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Twitter: Steven Bernard, "master cartographer" from The Economist shares "a series of animations" from "part of the US urbanisation animation project." He offers them as a quiz; can you determine the city by its changing boundaries over time? He shares the full video, too.
Radio Free Europe: Can You Survive The Pompeo Challenge? Name These Unmarked Countries - Another quiz that appeared after the fateful Mary Louise Kelly interview. Via @allan_mustard.
Penn State Online Geospatial Education (FB): Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak - A collection of resources "that visualize and explain this potential pandemic (it has not been identified as one), as well as a brief discussion about how topics like illness counts in a population should be mapped."
Twitter: @geospatialwomen offers a thread with "a list of 9 tips for ChangeMakers like you to make the geospatial field more inclusive in 2020."
Press release: Geospatial Data for Social Change: A New Initiative is Announced by NLT and CEGA - "Geo4Dev will now become the Geospatial Analysis for Development (Geo4Dev) Initiative, a hub for rigorous academic research and training that exploits geospatial data for the targeting, design, and evaluation of social and economic development programs. "
Simon Weckert: Google Maps Hacks - Weckert, an artist, reveals how you he changed the traffic from "green" to "red" on a specific street by rolling a wagon full of smart phones onto it. About 10 people in my feed tweeted this link on Sunday morning, including Steve Coast, to whom I'll give credit.
Is this plagiarism?: Here's a chance for students to weigh in. This blog post from last month looks a lot like this article from 2018. What do you think? What would you do? What might organizations behind these posts do? What is the ethical thing to do?
Programs and Courses
Twitter: Don Boyes of the University of Toronto notes his Introduction to GIS Mapping, the first course in his Coursera GIS specialization, has surpassed 5000 enrollments. Congrats! It's more than 5100 enrollments today!
Reading Marx's Capital with David Harvey - Yes, that David Harvey. He's teaching on campus, but anyone is welcome to watch the live stream Tuesday evenings from 6:30 – 8:30 pm (EST) or recorded videos on YouTube. The course started in January and runs through May. Via Donna Genzmer.
Hendrix College [Conway, Arkansas]: Hendrix College Announces Latest Odyssey Professorship Awards - Among them is one related to GIS: Dr. Brett Hill for Geospatial Data Management for Collaboration and Justice. "Dr. Hill will engage Hendrix students and faculty in the development of a Geographic Information System (GIS) database for use in Anthropology and Environmental Studies research."
University of Michigan Flint News: UM-Flint selected for Carnegie Community Engagement Classification - "The University of Michigan-Flint has been selected by the Carnegie Foundation as one of the 119 U.S. colleges and universities to receive the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification in 2020, an elective designation that indicates an institutional commitment to community engagement." Since it received the classification in 2009 the school opened the "Geographic Information Systems Center (GISC), ...with a mission to leverage interdisciplinary collaborations in the use of geospatial technology (GIS, Remote Sensing, GPS) for research, education, and community service. The GISC coordinates MapFlint, a community-wide online project that provides technical support to community members seeking data collection, analysis, and visualization to help solve existing and future challenges in the community. The GISC has played an important role in supporting public interventions, such as crime reduction and the identification of lead service lines during the Flint Water crisis..."
GIS User: USGIF Accredits Two New Universities’ GEOINT Programs - The two programs are Johns Hopkins DC campus and St. Louis University. USGIF shows these schools were accredited in 2019 but does not include this press release on its website. USGIF has not responded to multiple e-mails asking about the authenticity of the press release at press time.
William & Mary News: IIC goals: A pathway for William & Mary students to address conservation issues on the ground - "John Swaddle ... is the faculty director of William & Mary’s new Institute for Integrative Conservation, while Rob Rose serves as executive director. The IIC is forging collaborations with environment-minded nonprofits with the aim of involving students worldwide in conservation initiatives."
On and Off Campus
AM 1150 (iHeartRadio): Mapping a world-wide worry - Sean Heddle is working on a GIS Certificate course at Okanagan College (Salmon Arm, British Columbia) by day and updating his interactive map of the spread of Novel Coronavirus by night.
Cornell College News: Students map out new skills in GIS course - "It’s a geology course, but [Assistant Professor of Geology Drew] Muscente said students from many majors benefit from this course. Students studying geology, archaeology, computer science, and physics are all taking the course." Muscente plans to offer the course annually.
MWMO: Story Map Tool Reveals the Hidden Journey of Stormwater Runoff to the Mississippi River - The Mississippi Watershed Management Organization last year "partnered with the University of Minnesota’s U-Spatial Group to expand the original Story Map application. Whereas the original Story Map showed only the path of the runoff and the amount of time it takes to reach the river, the new version provides some additional information, including whether or not the stormwater is treated along the way (by a known stormwater BMP, such as the St. Anthony Regional Stormwater Treatment and Research System) and the relative potential for it to carry pollutants to the river. In addition, the tool now covers a much larger area of our watershed." Via @RiverLifeUMN.
WKU News: Meteorology student extends learning at White Squirrel Weather - Jennifer Van Antwerp, a senior majoring in meteorology and earning a certificate in GIS at WKU works at the school's White Squirrel Weather and after graduation plans to begin a job in geointelligence at a firm in Alabama and then do research with NASA.
NC State College of Education: Remote Sensing and the Science of Sound - Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student Shannon Ricci is an expert in underwater soundscapes but her research also involves developing a computer algorithm that can pick small boats out of satellite imagery. "Ricci earned her master’s degree at NC State studying underwater soundscapes on the North Carolina coast. As a student in the Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. program, she is weaving more remote sensing and data science into her research, to better understand how noise impacts underwater wildlife across space and time."
create digital (blog): Engineering students link GIS technology with Indigenous Knowledge - "Into his third year of a Bachelor of Software Engineering at the Australian National University (ANU), [Sherbaz] Hashmi and his team recently won the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Week Hackathon, held in Canberra late last year."
Careers
Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel: Five Questions: Blue Marble Geographics CEO Patrick Cunningham - You've probably read a bunch of interviews with a CEO from a big GIS company like Esri. Read this one from the CEO of a small GIS company and learn about the challenges of hiring in Maine.
Technical.ly: Hopeworks is setting up a fund for Camden nonprofits to up their technical abilities and services - The organization, known for its GIS prowess is launching the Camden Capacity Fund, which will offer chosen Camden organizations some of Hopeworks’ professional services including GIS and data, website services and trauma-informed training. The fund is opening with support from the Hummel Family Fund.
Reddit: GIS Career Advice from a Hiring Manager - I found this be a very valuable, straight forward post. Note the focus on what you can do (vs. the software you "know") and being able to learn new things!