Japan Earthquake Incidence Map

On March 11, 2011, at 05:46:23 UTC, a magnitude 8.9 earthquake hit off the Oshika Peninsula of Japan. This is the largest earthquake to hit Japan in recorded history and one of the largest in the world since records began.

The following websites are worth to check out for maps and data related to the event.

* Link to a related map: http://www.esri.com/services/disaster-response/japan-earthquake-tsunami-2011-map/index.html.
* Link to an interactive map: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/flash/newsgraphics/2011/0311-japan-earthquake-map/

* Link to geospatial data about the Earthquake: http://cegrp.cga.harvard.edu/japan/

New GIS Video from Penn State Univ.

Penn State Public Broadcasting released an online open source video called "The Geospatial Revolution Project."

The URL: http://geospatialrevolution.psu.edu/episode3/

It focuses on the technology in relation to privacy and how geospatial information affects law enforcement, war and diplomacy. It will be good for instructional use.

(from Maps-L)

New LC web site: Places in History

The Library of Congress, Geography & Map Division launched a new web site, "Places in History" that allows users to view dramatic historic events such as the Civil War in geographic context to gain better understanding of those events and the unique interplay between history and geography. Please see also the LC's "Places in the News" web site that offers current geographic information on countries and events in the current headlines.

(source: Maps-L)

NEW Release: Atlas of Rural and Small-Town America

is an online mapping tool that captures a broad range of demographic, economic, and agricultural data on rural areas across the United States. It was developd by USDA's Economic Research, providing data sets available for further analysis.

See the atlas at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/ruralatlas/

The full press release at: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome

HyperCities Egypt: New UCLA Project

that updates and archives tweets from protesters in Cairo since the outbreak of the pro-democracy demonstration starting on Jan. 25. 2011. It displays a new tweet every four seconds over a digital map of Egypt's capital--allowing users to explore the layers of city spaces in an interactive, hypermedia environment. This is a part of the UCLA Center for Digital Humanities program.

Visit http://egypt.hypercities.com .

The first U.S. map copyrighted

"created in 1784, has been purchased for the record price of $1.8 million by Washington philanthropist D.M. Rubenstein, who is lending it to the Library of Congress." Created right after the Treaty of Paris, which marked the formal end of the American Revolutionary War, the Buell map shows the new country. "It covers the territory of the 13 colonies and an area east of the Mississippi River. The state boundaries are quite larger. Virginia, for example, extends from the Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio River,"

See more information: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/30/AR2011013003337.html?hpid=sec-artsliving.

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.