Georgetown Students Map Chinese Nuclear Tunnels and other Education GIS News

Led by their hard-charging professor, a former top Pentagon official, they [Georgetown students] have translated hundreds of documents, combed through satellite imagery, obtained restricted Chinese military documents and waded through hundreds of gigabytes of online data.

The result of their effort? The largest body of public knowledge about thousands of miles of tunnels dug by the Second Artillery Corps, a secretive branch of the Chinese military in charge of protecting and deploying its ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads.

- WaPo

Participants in the crime prevention event “R U Safe?” created a map of the College Avenue [Rutgers University, NJ] campus last night [Dec 1], highlighting areas most prone to crime using a smartphone application called “Mobile Mappler.”

Designed by Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy lecturer Wansoo Im, the app allows users to select areas where they feel vulnerable to crime, said Jerilyn Krakower, coordinator of “R U Safe?”

The app, built on Google tech, includes data such as lighting and crime and invites crowdsourcing information on where users feel unsafe.

- Daily Targum

West Hartford, CT is having its hydrants mapped. And the whole program is led by fifth graders. No mention of GIS thus far, though there is a wiki which will hold latitude and longitude.

"Where in the Blazes R U?" is the manifestation of an idea that Taylor first had on a morning run last winter, and has been made possible by a grant she applied for from the Foundation for West Hartford Public Schools combined with funding from the elementary school PTOs.

The project's goal is being implemented by the town's 5th graders, who are learning to use GPS technology to map the coordinates of all 1,500 fire hydrants in West Hartford. The students will be using a wiki to input the longitude and latitude data for each hydrant. The project will benefit town residents as well as the fire department, and is a great example of service learning, where kids go out into the community to solve a problem.

- West Hardford Patch

Nova Scotia Community College seems to be losing its geomatics program:

The three members of the Applied Geomatics Research Group, established in 2000, were given their notices last week and their jobs terminated Nov. 30.

Affected by the decision are senior research scientist Bob Maher, scientist Chris Hopkinson and project manager Jeff Wentzell. Scientist Tim Webster was not affected by the staff changes.

- The Chronicle Herald via @mapserving

Crime Mapping in Brazil and other Crowdsourcing GIS News

WikiCrimes in Brazil, and similar initiatives in Venezuela, Panama, Mexico, Argentina and Chile, provide interactive maps that people can use to anonymously report crimes, describe what happened and pinpoint the location. In this way, crime mapping identifies danger zones - crime hotspots - within a region with generally high crime rates, to enhance people's awareness, preparedness and safety. 

- Al Jazeera English

The [Utah] Legislature’s Redistricting Committee did two things Monday that critics doubted would ever happen.

First, it adopted a map proposed by an ordinary citizen — Robert Horning, a software designer living in Logan — for new state school board boundaries.

Second, it let the news media into a backroom to watch a subcommittee negotiate how to redraw Horning’s map a bit before final adoption, allowing reporters to listen to frank discussion about protection of incumbents and local school board boundaries.

- Salt Lake Tribune

Google is crowdsourcing guides to its crowdsourced mapping effort, Map Maker. (Yes, that's meta.)

Now all Map Maker users can be part of an even broader community education effort, with the help of “Map Makerpedia.”

Makerpeda lets users make additions and edits on a variety of guides, which range from 101 material on using Map Maker to in-depth guides on specialized tasks, like mapping a local university. Map Makerpedia also highlights some of the major charitable projects from Google that have been built with Map Maker, including flood and disease mapping.

- Search Engine Journal

Mapping Swim Trails and other Crowdsourcing News

Helen Sahadi of Thorndike, Maine, is an avid open-water swimmer. Her website, www.swimmaine.com, will document Maine's best swimming "trails" in lakes and ponds and she's looking for contributions from other swimmers around the state.

- Bangor Daily News

Historypin is a way for millions of people to come together, from across different generations, cultures and places, to share small glimpses of the past and to build up the huge story of human history.

The basic idea is to link old pics of a location with those of today. Sounds like a fascinating way to explore history. Says Time:

In partnership with Google, from which it leverages maps and Street View imagery, Historypin allows users to upload vintage photographs to geographically "pinned" locations on a map. Those images are then laid on top of Google's Street View and organized on a navigable timeline, dating all the way back to 1840 (when the first recorded photograph took place). Landmarks, street corners, or wherever else you can imagine can be given unimaginable layers of depth via their own past and present communities.

via Time

Bangalore Security Map, being drawn up by MOD Institute, an international think-tank engaged in urbanisation processes in India, in conjunction with CSTEP (Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy), will feature the city’s most dangerous areas. ...

The website urges ordinary citizen to contribute inputs. “We want to know where in the city you feel insecure and why so. If you feel insecure in a certain part of the city (at a certain time, perhaps), please share with us what could have made you feel safer.” 

- Bangalore Mirror