The sun and the Lyle engineers were up early this morning. Professor Scott Douglas presented on “Location, Maps and Imagery” for the second installment of the Download @ Lyle series. Held over a breakfast buffet—with plenty of coffee for those still waking up—Douglas informed students, staff, and community members why location is powerful.

“I have made a career about finding what people care about,” Douglas said.

While non-engineers may be wondering why they care about his talk, Douglas quickly provided an answer.

Location is everywhere, in almost all devices, and is one of the most used functions of smart phones. Location has changed the fate of empires, helped save lives, managed conflict, and has been a source of money making in terms of natural resources, according to Douglas.

Maps show location, but that isn’t all they do. They choose what content is shared visually. And map-readers decide what to do with that content. Douglas says this powerful understanding of physical location can be marketable in many ways. Including Douglas’ own company LGT Corporation, which is a geological and geophysical services company that apples signal processing methods to the oil and gas industry.

According to Dean of the Lyle School of Engineering Marc Christensen, the goal of the Download @ Lyle series is to engage with the Dallas community and to let them know, not only what innovative research SMU is doing, but also how they can get involved.

“We want to be a place where big ideas are talked about and where people can come and learn,” Christensen said.

The last Download @ Lyle breakfast will be held on Nov.19. To register, visit www.smu.edu/lyle.