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Thursday, April 15, 2021

GIS Ed Weekly: Learning from history, kids TV shows, and one another

Resources for Teaching and Learning

A bit of the map in question. 

The National Review: The Problem with the New York Times’ COVID-19 Map - The term "normalize" and the acronym "MAUP" are not used. 

Greater Greater Washington: This site could help users get more data about crashes in DC neighborhoods - Michael Eichler explains the how and why of the current DC Crashes Viewer.

Safe Software Blog: 10 Basic Geospatial Acronyms You Need to Know - "Spatial is special for a couple of reasons; one being that it's a field that generates a huge amount of terminology and acronyms!" Mark Ireland, who knows his stuff, discusses technology, formats and more. 

Geospatial Industry Time Line - Ramiro Aznar Ballarín, who calls himself a geospatial data engineer, offers this Google Doc.

Stamen (Medium): Corona-cartography: what we learned from a year of COVID-19 maps - Alan McConchie offers a recap. Via @KennethField.

Tufts Daily: Deriving a sense of community from Tufts’ geography during a year of isolation - "My advice to the Class of 2025 is this: Do not let the incline and distance stop you from spending time with friends. Responsibly take advantage of every in-person moment, even if it means traipsing the Hill."

Rewire: Carmen Sandiego's Influence Lives On, 30 Years Later - This deep dive appreciation of the TV show recalls a simpler time, a time when youngsters ran around on a world map painted on the floor of the studio.

Programs and Courses

Morgan State: Caliper Corp Collaborates with Morgan’s Institute for Urban Research to Expand Access to Mapping Technology for MD HBCU Learning Communities and At-risk Youth Groups - Morgan State University’s Institute for Urban Research (IUR) is collaborating with Caliper Corporation to expand access to research mapping technology and develop skill sets for learning communities at three of Maryland’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and organizations dedicated to at-risk youth. The initiative will provide more than 200 licenses of Maptitude GIS software to Bowie State University, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore and Morgan, as well as youth-serving organizations BlocLove, Youth Resiliency Institute and Lansing Alumni Chapter of  Kappa Alpha Psi’s Guide Right program.

Financial Tribune: Two Innovation Centers Help Advance Psychological, Geographical Startups - The University of Tehran will launch two innovation centers - one for psychology and one for geography. The latter is based in the university’s Geography Department, and "is primarily geared toward expanding the job market for geography students." 

Del Mar College: New Artificial Intelligence Level I Certificate Launching in Fall 2021 as Part of Geographical Information Systems Degree Program - "Starting this fall, the DMC Computer Science, Engineering and Advanced Technology Department will offer its first AI course as part of a 14-hour Level I Certificate program that also supports the College’s Associate in Science in Geographical Information Systems degree. The first course, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (GISC-1372-709FA), covers AI and Machine Learning (ML) ..." The college identifies its AI program as the first one in the U.S. offered at the community college level.

Twitter: Per Dave MacLean, The NSCC's Centre of Geographic Sciences cartography program will convert to a new diploma offered online. There's a webinar on new program today, Thurs April 15 from 6 to 7 PM Atlantic Time.

Events 

UWM GIS Day: This whole week, from April 12-15, is GIS Day at UW-Milwaukee. Shout out to Donna Genzmer who has organized the event for the last time.

Lakeland Community College: The college is offering a free virtual information session for students and community members who are interested in learning more about GIS on Wednesday, April 21, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. " The college is in Kirkland, OH.

On and Off Campus

The Advocate: How far does trash travel down the Mississippi? Scientists put GPS in plastic bottles to find out  - "Jenna Jambeck, a distinguished professor in environmental engineering at the University of Georgia, said the GPS technology contained in these bottles has never before been used in the United States, though she was involved in similar research on the Ganges River, which flows through India and Bangladesh."

University of Hawaii: UH Mānoa geography professor receives Guggenheim Fellowship - "A University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa geography professor is among a select group to receive the 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to continue his research in the areas of geopolitics and borders. Reece Jones is a professor in the Department of Geography and Environment in UH Mānoa’s College of Social Sciences (CSS)."

Times of India: Kochi GIS map: Cardiff univ takes crowdsourcing route - The University of Cardiff’s Welsh School of Architecture will use crowdsourcing to develop a map of the city to be used for advanced spatial analysis.

Penn State: GIS technology helps map out how America's mafia networks were 'connected' - "A team of researchers used geographic information systems — a collection of tools for geographic mapping and analysis of the Earth and society — and data from a government database on mafia ties during the 1960s, to examine how these networks were built, maintained and grown." 

Colorado State: Satellite map of human pressure on land provides insight on sustainable development - Patrick Keys and Elizabeth Barnes, husband and wife scientists at Colorado State University, teamed up with Neil Carter, assistant professor at the University of Michigan, on a paper published in Environmental Research Letters that outlines a satellite-based map of human pressure on lands around the world.

Meanwhile in Education

EdSource: Map: Most California community colleges saw drops in enrollment fall 2019 to fall 2020 - This is from a related article: "Systemwide, more than 260,000 fewer students enrolled in fall 2020 compared to fall 2019, potentially threatening the long-term existence of some colleges unless they can dramatically turn things around, the system’s Board of Governors learned recently." 

Daily Thanthi: TN (Tamil Nadu) govt schools to be upgraded via GIS mapping - "In a bid to create better education access, the Tamil Nadu government will be carrying out a massive Geographical Information System (GIS) based school mapping exercise this year to identify the unserved habitations and upgrading State-run middle schools to high schools." 

Esri

Esri UK: Esri UK debuted a new home for UK educators, Teach with GIS, this past week. It includes teaching tools, lesson ideas, data, training, and community sharing. Via @GIS4Schools. Word is more of these country or regional sites, with resources aimed at educators in those geographies are coming.

ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes: I read this on Twitter: "If you have to ask what is Kubernetes you probably do not need it. Or you are not the IT person." If you do have to ask, this TechCrunch article is a good starting point for finding out what Kubernetes is, and how and why Esri decided to develop an offering for it.

Also this Week

Ignite Education Blog: On the Geo Media - I share some of what I've seen in the geospatial media lately.