geospatial matters
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Wednesday, December 21, 2005 at 6:19PM If you didn't get a chance to see Michael Jones speak on GIS day, you can download a video clip of a presentation that he gave @ UCSD the very same day. Even if you did see him present in Warren Hall, this presentation is quite different. Again, nice job Karen. link: http://www.ogleearth.com/2005/12/google_earth_ct.html video: http://ceoa.ucsd.edu/Improved-NTSC.mp4
Tuesday, December 20, 2005 at 3:43PM You can download the Planet Geospatial RSS feed widget from the following link Planet_Geospatial_RSS.widget. You will need the Yahoo Widget Engine installed to run (click here -> http://widgets.yahoo.com/download/). Available for Mac OSX and Windows. Note, the use of such eyecandy does tie up some of your system's resources. Have fun
Wednesday, December 7, 2005 at 10:32AM NASA recently released this cool little movie, Tour of the Cryosphere. It's sort of a fly-through of the planet's cold places, displaying glaciers, ice poles, snow packs, etc. with satellite imagery and cool animations. For me, the coolest part is that they always show what satellite they're using in the upper left.
Sunday, December 4, 2005 at 2:52AM Good article in NY times about the controversy of mapping/Google Earth and politics behind it. This is a case study in Russia: "Misleading maps reflect the Kremlin's tightening grip on Russian oil, one of the world's critical supplies" On December 1st-Business Section
Friday, December 2, 2005 at 2:08PM The Smithsonian magazine has an article in this month's issue on one Georg Gerster who has been photographing sites of archaeological interest for the past number of decades. While his photos are not georeferenced or really anything else, it's an interesting look at how other fields use remote imagery for research. The article online only has the text, but if anyone wants to see the pretty pictures that accompany it, I'll bring in the hard copy when I'm finished.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005 at 3:32PM Wednesday, November 30, 2005 at 11:15AM Mapserver is an open source web mapping software package that I use for the VTM site and that Brent uses for the Fire Information Engine. Recently, several core Mapserver developers announced the formation of a Mapserver Foundation, an organization intended to unite Mapserver with several related open source projects under a single banner for the purpose of standardized development and release procedures, and to provide a single body to mediate funding requests and donations, among other things. Most likely modelled after the Apache Software Foundations, this is certainly a Good Thing, as all these kinds of management and governance issues were previously handled in an ad hoc manner by the developers and a handful of contributing organizations like the University of Minnesota and DM Solutions, which has lead to a lot of inconsistency and occasional gaps in documentation.
However, in addition to Mapserver, the new Mapserver Foundation will also host the newly open sourced AutoDesk MapGuide, a web mapping package from the company that makes AutoCAD. Confusingly, MapGuide will now be known as Mapserver Enterprise, and the old Mapserver will be called Mapserver Cheetah (although the naming is apparently still up in the air). Several people in the Mapserver user and developer communities are peeved because the Foundation was planned without community input. Many are also displeased by this alliance with AutoDesk, a company not generally known for its commitment to open source. Some argue that this new naming scheme will confuse potential users and dilute the Mapserver brand, eventually resulting in less use and development for the traditional Mapserver we all know and love. While I think the new naming scheme is stupid and possibly detremental, I think the Foundation will ultimately be a force for good. Anything that provides greater stability and more documentation can't hurt, right? Links for the interested: Mapserver Mapserver Foundation AutoDesk MapGuide Official announcment of the Mapserver Foundation Comments by Ed McNierney (founder of topozone.com) Comments by Gary Lang (a lead MapGuide developer) Discussion on mapserver-users (a search for 'Foundation' should bring up most of the relevant threads, assuming there aren't any Asimov nerds getting way OT)
Tuesday, November 22, 2005 at 1:15PM Aaron Racicot up at Ecotrust has recently posted his review of open source GIS software that he presented at the Oregon State University GIS Day. It's great material, providing an excellent overview of what packages are out there, what they're good for, and what they're not. He's also made some excellent posts on the OPENNR list about his work integrating open source tools in a web-based decision support tools for natural resource management.
Thursday, November 17, 2005 at 4:03PM 
Check out these awesome visualizations of FAA flight pattern data. More art than map, really, but it's cool to see recognizable shapes emerge from the paths of passenger planes.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005 at 1:53PM After presenting a poster on wetlands, I feel attached to them in a weird way Yesterday opening the NY Times..there was this good article for the public on the Louisana wetlands-and the debate upon restoration and what that could bring/or not bring.... Check it out! http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/15/science/earth/15marsh.html? adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1132171367-GSNDHJi/JdGVpPMQr9/61w