Mehdi Ravanbakhsh

As an enthusiastic, focused and experienced academic, CEO and entrepreneur, Mehdi brings to the table over 20 years of experience in leading the development of innovative machine learning methods and techniques for information extraction from big Earth Observation (EO) imaging and ranging data for urban and environmental applications in leading research organisations in Germany and Australia.

Possesses a track record of founding 2 successful high-tech startups, completion of 13 research projects, development of the highly regarded Barista software system, urban analytics software tools for the insurance industry, operational software tools for forest inventory generation, new techniques and software tools for the generation of Australia's image mosaic (also called Australian Geographic Reference Image) and national ground control database, automatic image-based updating of Germany’s geospatial database, an operational urban mapping approach from aerial images for Western Australia (WA) mapping agency, significant contribution to the development of sea level rise visualization tools and national elevation data web portal, publication of over 45 high quality papers, presentation in over 40 conferences and meetings, and a proven ability to develop educational programs and innovative learning tools at the University of Melbourne, RMIT and UWA.

His professional experience further enhanced through close cooperation with over 70 industry partners and 115 project participants, organizing ISPRS, CRC for Spatial Information (CRCSI) and UWA workshops and conferences, providing environmental and geospatial companies with expert advice services, developing project proposals and attracting over 1.9 Million external fund.

Associate Professor, UWA School of Computer Science & Software Engineering, Perth, Australia (2015-Present)

CEO at Mapizy Pty Ltd (based at UWA (2015-Present)

(www.mapizy.com)

Co-founder at InFarm Pty Ltd (2015-2020)

(www.infarm.io)

Senior Research Fellow, School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia (based in UWA) (2012-2015)

Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project, Automation of species recognition and size measurement of fish from underwater stereo-video imagery (2012-2015)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow & Project Leader (leve, CRC for Spatial Information & Infrastructure Engineering Department, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia (2008-2012)

PhD Researcher, Institute of Photogrammetry and GeoInformation (IPI), Leibniz University of Hannover, Hannover, Germany

 – Land cover classification in LiDAR, Aerial and Satellite Images– UWA & Mapizy

– Image Analysis of Snail and Slugs in Terrestrial Images – UWA & Mapizy

– AI-enabled Urban Analytics – UWA & Mapizy

 – Remote Sensing for Mine Site Rehabilitation Performance – UWA & Mapizy (funded by BHP)

 – InFarm: Agriculture Image Processing – UWA & Mapizy (funded through government innovation grants)

•    Metric and spectral exploitation of terrestrial and aerial image and laser scanning data as well as satellite imagery in mining, infrastructure, forestry, fishery and agriculture for change quantification

•    Integration of multi-sensor multi-platform geospatial datasets•    Efficient processing of big remotely sensed imagery and ranging data

•    Image-based urban analytics and forest inventory, environmental mapping and monitoring using UAV, LiDAR, aerial and satellite imagery data

•    Underwater stereo-video technology and machine vision for developing automated fishery independent sampling and measurement techniques  

•    Geospatial database updating through feature extraction from multi-sensor multi-platform imagery and ranging data

- Computer Vision

- Remote Sensing including LiDAR technology and processing

- Geospatial data processing

- Geographic Information Systems