There are many innovative and interesting people in the list of 15 people in the 2012 class of Emerging Explorers (11 men, 4 women for those counting). Each receives a $10,000 grant from National Geographic. I was happy to recognize two names with which I've become very familiar.
Patrick Meier (Ph.D.) pioneers the lifesaving new field of crisis mapping and makes it available, accessible and free to humanitarian organizations and volunteers across the globe. As director of crisis mapping at the nonprofit technology company Ushahidi and co-founder of the Standby Volunteer Task Force (SBTF), he is helping revolutionize the effectiveness of relief efforts worldwide. He is bringing the worlds of technology and humanitarian response together for the first time, connecting social media and satellite imagery with the U.N., U.S. Marines and Coast Guard, World Health Organization, Amnesty International and other groups that can mobilize help when the worst crises hit. When crises occur, the SBTF gathers messages, photos, video, and high-resolution satellite imagery and integrates them on a live Ushahidi map, reflecting what is happening, what is most urgently needed and precisely where. The global network has mobilized aid response in Haiti, Japan, Libya and many other countries.
Guerrilla geographer Daniel Raven-Ellison brings the spirit of adventure to geographic education, allowing people to see the world — and the field of geography — in new and surprising ways. Guerrilla geography challenges people, especially children, to explore the world around them, engaging in creative play, making new discoveries and forming community connections. Through technologies that allow users to share their experiences digitally, guerrilla geography not only educates but also inspires young people to explore their world in ways that stretch their minds and bodies, and motivates them to educate others and take action in their own communities. His Urban Earth films demonstrate guerrilla geography in action. He has walked across 13 cities, taking photographs every eights steps and editing them to create films to reveal new perspectives on how to experience cities. His program/website, Mission:Explore, and a series of award-winning kids' books of the same name encourage youth to go on adventures to learn about the world.
Amber Case (Geoloqi) is in the list too, but I'm still learning who she is and what she does.
- press release
- website
by Adena Schutzberg on 05/15 at 12:12 PM |
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Ushahidi: Frameworks for Effective Platform Management is a four-week, online course from TechChange, running this summer from June 4th – 29th.
What has us most excited about this course is our approach toward one the highest-profile and most utilized programs in the current generation of ICT4D tools. Working closely with Patrick Meier, Ushahidi’s Director of Crisis Mapping and Strategic Partnerships, and Heather Leson, Director of Community Engagement, we’ve developed a syllabus that focuses both on building confidence in using the Ushahidi platform as well as putting equal attention on essential logistical issues like building trust networks, bolstering security and privacy, and generating effective, actionable data.
Fee: $395
- TechChange Blog via This Week in NSGIC
California high school students gathered in Shingletown for the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference In Woods Day, a companion event to GIS/GPS Map It Day, both sponsored by Sierra Pacific Industries, a timber company. The idea was to make students aware of carreers in forestry and geospatial technologies. The geo focused event included data collection and mapping.
According to [Anderson High teacher Carol] Perea, students who attended the mapping day went to Shasta College the following day and created maps based off the coordinates they had gathered using a software program called ARC.
Because ARC is similar to Adobe’s Photoshop program, students with a background in Photoshop picked up ARC quickly and now have a usable life skill, said Perea.
I'm not sure if the reference is to ArcGIS or something else, but a "useable life skill" in one day is a good return on investment!
- Anderson Valley Post
The GeoTech Center has announced the finalists for this year's Skill Competition. They will present their projects at the Esri Ed UC Sunday July 22.
The top six finalists (listed alphabetically by first name) are:
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Amy Atz from Gainesville State College
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Bill Vosti from San Diego Mesa Community College
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Cassie Tamblyn from Gainesville State College
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Joshua Nolan from Gainesville State College
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Laurance Armour from Central New Mexico Community College
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Theresa Stinchfield from American River College
- GeoTech Center Blog
by Adena Schutzberg on 05/15 at 04:39 AM |
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Rwanda Development Board (RDB) in partnership with Google, yesterday, commenced the mapping exercise where all tourism attractions in the country will feature on the web.
The two-day event dubbed, Rwanda Tourism MapUp, started with the team's road trip from Kigali where key touristic features were mapped and continued to Musanze and Rubavu districts whose attractions were also added to the Google map list.
About 40 people including GIS professionals helped with the mapping which will be redone annually to insure locations are correct.
- All Africa
The Initiative for Solidarity with Arrested Students released the "Map of Unnamed Students". With this project, the initiative wants to create awareness for judicial and administrative rights violations encountered by students and to make these violations visible. The map also aims at keeping track of the situations of the arrested students.
The idea is to add other incidents to the map and get more information on the known ones.The effort focuses on Turkey and uses CrowdMap.
- Bianet.org
UBC Okanagan and the Central Okanagan Food Policy Council have put together a set of food discussion maps for the Central Okanagan area of British Columbia, Canada. Discussions are "pinned" to their locations and live on four different maps.
Food Experiences: Participants are asked to "Describe your experiences with food on the UBCO campus and in Kelowna."
Food Access: Food stores, food services and other food locations used to explore the question, "Is there food everywhere?"
Agricultural Land: Understanding the agricultural land reserve (ALR).
Community Food: Mapping community gardens, food banks and soup kitchens to discuss the question, "Is there food for everyone?"
The maps are Google-based and at least one class at UBC, Geography 491, was involved.
- press release via @gletham
WWF is asking supporters to identify places that carry or sell paper products made from Sumatran rain forest timber, and then note the location and take pictures using MapHook. Supporters can post a “hook” with their photos on http://www.worldwildlife.org/sites/tigers/toiletpaper-map.html . This site also has information about the paper campaign along with details on how to get started.
The goal is protection of the Sumatran habitat for tigers and other animals.
- press release
by Adena Schutzberg on 03/28 at 04:42 AM |
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OpenGeo Released verison 2.4.5 of the OpenGeo Suite.
- OpenGeo Blog
Ushahidi is now at release 2.2. The group is moving to a monthly release.
- Ushahidi Blog
Want to see the code analysis for GRASS for this month? Who committed most? What languages are used most? What licenses are used most?
- Ohloh
OSGeo announced the release of Proj 4.8.
- OSGeo
by Adena Schutzberg on 03/15 at 05:53 AM |
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Transparency International – Malaysia (TI-M) aims to enlist 1,000 committed volunteers this year to help monitor the forests in the country.
“Anybody can join our Forest Watch Project and become a forest ranger,” said TI-M Forest Governance Integrity Programme project manager Victor Soosai at a conference at Grand Dorsett Hotel last Thursday.
He said members of the public can sign up to be a volunteer via the Forest Watch Project website (http://www.timalaysia-forestwatch.org.my).
Launched on Feb 1, the website enables the public to report illegal deforestation using Google Earth’s real-time satellite imagery and aerial photography.
Of course the imagery is not real time, but the crowdsourced effort is already underway in other countries including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, China and the Solomon Islands
- Selangor Times
Using the power of social-networking BomgoHive Zambia is using the on-line mapping platform Ushahidi to build up an accurate picture of the fast-growing network of technology innovation and entrepreneurship centres across the continent of Africa.
BongoHive have created a dynamic, user-generated, on-line map which is revealing just how many tech business incubation hubs have been set up around the continent.
- press release
Grindr, the social network for the LGBT crowd, has luanched a new effort centered around social justice.
Grindr for Equality is requesting ongoing submissions and information pertaining to the GLBT community where users live. Individuals and like-minded groups are encouraged to send an email with basic contact information and a brief description of how the issue relates to the GLBT community and how Grindr for Equality could provide assistance. Submissions can be sent via email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or those interested can visit www.grindr4equality.com for additional information.
- Just Means
by Adena Schutzberg on 03/02 at 06:28 AM |
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