Danielle Feoranzo, a student at Westwood Regional High School in the Township of Washington, recently earned her Girl Scout Gold Award by painting a map of the United States on the playground at the Jessie F. George Elementary School.
I've read lots of stories about maps being painted on playgrounds. What I like about this one is explained by the school pricipal:
"She facilitated a lesson for our fourth grade students that focused on the United States. Using the map, the students were able to move about the country while showcasing the content knowledge. It was a great experience for our students and a gift from Danielle that will last for many years to come."
- NorthJersey.com
A Clarkson University research team, led by Mechanical & Aeronautical Engineering Professors Pier Marzocca, Suresh Dhaniyala and Lin Tian, is readying its unmanned aerial vehicle, the Clarkson RAVEN (Research Aerial Vehicle for Experimental Needs), to acquire wind turbulence data.
- press release
The University of Redlands is pleased to announce the third cohort of faculty LENS (LEarNing Spatially) Fellows. Led by Dr. Diana Sinton, director of Spatial Curriculum and Research, LENS is a campus-wide initiative that promotes spatial literacy as a foundational component in curriculum, programs, and research. In the coming year, the LENS Fellows will work on curricular ideas around the theme of “Mapping Communities.”
The four university faculty members from different departments will participate in a summer institute on campus.
- press release
Fort Lee plans to become the first school system in the nation to use the MapEverywhere software, which provides detailed campus floor plans to emergency responders via a smart phone application that does not rely on Internet or Wi-Fi connections, officials said.
Maps of each school and information about explosive chemicals and potentially dangerous electrical wirings will be available on an application that police and other authorized personnel can upload during a hostage, fire or other crisis.
I don't like the idea that it must be downloaded WHEN an incident is found. Cost: $495/month.
- NorthJersey.com
Some advice from Brian Timoney to stduents:
by Adena Schutzberg on 02/08 at 03:00 AM |
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Google announced a Public Alerts page on Jan 25. The idea is to keep you informed of emergency alerts for floods, tornadoes, winter storms, and other dangers that may be headed your way. But, it's completely query driven, not location-based in this first attempt. Google is seeking feedback. Mano Marks noted on Twitter he'd worked on this project in the past.
- Google Blog
MapQuest launched an HTML5 client.
- press release
Adam Sadilek of the University of Rochester has developed a tool to predict one's location based on friend's locations known through Twitter. How well? It can locate you to within 100 meters with up to 85% accuracy.
"You can actually infer a lot of things about people, even though they are pretty careful about how they manage their online behaviour," he reports.
- New Scientist
by Adena Schutzberg on 01/26 at 05:30 AM |
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I attended a briefing yesterday by the mayor of Huntsville, Alabama, Tommy Battle. Mayor Battle instituted an initiative about one year ago called CyberHuntsville. The objective was to utilize the talent pool in the area that was dedicated to national defense and make certain that any loss of defense spending in the area might be mitigated by advancing a new program in cybersecurity.
Little did the mayor know that his initiative would prove prescient on April 27, 2011 when the largest tornado swarm in the history of the state would focus on north Alabama between Tuscaloosa and Huntsville. On that day two EF-5 tornadoes, and twenty-five tornados in total, touched down with a destructive force that killed 250 people.
The result would be a dress rehearsal for a cyber attack. Why? As the mayor explained, the resulting scenario mimicked a cybersecurity meltdown: First, the community lost power followed shortly by a loss of communications and then a loss of the financial system. The city and its ability to respond to the disaster was brought to its knees.
In either situation, cyber attack or natural disaster, location technology is core to the ability to respond and mitigate the crisis. But a breakdown in our ability to identify the location of the attack, deploy first responders, and plan for recovery efforts hinges on our ability to determine where to prioritize our efforts. As geospatial professionals we must be aware of this kind of scenario or suffer the consequences of being unable to support our fellow citizens in the time of need.
During our Rocket City Geospatial Conference this November, we will address both cybersecurity and the events of April 27th.
by Joe Francica on 08/18 at 07:20 AM |
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There is more and more news about Next Generation 9-1-1 coming out and yesterday FCC chairman Julius Genachowski announced a five-step plan with a first step being focused on "automatic location accuracy mechanisms." In addition, NG 9-1-1 is integrating multimedia communication (text, video, photos) so you can actually "show" the dispatcher that your house is on fire. Collaboration on NG 9-1-1 implementation between public and private entities is beginning to take shape such as a project undertaken by the University of Maryland and TeleCommunications Systems, Inc. for standards development.
I would suggest that if you want to keep up-to-date on action related to NG 9-1-1 that you may want to bookmark our news on public safety.
by Joe Francica on 08/11 at 02:10 PM |
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