Historic Aerial Photography of Florida.

University of Florida releases Online Aerial Photography: Flordia collection that includes 1971-1990. It will be a wonderful resource for those who want to trace urbanization in Miami and much more.

Please take a look at: http://ufdc.ufl.edu/aerials.

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

A New Generation of USGS Maps

USGS announced a new series of digital topographic maps, called US TOPO, that will be produced a 3-year cycle for the entire U.S. For more information, see at http://www.doi.gov/news/09_News_Releases/120309.html.

The USGS also released a new National Map Viewer for viewing and access to the data layers and the US Topo Products produced by the USGS. See the Map viewer at http://nationalmap.gov/viewers.html.
(source: maps-l).

Photos of GIS Day 2009 @ Fenwick Library

I hope you enjoy these pictures. Thanks for coming to our 7th GIS Day Open House Event.

Come to GIS Day @ Mason: November 18

Please join us as Mason celebrates this year's GIS Day, Nov. 18, 2009! You can view specific presentations and the event schedule for GIS Day @ Mason at http://infoguides.gmu.edu/gisday.

Speakers will include faculty from Mason's Department of Geography and Geoinformation Science (GGS) and others from academia, industry and government. The GIS Center at Fenwick Library will also have an open house and demonstration event, with refreshments, from 11:00am - 3:00pm.

GIS Day is a grassroots international event that encourages GIS users to open their doors to showcase real-world applications of GIS technology. It began in 1999 and has been celebrated by more than 10,000 organizations in over 80 countries. You can follow the official Twitter feed for GIS Day, which shares information about GIS Day events all over the world.

Hope to see many of you Wednesday, November 18!

GEOProcessing 2010: Call for Papers

has been issued. The deadline for submission: October 12, 2009

Conference Date: February 10-15, 2010
Location: St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles.
See the general program at http://www.iaria.org/conferences2010/GEOProcessing10.html.

GIScience 2010: Call for Papers

has been issued for the Sixth International Conference on Geographic Information Science. Fundamental research findings and emerging topics across the all sectors of GIScience are welcomed. See the deadline for submission at http://www.giscience2010.org.

Date: Sept. 14-17, 2010
Location: Zurich, Switzerland

2009 URISA/GIS in Transit Conference

DATE: November 16-18, 2009
Location: St. Petersburg, Florida

See the registration and program information at http://www.urisa.org/gis_transit.

GIS@Fenwick Workshop

resumes starting Sept. 16. Please check the schedule to learn basics of ArcGIS and how to apply this tool to your research.

The 17th International Conference on Geoinformatics

will be held in Fairfax, VA on August 12-14.
The conference check-in/information desk will be open at
Aug. 11, 3:00-9:00 pm, Fairfax Mariott at Fair Oaks Hotel Lobby
Aug. 12, 7:00am-5:40 pm, Johnson Center-Ground Floor
Aug. 13, 8:00am-5:40pm, Johnson Center-Ground Floor
Aug 14, 8:00am-12:00pm, Johnson Center-Ground Floor

Please see the conference Web site at: http://www.geoinformatics2009.org &
the full program at: http://www.geoinformatics2009.org/download/Geo2009_Final_Program.pdf

The Keynote Speakers include Michael Goodchild, John Townshend, Mark Richardt, Zhenka Willis.

Please join this exciting event held locally!!

2009 URISA/NENA Addressing Conference

will be held in Providence, RI on August 4-6. The conference is for GIS professionals, addressing coordinators, and emgergency response specialists. Registration is open now and see more at http://www.urisa.org/conferences/Addressing/Info.

Google Earth Heads to the Moon

NASA and Google Earth just released a new image-set of Moon images via the Google Earth Viewer. Included are:
*Take tours of landing sites
*View 3D models of landed spacecraft
*Zoom into 360 degree photos to see astronauts' footprints
*Watch rare TV footage of the Apollo missions

GeoFRED

is a mapping tool that displays economic indicators (unemployment, labor forces, income, education, etc) on the national, state, county, MSA, and BEA level. Data coverage ranges from mid 1970s to present. It's a handy reference tool at http://geofred.stlouisfed.org/.

Call for Papers, Tutorials, Panels

GEOProcessing 2010: The Second International Conference on Advanced Geographic Information Systems, Applications, and Services.

Submission Deadline: September 10, 2009
Conference Date: February 10-15, St.Maarten, Netherlands Antilles

Selected papers will be published in IARIA Journals: http://www.iariajournals.org
See the Website for more details: http://www.iaria.org/conference2010/GEOProcessing10.html

Topics included are Geo-spatial fundamentals, Geo-spatial Web Services, GIS, Geo-spatial simulation and visualizaton, Geo-modeling, Digital cartography data, Earth Geo-observation, Geo-sensing, Geo-spatial domain applications, and Managing geo-spatial data.

North Korean Economy Watch thru Google Earth

Please take a look at North Korean Economy Watch site if you have not seen it yet. The creator and editor is our own GMU student, Curtis Melvin (a Ph.D student in Economics). The site provides easy access to geographic information on N. Korea's economic issues that have hardly revealed to many of us so far.

"Compiling public maps, interviews, innovative analysis, and elbow grease, the editor of this site has also created the most comprehensive mapping of North Korea that publicly exists today. You can download it onto Google Earth." See a Wall Street Journal article highlighting his work.

Geotube

Geotube, http://geovideos.gliggo.com/ is a new site for collection of Geography videos from YouTube & other online sites. You can add your own favorite Geography videos. Please check it out. (source: maps-l).

Toxmap: Environmental e-health map

Toxmap displays EPA's 2007 TRI (Toxic Release Inventory)data on interactive mode and includes the mapping of superfund sites and other chemical environmental health data. See more about Toxmap at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/toxmap.html. Explore also Toxnet (Toxicology Data Network), a collection of databases for health and environemntal professionals. Source: National Library of Medicine.

Interactive Map showing Immigration...

Please explore this map site to see how a foreign born group settled across the U.S.:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/10/us/20090310-immigration-explorer.html?hp

The 2008 tiger/Line Shapefiles

were posted on the Census Bureau Website. You can download at:
http://www2.census.gov/cgi-bin/shapefiles/national-files. Or ftp them: ftp://ftp2.census.gov/geo/tiger/TIGER2008

My Visited State Map

You can create your own map showing the states that you have visited. See where I have been:
visited 39 states (78%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or try another Douwe Osinga project It's a fun tool.

GIS Day & Geography Awareness Week @Mason

Please join us as Mason celebrates this year GIS Day and Geography Awareness Week, Nov. 17-21. You can view specific presenations and event schedule at http://infoguides.gmu.edu/gisday. On Nov. 19, the GIS center of Fenwick Library will have Open House event from 11:00-2:00. The staff will demonstrate 3-D mapping anaysis using ArcScene and Google Earth/sketch, ArcMap Spatial analysis using RappFlow data, and much more. Hope to see many of you next Wednesday!

2008 Election Cartograms

See some 2008 Election Cartograms: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2008/?map

Mason Archival Repository Service

C. Harrison Mann, Jr. Digitized Map Collection is now searchable so please check it out! This collection compries 96 maps and 18 rare altales ranging from the 16th to 19th centuries and is housed in the Special Collections & Archives dept. The majority of the maps are of Virginia though.

GIS@Fenwick

resumes starting Sept. 10. Please check the workshop schedule to learn basics of GIS and how you can use this tool in your research.

What's New? ---Library's New Infoguide

Welcome to the fall semester, 2008! Please check our new infoguides that replace our existing library subject pages. I have created the infoguides on Geospatial Data and GIS services , geography, maps, and United States Government Publications. These guides offer various scholarly resources and library research techniques for the related subjects. Please take a look at them and give me your feedback. Thanks.

NARA AND USGS for preservation of EROS Data

See more on this, http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/46481-1.html?topic=&CMP=OTC-RSS#
"The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the USGS have signed an agreement to ensure preservation of and access to Earth Imagery and geospatial data currently archived by USGS at its Earth Resources Observation and Science Center in Sioux Falls, SD. The records will remain at the EROS Center under the day-to-day control of USGS..." (source, govdoc-l)

USGS SPOT Images

Are you looking for SPOT Images? The full archive of historical Landsat 7 ETM+ data from the USGS, wherein users pay for on-demand processing to various parameters before , will be free to downloading. See more in detail at
http://landsat.usgs.gov/images/squares/USGS_Landsat_Imagery_Release.pdf

GeoRef and Google Maps

Another Google Project:
Elsevier’s Engineering Village Search Platform Combines The American Geological Institute’s GeoRef Database with Google Maps. See more on this at
http://www.resourceshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/georef.html

Viewing the wetlands layer of NSDI on Google Earth

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maps of the National Wetland Inventory are now available for viewing using Google Earth.

Please visit: http://www.fws.gov/nwi/WetlandsData/GoogleEarth.htm
More information about National Wetland Inventory can be found at:
http://www.fws.gov/nwi/index.html

New Bibliography : Middle East

A comprehensive bibliography on the Middle East: http://www.au.af.mil/au/aul/bibs/middleeast08.htm

Census Atlas of the United States

The U.S. Census Bureau has recently published the first comprehensive Atlas of population and housing since the 1920s. Topics covered in the Atlas range from language and ancestry characteristics to housing patterns and the geographic distribution of the population using data from decennial censuses. See the complete atlas. (Source: Resourceshelf)

GIS workshop @ Fenwick Library

Spring 2008 GIS workshop at Fenwick Library will be resumed on February 20. This drop-in workshop provides basic skills on how to use ArcView and ArcMap and library's data collection. Please see the schedule at http://library.gmu.edu/research/classes.html

2007 GIS Day at Mason

• GMU will celebrate 2007 GIS Day (Nov.14) and National Geography Awareness week.
• See a full schedule of the events at http://library.gmu.edu/resources/govt/gisday2007.htm
This is a good opportunity where GMU GIS users and local GIS experts join together to share how GIS is used in research and community every day. Fenwick Library will host an open house event that includes demonstrations of GIS software and library geospatial data resources. Refreshments will be provided. Please join us as we celebrate this event!!

Library's New Acquisition:

World language Mapping System CD-ROM (G1046. E3 2007. W67) provides comprehensive and up-to-date locations of the world's nearly 7000 ethno-linguistic peoples. It requires ArcGIS software to display and work with the data.
Topo maps-Mid Atlantic CD-ROM (G3790 2002.I 45) provides 7.5 minutes (1:24,000) USGS topographic maps in the DC, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia area. You can search the CD by place name, township, and location. All Topo Maps will convert Lat/Lon and UTM coordinate display and traces distance measurements. Maps can be directly exported to .Tif and .TFW format for use with CAD and GIS applications.

These two CDs are located in the government documents unit in Fenwick Library.

North Carolina Historical Topographic Maps

can be downloaded for free at http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/gis/historictopos.html. "This collection is composed of both georeferenced JPEG 2000 format images and lossless non-georeferenced JPEG 2000 images." (source: maps-l).

TIGER Polygons in KML format

The Department of Geography at the University of Tennessee has recently posted a program, TGR2KML, that will extract US Census Polygons to Google KML format. You can download this program free at http://tnatlas.geog.utk.edu. If you need to use Tiger polygons in Google, this will be very useful...

More Maps available from ReliefWeb

from various UN Agencies and other sources:http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc100?OpenForm
+Africa’s Hunger Crisis
+ Sudan: General Threat Map with the Result of Landmine Impact Survey (LIS)
+ Sri Lanka: Topographic Map
+ Reference Map of Timor-Leste (as of Mar 2007)
+ Reference Map of Central Asia
+ Reference Map of Kosovo Region (as of Mar 2007)
+ Reference Map of Bosnia and Herzegovina (as of Mar 2007)
+ Reference Map of South Africa (as of Feb 2007)and more......
(Source: ResourceShelf)

NEW: Conservation GeoPortal

"To help people working in conservation locate this elusive data, a group of organizations working under the umbrella of the Conservation Commons recently developed the Web-based Conservation GeoPortal ." It's one-stop place to find, evaluate, and sharing data and maps for conservation. (source: ArcWatch, 5/07)

Library New Collection--more CensusCDs from Geolytics, Inc.

The following new acquired CD-Roms have already been popular items to use in Fenwick Library. Please check them out.
**Neighborhood Change Database (NCDB)- Access to US Census Data from 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000 in their census year tract boundaries. Also access data for all four decades normalized to 2000 Census Tract boundaries so that one can compare data for various years within the same bounday definition.
**Zip+4 CD (Standard)- gives geocoding of zip+4 to census block with demographic variables.
**Zip+4 with 2006 Estimates and 2011 Projections- additional of 60+ demographic variables and 2011 estimates to Zip+4 CD.

USGS Store Locator and Free Downloading of GeoPDF files

Try the new map locator and downloader provided by USGS.

**You can find and order topo maps in the U.S. and Antarctica. You can also download new GeoPDF files derived from scans of topo maps.
**These GeoPDF files are georegistered digital map derivations fo the original electronic files. (maps-l).

China Historical GIS

China Historical Geographic Information Systems (CHGIS), Version 4 Datasets, is just released providing a fully documented database of historical administrative units in China. The new datasets may be downloaded free of charge for academic use but you have to register. The site is at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis (Source: Maps-L).

Digitized Atlas from the Perry-Castaneda Library

The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas at Austin (an essential site for map and geographic research) has digitized the full text and images of eight historic atlases and made them available online.

+ Army Map Service Topographic Map Series (1945-)
+ Atlas of Mexico (1975)
+ Atlas of Texas (1976)
+ Cambridge Modern History Atlas (1912)
+ Historical Atlas by William Shepherd (1911)
+ Historical Atlas by William Shepherd (1923-26)
+ National Atlas of The United States of America (1970)
+ Public Schools Historical Atlas by C. Colbeck (1905)

(Source: ResourceShelf)

Census Tract Shape Files

and data from the 1940 census onward are downloadable from the National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) web site. It's a cool site. Also explore Social Explore Site for interactive maps with historical census data.

NEW: NASA's World Wind Digital Globe-3D Cross Section Viewer

is just released. "This plug-in allows you to select a square area of terrain and view the ‘cut-out’ in a separate 3D window - the terrain viewer."
http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/ 3D_Cross_Section_plugin_and_viewer
(Source: ResourceShelf).

New Web Site for Antique Maps of Africa

Nowthwestern University just launced the website featuring digital copies of antique maps of Africa dating from mid 16th Century to the early 20th Century. See 16th-Early 20th Century Maps of Africa.

New Maps Added to David Rumsey Collection

Please take a look at new maps added to David Rumsey Collection at http://www.davidrumsey.com/recentadditions.html. Also historical Rumsey maps are in Google Earth. See more.

World Migration Map: Europe

Looking for origins and destinations of migrants to and from... Check out this site at http://www.migrationinformation.org/wmm/.
(from ResourceShelf)

2006 GIS Day at Mason

• We had another wonderful GIS Day event at Mason yesterday. Thanks to those who participated in the Fenwick Open House Event and the Johnson Center Cinema presentation sessions. Many asked about the library resources links that I presented yesterday. Here are the lists:

• The libraries' geospatial portal : http://129.174.55.51/website/NVandDC/viewer.htm.
  

• The libraries' GIS workshop tutorials: http://129.174.55.51/tutorial

• 2006 GIS Day photos: http://129.174.55.51/website/gisday/photos.html

New 3D Maps from Microsoft

Explore skylineGlobe just released from Microsoft for 3 dimensional image of Earth and cities. It will only work on IE 6 or 7.

GIS Day at Mason-Nov. 15, 2006

Please join us as we celebrate 2006 GIS Day at George Mason. See the program in detail at http://129.174.55.51/WEBSITE/GISDAY/. On Nov. 15, Government Documents/Map unit in Fenwick Library will have open house event from 11:30 to 4:30. Hope you can come and learn more about GIS and diggital mapping!!

State and Metropolitan Area Data Book 2006

is now available online at http://www.census.gov/compendia/smadb/ It contains data published for 2005 population and housing unit estimates and many items from the 1990 and 2000 Census of Population and Housing for individual states, counties, and metropolitan.

Maps of Poland and Belarus

If you are looking for Polish topographic maps, you can get them through this site: www.mapywig.org It has scanned topographic maps of 1:300K, 1:100K, and 1:25K before WW2. (via Maps-L).

ArcGIS 9.2

ArcGIS 9.2, a new version of ArcGIS, will be released sometime this fall. If you want to attend free training seminar sessions, see the schedule at http://www.esri.com/events/introducing-arcgis92/index.html. You can also watch flash demos of ArcGIS 9.2 at http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/about/whats-coming.html.

ArcExplorer: GIS Data Viewer by ESRI

can be downloaded for free at this site: http://www.esri.com/software/arcexplorer/index.html. This software offers basic GIS functions such as display (raster and vector data), query, and data retrieval from local data sets or from the Internet. Try and find out how good it is.

Broer Maps Online New Server

Please check out this new site at http://www.broermapsonline.org/members It contains 1,300 maps online including historical and modern maps. The collections are indexed and searchable.(via maps-l)

NASA's World Wind ( A 3D Digital Globe)--Update

There are three new add-ons for NASA's open source digital globe World Wind. Please check them out.

New+France Scan and TeleAtlas

This add-on makes it possible to view France Scan and TeleAtlas maps within World Wind.

+ France Geoportail Plugin and BRGM layers

This addon makes it possible to view IGN GéoportailFrance (http://geoportail.fr/) and BRGM layers within World Wind.

+ NASA Earth Observations
This add-on is of several layers found on the NASA NEO website (http://neo.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/Search.html).(via ResourceShelf Newsletter)

Online Map Archive: An Irish Genealogist's Spot of Gold

"the Irish government plans to unveil an online map archive with details of every town, street, and farm on the Emerald Isle dating back nearly 200 years -- an unprecedented achievement expected to be a treasure trove for those tracing their Irish ancestry." See the site at http://www.irishhistoricmaps.ie/historic/ (source: maps-l).

The Geography Matters Blog

If you have not seen this blog called "Geography Matters" by ESRI, please check it out.

National Geologic Map Database Map Catalog in Google Earth

USGS and the Portland State University Geology Department have developed a prototype that displays National Geologic Map Databse (NGMDB) Map Catalog search results in Google Earth. Please see this site at http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ngmdb/ngm_catalog.ora.html
I think this is exciting news. After you test this site and want to provide comments on this prototype, just click on the comments link on that page to further improve this project(source: maps-l).

New/Updated Maps of Several World Crisis Spots

* Timor-Leste Atlas Map (as of June 2006) (PDF, 153k)
* Sudan: Darfur field atlas (PDF, 96Mb)
* Sudan: Darfur humanitarian access map (PDF, 482k)

Source: Resourceshelf

Primer: Aerial Photographs and Satellite Images

Primer: Aerial Photographs and Satellite Images
"USGS imagery and photos are used in some part with many of the online mapping services like Windows Live Local, TerraFly, TerraServer, and NASA's WorldWind to name only a few places where it's found. It's also possible (and easy) to download and directly access USGS imagery."(via Resourceshelf)
--

Ancient Observatories Gallery

Imagery--Satellite
Source: SpaceImaging /GeoEye
Ancient Observatories Gallery is a source for ancient ruins and other locations observed from space. Images can be downloaded and saved for offline usage. Locations include:
+ Chichen Itza, Mexico
+ Machu Pizu, Peru
+ Stonehenge, UK
+ Easter Island, Chile
+ Casa Rinconada, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, U.S.
+ Several others (via Resourceshelf)

Printable Maps-United States

Printable Maps with counties and selected cities and towns are available through NationalAtlas.gov in PDF and GIF (via Resourceshelf)

Library News: Fenwick Renovation, 3B & 3C

Fenwick Library Floor 3B and 3C will be renovated this summer. The time line is May 22-Sept.1. Collections that are affected are: History, Geography, Anthropology, and Recreation on floor 3B (LC Call Numbers range from F 2100 to HB 3808) and Economics, Business, Sociology, Social Work, and ICAR on floor 3C. If you need books on this floor for the Summer, you better check them out "Now" or before May 15. If the titles needed are not accessible this summer, library staff will take extra measures to obtain books through consortium library service (CLS) or interlibray loan service (ILL).

Aerial Imagery for European Cities

If you want to see aerial images of cities in Europe, click on "Aerial Photos" to the Mappy Home Page for 63 cities in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Belgium.

NASA's Worldwind Application

is another interactive 3D application for maps and images of Earth. Including are MSN's Virtual Earth Imagery, Imagery of Venus, and National Parks, etc. The good thing is that you can download the images. It's available at http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/download.html

Online Historical Maps

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection recently added more than 1000 new digitized map. The direct link to this is at http://www.davidrumsey.com/recentadditions.html

Display GIS Data on Google Earth

If you want to display your existing GIS data on Google Earth, please see this wonderful guide provided by Brian Flood: Getting Data into Google Earth Using Arc2Earth
Declan Butler has also displayed his Avian Flu data using Google Earth. Visit the site at http://declanbutler.info/Flumaps1/avianflu.html

Googe Earth Pro: free for one year

I just learned that free 1 year license for Google Earth Pro is available for qualified academic users. Send email to den@google.com requesting for a one page authorization document to use the software. Then, you can download the Googe images and work them with GIS software.

Cool Tool: Location based Internet Search and Navigation

"A Boston company is giving away software that can turn nearly any laptop computer into a global positioning system, enabling users to find the nearest restaurant, hospital, or gas station at the touch of a button." (via Boston Globe, 3/23/06)
You can download this software directly from LOKI

Welcome to Google Mars

Following Google Earth and Google Moon , now Google Mars.
"Google Mars doesn't provide driving directions, but users can see the planet in three different formats: The Martian elevation map is color-coded by altitude; the visible-imagery map shows the surface in black-and-white pictures; the infrared map indicates temperature, with cooler areas dark and warmer areas bright."(Souce: Google's New Frontier: Online Maps of Mars. /San Francisco Chronicle/, Mar. 14, p. D1. 2006).

Open Source GIS

I found an annotated and useful listing of Open Source GIS software. See the definition of Open Source from here.

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