Map Morsels IX

Jonathan Frishtick, GPS/GIS Mapping

As always, please let me know if you like one of these entries.

1.  Put learning Mandarin on the back burner and learn how to code. You have put it off long enough. You’ve been thinking about it for years. You know it will help you in whatever discipline you are in. It’s time to dive in. http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercises/0

2. Threats from sea level rise and storm surge to all 3000+ coastal towns, cities, counties and states in the Lower 48.  http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/

3. Fonts in ArcGIS symbols, from Aileen Buckley, ESRI Map Center.                                                                               http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2012/03/28/fonts-in-arcgis-symbols/

4.  Google Earth Where in the World.             https://sites.google.com/site/sightseerwhereintheworld/

5.  Google Search Features.                                http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features.html

6.Google Voice Search.                                  http://www.google.com/insidesearch/voicesearch.html

7.  World Bank Announces Its Crowdsourced Map Data Will Be Free for the Crowd  http://techpresident.com/news/21989/world-bank-announces-its-crowdsourced-map-data-will-be-free-crowd, via the Spatial Law and Policy blog.

8.  The National Archives and Records Administration has made individual records from the 1940 Census available to the public for the first time. http://www.census.gov/1940census/

9.  From Google Maps Mania:The Outlook is Cloudy on Google Maps

Plane Finder, the real-time plane tracking website, has added options to view both the cloud layer and the weather layer on its Google Map.   To view the new weather layers on Plane Finder select ‘Map Options’, ‘Map’ and then select the ‘cloud’ and / or ‘weather’ check buttons. Martin Kleppe of Ubilabs has created a rather beautiful example of the cloud layer in action on a styled Google Map. This example map uses dark map tiles which contrast nicely with the new fluffy white clouds.

Map Morsel VIII

Jonathan Frishtick, GIS/GPS Mapping

 

LiDAR Mapping Helps Archeologists                                                                                                                                    http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/archeology-lidar-mapping/

Japanese disaster imagery one year later                                                                                                          http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2012/03/japanese_disaster_imagery_one_year.html

WeatherMob, a Social Network Around the Local Forecast http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/10/sxsw-weathermob-a-social-network-around-the-local-forecast/.                                                                                 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weathermob/id463729367

A Skeptic’s Lament: James Randi on the American psyche.                                                                                         http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/opinion-randi-maya-skeptic

Real time twitter feeds in a Google map interface:                                                                                                             http://tweereal.com/

Do you want to receive an email when Google updates a particular location’s imagery? https://followyourworld.appspot.com/

In the wake of the Tohoku-oki tsunami, scientists now know that seafloor topography affects the strength and height of a tsunami even in the deep ocean and at great distances.                                                                           http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=77331

Where has Aaron been?   Maybe he is just a tad obsessive.                                                                                          https://geoloqi.com/blog/2012/03/data-portraits-powered-by-3-5-years-of-data-and-2-5-million-gps-points/

Map pages show threats from sea level rise and storm surge to all 3000+ coastal towns, cities, counties and states in the Lower 48.                                                                                                                                                           http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/

Pareidolia: I see faces…                                                                                                                                                          http://urbanhonking.com/ideasfordozens/2012/01/14/machine-pareidolia-hello-little-fella-meets-facetracker/

Lyme Disease Surge Predicted for Northeastern US, Due to Acorns and Mice, Not Mild Winter                          http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120316094452.htm

New hardiness zones show warming trend in Vermont http://vtdigger.org/2012/03/15/new-hardiness-zones-show-warming-trend-in-vermont

Time-Lapse Video Shows Stars and Earth From Space Station                                                                                  http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/stars-time-lapse-space-station

Will 2012 be the year of the Open Map?                                                                                                                http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/daily-report-some-sites-bypass-google-maps/               https://plus.google.com/u/0/118383351194421484817/posts/foj5A1fURGt

Strange Days: NASA Earth Observatory’s land surface temperature anomaly map. Noted in the article was that Climate Central reported that in Rochester, Minnesota the overnight low temperature on March 18 was 16.6°Celsius (62°Fahrenheit), a temperature so high it beat the record high of 15.5°Celsius (60°Fahrenheit) for the same date.                         http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=77465                                                                              The Doors: Strange Days  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NSz-9qqgKE

Anything Frank Jacobs writes is worth reading.                                                                                   http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/all-hail-sealand/

U.S. Defense Department Develops Map of Future Climate Chaos                                               http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=us-defense-department-develops-map-future-climate-chaos

Map Morsels VII

This is the 7^th post of hopefully, interesting geo-map-earth-tech related stuff which I have posted. It is amazing how much material is out there floating around in the cloud or more likely, on Google servers in The Dalles, Oregon and other locations. (See: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/21973).

Because of the large volume of information bombarding us, I have pared down the descriptions so I can get this list of links out before it becomes stale. Check  out the Vermont geo contest at the end of the post.

If you see something you particularly like, please let me know.

Jonathan Frishtick, GIS/GPS Mapping

Use the Google Maps API for images other than maps.  Very cool!                                                  http://blog.mikecouturier.com/2011/07/create-zoomable-images-using-google.html

Fly through an ice rift in Antarctica. Cheaper than going there in person.                                       http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2012/02/29/a-little-more-on-that-ice-rift-in-antarctica/

Where did you do it?  Mapping safe sex.                                                                                                  http://www.wheredidyouwearit.com/index.php/map/

Know your nuclear facilities.                                                                                                                                                http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/11/map-nuclear-bombs-power-weapons

Nokia and Microsoft take a fresh look at maps.                                                                                            http://www.vector1media.com/spatialsustain/nokia-and-microsoft-take-a-fresh-look-at-maps.html

Video of patterns of daily life in the Netherlands. Genieten van.                                                                             http://flowingdata.com/2012/02/22/patterns-of-daily-life-in-netherlands-from-above/

Use Google Docs in your ArcGIS Online maps.                                                                                                                    http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/arcgisonline/archive/2012/02/21/using-google-docs-in-your-arcgis-online-maps.aspx

Google to sell heads-up display glasses by year’s end.                                                                                http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/google-to-sell-terminator-style-glasses-by-years-end/

The London Mugging Map.                                                                                                                           http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2012/02/london-mugging-map.html

My photos of the northern lights don’t look anything like this.                                                                                 http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/02/rocket-launched-aurora/

If you are not taking advantage of the ArcGIS Resource Center, especially the Mapping Center, you should be!      http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2012/02/21/updating-the-mapping-center-web-site/

All things lake ice related. Good for next year’s winter.                                                                             http://lakeice.squarespace.com/about/

This is true.                                                                                                                                                   http://thedoghousediaries.com/3438

Tell Garmin where to go…I mean what to do.                                                                                                              http://www8.garmin.com/contactUs/ideas/

Garmin’s 4^th quarter earnings beat all estimates.                                                                                   http://www.gpsbusinessnews.com/Garmin-Q4-Earnings-Growth-in-all-Segments-Beats-all-Estimates_a3486.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

You want to take a good look at this one. Simply beautiful images of Earth from space.                                      http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/envisat-anniversary/

This is a great way to use Google Earth in a cross disciplinary fashion in the classroom. Do the latest JPL Where on Earth geoquiz.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov/quizzes/?ImageID=345

CONTEST! REWARD!                                                                                                                                                                                                 Do you know the significance of this mysterious marker? http://bit.ly/xnhQYp. Send your response  to me at:  gis.gps.mapping@gmail.com.  One winner will be randomly selected from the correct responses and an award will be sent to you.

Map Morsels VI

Jonathan Frishtick, GIS/GPS Mapping

1.  Create Custom Google Maps for Android

“The app lets you quickly create a custom map for your Android phone from any map image or photo file. The image can be a photo or scan of a paper map. It could even just be the photo of a map posted at the beginning of a trailhead or at the entrance to an amusement park, which you can capture with your smartphone camera.” http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2011/10/create-custom-google-maps-for-android.html

2. Searching the Earth for Art From Google Earth Blog

Searthing was created by Mack Lazarus and Tim Schmauch, who are behind the similar EarthArtWorld.com site. The two site both focus on artistic-looking imagery, but Searthing is designed in a blog format to show off much more of it.

3. Occupy Wall Street on Google Maps from Google Earth Blog

The Daily Kos has created a Google Map of over 200 Occupy Wall Street events and Facebook pages throughout the United States.

4. State halts work on Lowell Mountain Wind Project.

From VTDigger.org

Construction on the Kingdom Community Wind Project is temporarily on hold after the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources issued a stop-work order.

Green Mountain Power, the utility that is building the project, violated part of its Clean Water Act permit when it failed to comply with part of its sediment control plan.

5. Strange Agricultural Landscapes Seen From Space

From Wired Science

My favorite is the Bolivian soybean fields. They look like snowflakes.

6. Find out where the Google Street View cars are currently on the road

7.  Best Mars Images From Orbiter’s First 5 Years

From Wired Science

Truly phenomenal photos. You can actually see the Mars rover Opportunity in some of the photos.

8. New ArcGIS Online Basemaps

“We added an entry for the new Light Gray Canvas basemap which provides a neutral basemap that makes your thematic data really stand out… We renamed the  ‘Physical’ basemap to ‘Physical and Ocean’ and added the Ocean basemap into this as a layer. “

9. Sea Ice Extent Animation updated for 2011

From Google Earth Blog: As they’ve done for the past few years (here is 2010), the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has produced their annual Sea Ice Extent data

While 2011 wasn’t a record year for ice loss, it came close, ending just slightly above the mark set in 2007. You can view the data for yourself by loading this KMZ file .

10.  The Guardian newspaper has created a Google Map showing Murder rates Around the World. The map was created using data from the UNODC.

11. Running for Mayor,  Ed Lee uses Google Earth to show his plan for San Francisco Job  Growth

From the Google Earth Blog:

“I don’t know the details of Ed Lee’s political agenda, and that information is irrelevant for this post, but he’s recently used Google Earth in a very creative way. In one of his recent TV ads, Ed made great use of Google Earth to help show off his plan for creating new jobs across the San Francisco area. Details on how the video was created aren’t available, but it appears that they simply took some carefully-planned Google Earth footage and then added all of the labels and highlights in a video editing suite like Final Cut Pro. As such, no KML or tour are available.”

12. Google partnered with NASA, ESA and JAXA to launch a new YouTube channel called Space Lab. Commander Mike Fossum, from the International Space Station, invites you to come up with a science experiment for space and upload a video explaining it to YouTube.

13. Display Real Time Lightning Strikes in GE

From Google Maps Mania:

“Blitzortung.org works with a community of users, who have built their own lightning receivers, to automatically display live lightning data on a Google Map.”

14. Yipes! From WIRED Threat Level blog:

California Gov. Jerry Brown is vetoing legislation requiring police to obtain a court warrant to search the mobile phones of suspects at the time of any arrest.

“The Sunday veto means that when police arrest anybody in the Golden State, they may search that person’s mobile phone — which in the digital age likely means the contents of persons’ e-mail, call records, text messages, photos, banking activity, cloud-storage services, and even where the phone has traveled.”

15. From Spatial Sustain:

“Boston Rare Maps, a specialist dealer in rare and unusual antique maps, has launched AmericanMapmaking.com, an online exhibit of maps of America from 1782-1800. The exhibit was originally hosted at the Harvard Map Collection, and illustrates an evolution in the country and its mapmaking ability.”

If you particularly like an item or have comments, please email me, gis.gps.mapping(at)gmail.com

Map Morsels V

Jonathan Frishtick, GIS/GPS Mapping

As always, please let me know if you find something particularly interesting or useful.

Supreme Court Upholds Resident’s Right to Navy Maps, Rules Against FOIA Exemption

1.From All Point Blog

“The Supreme Court rejected the government’s use of an exemption in the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to keep maps from the public. A Washington state resident wants Navy maps relating to its main West Coast ammunition dump. The individual will see those maps.

In a 8-1 vote the court threw out an appeals court ruling upholding the Navy’s decision keep the maps secret. The maps show damage expected from an explosion at the ammunition dump near Port Townsend in western Washington.”

2. From Geodata Policy Blog

Background: Supreme Court hears arguments in Navy FOIA case

by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, December 1, 2010

… The case before the court, Milner v. Department of the Navy, concerned the Navy’s decision to withhold documents requested under the federal Freedom of Information Act regarding U.S. Navy maps depicting the placement of explosives at a Washington state naval munitions site. The Navy refused area resident Glen Scott Milner’s FOIA request for safety maps and data that show the placement and potential blast ranges of ammunition stored in Naval Magazine Indian Island, located near Port Hadlock, Wash. Milner was seeking information on the potential dangers to the nearby communities of the Navy’s munition storage practices. …

For full text of the article, visit here.

Boston Globe Declares Cartography Boom

From Spatial Sustain

“The rise of new tools is leading to a cartography boom that offers new ways to see the world, states a feature this weekend in The Boston Globe.

Thanks to satellites, surveying, and ever-increasing computing power, mapping has become geographically accurate beyond the dreams of a medieval mind. But many of those same technological advances have also brought us full circle: Maps have increasingly become vehicles not just for telling us how the world looks, but for organizing and representing all sorts of information.

The article cautions that perhaps too much mapping tools are available today, with reference to the work of Edward Tufte who aims to translate data graphically through clear and creative design.”

TeleNAv Reveals Exactly How People are Using GPS

From Mashable

“The company has mined anonymous usage data from more than 20 million subscribers to its GPS products, providing us with these graphics and analysis.”

US Patent Office to License National Online Parcel level Map

From GeoData Polcy

“This patent is for locating a street address by displaying the boundary of the parcel in which it is located within a national multi-state database.  …”

Strange Agricultural Landscapes Seen From Space

From Wired Science

My favorite image is the  Bolivian soybean fields. They look like snowflakes.

Visualising Global Earthquake Intensity

From Views of the World by way of The Map Room & Planet Geospatial

A cartogram showing earthquake intensity in relation to today’s population distribution, giving an idea of where most people are of risk related to seismic activity:

ESRI Technical Certification Program Live -  Training Seminar

Esri’s Certification Manager presents an overview of the Esri Technical Certification Program and discusses the benefits it offers to you and your organization.

GovMaps.Org

From Free Geograpghy Tools:

“ESRI’s GovMaps.Org website (currently in beta), currently offers a searchable catalog of 88  data layers (and presumably growing) hosted at ArcGIS.com, mainly from the US Government, covering a wide variety of subjects areas. A random sampling:

Crushed Stone Operations In The US

NOAA_U.S. Historical Tsunami Database

USA Congressional Districts

USA Woody Biomass

USGS Stream Gages and Weather Stations

USA Fire Perimeters 2000 through 2009”

Find out where the Google Street View cars are currently on the road

http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2011/03/find_out_where_the_street_view_cars.html

Best Mars Images From Orbiter’s First 5 Years

From”Wired Science

Truly phenomenal photos. You can actually see the Mars rover Opportunity in some of the photos.

Create Aerial Cartography for Under $100

http://www.good.is/post/grassroots-mapping-how-you-can-create-aerial-cartography-for-under-100-and-use-it-to-do-good/

Symbolizing trees in ArcGIS 10: Randomly varying the tree symbol size and rotation angle

From: ESRI Mapping Center Blog

A blog entry on how to randomly vary tree symbol sizes

Map Morsels IV

Jonathan Fristick, GIS/GPS Mapping

Image of the Day

SP Crater, Northern Arizona

From: NASA Earth Observatory

A wonderful image of a basalt cinder cone and lava flow.

Modeling 3D buildings using Satellite Imagery

From: Google Earth Blog

An article on “a system to produce 3D buildings from stereo satellite imagery, in a way that be scaled to a fairly large region.”

Photo: Mad Dash To Catch the Space Shuttle Crossing the Sun

From: Wired Science

Printing Wall Maps from the World Topographic Community Basemap

From the ESRI Mapping Center Blog

http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/mappingcenter/archive/2011/02/24/printing-wall-maps-from-the-community-basemap.aspx

Atlas of Rural Small Town America

From Spatial Sustain:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has just launched the Atlas of Rural and Small-Town America with the online mapping of more than 60 statistical indicators that include agricultural, economic and demographic data across the country.

Accessing Landsat Data and Using it in ArcGIS

From: AmerciaView Blog

As a GIS professional, have you been wondering how to take advantage of the availability of Landsat data? Our very own Jarlath O’Neil Dunne of UVM’s Spatial Analysis Lab created this instructional video on how to access the USGS Landsat archives and bring that imagery into ArcGIS. Thank you Jarlath.

Volcanic Activity at Kilauea Volcano

A new vent has opened at one of the world’s most active volcanoes, sending lava shooting up to 65 feet high from the Pu’u O’o crater at Kilauea volcano, Hawaii.

For a video of the recent ongoing eruption.

Another video of the lava flowing into a fissure. Notice the helicopter for scale.

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory with links to time lapse movies, maps and webcams.

We Are Infertile.

From: Pleated Jeans website

Vermont: infertility claim based on lowest birth rate of any state (10.6 births per 1,000) (tied with Maine)

But We Are Also Healthy

From: Political Language website

For more information on Vermont’s health, see, America’s Health Rankings.

Prioritizing Preferable Locations for Increasing Urban Tree Canopy in New York City

From: Letters From The SAL

This paper presents a set of Geographic Information System (GIS) methods for identifying and prioritizing tree planting sites in urban environments.

Conference: Conservation Connections: Building Partnerships for Action

“Join a lively gathering of fellow conservation leaders, town officials, citizens, volunteers, conservation organization staff and other partners! Explore a wide range of issues and solutions, share resources and inspiration, strengthen core capacities and connect with individuals working on conservation and food systems initiatives in communities across Vermont.”

Lots of wonderful groups sponsoring this conference.

Saturday, April 2, 2011
9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
College of St. Joseph, Rutland, Vermont

ArcGIS Online Task Server and Services Updated

From: ArcGIS Online Blog

The ArcGIS Online task server (tasks.arcgisonline.com) was recently upgraded to ArcGIS Server 10 SP1. Existing services were updated with the latest available reference data. In addition, new geocoding services are published that are built using the latest geocoding engine in ArcGIS 10. See Migrating address locators created with ArcGIS prior to version 10 in ArcGIS Desktop 10 Help for details on what’s different in locators created in ArcGIS 10.

CDC Launches the Chronic Disease GIS Exchange

From Spatial Sustain:

“The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) has launched a prototype “Chronic Disease GIS Exchange” website meant to provide a forum for sharing examples, ideas and techniques for using GIS to inform policy and document geographic disparities to help prevent heart disease, stroke and chronic diseases. The site includes GIS resources, GIS training, and a map gallery to view or add maps that have made a difference. This resource for GIS health practitioners has been developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, and Duke University.”

Watch Entire 2009 Hurricane Season In One Minute

http://news.discovery.com/videos/earth-hurricane-season-2009-in-1-minute.html

Zombifying Ant Fungus

For all you closet mycologists out there, check out this article from Wired Science. Includes fantastic photographs of brain manipulating fungi.

Map Morsels III

Jonathan Fristick, GIS/GPS Mapping

Earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand

From NASA’s Earth Observatory:

“At 12:51 p.m. local time on February 22, 2011 (11:51 p.m. February 21 UTC), a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck the South Island of New Zealand, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported. Several smaller aftershocks followed. The quake occurred near the city of Christchurch, a community of some 400,000 residents on the east coast. The initial death toll was 65, according to news reports, and authorities warned that the toll could rise sharply as search-and-rescue efforts continued.” Also see the associated image.

Resources for the Latest Christchurch Earthquake

From the Google Earth Blog.

A survey of sources for information.

Shields Up: Why Last Week’s Solar Storm Was a Dud

From Wired Science.

An explanation of why last weeks’ solar storm did not affect your GPS unit. Includes a wicked cool animated image of the Sun.

Blizzard Watch with ArcGIS Online

Do you stay up at night a little too late because you are keeping a sharp eye on the impending snow storm which never really lives up to expectations? Do you constantly scan NOAA, NWS, AccuWeather, and The Weather Channel?  If you answered yes, then take a look at this ArcGIS Online Blog entry:

“You can keep an eye on the storm and current weather conditions and make your own maps using ArcGIS Online. Here’s some of the real-time weather resources that you’ll find. At ArcGIS.com click gallery to view featured maps. You’ll find a map showing the current snow forecast among those listed.”

Use ArcGIS Online Basemaps For Free

From the ArcGIS Online Blog:

“As of the end of January, ArcGIS Online basemaps published and hosted by Esri are now available at no cost, regardless of use.  This is true regardless of whether your use is commercial, noncommercial, internal, or external use.”

Color Tools For Map Makers

From the ESRI Mapping Center Blog.  Tools to use to improve color selection.

After iPad’s Head Start, Rival Tablets Are Poised to Flood Offices

From the New York Times:

“Companies as diverse as General Electric, Wells Fargo, Mercedes-Benz and Medtronic are putting Apple’s iPad to work in their offices. And as a string of devices tailored for the office enters the market — from the likes of Motorola, Research In Motion, Samsung and Hewlett-Packard — tablets are all but certain to flood America’s workplaces.”

Are you using a tablet for GIS/GPS fieldwork? In the office? Do you have suggestions for other GIS professionals who may be in the market for one?  Write a comment below and tell us how it’s going.

Hydrogen Cartridges Fuel Laptops and Phones for Outdoor Enthusiasts

From: Science Daily:

“This week, SiGNa Chemistry Inc. unveiled its new hydrogen cartridges, which provide energy to fuel cells designed to recharge cell phones, laptops and GPS units. The green power source is geared toward outdoor enthusiasts as well as residents of the Third World, where electricity in homes is considered a luxury.”

The Winkle Tripel Projection,  An Alternative to Web Mercator Projection

From the ESRI Mapping Center Blog:

http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/mappingcenter/archive/2011/02/17/an-alternative-to-web-mercator-winkle-triple.aspx

New York City 311 Map

From the Map Room:

New York City’s 311 service, which handles non-emergencies, has a map showing the number of service requests by community board district.

Google Opens Public Data Explorer to Your Data

What is the Google Public Data Explorer?

“The Google Public Data Explorer makes large datasets easy to explore, visualize and communicate. As the charts and maps animate over time, the changes in the world become easier to understand. You don’t have to be a data expert to navigate between different views, make your own comparisons, and share your findings.”

MAP MORSELS II

Jonathan Frishtick, GIS/GPS Mapping

Watson Dominates ‘Jeopardy’ but Stumbles Over Geography

From the New York Times:

By Anahad O’Conner

“The brilliant IBM supercomputer may need a refresher course on United States geography.

In its battle against two human champions on the Tuesday episode of “Jeopardy!,” Watson, the latest machine to take on mankind in a mental showdown, seemed at first to prove its worthiness. The computer mostly dominated its human opponents, beating them to the buzzer in 24 out of 30 Double Jeopardy questions and answering every question it fielded correctly — until it got to the final round.

The category was “U.S. Cities,” and the clue provided: “Its largest airport is named for a WWII hero. Its second largest for a WWII battle.

Watson’s answer?

Toronto.

The audience gasped. Viewers, particularly those in Chicago — the correct city — may well have gasped too.

Going 24 for 25 is far from shabby, especially considering that Watson finished the second day of the three-day challenge with more than $35,000 in winnings, far ahead of Brad Rutter, with $10,400, and Ken Jennings, who had $4,800. Both men are former champions who set records on the show.

But Toronto an American city?”

To continue reading this story, go to:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/watson-dominates-jeopardy-but-stumbles-over-geography/

Add Local Food Banks To The Map

From the OpenGeoData blog:

http://opengeodata.org/project-of-the-week-food-bank

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Project_of_the_week/2011/Feb_16

NASA Earth Observatory

Subscribe to NASA’s Earth Observatory Image of the Day. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Subscribe/index.php?src=subscribe-foot

Until then, take a look at these images, available as JPEG, TIFF or KMZ.

Heavy Snow on the Korean Peninsula

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=49285&src=eoa-iotd

Winter Cloud Streets, North Atlantic

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=49254&src=eoa-iotd

Snow in Southern U.S.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=49224&src=eoa-iotd

Cash Prizes for Conservation Mapping

From Spatial Sustain:

by Matt Ball on February 11, 2011

Esri and the Society for Conservation GIS (SCGIS) have teamed to hold the first International Conservation Mapping Competition. The contest is open to nonprofit conservation groups and individuals that support these groups with $10,000 in prize money for the best maps that address conservation issues.

The deadline for entries is March 15, 2011. Winners will be displayed in a special exhibition at the Esri International User Conference in July, and will also be highlighted in the summer issue of Conservation Magazine. Visit this webpage for more details.

Patent Infringement Alleged in New Law Suit for Store Location Mapping Functionality

From Directions Magazine:

“In effect, the lawsuits allege that, every time a PC user searches online for the closest bricks-and-mortar location of a retailer, …[a] … Patent is infringed.”

http://apb.directionsmag.com/entry/patent-infringement-alleged-in-new-law-suit-for-store-location-mapping-fuct/163840

Natural Earth: A Free World Basemap

From the ESRI Mapping Center Blog:

Natural Earth is a free, public domain map dataset available at 1:10, 1:50, and 1:110- million scales and includes new vector and updated raster themes. The goal is to give cartographers and GIS users an off-the-shelf solution for creating small scale world, regional, and country maps.

Fourth Circuit Decides First Amendment Trumps Social Security Number Privacy

From the GeoData Policy blog

“By KASHMIR HILL, Above the Law Blog, 27 Jul 2010 at 4:59 PM 4TH

Court clerks in Virginia may be shaking their fists at the Fourth Circuit today. In an interesting ruling on free speech, privacy, and public records, the court ruled that an angry blogger has the right to publish public officials’ and court clerks’ Social Security numbers in order to protest the fact that Virginia puts records online that publish citizens’ social security numbers. We skimmed the opinion, but didn’t see a citation to Hammurabi.

B.J. Ostergren has been writing TheVirginiaWatchdog.com since 2003 to bring attention to the fact that state governments play fast and loose with people’s Social Security numbers when putting land records online. Her advocacy got many of them to actually start attempting to redact SSNs from the documents before putting them online, but the system was still imperfect.

For full text of the article, visit Fourth Circuit Decides First Amendment Trumps Social Security Number Privacy « Above the Law: A Legal Tabloid – News, Gossip, and Colorful Commentary on Law Firms and the Legal Profession.”

Aerial Imagery of the Protests in Egypt

From the Google Earth Blog:

“GeoEye has just released some high-resolution imagery of the protests in Egypt, taken over Tahrir Square in Cairo on January 29.

GeoEye does a great job of capturing fresh imagery from a variety of noteworthy events throughout the world. In the past, they’ve provided imagery from Burning Man 2010, the volcano in Iceland last April and President Obama’s inauguration two years ago.

I’ve taken this latest image and added it to Google Earth as an overlay, so you can download this KML file to see it for yourself.”

QUICKIES:

Special Gifts for that Special Geo Person In Your Life:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mybeardedpigeon

The U.S. Census Bureau Launches Interactive Map

From the Spatial Sustain Blog:

“The U.S. Census Bureau has just launched an interactive online map widget that lets you explore both local data as well as 10 decades of population growth at the country level.”

http://vector1media.com/spatialsustain/the-u-s-census-bureau-launches-interactive-map.html?

Regular GPS Not Accurate enough? Try RTK-GPS

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/11/diy-real-time-kinematic-gps.html

Wild LifeLines Offers a Tool for Mapping Wildlife Corridors in the West

From Spatial Sustain:

http://vector1media.com/spatialsustain/wild-lifelines-offers-a-tool-for-mapping-wildlife-corridors-in-the-west.html?

Find Streets With Your Name

http://www.datapointed.net/2011/02/maps-of-streets-places-first-names/

Map Morsels

Jonathan Frishtick, GIS/GPS Mapping

Every now and then I’ll be posting what I hope are interesting gis/gps/mapping/geo/lbs/tech/ related news items and links.

If you particularly like one, please let me know.

Maps of River Systems

From: http://www.cartogrammar.com/blog/river-transit-style-maps/

“Daniel Huffman’s latest project is a series of maps of river systems done in a transit map style, a highly appropriate and even somewhat useful design for what are, after all, linear networks. He began with the whole Mississippi River system and is expanding into smaller regional maps, having completed Michigan, Southern New England, and Northern California so far. The results are attractive and for sale to satisfy our bare walls.”

Land Use Cover – Global Initiative

From: http://geodatapolicy.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/united-states-launches-new-global-initiative-to-track-changes-in-land-cover-and-use/

“Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes, co-leading the U.S. delegation to the 2010 Group on Earth Observations (GEO) summit, announced that the United States is launching a new global initiative aimed at developing the first-ever comprehensive and up-to-date database of 30-meter satellite imagery that will show changes in land cover and land uses worldwide.”

Who Is Min Kao?

From: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704405704576064044026522456.html Min Kao recently bought a NYC condo for $40 million. Does Min’s name sound a little familiar? He is the “min” in Garmin. Along with Gary Burrell, the “gar” in Garmin, they started what is now Garmin way back in 1989.

Sign Up for Google Imagery Update Alert

With Google’s Follow Your World application, you can register locations on the globe and Google will send you an email update whenever the imagery is updated.

http://followyourworld.appspot.com/

Soils Web Map Service

ESRI announces a beta version of a soils Web map service on ArcGIS.com.

http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/mappingcenter/archive/2011/01/21/BETA-Release_3A00_-Esri_2F00_NRCS-Soil-Web-Map-Service-and-Application.aspx

http://hydro_bm.esri.com/Soils/soilOrderMap1Beta.htm

Compare Countries

From the Free Geography Tools website:

“If It Were My Home plots the area of any world country of your choice on a Google Maps view centered around your current location (presumably determined by your IP address)…and gives a comparison of basic demographic characteristics between your country and the one you’ve chosen:”

http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/

Maps Made Entirely From Words

http://spatialanalysis.co.uk/2011/01/17/typographic-maps/

Electron Microscope Photos of Snowflakes

From: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/snowflakes-by-microscope/

The Christmas Storm Satellite Image

From: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=48253&src=eoa-iotd

Take a look at the Christmas snow storm and download the image as a jpeg, Geotiff or Google Earth file. While you are visiting this page, look at Semisopochnoi Island in Alaska, an important nesting area for maritime birds of the North Pacific.

Creating Custom Overlay Maps for (Some) Garmin GPS Units

From the Free Geography Tools website:

http://freegeographytools.com/2010/create-garmin-custom-map-overlays-in-arcgis-explorer-with-garmin-tool

Scanned Old USGS Quad Maps

The U.S. Geological Survey, announced recently that they are scanning and georeferencing historical USGS quadrangles.

Public Record? Access or Not to GIS Data

http://geodatapolicy.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/1570/

An article evaluating the responses to a public records request made to all 351 Massachusetts municipalities. The author’s final recommendations to municipalities: publish GIS data for free online, and with minimal legal restrictions.

For full text of the article, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, click here.

http://www.urisa.org/files/URISA-Final-RGoodspeed_0.pdf

Gmail Tip:

Your Gmail inbox says you have 6 unread emails but you can’t find them and you don’t want to look through your 20,000 old Gmail messages.

Unlike Yahoo, Gmail does not have an “unread” mail option.

Just type: “is:unread” in the Gmail search box.

Awesome-ifying Your Facebook Profile Page With Photos

Facebook changed layouts recently, adding a row of 5 images (the 5 images you were most recently tagged in) at the top of the profile page. Using Photoshop or other photo manipulation software, you can make mini-images to fill this space.

This may be particularly useful for a Facebook business page.

You have to deal with what happens when a photo of you or your company is newly tagged, resulting in the images changing without your consent. If you try this for your company’s Facebook page and find a work-around please let me know the results.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Awesome-ifying-Your-Facebook-Profile/

Jonathan Frishtick

gis.gps.mapping @gmail.com