Resources for teaching and learning
CNN: One month later: These maps show how quickly Covid engulfed the US again - "More than 98% of US residents now live in an area where there is a 'high' or 'substantial' risk of Covid-19 community transmission, up from 19% of residents only a month ago."
Surfer Today: Popular surf spots are prime areas for biodiversity conservation - "A recent analysis of globally recognized surf locations and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) found that nearly two-thirds of surf spots are not formally protected."
Al Jazeera: 10 maps to understand Afghanistan - Al Jazeera shares maps of political divisions, literacy, refugees, climate and more as challenges persist in the country of 38 million people after decades of war.
Insider: This striking US Census map shows how much rural America has shrunk in the last decade - "Massive swaths of Middle America have seen a decrease in population growth since 2010, according to results from the 2020 Census."
On and off Campus
APSU: APSU GIS Center joins the Southeastern Grasslands Initiative to examine land grant data from the Revolutionary War - "To revive the 230-year-old lost world of Middle Tennessee, the two organizations are studying the original, hand-drawn maps and notes surveyors made of the region between 1789 and 1804."
Bike Portland: OSU student uses GIS to analyze fatal pedestrian crashes in Washington County - Oregon State University student and community activist Benjamin Fryback (@bfryback) analyzed pedestrian crashes in Washington County for his “Geospatial Information and GIS” class. "Using publicly available datasets on income, race, ethnicity and transit stops, his visual analysis and simple calculations suggest a correlation between poverty rate and crash severity, with pedestrian crashes in high poverty areas disproportionately resulting in fatality."
Miami: Geography, economic level affect adaptation to extreme heat - "Doctoral student Lynée Turek-Hankins is the lead author of a study that examines how different regions around the world respond and adapt to a warming climate."
Awards and grants
Cleveland.com: High-school students win gerrymandering award for designing Ohio congressional map with Democrat majority - "A proposal developed by New York high school students shows what a Democratic-majority congressional map in Ohio would look like. The map won a gerrymandering award from Princeton University." The students are from an AP Human geography course at Stuyvesant High School.
Colorado College: Professor Sarah Schanz Receives $463,586 Grant to Study Meandering Bedrock Rivers - Colorado College Assistant Professor of Geology Sarah Schanz has been awarded a $463,586 grant from the National Science Foundation. "The three-year project will explore the phenomena of meandering bedrock rivers — those whose banks and bed are solid rock rather than gravel and sand — in order to study how they carve valleys and transport nutrients and sediment." The grant, shared with Indiana University will fund modeling and GIS by Colorado students and the creation of miniature stream tables for K-5 STEM education.
Programs and courses
Harper College: Harper’s drone technology program selected for FAA initiative - The Federal Aviation Administration has selected Harper College’s Drone Technology and Applications certificate program for its Unmanned Aircraft Systems-Collegiate Training Initiative (UAS-CTI). "The FAA’s UAS-CTI program recognizes institutions that prepare students for careers in unmanned aircraft systems, commonly referred to as drones. Colleges must provide curriculum covering various aspects of UAS training, including hands-on flight practice, maintenance, uses, applications, privacy concerns, safety and federal policies concerning drones."
Oakland University (Michigan): OU adds minor in Applied Geographic Information Science - "Oakland University has a new academic minor in Applied Geographic Information Science, a dynamic field geared toward solving problems across a range of areas, including public health, food security, urban planning, environmental science and historical preservation."
Meanwhile in our industry
TechCrunch: Felt raised $4.5 million to get you to ‘think in maps’ - "Felt allows users to build a map with data sets integrated into it. A user can open a map of California, for example, and then turn to Felt’s data library to add information about bits like wildfires and smoke patterns. The map’s power grows as more integrations are used to build out its background; using the prior anecdote, for example, the wildfire map integrated with census data could allow decision makers to see how many businesses could be impacted by incoming smoke."
Meanwhile in education
Pioneer Press: New draft of MN social studies standards places ethnic studies alongside history, geography - "According to state statute, social studies standards must include 'history, geography, economics and government and citizenship.'"Esri
Esri: The 2021 Esri User Conference resources are now accessible to anyone with an ArcGIS public account. Visit the Esri User Conference page and click “Access UC 2021” button on the top right of the page. Once signed in, visitors can explore and view session recordings, Expo content, the virtual Map Gallery, and more. Those over 18 can create a free ArcGIS public account at the Create an ArcGIS Public Account page.
Esri Blog: What's new in ArcGIS QuickCapture (August 2021) - "ArcGIS QuickCapture is Esri’s rapid data collection mobile app. Use QuickCapture to give field users the simplest and most effective user experience for documenting field observations. QuickCapture is as simple to use as the camera app in your phone, but much more powerful, allowing you to collect the location of events in the field and automatically enrich your observations with multiple attributes. With a single tap in your phone you will be able to record the what, the where and the when; and share that information with the rest of your organization through ArcGIS."
The Print: Esri India aims to train over 2 lakh students in GIS Technologies - Esri India plans to train over 200,000 students in three years to meet the rising demand of GIS skilled workforce, driven by key government projects. More similar efforts are planned. I was unable to find the official release on the Esri India website.