GIS Education Weekly: FOSS4G, Satellite, and Sense of Distance Resources

Courses Programs and Degrees

Bay College has a new GIS Program.

"Starting Sept. 2, everyone is invited to join the 'geospatial revolution' by taking GIS 201 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems on Friday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon at Bay College West Campus in Iron Mountain. Students will learn about satellites, gps receivers, mapping, geospatial data, and spatial analysis work." That's the news in the local paper. The school teaches GIS using QGIS and ArcGIS.

Last week I noted that Eastern Kentucky University may lose its geography degree. This week I note a new(ish?) geography degree at Rowan University in New Jersey. Other new majors include biomedical studies and community health advocacy. I'm pretty sure these two were not majors when my parents or I graduated from college!


Resources

FOSS4G 2016 Bonn video recordings are available.

Satellites in Global Development "is an exploratory overview of current and upcoming sources of data, processing pipelines and data products. It is aimed to offer non GIS experts an exploration of the unfolding revolution of earth observation, with an emphasis on development." Who is behind it? Site content is based on research from the World Bank and subsequent contributions from other authors. The content is licensed CC-BY. h/t @dianamaps

The women's 800 meters run at the University of Chicago.

To enhance your students' sense of distance, have them explore this interactive app from the New York Times. It uses a location in Manhattan, or any U.S. address, as the start of an Olympic distance race (sprint, race walk, marathon, etc.).

On the Media tackled the map of Louisiana and its ability to prompt serious conversation about flooding and climate change. Interesting conversation.

Money

The University of Virginia received  $1,745,414  from the National Endowment for the Humanities in the endowment’s July funding cycle.  A total of $324,554 went to Neatline, the digital humanities geospatial software created by the Scholars’ Lab.

Certification News

The next testing window for the computer-based GISCI Geospatial Core Technical Knowledge Exam, part of the GISP Certification, is December 3-10 at PSI Online facilities. All the details are on the GISCI website. GISCI states in a press release that there are more than 8,0000 GISPs and that "the GISP is increasingly viewed as a preferred certification in job descriptions. "

Esri

"After implementing an Esri enterprise license agreement under the 100 African Universities program [a 2011, $10M grant program], it took Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya, less than two years to expand its use of GIS technology from a research tool limited to a few professors and graduate students to a multicampus ArcGIS implementation that is a respected center of excellence throughout Eastern Africa." And, there's the story map: 2015/2016 Annual Report of ESRI 100 African Universities ArcGIS Enterprise License Implementation at Kenyatta University.


In and Out of the Classroom

A workshop on ‘Maps and GIS’ for high school teachers was held August 27 at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) in Hyderabad, India. GeoMap Society, the Indian National Cartographic Association, Survey of India, Blue Cross of Hyderabad and others supported the event. The orientation program prepped teachers to support students in the national GeoMap Quiz to be held in November.

From one of the student story maps

Interns with the GRACE Project (I profiled one educator's experience 1, 2) showcased story maps of their work this summer with the Keweenaw National Historical Park/National Park Service and the Keweenaw Time Traveler. via GIS User.