About
By the will of mighty Zeus, Helike entered up into heaven.
Helike is the ancient Greek name for Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It stands over the northern sky all year, and for centuries it was how sailors found their way.
Around 270 BC, the poet Aratus described it in the Phaenomena. The poem was, in practice, an almanac: watch the sky, read the signs, decide when to sail and when to sow.
Observation, then data, then a decision.
That is still the work. Only now the data is spatial, and the decisions concern water, energy, and the systems a country depends on.
Helike is pronounced he-LEE-keh, with the stress on the middle syllable.