Date archive for December, 2007
December 31, 2007Geography of BlissGeographyWhat makes different people in different countries happy? Eric Weiner takes on this task in his travelogue ”The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World.” As Eric Weiner explains in the opening of his book, he took off on a world journey to, ”I hoped, find some happiness along the way. ... read more December 19, 2007Annual Geography QuizGeographyEach year, the San Francisco Chroncile puts out a Geo Quiz. The quiz doesn’t test you on rote geography, no naming of capitals (well, maybe one question) are on the list of questions. The quiz is hard but fun and asks such off the wall questions as which international airport is named after a nun, what two ... read more December 17, 2007Father of GISSpatial AnalysisCanada’s Globe and Mail profiles Roger Tomlinson and the birth of GIS in Canada. The article quotes Tomlinson, “The early days of GIS were very lonely. No-one knew what it meant. My work has certainly been missionary work of the hardest kind.” The article reviews Tomlinson’s early efforts collaborating with Lee Pratt, head of the Canada ... read more Why Is There So Little Geospatial Analysis?Issues in GISJeff Thurston and Matt Ball both tackle this question on their respective blogs over on the Vector 1 site. Jeff Thurston contends that there is abundant geospatial analysis but that the definition of what constitutes analysis varies among GIS professionals. Matt Ball looks at the work load of GIS professionals and their time contraints in ... read more Can Posh and Becks Make Geography Interesting?GeographyThe Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in the United Kingdom certainly thinks so. Charged with developing the National Curriculum, the governing body is urging teachers of grade level students to “use music, films and soaps as an accessible, contemporary and different source of geographical information.” Examples provided on the web site to make geography lessons more ... read more December 16, 2007Which GPS?GPSDavid Pogue, the technology columnist for the New York times, has reviewed five GPS units that meet his three requirements: portable and tiny, able to display live traffic data, and voice annunciation that includes actual street names. The GPS units reviewed are: Cobra Nav One 4500 Harman Kardon Guide + Play GPS 810 Magellan Maestro ... read more December 13, 2007Vita è bella Not So For ItaliansGeographyA study by Italian economist, Luisa Corrado, found Italians to be the least happiest of 15 Western European nations (Denmark was ranked the happiest ). An article in the New York Times details the decline of the Italian way of life. Eleven percent of Italians live in poverty and 15% have trouble making their salaries ... read more UPS Mostly RightFeaturesSomething you don’t see very often is a UPS truck trying to make a left hand turn. The New York Times Sunday Magazine pointed out that by avoiding left hand turns where reasonable, UPS “shaved 28.5 million miles off its delivery routes, which has resulted in savings of roughly three million gallons of gas and ... read more  Neighborhood PostersMapsThe way different artists view their environments is always fascinating. ORK Posters was started by Jenny Beorkrem, a graphic designer who was looking for a neighborhood Chicago poster but couldn’t find any that appealed to her. Using a modern typesetting, ORK Posters visualize neighborhoods in Chicago, Brooklyn, Manhattan, San Francisco and Boston through the use ... read more December 12, 2007Raster TutorialsLearning GISListed here are resources for working with raster data. Learn how to work with digital elevation models (DEM) and other raster GIS data in order to preform spatial analysis. Resources are organized by software application. read more... |
