academic info

brief introduction

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to my website. I just finished my Masters in Informatics at the University of Malta. My thesis tackled Geospatial studies, with regards to Location Based Services. An Abstract of my thesis titled as titled as: 'The development of a Geographic Information System for traffic route planning using Location Based Services' can be found here. Further publications can be found further down. I am also graduated from the University of Malta in BSc. Business & Computing.

I have also extensive experience in web environments, with more than five years of experience in developing in PHP. I am also the founder of the PHP Maltese Usergroup (PUGmt). Lately I also started an MCTS course in .NET technology. As a part-time job, I am also the technical director of a small firm operating in online hosting (Solutions-Lab.NET), offering web and domain hosting for local clients. I have also extensive experience with SQL (naming Open Source DBMSs : MySQL and PostgreSQL - where I can create normalised tables, with stored functions, triggers and other SQL routines). I am also experienced with XHTML and CSS. I am also knowledgeable in Javascript, and XHTML requests.

Thanks for visiting my website. Hope you enjoy it :)

conferences presented

1. WICT08 : 17-18 November. Co-Author: Dr. Maria Attard. "Exploring the shortest route options: Applying Environmental Indicators to Calculating Shortest Route" (PDF copy here)

conferences attended

1. Introduction to Oracle (2007). Various speakers. Malta
2. Oracle Business Summit (2008). Frank Buytendik. Malta
3. Neogeography. What New? (2008). Dr Muki Haklay. Malta
4. Securing your system (2008). Bernard Zarb. Malta
5. IPv6 Forum (2008). Neil Rickard, Detlef Eckert, Christian Petrus. Malta

published material

1. Applying GIS to Gaming. (May 2009). A presentation prepared to the Board of a Gaming Authority regarding how can an implementation of a GIS help day to day running of the authority. (Copy here)
   
2. Improving transport in Malta using GIS and LBS. (January 2009). A presentation prepared to the University of Malta as part of my MSc. Informatics. This seminar discusses ways and improvements how can a GIS driven system help and improve the current situation in Malta. This presentation also provides a survey discussing how the Maltese view the public transport and gives out interesting conclusions as to where the GIS needs to tackle. The study focuses mainly on ways as to where and how to improve the routes, promoting cultural places, buses ETA and taxi fleet handling amongst others. (Copy here)
   
3. The development of a Geographic Information System for traffic route planning using Location Based Services. (under review - Oct. 2008). This was my MSc. Informatics thesis. The project started with a Literature Review studying the historic advancements of Location Based Services and Geographic Information Systems, in particular Open Source GIS. Case Studies were reviewed so as to gain knowledge from past experiences. The methodology used for this project followed the DSDM methodology and requirements were drawn following the MoSCoW priorities. A full working version of the project which is presented in a Web Interface can be accessed online. (Pre-Print here || Copy of Presentation here)
4. Exploring the shortest route options: Applying Environmental Indicators to Calculating Shortest Route. (Nov. 2008). This is the paper I presented for the WICT 08 Conference. The objective of this study looks at enhancing Open Source routing algorithms by adding functionalities and variables that favour fuel savings as well as shortest route. A system is developed using Open Source GIS (using the PostGIS and pgRouting extensions for the DBMS: PostgreSQL), whereby a number of variables, including weather conditions, road network, traffic status, vehicle specification data and road gradient are manipulated by the user to achieve shortest and most fuel efficient route. This study also provides neighbouring techniques for emergency response teams, so as to traverse the shortest route to an accident. (Copy of Paper here || Copy of Presentation here )
5. A Real Time Application Integration Solution. (June 2005). My final project for my BSc. Business & Computing degree. The work involved designing a system for a helicopter company operating in the Maltese islands. The design was performed using UML. Prototypes were also drafted to enhance the solution. (Copy here) (Download copy of presentation here)