GIS Ed Weekly: GIS tackles snakebites, Mexican American civil rights and Sudan's refugee crisis

Resources for teaching and learning

Entry for Micrurus spixii
in The WHO Snakebite
Information and Data platform.

WHO: Snakebite envenoming: an interactive data platform to support the 2030 targets - The app has search tools for type of snake, range and antivenom information and invites user generated content.

UTSA Libraries tour highlights local influence on Mexican American civil rights - "A new, interactive tour produced by the UTSA Libraries and Institute of Texan Cultures allows users to experience San Antonio’s significant role in the Mexican American civil rights movement on the same streets where history was made."

MSF: Sudan: The technology putting refugees on the map - "Andries Heyns explains how specialist 'GIS' tech has helped treat people fleeing from Tigray in Sudan's evolving refugee crisis."

Meanwhile in our industry

TechCrunch: Uber Eats adds map feature so users can find nearest restaurants for pickup - "Uber Eats is adding a new pickup map feature to its app that will allow users to search for restaurants or merchants close to them."

The Register: When software depends on a project thanklessly maintained by a random guy in Nebraska, is open source sustainable? - "Companies paying a commercial vendor for their software can typically pressure them for a bug fix, and it's unlikely that the commercial entity will vanish overnight. That's less true for open-source software (OSS) projects, which are often maintained single-handedly by a random person somewhere as a hobby." Via LinkedIn.

LinkedIn: Nick Swartz, a Software Engineer/GIS Developer at State of South Dakota hosted a poll on the value of GISP certification. My sense is that over time, opinions are getting more positive, especially since the addition of the exam. I have no data on that, however. And, no, I have not, nor do I plan to pursue, the credential.

People

Audubon: Erika Knight Charted Her Path One Precise Step at a Time - "How the GIS expert and data analyst turned a passion for maps and the outdoors into a career in conservation."

On and off campus

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya: Scientific formula calculates how to create more space for pedestrians in post-pandemic cities - A research team from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and the University of California, Berkeley after gathering data on three continents, designed a methodology for determining what measures should be taken to ensure greater distancing between pedestrians.

UGA: New heat exposure model can protect citizens - "[R]esearchers from the University of Georgia have developed a new dynamic heat exposure index that captures varying heat exposure within urban environments."

Competitions 

Oklahoma: GIS Day poster contest - The 1st-5th place winners take home cash; the first 10 students to register get free poster printing.  Register by October 31, 2021. The GIS Day event follows both the OU Code of Conduct and the Esri one.

Esri

Esri Blog: What's new in Map Viewer (September 2021) - The post includes screenshots and animations showing the main enhancement in the September release of ArcGIS Online's Map Viewer. Via Brian Baldwin.

ArcGIS Blog: Web accessibility best practices for Survey123 authors - "This blog introduces some best practices for Survey123 authors, so if you author online surveys, this is for you!"

Esri Education Summit @ UC: The Call for Lightning Talks (ten minute presentations) is open until Oct 22. The event is July 12-15, 2022 in San Diego.

Exploring the 2020 U.S. Census data - In this story, five of Esri's Living Atlas cartographers show how they mapped the U.S. Census Bureau's 2020 Census redistricting data. Via Margot Bordne.

IECN: The future of transportation on display as Aguilar, House Subcommittee Chair tour ESRI Train Station, briefed on Arrow Line - The latest on the train station Esri "is building as part of the upcoming Redlands Passenger Rail System" is "a nine-mile extension of Metrolink’s San Bernardino Line that will pioneer sustainable transit technology while creating a vital new connection for Southern California’s fastest-growing population center."