U.S. Census Data for Katrina Relief

CIESIN has provided wonderful maps and data showing the pre-disaster characteristics of the populations that have been mostly affected by Hurricane Katrina and Rita: http://beta.sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/katrina2005.html
The data are derived from the Census block level and can be very useful for the GIS community.

2005 GIS Day Coming Wednesday, Nov. 16.

Please mark your calender for this year's GIS events at Mason!
On Nov. 16 (Wednesday),

Event: GIS Day Open House: Fenwick Library
(short presentations about GIS Applications and Hands-on Exercises)
Time: 11:00 a.m-2:00 p.m.
Location: GIS Room, Government Documents/Map unit, 1st Floor (Wing C), Fenwick Library

Event:GIS Demos and Displays
Time: 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
Location: Johnson Center Kiosk "H"

Event: Build Your Own 3D World
Time: 1:00 p.m-4:00 p.m
Location: Innovation Hall, Room 320

Event: GIS Project Demonstrations
Time: 4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.
Location: GIS Center of Exellence (4260 Chain Bridge Rd, Fairfax)

On Nov. 17 (Thursday)

Event: Presentations: "GIS in Our Life"
Time: 12:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
Location: Johnson Center Cinema

Please come view posters and demos of GIS applications and other projects on campus. All events (except Innovation Hall) provide light refreshments and door prizes. This is a good chance to develop your own skills in digital mapping!

Online Soil Maps Available...

for most US counties at http://soils.usda.gov/survey. Please check it out to access and analyze national soil data.

GIS Gateway Site...

GISuser (Geospatial Information System User) is a comprehensive, current, and information-rich resource for the GIS, mapping, GPS, geopositioning, and geospatial technology user. Need GIS news, tutorials, software reviews, GIS job listings, RFPs, webmaps, free tools, community discussion, newsletters, data, or other goodies, take a look at this site: http://www.gisuser.com/

Hurricane History

NOAA has posted a timely site -- "Continental United States Landfalling Hurricanes 1950-2004" at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gifs/hur5005.jpg

Deadly Arsenals: Weapons Maps Now Online

The complete collection of maps from the Carnegie Endowments' "Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Threats" is available at: http://www.carnegieendowment.org/static/npp/deadlymaps.cfm

GIS@Fenwick Workshops!

The world's at your fingertips! Come and learn more about it at a GIS@Fenwick workshop. Staff provides:
An overview of GIS, Hands-on Experience using ArcView and ArcGIS, and
Libraries@ Mason GIS resources and data collection.
It is open to the entire Mason community

Time: Every Wednesday 3:00-4:30 pm
Every Friday 10:00-11:30 am
September 7-November 11

Location: GIS Room, Government Documents, Fenwick Library.
If you have any questions, please contact Joy Suh at hsuh1@gmu.edu (3-2238).

New Database: Sanborn Maps (Digital Sanborn Maps)

Access to Sanborn maps is now available through the Library Database wizard. The maps provide detailed information about street blocks, building materials, and utilities, etc. in cities and towns of the states of DE, DC, MD, and VA ranged from 1867 to 1970. They were originally created for the purpose of assessing risk of fire and cost of insurance. You can find the maps very useful for studies in the growth of cities and towns during the first half of the 20th Century.

MSN Virtual Earth

Microsoft Inc announced a new product, MSN Virtual Earth, against Google Maps. It will be launched in this Summer. See the article at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1819155,00.asp

ArcIMS is Available!

For those who want to produce web-based interactive mapping: you can do this in Fenwick Library. We have installed ArcIMS software on our GIS workstations. Please check it out in Fenwick Library, Government Documents/Map Unit.

Maps & Geographic Information Collections in Transition

The recent two day conference on maps and geographic information in transition in D.C. was a hugh success. We all learned from each other by sharing information and experiences. Please take a look at Dr. Onsrud's licensing geographic data and services and Dr. Goodchild's future directions for Geolibraries. There were more sucessful stories of Harvard Geospatial Library and Inside Idaho projects. See abstracts of presentations at http://cuac.wustl.edu/AbstractsforPresentations.htm
Power Point Presentations at http://www.cuac.wustl.edu/newPage.htm

Landscan: Worldwide Population Data Sources

If you are looking for detailed population data outside the U.S., then please visit Landscan Global Population Database. Developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the data is licensed but available online free for U.S. Federal Government users and for educational research. The latest product is 2003. Please check it out.

New Collection-ESRI Data and Maps and Street USA DVDs (2004)

The DVDs contain all of the Data & Maps vector and image data to make maps around the World, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and USA. In addition, the StreetMap USA data provides nationwide street display, routing, and geocoding for the United States. The collection provides you with new ways to present your information using ArcGIS software. Please check it out in Fenwick Library, Government Documents/Map unit.

NEW: Govdocs blog at Mason

I have created a govdocs blog to disseminate up-to-date news on government information. Please check it out to see articles on Google's activity on satellite maps; a new feature about Population Finder through American Factfinder, and much more.

NGA: Proposal to Remove Aeronautical Information

Another document may be disappearing from the federal depository libraries. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) intends to remove its Flight Information Publications (FLIP),Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File (DAFIF), and related aeronautical safety of navigation digital and hardcopy publications from public sale and distribution. For more information, please visit:

http://www.nga.mil/NGASiteContent/StaticFiles/OCR/nga0411.pdf or

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2004/04-25631.htm