I am passionate about placename gazetteers and using these to link geospatial to other forms of data. I am Editor of the Gazetteer for Scotland, a long term project to create linked data for Scotland on the back of a contemporary description of the county. I am one of the core team who contribute to the MSc in Geographical Information Science at the University of Edinburgh. I also undertake research and consultancy in GIS. Interests include: Database management, performance and parallel computing issues related to GIS; environmental meta-databases; distributed GIS; location-based services; web mapping mashups; web-enabled databases; web-based surveys. Using the web to portray the people and places of Scotland. Dynamic display of earthquake information using the web. I am also involved in shaping the policy agenda and implementing components of the Scottish Government's Geographical Information Strategy for Scotland, particularly in terms of defining the importance of placename and descriptive gazetteers and web services. I was deeply involved in the design of core technology for the Scotland's Places project (RCAHMS/HES and National Archives of Scotland).Specialties: Geographical Information Science; Technology; Location-based Services; Web Mapping; Mashups; Editor of The Gazetteer for Scotland; Geographical Information Policy in Scotland and beyond; Scottish Geography, Topography and Mapping.I am a regular speaker, presenting to professional audiences and community groups on topics relating to geography and geographical informaton.