Iqbal Hossain: The UofAZ Knowledge Map Story

Iqbal holds a PhD in Computer Science and Engineering, with a specialization in computer algorithms and graph theory. He is currently the Research Data Science Director at the University of Arizona. Aside from his innovative achievement in creating a knowledge map for the university (kmap.arizona.edu), he has one of the most remarkable and inspiring stories you’ll ever hear about overcoming disadvantages. (He grew up in a rural part of Bangladesh and was in 11th grade before he ever saw electricity.)

In this episode, Iqbal describes the brief he was working on when he created the University of Arizona knowledge map. One of the interesting aspects of the project is that it is literally a map, with a visual “geography” of the various departments and disciplines within the university, laid out in a 2D plane, where the size and location of the polygons are based on the relative size and relationships between departments. Everything is fully interactive, including the ability to zoom in or zoom out, like one would do on a physical map, and where every element can be queried to extract more information from more than a dozen data sources, including both structured and unstructured data. The conversation also includes insights into how a large and complex project like this takes shape over time.