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).