GIS Ed Weekly: Geography Finds a Home in New Credentials and Schools

Resources for Teaching and Learning

Columbia Journalism Review: The topography of local news: A new map - "This study builds on the work of others in our field in two key ways: first, by identifying the complete range of journalistic news providers (print, digital, and broadcast) serving an entire US state, and second, by mapping those news providers according to the communities they cover, rather than where they are headquartered, as some have done."

Visual Capitalist (blog): Incredible Map of Pangea With Modern-Day Borders - Massimo Pietrobon created a map of the supercontinent called Pangea with the approximate borders of present day countries.

GIS Education Weekly: Teaching Nurses about Opioids Using Maps

On and Off Campus

Accessible and inaccessible entrances at UT. 

The Daily Texan: New map helps students find accessible entrances - "The accessible door map is available on the UT Maps webpage and shows students all the accessible entrances on campus, including ones that have power-assisted doors. "

Delaware Gazette: City, OWU form partnership - "Ohio Wesleyan University and the City of Delaware signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday creating a permanent OWU student internship within the city’s Department of Public Utilities and formalizing additional opportunities for city-campus collaboration." Students will work in many areas including GIS.

GIS Education Weekly: VR/AR in the Classroom

VR/AR

VirtualiTeach: 90 VR Education Apps for Vive, Rift and WMR - The author picked his "top 5" for each category. At right is the geography list.

Campus Technology: Study Finds No Difference in VR Learning Outcomes Compared to Other Modes - Hmm.

GIS Education Weekly: New Online Programs, Updates to Existing Ones and More Free Courses

Resources

Patents granted per 1,000 children, by metropolitan area

NYTimes: Lost Einsteins: The Innovations We’re Missing - David Leonhard explains a favorite saying of Mitch Kapor: "Genius is evenly distributed by Zip Code [sic], but opportunity is not." Via @timoreilly.

Wandering Cartographer: Buffering (or haloing) text over complex backgrounds using the Screen blend mode - Tutorial on print mapping using QGIS and InkScape from 2014. Via @mappingmashups.

GIS Education Weekly: High Schoolers Map the Impact of Katrina on Crime and Collect Images on the Summer Solstice

A part of the overall winner's
story map

Articles and Resources

University of Minnesota: U-Spatial Prize Highlights Thought-Provoking Data Maps - University of Minnesota's U-Spatial, which supports spatial research as part of the Office of the Vice President for Research’s Research Computing unit, selected nine submissions out of 50 as winners of its 2017 Mapping Prize.

Inside Sources: Geography Increasingly a Priority for Schools, Employers - The article covers the American Geographical Society's vision for education and its support for APHG and AP GIS&T. There is commentary on open source vs. proprietary software: "In general, the availability of free or open source data platforms has not always been good news for the incumbents in other industries. Education publishing companies for example have been reeling in recent years from the competition of freely available or cheap web-based lesson plans. [Chris] Tucker [chairman of the board of AGS], however, does not believe that the same dynamic is at work in the geography space, saying that he thinks the public and private sides of the market are 'feeding off one another' as the sector continues to grow."

GIS Education Weekly: Must Students use Esri Software for Challenge.gov Contest?

Visualize Your Water: A Citizen Science Challenge for High School Students

The challenge, for high school students who live in the Great Lakes basin and Chesapeake Bay watershed, was announced last year. Now the event is actually open. It's supported by a coalition of government agencies, educational organizations and Esri. Winners receive money, publication of their maps in an Esri book, funding to attend the 2016 Esri Education GIS Conference. The press release states students will use Esri software.

In this educational competition, students will use digital mapping technology from Esri (a leading geographic technology company) with data from the USGS, EPA, and other sources to analyze local water quality. They will then create a map that tells a story about the problem and suggests viable solutions.

Further exploration suggests students need not use Esri software. The FAQ includes this question:

Do I have to use Esri mapping software? 

No, students are not required to use Esri mapping software. However, the visualization must include a map that can be viewed online.

Further exploration reveals GIS software must be used. The challenge website states:

GIS software must be used for submissions.

I contacted both USGS (who put out the press release) and the Challenge contact asking for clarification.

Can you clarify exactly what sort of software can/must be used? And, what sort of map created? Can the map be static? 

Three people (two from EPA and one from USGS) joined me on the phone earlier this week to confirm:

• The online map can be static or interactive. The winning entries will do the best job "telling the story."
• Students can use any software they like to create the map; it doesn't even need to be GIS software. Organizers want educators to know that ArcGIS Online is available free to use via ConnectED.

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