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UN Ambassador Betty King spoke to the conference “Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the United Nations and the International Community”organized by UNITAR’s operational Satellite Application Programme (UNOSAT) and Esri, at the WMO in Geneva, Switzerland April 3-5.
It's very rah, rah GIS and includes a few specific exmaples of GIS use and a nod to STEM education.
The College of the North Atlantic's GIS diploma (campuses in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada has a bit of a twist I've not seen in parallel U.S. certificate programs.
The diploma involves two semesters of class work followed by eight weeks of hands-on project experience in order to gain practical skills in the field.
Initially, students go through a five day boot camp to decide whether they want to pursue the diploma or drop out.
I like it!
Piner High School in Santa Rosa, California already has a geospatial program that allows graduates to gain college credit. Now the plan is to give the program its own building.
To take Piner’s Geospatial Technology Pathway to the next level, program organizers are set to seek Santa Rosa City Schools board authorization on April 25 to start construction on a Geospatial Science Center nestled between the campus buildings. Designed by Quattrocchi Kwok Architects of Santa Rosa, the center would have space for data-collection from a number of instruments such as seismographs, weather sensors and sky cameras, a new GIS computer lab, solar and wind energy systems for studies, scale walk-through model of the solar system, theater for student presentations of their research and talks by local professionals, astronomical observatory and a 26-foot-diameter domed planetarium.
If you've not seen it, American Sentinel University has done a lot of marketing for its GIS degrees. The latest press release focuses on geospatial applications for agriculture. Of note is a section titled "Other GIS Software." It discusses non-Esri software for that industry.
Leeds will have a total of 25 solar powered, backlit static maps by May, with 10 more planned for 2013 installation.
The goal: make it easier for people to find their way at night.
- BBC
Communia has a two part interview with Esri director of policy, Governor Jim Geringer discussing his his perspective on the future of geospatial. Part I, Part 2
- Communia
Chris Olsen works in tech support at Esri. He put together an website to work out some tech support issues. Now he's famous for putting together a popular historical map set for Pittsburgh. It's called "Pittsburgh Mapping and Historical Site Viewer."
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives today unanimously approved legislation authored by Rep. Bryan Cutler (R-Peach Bottom) to create a State Geospatial Coordinating Council to assist the governor in creating uniform data standards and efficient geospatial policy and technology in Pennsylvania.
- Cutler website via @mappsorg
Russia charged a reserve colonel with espionage on Tuesday for selling what officials said were classified topographical maps to the Pentagon.
- NY Times
This is not complete, but gives some flavor and highlights of what unfolded at the Esri Developer Summit last week in Palm Springs.
Harrisburg University student Steve Cline is using a balloon to capture imagery of a local island. The big issue in using these kits: helium shortage. Maybe it's time for kites!
A new Kindle book (the authors refer to it as a manual) titled Gaining Competency With GIS: How-to Manual for ArcGIS Desktop Version 10 [Kindle Edition] offers help in gaining competency with ArcGIS. It references the ArcGIS 10 docs and I gather provides step by step instructions for tools and extensions. It claims to be based on the Geospatial Technology Competency Model (GTCM) but refers to the that document as "Geotechnical Competency Model" throughout. I wonder if that editing error is in part related to an English class cited in the acknowledgements.
via URISA Digest
Students with the Paragould High School EAST Lab Program [AR] are using their computer knowledge to help Paragould Police monitor sex offenders living in the city limits.
"They are updating our sex offender zoning map," said Captain Greg Trout with PPD.
- KAIT
The University of Redlands has received a $75,000 grant from the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to develop a Spatial Decision Support (SDS) system that calculates and maps the potential impacts of energy projects on wildlife.
