Thursday, July 23. 2009

Geospatial Analysis of School Choice

A special issue of the American Journal of Education takes on school choice - including several articles that use GIS to explore the topic. (press release)

It's typically a fee-based journal, but two articles of interest to geospatial practitioners (and others!) are free to read:

School Choice in Suburbia: Test Scores, Race, and Housing Markets

School Choice and Competitive Incentives: Mapping the Distribution of Educational Opportunities across Local Education Markets

Among the findings: how much housing prices rise based on a local school's test scores and minority population.

- via EdWeek Blog

Education Tidbits

The University of Florida and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics will soon establish a joint University of Florida-ICRISAT International Distance Education Center in Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India.

First up, in a series of short courses to be offered by the UF faculty is one on GIS in landscape analysis, analysis of bioenergy projects, soil and water science aspects in watershed development, crop modeling, and the use of geo-statistical data in environmental assessment. The technology used for instruction and GIS was not noted.

- The Hindu News

Forget GIS data companies driving around and collecting data, Anthony Phillips, a senior at Virginia Tech, spent the summer driving around his Pulaski County, WV collecting data on some 300 streams in the county and how close they are to roads. The goal? A searchable database for the National Weather Service in Blacksburg that will enable early prediction of flooded roads.

To compile the data, Phillips uses maps and GIS to determine which streams are within 25 feet of a road. He measures the area and uses a mathematical equation to determine how likely the area is to flood based on the proximity of the road to the stream. Then Prescott, 19, documents the area in pictures.

Phillips color-codes the map according to the likelihood that a flood could occur. Red means a flood can occur if the stream rises by as little as a foot and a half; blue means a flood isn't likely.

- Roanoke Times

TechniGraphics, with 600 workers around the globe, but based in Wooster, OH has opened its own university. While the economy is unsteady, the company, which specializes in geospatial for intelligence, opened TechniGraphics University, a place designed to educate, train and develop leaders and workers.

- The Daily Record