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We had a glitch in our podcast feed this week, so you may not have received the latest two podcasts. It’s been fixed. Thanks to listener (well “non-listener” this week!) Peter for giving us the heads up on the problem.
In what’s termed an “experiment” the City of Redlands has moved five fan palm trees that were in danger due to their growth under utility lines. The city, with an $11,000 donation from the Redlands Horticultural and Improvement Society (RHIS) funded by Jack Dangermond, moved the trees to safer location in a linear park. If the experiment works and the trees survive, the city may look at other relocations.
MAPPS noted in a press release that Susan Marlow of Smart Data Strategies was to testify yesterday regarding a national parcel database that would support the prevention of a future economic meltdown. There’s a bill pending on developing such a database.
Marlow and others were speaking to the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations about how to use technology to provide a better picture of risks and trends in the financial system. Also speaking: Dilip Krishna, director of Teradata Corporation’s North American enterprise risk management practice.
The highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts upheld the right of police to install GPS tracking device to track suspects so long as a judge grants a warrant. The court ruled, unanimously, that such action “does not violate the ban on unreasonable search and seizure in the state’s Declaration of Rights.”
But, there are some stipulations: The officers, must of course convince a judge a warrant is appropriate and the “devices can be installed for up to 15 days before police must show why the devices need to remain in place.”
The University of Vermont’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory, part of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, was recently designated as one of eight international Centers of Excellence. ESRI last spring named the lab one of the first ESRI Development Centers.
- UVM News
Where has Buddy Bison Been? is a new program from the National Park Trust aimed at getting students and families out into America parks and learning about the environment. Among materials available to the eight participating schools are a FaceBook page for Buddy and a “Google map application allow his friends to follow him wherever he roams.” Geography and GIS are not noted as part of the curriculum goals, but clearly are represented.
The University of Western Ontario has consolidated its Geography Dept-based map collection into the university libraries system. Map librarian Cheryl Woods says the transition from the Geography Department to Western Libraries may help increase the visibility of the Map Library.
