Platial Analysis Lab

Grant McKenzie is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography at McGill University in Montréal, Canada. He holds a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2015), a Master of Applied Science degree from the University of Melbourne (2008) and a Bachelors in Geography from the University of British Columbia (2002). Dr. McKenzie’s research interests lie in spatio-temporal data analysis, geovisualization, place-based analytics and the intersection of information technologies and society. Currently, he is exploring computational, data-driven models of human behavior, taking a multi-dimensional approach to investigating the relationship between place & space and the activities people carry out at those places. The foundation of this research involves working with large geosocial, user-contributed and authoritative datasets, exploiting and visualizing spatial, temporal and thematic signatures within the data. These signatures are employ through unique methods and statistical models for the development of effective interactive (desktop and mobile) geovisualization, place-based prediction models and knowledge discovery applications.

Mikael Brunila is a PhD student in Geography at McGill University. He graduated in 2017 as a Fulbright scholar from the Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences program at Columbia University. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with minor subjects in Economics and Computer Science at the University of Helsinki in 2016. Brunila uses GIS, Bayesian inference and natural language processing to study semantic geographies in the sharing economy, governance through data science and machine learning as well as urban social movements. He previously worked as a journalist and has co-authored books on the far-right in Finland, on the implementation of zero tolerance politics against graffiti in Helsinki and on the political economy of the Internet. Brunila is also a member of the Urban Politics and Governance Lab lead by professor David Wachsmuth.

Morgan is a 4th year student at McGill, completing a major in archaeology/anthropology and a minor in GIS and remote sensing. He is interested in the ways that these fields can compliment each other, especially the application of geographical perspectives in understanding the spatial variability of human cultural activities on the landscape, both in the past and the present. He continuously aims to learn more about GIS and quantitative methods for spatial analysis and has currently been accepted for the arts undergraduate research internship awards. He is working on a project over the summer analyzing place-based activity patterns in Montreal and Toronto, and he hopes to gain valuable experience in geospatial and statistical analysis from this internship.