Simplymap 2.0 is here!

Simplymap migrated to the redesigned version, Simplymap 2.0 with a much improved interface for web-based mapping and data extraction application. You can access this through our library database portal.

If you come across any problem or have some questions related to use the version, please contact the data service (datahelp@gmu.edu).

Spatial Humanity Projects

utilize GIS technology to explain all sorts of research questions related to humanity subjects. A recent NY times article talks about the new field of spatial humanities and their spatial projects. Please click on the following projects for the details.

*The various digital mapmakers projects at UVA
*Animated Atlas of African History(for economic and demographic trends, violent conflicts, and changing the territory names from 1879 and 2002)at Brown.
*Plejades (historical geographic information about the Greek and Roman World)
*Maps on Globalization and trade at Princeton.
*Digital music project at Stanford (mapping musical notes in cognitive space).
*Maps about Vietnames sidewalk life at MIT.

The article also includes a step by step tutorials page on "how to use the new tools and resources for teaching and scholarly work"

GIS & Public Health Day Videos

If you missed the 7th Annual GIS & Public Health Day at the University at Albany on May 3rd of this year, you can catch up with videos of the six conference presentations at:http://empirestatephtc.org/videos.cfm.

Geo Data Visualization--THATcamp

Those who missed the presentation provided by Mano Marks, Senior Geo Developer Advocate at Google, from a THATcamp workshop organized by the Center for History and New Media at Mason on Friday, 6/3, here is the URL for the presentation:http://goo.gl/GLQiB.

Now you can create,import, and share you data tables and visualize them on Google with a simple tool such as Google Fusion Tables.

You can find the tutorial of Fusion Tables and Maps and other useful Google development posted by Mano Marks from here: http://twitter.com/#!/ManoMarks.

Google Map Maker

"Google Map Maker" allows users to contribute their own spatial knowledge to their local maps. This Google's exciting tool has already been used among some of 183 countries around the world.

See more information on this through the Scout Report (2011-4-22)

World Topo BaseMaps by DeLorme

provides a complete global data set with higher accuracy. See details from here.

"It’s available for download for a minimum purchase of $10 (.01 per 100 square km). Download the map and integrate to your software and GPS".

GIS and Public Health Conference

Date: May 3rd, 2010
Location: The State University of New York @ Albany School of Public Health

The theme focuses on "GIS and Community Health Planning"
The Keynote Speaker: Dr. Russel Kirby at the University of South Florida.

The URL for more details on presentations and registrations:
http://www.albany.edu/sph/cphce/gis_2011.shtml

The URL for past conferences' programs and presentations:
http://www.albany.edu/~msz03

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.