.
- Hobona GE, James PM, Fairbairn D. Facilitating data discovery in environmental data clearinghouses through spatial data mining. In: Proceedings of the 12th Geographical Information Systems Research UK Conference (GISRUK 12). 2004, University of East Anglia, Norwich.
- Calder IR, Batchelor C, Quibell G, Gosain A, Jewitt GPW, Bosch J, Large ARG, Amezaga JM, Hope RA, James PM, Simpson E, Garratt J, Bailey RA, Kirby C. Global Governance of Water and the Blue Revolution - Can we achieve better outcomes from land and water policies?. In: Proceedings of the International Symposium: Global Governance of Water: Water and Human Security. 2004, UN House, Tokyo, Japan.
- Nash E, James P, Parker D. A Model For Spatio-Temporal Network Planning. In: Proceedings of the 6th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Sciences. 2003, Lyon, France: Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes (Lausanne, Switzerland).
- Hobona GE, James PM, Fairbairn D. Applet development for handling MasterMap data. In: Proceedings of the 11th Geographical Information Systems Research UK Conference (GISRUK 11). 2003, City University, London.
- Chunithipaisan S, James PM, Parker D, Abdul-Majeed Z, Abele SJ. Geo-spatial interoperability via the web: supporting land administration in Kuala Lumpur. In: Map Asia 2003. 2003, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: GIS Development.
- Nash EJ, James PM, Parker D. Implementing Spatio-Temporality Within An Existing GIS. In: GISRUK 2002: Research UK 10th Annual Conference. 2002, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
- Chunithipaisan S, James PM, Parker D. The integration of spatial datasets for network analysis operations. In: Map Asia 2002 Conference. 2002, Bangkok, Thailand.
- Parker D, Etches A, James PM, Ince S. Integrated information in support of integrated transport. In: GIS 2000: Annual Conference of the AGI. 2000, London: Association for Geographic Information.