Oregon Public Broadcasting: Resistance GIS - Portland State University graduate students Sachi Arakawa and Tim Hitchins co-organized the Resistance GIS mini-conference May 20th on campus. The podcast covers how activists are using GIS and "why they say geographic data is not just neutral information." Videos of conference presentations are expected on the conference site in June.
GI Learner: O2 GI Learner curriculum opportunities - An overview of all subjects and themes inside the curricula of the participating countries where the compentencies related to geospatial thinking can be included. GI Learner is an "EU project exploring spatial thinking / GI Science in the curriculum: research, resources & support."
Class Central: Udacity Expands Its Blended Learning Initiative to 14 Different Cities in 9 countries - For an extra fee students in nanodegrees can add a once weekly face to face session. That raises completion rates as high as 76%.
Baltimore Sun: Joppatowne seniors, alumni celebrate 10 years of Homeland Security signature program - The gathering celebrated ten years of the high school program in Maryland which features a GIS option.
Scene Changes - A website looking at the changes in landscapes found in literature. Pat Hackbarth got an idea when doing graduate work in geography. Dated 2010. h/t @JocelynTutak
EdWeek: In Kentucky, Rural Schools Betting on Drones to Stem 'Brain Drain' - "To keep students from moving away from a depressed area, local groups are building a a drone port in the Kentucky mountains. The local schools districts and other backers are constructing a $50 million complex where companies would design, build, and test drones and train people to operate them. The local high schoolers will be tomorrow's employees. The project, known as USA Drone Port, is still in its conceptual phase and is expected to be built near Hazard, in southeastern Kentucky."
TopHat: Designing an Interactive Textbook - Chris Bone and colleague Amy Lobben discuss using the TopHat platform to build an interactive geography text. I noted Bone's work in 2016.
Motherboard: Doctors Didn’t Know How Cholera Spread Until One Genius Drew a Map - A podcast episode of Science Solved It explores John Snow and cholera.
Daily Mail: GCSE geography students blast exam question about DISHWASHERS - Students didn't feel the questions reflected the case studies they reviewed.
GI Learner: O2 GI Learner curriculum opportunities - An overview of all subjects and themes inside the curricula of the participating countries where the compentencies related to geospatial thinking can be included. GI Learner is an "EU project exploring spatial thinking / GI Science in the curriculum: research, resources & support."
Class Central: Udacity Expands Its Blended Learning Initiative to 14 Different Cities in 9 countries - For an extra fee students in nanodegrees can add a once weekly face to face session. That raises completion rates as high as 76%.
Baltimore Sun: Joppatowne seniors, alumni celebrate 10 years of Homeland Security signature program - The gathering celebrated ten years of the high school program in Maryland which features a GIS option.
Science Daily: GIS: A powerful tool to be used with caution - Canadian archaeologists challenge the credibility of GIS methods to assess the impact of weather on shoreline erosion.
Scene Changes - A website looking at the changes in landscapes found in literature. Pat Hackbarth got an idea when doing graduate work in geography. Dated 2010. h/t @JocelynTutak
EdWeek: In Kentucky, Rural Schools Betting on Drones to Stem 'Brain Drain' - "To keep students from moving away from a depressed area, local groups are building a a drone port in the Kentucky mountains. The local schools districts and other backers are constructing a $50 million complex where companies would design, build, and test drones and train people to operate them. The local high schoolers will be tomorrow's employees. The project, known as USA Drone Port, is still in its conceptual phase and is expected to be built near Hazard, in southeastern Kentucky."
TopHat: Designing an Interactive Textbook - Chris Bone and colleague Amy Lobben discuss using the TopHat platform to build an interactive geography text. I noted Bone's work in 2016.
Motherboard: Doctors Didn’t Know How Cholera Spread Until One Genius Drew a Map - A podcast episode of Science Solved It explores John Snow and cholera.
Daily Mail: GCSE geography students blast exam question about DISHWASHERS - Students didn't feel the questions reflected the case studies they reviewed.
Industry News of Note
Press release: Manifold Radian automatic, Fully Parallel Data Engineering for DBMS and GIS - The $400 software Radian Studio is a GIS that runs on thousands of GPU cores to speed analysis.
It appears that GIS Data Depot is no longer online. The site hosted free and paid datasets, discussion groups and news. It seems to have last been available back in March of this year.
For Students
Two $800 GIS in the Rockies scholarships are available to students enrolled in educational institutions in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. There's one undergrad and one grad prize. The deadline for submissions is June 21. The selected students must present at the event in September. The organization will cover registration, but the student must pay for travel and lodging.
Coming Fall 2017 from UCGIS: "Geoprojects: It's like match.com for GIS talent and projects." I hope it's successful, but am reminded that "putting up a website" is only one part of solving any problem. Check out the FAQ for details.
Graduation Corner
Sebastian Hancock earned his Grad Cert in Digital Mapping from New Maps Plus at the University of Kentucky with this FEMA map.
On and Off Campus
AAG shares: "As of July 1, 2017, the state of Ohio will have two university presidents who are geographers. Dr. Duane Nellis, president-elect at Ohio University (OU), will join Dr. Mary Ellen Mazey of Bowling Green State University (BGSU) as a leader of a public academic institution in Ohio. Mazey began her Presidency at BGSU in July of 2011 and holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Cincinnati, while Nellis holds his PhD in Geography from Oregon State University."
Eighteen high school teams from around Connecticut competed in the 26th annual Connecticut High School Geography Challenge at UConn in Storrs earlier this month. This year’s theme of “Fresh Water” popped up in all the activities. "In the morning students scoured the central campus in a modified orienteering event or a new geocaching activity that used GPS technology, read traditional maps and online GIS information in the map reading activity, and hunted for a gang of spies in a virtual scavenger hunt problem-solving activity. In the afternoon all teams competed in a geography quiz bowl in the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center on campus."
Vandalism at a cemetery became the topic and passion of several GIS students in Ohio. Columbus State turned what was a volunteer project into a capstone service learning course. Whitley Rogers, the instructor, tackled the cementer project this spring and will prepare a fall offering with a to-be-determined project for another client in need.
At Illinois State, students contributed to a report titled “Documenting Bloomington-Normal,” which "examines instances of intolerance, segregation, accessibility, inclusion, progress, and improvements in the community. " At least one of the seven teams used GIS in their research and reporting. "[Teddy] Dondanville’s team used Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping to gather data on the Twin Cities to track racial segregation in housing markets, access to fresh foods and resources for low-income residents, and the environmental disparities in poorer neighborhoods. 'We ask that when you think about community resources, you think about geography,' said Dondanville. 'Just because a plan makes economic sense, it does not mean it makes sense in terms of social justice.'"
It appears that GIS Data Depot is no longer online. The site hosted free and paid datasets, discussion groups and news. It seems to have last been available back in March of this year.
For Students
Two $800 GIS in the Rockies scholarships are available to students enrolled in educational institutions in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. There's one undergrad and one grad prize. The deadline for submissions is June 21. The selected students must present at the event in September. The organization will cover registration, but the student must pay for travel and lodging.
Coming Fall 2017 from UCGIS: "Geoprojects: It's like match.com for GIS talent and projects." I hope it's successful, but am reminded that "putting up a website" is only one part of solving any problem. Check out the FAQ for details.
Graduation Corner
Sebastian Hancock earned his Grad Cert in Digital Mapping from New Maps Plus at the University of Kentucky with this FEMA map.
On and Off Campus
AAG shares: "As of July 1, 2017, the state of Ohio will have two university presidents who are geographers. Dr. Duane Nellis, president-elect at Ohio University (OU), will join Dr. Mary Ellen Mazey of Bowling Green State University (BGSU) as a leader of a public academic institution in Ohio. Mazey began her Presidency at BGSU in July of 2011 and holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Cincinnati, while Nellis holds his PhD in Geography from Oregon State University."
Eighteen high school teams from around Connecticut competed in the 26th annual Connecticut High School Geography Challenge at UConn in Storrs earlier this month. This year’s theme of “Fresh Water” popped up in all the activities. "In the morning students scoured the central campus in a modified orienteering event or a new geocaching activity that used GPS technology, read traditional maps and online GIS information in the map reading activity, and hunted for a gang of spies in a virtual scavenger hunt problem-solving activity. In the afternoon all teams competed in a geography quiz bowl in the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center on campus."
Vandalism at a cemetery became the topic and passion of several GIS students in Ohio. Columbus State turned what was a volunteer project into a capstone service learning course. Whitley Rogers, the instructor, tackled the cementer project this spring and will prepare a fall offering with a to-be-determined project for another client in need.
At Illinois State, students contributed to a report titled “Documenting Bloomington-Normal,” which "examines instances of intolerance, segregation, accessibility, inclusion, progress, and improvements in the community. " At least one of the seven teams used GIS in their research and reporting. "[Teddy] Dondanville’s team used Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping to gather data on the Twin Cities to track racial segregation in housing markets, access to fresh foods and resources for low-income residents, and the environmental disparities in poorer neighborhoods. 'We ask that when you think about community resources, you think about geography,' said Dondanville. 'Just because a plan makes economic sense, it does not mean it makes sense in terms of social justice.'"