I have been using computers most days of my life since 1977 although I wrote my first ever program (probably the only one which ever worked first time) at school in 1971 to invert a 3x3 matrix. I learnt the real basics when working as a numerical modeler for the UK Meteorological Office, and later building and analyzing results from numerical models in a very different domain for one of the Marconi companies.

After a period as the Director of an environmental charity,  a decade ago  I set up my own consultancy providing IT services primarily to the voluntary environmental sector.  I have had an interest in managing large volumes of biological data going back some 3 decades and coupled with my experience in the Met Office  I have long been convinced of the need to develop easier ways of analyzing geographicaly based data.  The combination of SQL server 2008's spatial features coupled with web mapping (and a dash of SharePoint) has enabled me develop to develop solutions to real problems for even quite small organisations using new an exciting technologies.