Tuesday, June 30. 2009

Quote of the Week

"Geography, for instance, was taught through Google Earth maps and no textbook.

Teachers complained that the software was not installed until late in the year and that satellite maps gave them little or no parameters for teaching social aspects of geography."

- Jane Roberts writing in the Commercial Appeal about how the Memphis school system will be paying $10 million for textbooks in part to bring science teaching up to speed so that students meet new statewide requirements.

Monday, June 29. 2009

Institute for Enabling Geospatial Scholarship at UVA

Bethany Nowviskie is Director of Digital Research & Scholarship at the University of Virginia Library and Associate Director of the Scholarly Communication Institute.

She reports on her blog that the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has funded the school's Scholars’ Lab "to host three tracks of an Institute for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities, on the theme of “Enabling Geospatial Scholarship.”" The institute will enable projects that support institutions to provide access to geospatial technology for the humanities. In the end, the goal is a clearinghouse is to: "offer technical bootstrapping for libraries and museums new to sophisticated GIS support via Web services frameworks, but also to provide differing scholarly perspectives on GIS for the humanities, from within the coherent narrative of a multi-institutional effort (which we hope this Institute will foster) to build modern infrastructure, support innovative digital projects, and open up dialogue about the causes and conditions of the digital humanities community’s uncharacteristic inhibition toward GIS." From what I gather the apps will be open source.

You'll recognize some names of geospatial folks on the advisory board.

This sounds very cool.

via Twitter

Friday, June 26. 2009

Park Service Grants Save Battlefield History with GIS

The National Park Service announced 33 grants ($1,360,000) to preserve and protect battlefields of significance in the US from the King Philip’s War ( 1675-1676 ), Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Second Seminole War, Mexican-American War, Civil War, World War II and various Indian Wars. Among the disciplines involved: archeology, survey, mapping, documentation, planning, education and interpretation. Several awards include GIS:

Chester County, Pennsylvania $39,890: The Battle of Brandywine... This project will identify and inventory threatened parcels of land within the Brandywine Battlefield National Historic Landmark boundaries, prioritize their importance, and develop a GIS-based animated map to aid in the county’s effort to raise awareness of the battlefield’s significance among members of the community.

Maryland State Highway Administration $60,000: The defeat of American forces by British invaders at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, resulted in the capture and burning of Washington, DC. This project begins a multi-phased plan for the interpretation of Bladensburg battlefield and will include: GIS mapping of historic resources and battlefield boundaries; development of a research design outlining methods and techniques for archeological survey; evaluation of the site’s eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places; and creation of cultural resource inventory.

Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center ( Connecticut )$59,700: This project will build upon investigations supported by ABPP in 2007 and will include archeological survey and collection of GIS data to support completion of a National Register nomination for the May 26, 1636, battle of Mystic Fort. The study area will include the fort, as well as sites associated with 6-8 additional actions. Spanning hundreds of acres, the Battle of Mystic Fort is a unique example of protracted combat between early 17th century Colonial and Native people.

Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs $48,300: Overshadowed by the Battle of Lexington/Concord, the Battle of Chelsea Creek was a significant part of the siege of Boston for its role as the first naval engagement of the Revolutionary War. A notable result of the battle was the capture and destruction of the HMS Diana – a loss that directly influenced and limited the success of the British fleet during the subsequent Battle of Bunker Hill. Archeological investigation will endeavor to locate the remains of HMS Diana, and GIS mapping will record the sites of British and American military operations.

Palm Beach County, Florida $40,790: Powell’s Battle and Jesup’s Battle were the last two major engagements of the Second Seminole War – the longest conflict waged against any Native group on American soil. More than 500 Seminoles and Black Seminoles were relocated out of Florida after the conclusion of these battles in 1838. Site identification and GIS mapping will be conducted to determine the boundaries of these battlefields as a first step in the process of developing a plan for preservation of this historic landscape.

Ships of Exploration and Discovery Research ( Northern Mariana Islands )$49,967: The Battle of Saipan,... Through archeological survey, and GIS mapping of Invasion Beach at Tanapag Lagoon, this project will identify and document submerged remains of the Battle of Saipan for use in the future development of an underwater maritime heritage trail.

- press release

Tuesday, June 23. 2009

Education Tidbits

Two Oregon Institute of Technology students took honors for their maps in regional competitions. Leo Chan of Cave Junction, Ore., won first place in the student division at the URISA GIS In Action conference and David McIntire earned first place in the student division at the Intermountain GIS Conference in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

- OIT News

Curtis Melvin, a doctoral student of economics at George Mason University in Virginia is building his own layer of North Korea for Google Earth. "His data is from maps, books and the Internet, including some contacts in country. The KML has been downloaded by more than 50,000 people.

- Voice of America

Maine has its own State GIS Championship for middle, high school and undergraduate students. It's poster-based and students individually or in teams compete for scholarship money. Students move up from regional competitions to the finals. Funding comes from the National Science Foundation as a component of a three-year project led by the University of Maine at Machias designed to improve and promote geospatial technology education in Maine. Additional support comes from the Maine GIS User Group, Maine Community College System, University of Maine System, Maine Geographic Alliance, Maine 4-H, Maine Learning Technology Initiative, and the Center for Community GIS.

- Bangor Daily News

Tuesday, June 16. 2009

Participate in Revision of Geography for Life

The original Geography for Life dates back to 2004. A committee from the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) is putting together an update and looking for input. A draft is available for review until July 15. Have a look and comment.

(I have a vested interest in this project as my advisor was the writing coordinator and one of the writers of the original document. Besides, this is a great tool to guide your teaching be it GIS-based or not.)

- via @esri

Sporcle: The New Geography Game

Actually, the online quiz website, Sporcle.com, has many categories, but the geography area is particularly popular. Who's using it? College students. And, they are not using it to study per se, but for recreation and to jazz up dull geography club meetings according to the Boston Globe. Questions include:

Can you name all the countries in the world in 15 minutes? How many countries have "stan" as a suffix? Which countries share the longest borders? Which country consumes more beer, per capita, than any other? Can you name all 37 countries that contain the letters X, Y, or Z?

What pleases me most about what could be another "how nice! young people are learning geography" article is that the reporter, Don Aucoin asked actual academic geographer about the value of the game. Responses include:

"Maybe it promotes a curiosity about the world, but I think it helps to caricature geography, because it makes it a trivia game," contends Joseph Nevin, an associate professor of geography at Vassar College.
...
But James Hayes-Bohanan, an associate professor of geography at Bridgewater State, says Sporcle does attempt "a higher level of spatial thinking" by, for instance, following a question about the capitals of Africa with a question about the adjacent countries on the continent. "It piques curiosity," says Hayes-Bohanan. "Once you see the kinds of phenomena they quiz on, I hope that would inspire people to do some reading."