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Thursday, November 16, 2017

GIS Education Weekly: Cartographers Jump All Over Politico's Map

This Poltico map of UM students had
the cartographers active on Twitter.
Resources

A cartographer on Twitter dissed Politico for its non-normalized map of students.

The MSU GeoBlog has many "how I became a geographer" posts.

The folks at CityLab are launching a fortnightly newsletter called MapLab. It'll include "newsworthy mapping efforts, fascinating cartographers, snippets of history, eye-popping data visuals, and intriguing map links."

SciAm: New Map Reveals Who’s Actually Taking Charge of the Paris Agreement - A group from Data-Driven Yale has created an interactive map of current U.S. climate commitments made by cities, states, companies and universities.

Reddit/GIS: Confessions of a (soon-to-be-former) GIS'er - A few tales of successful and less successful GIS careers.

GITA: Webinar: Journey to the Moving Center of Earth - Evolution of the Nat'l Spatial Reference System - Free, Nov 28, 1 PM CT.

Esri published a new issue of News for Schools.

Courses and Programs

The University of Northern Colorado launched a 15 credit GISci Graduate Certificate to provide advanced training in GIS. It's online and face-to-face.You can take up to 3 courses without enrolling in the certificate. And, it's worth noting: "Each course requires a fundamental knowledge of the subject matter [before you take a course]... " Spring semester (1/8/18- 5/6/18) includes:

Online
  • GEOG 514. Web GIS Development and Management
  • GEOG 580. Enterprise Database Development and Management for GIS
Face to face: in Greeley on Wednesdays from 4 - 7 pm
  • GEOG 527. GIS Programming & Automation (in Python)

The University of Kentucky is offering a discount on its Graduate Certificate in Digital Mapping. The accelerated, aka full time, schedule is 22 weeks (about five months). The offer is good during spring 2018 only. Via @newmapsplus.

The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is launching Coding for Girls in GIS and Geography. AAG developed the GIS coding curriculum and is planning a series of workshops on coding for girls and women beginning at the AAG Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

Geohealth: Improving Public Health through Geographic Information, a MOOC from the University of Twente on FutureLearn, starts November 20.

LinkedIn: Erick Veronicas reports - "Within the past two years, almost 100 percent of students who earned a Bachelor's Degree in Geospatial Technology [at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology] have landed full-time positions in the GIS Industry." The post includes a list of all the students names and for whom they now work. (n = some number slightly greater than 11)

Education News

Bklyner: Brooklyn Public Library and Bard College to Offer Free College Degree Programs in 2018 - Bard will offer 16 students a free liberal arts associates degree based at the library.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn Learning Teams Up with Autodesk to Offer Free Access to 42 Technology Courses - Nothing about GIS, however.

GIS News

Esri: Autodesk and Esri Partnering to Advance Infrastructure Planning and Design - It's about BIM.

Google Blog: Google Maps gets A New Look - It's got dots and symbols!

GIS Day and other Events

We no longer need to explain what we do, at least not in a region of North Carolina. This is the text of the GIS Day article in a local paper: "Henderson County and the city of Hendersonville will hold GIS Day 2017, a public event to demonstrate the impact of geography and GIS technology on our world. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about GPS mapping, drone technology, online GIS and many other topics."

LinkedIn: Be a Donor - Start Donating Free and Open Source Software so digital divides are bridged within the next decade - Geo for All founder Suchith Anand writes: "As part of this year’s GIS week celebrations, let us all launch the start of Free and Open Source Software Donation Decade. I am requesting everyone to start donating free and open software so digital divides are bridged within the next decade."

KBTX: If you use Google Maps, you use this every day - I like the headline; the article highlights GIS Day at Texas A&M.

The Eagle: Texas A&M alum, Disney animator to give talk - The school welcomed Disney Animation Studios animator Brandon Jarratt, who spoke at the Esri International User Conference,  to speak at its GIS Day.

Esri is holding a raffle for four free certification exams to celebrate GIS Day and Geography Awareness Week. Entries will be accepted until 5 p.m. PST on November 24, 2017.

Esri hosted its inaugural Imagery Education Summit last week. Here's a storified recap.

There was a 24 hour GIS competition (post is in French) organized during the French Speaking Conference hosted by Esri France. Three teams worked all night on projects which were then judged.

Supporting GIS and Geography

Press Release: Boundless Strengthens Its Ongoing Commitment to Geography Education Through Various Industry Events - The company (1) teamed with other organizations to host an upcoming GeoPlunge pilot tournament for local students yesterday in St. Louis, MO. (2) is presenting at and sponsoring the AGS Geography Teacher Fellows Program for the second consecutive year at Geography 2025 and (3) ran GIS workshops and presenting at north American universities on GIS Day. 

Not familiar with GeoPlunge? GeoPlunge is a card game which aids in memorizing U.S. state geography facts including:
  • State name and abbreviation/postal code/time zones 
  • Statehood: State rank based on the date the state entered the Union 
  • PATOS: President at the Time of Statehood 
  • State Flag 
  • Size: State rank based on square mileage of the state; Percent Water: Percent water of the state 
  • Population: State rank based on population 
  • Census information for 2000 and 2010. Electoral Votes: Number of Electoral Votes during an election 
  • State Flower 
  • State Capital (noted with a star on the map) 
  • State Bird 
  • 5 Top Cities based on population 
  • State Nickname 
  • Border States: Names of border state(s) 

St. Louis Today: Editorial: NGA, and jobs, are coming to St. Louis. Will local students be ready? - The editorial is about teaching locals about geospatial technology so they can to work at NGA or in the private sector. It includes this suggestion for young people. "Today’s high school and middle school students can reap the benefits of NGA’s new phase by preparing now [link is to GeoPlunge; see above]. "

Press Release: Esri Provides Mapping Technology for Students to Assess Hurricane Damage - A crowdsourcing app to assess damage was announced on October 11. An update on the effort was posted on Monday.

On and Off Campus

William and Mary: Law, undergrad students use GIS tools to redraw 11 Virginia House districts - Undergrads and law students used a GIS tool created specifically for the new course "Legislative Redistricting and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)" by Center for Geospatial Analysis Fellow Kira Holmes. Teams created maps that were compliant with state and federal constitutional and statutory law. Teams presented their maps at a GIS Day event.

The Observer (Uganda): GIS arrives to rescue researchers - "Recently, 20 researchers at Makerere University [Kampala] were taken through a two-day session on how to use the GIS tool to further their studies. Supported by Sweden’s Lund University, the researchers were taught how to use its varied resources to enhance their research."

The Daily Times: Walland Elementary School third-graders learn geography with augmented reality sandbox - "The augmented reality sandbox is about 4 feet by 3 feet and 10 inches deep, with about 200 pounds of sand inside, explained Michael Camponovo, GIS outreach coordinator for the University of Tennessee’s Geography Department, who brought it to Walland Elementary on Monday." Start them young with AR!

The Mirror: School pupils on geography field trip find dead body on beach - "Scottish teenagers were left in shock on Monday morning after discovering the body of 59-year-old Alan Timms on Selwicks Bay in Flamborough" Field trips do not always turn out as expected.