Date archive for November, 2009
| November 29, 2009 Essay on Why We Need to Improve Geographic LiteracyGeographyOne of the top blogs out there focusing on geography as a discipline is Geographic Travels with Catholicgauze. Patrick Abbott,who runs that blog, has an essay on KansasCity.com in their “As I see it” section entitled “Why we need to improve geographic literacy“. In the essay, Abbott argues that the media’s portrayal of geography has ... read more November 28, 2009 Accidental GeographyMapsAre you suffering from cartocacoethes? If so, then the Accidental Geography posts from Strange Maps is for you. Strange Map defines cartocacoethes as “the uncontrollable urge to see maps in everyday, non-cartography-related objects.” The term was originally detailed on John Krygier’s Making Maps blog. Strange Maps has two posts representing a collection of real-life objects ... read more November 26, 2009 What is the Floor for GPS Prices?GPSPrices for GPS navigation devices are set to drop even lower on Black Friday with units for a Tom Tom model debuting at $59 at Wal-Mart and $99 for a Garmin model at Best Buy. With many cars now stocked with navigation devices and an increasing segment of the market using their smartphones, competition by ... read more November 25, 2009 Waze Adds Road Goodies and PrizesGPS, Location Based ServicesWaze, which relies on crowdsourcing to build its traffic and road navigation data, has started a ‘Holiday High Points Challenge’ to encourage users to drive in areas where map problems have been identified. Like the game PacMan, drivers can “eat up” presents, hammers and cherries for points as they drive around certain areas. The top ... read more Navigation by Google for the Rest of the WorldGPS, Location Based ServicesGoogle firmly set its foot into the navigation world when it announced free Google Maps Navigation for the Android 2.0 at the end of October. The device is only available for the United States and only on select phones. Forbes takes a look at the supposed relationship Google is working on with Automotive Navigation Data, ... read more November 24, 2009 Thanksgiving Census Facts & FiguresGeographyIn the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims, early settlers of Plymouth Colony, held a three-day feast to celebrate a bountiful harvest, an event many regard as the nations first Thanksgiving. Historians have also recorded ceremonies of thanks among other groups of European settlers in North America, including British colonists in Virginia in 1619. The legacy ... read more November 23, 2009 Social Gaming with Google MapsInternet MappingThere have been a few social gaming sites built on top of Google Maps that have come to my attention lately. Last week I posted about BattleCell, a game inspired by Risk and Starcraft where the world is divided up into 55 million cells. The objective is to capture as many neighboring cells next to ... read more November 21, 2009 Essential Skills for a GIS AnalystCareerWhat skills do you need to be a successful GIS Analyst? Michalis Avraam put together the results of a discussion at the University of Washington that posed the question, “What are the essential skills to succeed as a GIS Analyst?” Avraam breaks down the critical skills into categories: general GIS, database management, programming, project management ... read more November 19, 2009 Rounding Out Geography Awareness WeekCommunityEven if you missed yesterday’s celebration of GIS Day, you still have two more days to participate in Geography Awareness week. The My Wonderful World Blog has a “Top 10 Ways to Celebrate Geography Awareness Week” post. Check out the list and find some ways to join in on the geo-fun. Visit the Fun with ... read more November 18, 2009 Geo-VolunteerismCommunity, DataThe New York Times is the latest publication to profile the various crowdsourcing efforts to collect geographic data: From Petaluma to Peshawar, these amateurs are arming themselves with GPS devices and easy-to-use software to create digital maps where none were available before, or fixing mistakes and adding information to existing ones. Like contributors to Wikipedia before them, they ... read more |
