Visualizing Slavery

There is an interesting article in the NY Times (Dec. 6, 2010) about a map which shows a distribution of the slave population of the southern states of the United States. It was complied from the census of 1860 drawn by E. Hergesheimer.

Read more about it including the map at:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/09/visualizing-slavery

The map is also retrievable from the online map collections at the Library of Congress:http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3861e.cw0013200

Please join us as we celebrate GIS Day 2010@Mason. The libraries' open house event is 11-2 on Wednesday, Nov. 17 in Fenwick. we will share our work that have done this year: Web Mashup using Google Maps API for Folklore Stories, which is the outcome of a recent collaborative humanities project. In addition to this demo, we will have refreshments, prizes for quizzes, and more. There is also other exciting programs scheduled at Center for the Arts. Please visit our website, http://infoguides.gmu.edu/gisday for more information.

The New York City Roach Map

See this map and its related article.

Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval Civilization (DARMC)

Do you want to generate maps of Roman road networks, bridges, and the cities and settlements of the Roman Empire; want to generate the rise and fall of the main kingdoms of medieval Europe?

The DARMC allows innovative and temporal analyses of all aspects of the civilization of Western Eurasia in the first 1500 years of our era. It's still a work in progress but it will be useful for history or any interdisciplinary subject areas.

For more information on the DARMC, visit the site here:
http://darmc.harvard.edu

Fall 2010 GIS@Fenwick Workshops

Our popular hands-on GIS workshops resume for the fall semester. It will be in GIS room in Fenwick Library, 1st floor. Please see the schedules and register one or two sessions at IT training workshops.
If you have questions, please call, 703-993-2238.

The workshop covers: creating a basic map, joining statistical data to a GIS database, Geocoding, 3D model, Google Maps mashup, and more (See the tutorials),

Hope to see many of you there.

Library's New Database Acquisition: Simplymap.

Simplymap:a web-based mapping application that enables you to quickly create professional-qualitythematic maps and reports using powerful demographic, business, and marketing data. Can download shape files. Contains both Simmons and MRI Consumer Survey Data [Users must register ("Create Personal Workspace") to use SimplyMap]
Available through the Libraries' Database Resources: http://furbo.gmu.edu/dbwiz/alpha.php?start=s
See also the Infoguide on this product for more information.

BP Oil Spil Resources: Maps and Mashups.

Cyberinfrastructure Summer Institute in San Diego

GEON will hold a week-long Cyberinfrastructure Summer Institute for Geoscientists (CSIG) from August 9-13, 2010 at the University of California, San Diego. This year’s program featured two tracks:

1. Overview of the technologies utilized to develop earth science cyberinfrastructure.
2. Utilization of cyberinfrastructure-based data systems and tools can be used in geoscience education and research.

Forty-two participants took part in the 2009 CSIG representing academia, private industry, and several agencies. As in the past, students traveled from countries such as Mexico, Ireland, and New Zealand to attend.

Online applications are now being accepted. Application deadline is June 6, 2010.

Key Links:
Tentative Program Info
Application
Location & Lodging
Previous Years

About GEON: The goal in GEON is to develop a set of software services that can respond to a “natural” request from users. Integrating a variety of multi-dimensional data in response to such a request requires a common framework. GEON is developing the OpenEarth Framework (OEF) to facilitate such integration. More information here.

The CSIG is made possible through funding provided by the National Science Foundation.

Historical Mapping App from the Library of Scotland

The National Library of Scotland has just launched a new historical mapping application that allows anyone to include selected historical geo-referenced maps of Great Britain on their own websites. Sets of Ordnance Survey maps relating to Scotland, England and Wales, dating from the 1920s to 1940s, have been seamed together and geo-referenced, then specially prepared for use in external websites.

The maps have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence, allowing free use and adaptation of the mapping, provided it is properly attributed. We've embedded the map below; visit the link above for info on how to display, embed, or otherwise make use of these maps.

Two Calls for Papers

The International Cartographic Association (ICA) and the International Journal of Geographic Information Science (IJGIS) have each issued a call for papers.

The ICA is hosting a Workshop on Advances in Sensors and Algorithms for Topographic and Thematic Mapping (link), and seeks papers on a wide array of topics related to mapping and remote sensing. More information on submissions is available here.

For a planned special issue on data-intensive geospatial computing, the International Journal of Geographic Information Science seeks original, unpublished papers that describe efforts and advances related to the special issue topic, with particular applications to environment and urban systems. More information is available here.

Geospatial Computing Conference in Bethesda

The 1st Annual Conference on Computing for Geospatial Research and Application, dubbed the "Com.Geo Conference," will be held on June 21-23 at One Bethesda Metro Center in Bethesda, MD, an easy trip on the Red line.

The Com.Geo conference seeks to bring together scientists, researchers, engineers, software developers, decision makers, corporate managers, CTOs, CIOs, and IT administrators all over the world to share information and idea on innovative geospatial research and application technologies. The programs includes the following sessions and events:

• 3 days of Full or Short Papers, Courses, Panels/Panels+, Invited Sessions, Workshops, and Tech Talks/Posters
• 3 days of Free iExhibit demo show and Demo Talks
• Multiple networking events (Job Fair, Brainstorm Corner, Banquets/Receptions, etc.)
• Free special programs for attendee family members (Free iExhibit, etc.)

Keynote speakers include representatives from Microsoft, Oracle, MIT, Purdue, Open Geospatial Consortium, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The discount for early registration ends May 20; there is also a waitlist students can join if they're interested in volunteering.

Direct links to:
Conference Web site
Conference Program
Accepted Papers
Keynote Speakers
Venue
Registration

Oil Spill Resources

Here are a pair of useful resources related to the major Gulf of Mexico oil spill that's been dominating headlines over the past week.

First, ESRI has quickly put together an interactive mapping tool that allows users to upload photos, video, and other information. Here's a screenshot of the basic interface:


Second, librarians at the University of South Alabama have put together an extensive list of federal, state, local, and other sites that are relaying news and information on the spill and ongoing efforts to cope with it. It's a very useful reference source.

Indiemapper Mapping Tool

Here's a useful new online tool to play with: Indiemapper. It's a new low-cost ($30 per month) online mapping tool that aims to simplify the data mapping process significantly.

Nathan Yau of the excellent Flowing Data blog has written a good review accessible here. Yau writes:

While there are a lot of free options available, none come to mind that work as well as indiemapper, as far as fully customizable maps go. So it's an in between the no-cost and high-cost GIS tools. Info designers who want to include maps in their graphics will probably find indiemapper especially useful. CSV import will also be a huge plus if they can work that in.

Traffic Visualizations

A fun post from the Flowing Data blog:

Traffic visualizations, mostly in the form of geographic maps, have been popular lately. Governments and organizations have been releasing lots of GPS data, and as a result, we get to see some impressive animations and explore some slick interactives.

We don't often get to see how cars, trains, subways, airplanes, etc move in physical space, because, well, we're usually in them, so it's always interesting to see the big picture. The activity feels very organic as traffic peaks during rush hours and slows down during the night, taxis provide service to and from the airport, and air traffic continues into the late hours. The maps pulsate with energy.

The images are quite compelling. One example below; more here.

Video Tutoral: Working with Census Data in GIS

Mason Libaries Government Document unit has recently developed a video tutorial on how to work with Census Data and ArcGIS. A basic, five part of this tutorial contains
1. Acquiring Data
2. Working in Excel
3. Converting With Access
4. Mapping with ArcGIS
5. Presenting Data

See the website at
**http://library.gmu.edu/education/students/tutorials.html

**http://infoguides.gmu.edu/content.php?pid=11647&sid=736431


Any comments and suggestions are welcome to improve it better. I also hope you can integrate this into your classroom environment.

GIS & Sustainable Development Conference in Tunisia

The Fifth Session of the International Conference Geotunis 2010

The Tunisian Association of Digital Geographic Information is organizing the fifth session of the International Conference Geotunis 2010, in cooperation with several scientific institutions and companies related to GIS and remote sensing. The conference, which will run from November 29 to December 3, 2010, will focus on the use of GIS and remote sensing in achieving sustainable development. Participation is open to all those who are involved in GIS, remote sensing and related sciences.

Links
* For further background: www.geotunis.org.
* To present a working paper: Paper Registration.
* To participate in the Geotechnologic Fair: Fair Registration

You can also contact the organizing association at:
atigeo_num [at] yahoo [dot] fr

Tunisian Association of Digital Geographic Information
25 Avenue Habib Bourguiba 1001 Tunis Tunisia
Tel : (00216) 71 256 068
Fax: (00216) 71 255 881
www.atign.org.tn

2010 ACM Call for Papers and Workshop Proposals

The 18th ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) SIGSPATIAL International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information System 2010.

Conference Date: November 2-5, 2010
LOCATION: San Jose, CA, USA.

Submission Deadline for papers: June 24, 2010
Submission Deadline for Workshops: May 15, 2010

See for more in details: http://acmgis2010.cs.ucsb.edu

Selected papers and workshops will be published in the conference proceeding and appear in the ACM Digital Library.

Suggested topics include but are not limited to: Cartography and Geodesy, computational Geometry, Earth Observation, Geographic Information Retrieval, Location Privacy, Data Sharing and Security, Photogrammetry, Spatial Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, and more.

US ZIPScribble Map

Here's a fun project from Robert Kosara, a computer science professor from UNC Charlotte and the author of the Eager Eyes blog. Professor Kosara writes:

What would happen if you were to connect all the ZIP codes in the US in ascending order? Is there a system behind the assignment of ZIP codes? Are they organized in a grid? The result is surprising and much more interesting than expected.

The result of this endeavor is what he calls the ZIPScribble map (he adds that it was inspired by another fun project called "zipdecode," available here). The initial black-and-white version is below; click through to Eager Eyes and see the full color results.

New Online Food Atlas

USDA's newest web-based mapping tool, "Your Food Environment Atlas," provides highly detailed information on local food environments adn health outcome, including grocery store access and diseas and obesity prevalence. See the site at http://www.ers.usda.gov/foodatlas.

See the full press release for more.

New Geospatial Data Products from NASS.

National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released the new satellite images depicting agricultural land cover across most of the nation for the 2009 crop year. For the first time, these images are available for 47 of the 49 contiguous states except Florida. Digital data layers are suitable for use in GIS applications. See the entire inventory of CDL products including metadata and accuracy assessments:
http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov .

1979 California Water Atlas now Online

The Landmark 1979 California Water Atlas is now online at the David Rumsey Map Collection, for free use and download.

See more about it at
http://www.davidrumsey.com/blogs/2/2010/1/21/landmark-1979-california-water-atlas-debuts-online (source: maps-l)

Call for Papers: International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research (IJAGR)

For Speical Issue: Applied historical GIS and related work.

Submission Deadline: July 1, 2010.

See more in detail at http://www.georesearchdata.com/announce/cfpijagrhgis.html

The Geography of Recession

This is an interesting recession map displayed at: http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html