Tuesday, December 31, 2013

GPS on Steroids!

Nowadays you can differentially-correct your GPS measurements without running your own base station by using the global CORS network - here are a few online options:

Monday, December 23, 2013

Wake-up Rosetta!

Solargraphs

Seen on IOTBS: solargraphs capture the changing seasonal paths of the Sun across the sky using pinhole photography.
http://champalicious.com/post/70782347176/12-month-solargraph-winter-solstice-to-winter

100 Years of Hotness

Nice infographic in the Huffington Post showing the hottest year on-record per state and comparing temperatures in 1913 and 2012 across the U.S.

http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/2013_06_ExtremeTemps.png

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Skillshare

Here are a few courses offered via Skillshare related to mapping and infographics:
  1. Information Driven Storytelling
  2. Location-Based Infographics
  3. Map Making

Want your own drone?

How about the DJI Phantom 2 Vision Personal Drone for $1199. Read the Popular Science review here. Or, get the DJI Phantom 2 and add a Nokia Lumia 1020 set to interval shooting at 3 seconds or so and create 3D terrain models using Structure-From-Motion.

Women's Rights Around The World

This is a well-designed interactive map illustrating women's political rights around the world as a function of time (1893 to 2013). Plus, you can click-on each country to see more demographic information.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Monday, December 16, 2013

3D Printing

Nature ran a nice summary of 3D printing recently - here is a compilation of some of the interesting links mentioned  in the article.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Coding!

Yes, sure, we all should be able to write code, aka to write our own computer programs. The hip programming language these days is Python, but that may/will change in the next 10 years. Now what...what programming language should you learn? The obvious answer: it does not matter - what matters are the underlying concepts and structured thinking. So, learn whatever is popular today and be ready for change down the road. Or (gasp!) forget traditional coding, go with something visual, and let someone else worry about how that all looks as 'code'. Here are three examples:
  • MIT App Inventor. App Inventor is a cloud-based tool to build apps right in your web browser.
  • MIT Scratch. You can 'program' your own interactive stories, games, and animations and share your creations with others in the online community.
  • Esri ModelBuilder. Who needs Python when you can automate your workflows with ModelBuilder!

GeoMidpoint

GeoMidpoint is fun: determine the midpoint (or geographic center) between a series of places or determine the place you'll reach by following a bearing for a certain distance.

This Dynamic Planet

Nicely-done web-based version of the famous USGS map: This Dynamic Planet

Geoengineering on the Colbert Report

Fun: Steven Colbert recently talked to David Keith about Geoengineering as Keith was promoting his book A Case For Climate Engineering. Here's the video! Here's a fun introduction to what this is all about. If all that seems rather silly (or insane) to you...that's because it is.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

216 Feet Sea Level Rise!

Let's assume that all ice on land melted and drained into the oceans - causing 216 feet of sea level rise and with a completely changed geography of the continents as visualized by National Geographic.

Earth and Moon

This comes via It's Okay To Be Smart:







The first movie ever made of our moon orbiting around us!

Got some change?

This looks like fun: making a smaller battery to power an LED using pennies!

NEX-DCP30

The NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) Downscaled Climate Projections (NEX-DCP30) dataset is comprised of downscaled climate scenarios for the conterminous United States that are derived from the General Circulation Model (GCM) runs conducted under the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) [Taylor et al. 2012] and across the four greenhouse gas emissions scenarios known as Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) [Meinshausen et al. 2011] developed for the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5).

Anyone still awake?

The USGS create the very comprehensive interactive NEX-DCP30 Viewer with maps, graphs, downloadable data tables, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. I suppose the complexity of the issue and the data requires such a complex viewer, but anything that requires studying a (well-designed) tutorial first is probably not going to be all that popular...

Thursday, December 5, 2013

NSA, GPS, and Cellphone Tracking

Nice (and somewhat scary) story in the Washington Post describing how the NSA is tracking cellphone locations around the world - illustrated with an impressive infographic and video. The technology is pretty standard these days (see Find My iPhone app and more), but the scale in terms of geography and data is mind-boggling.

Makeshift Magazine and Infographics

Makeshift is a great print/online magazine covering informal economies with great topics and great illustrations and visualizations. Check out their section on Infographics!

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Why is All Sand the Same?

By MinuteEarth

3D Sensor for iPad

This looks like fun: a 3D laser scanner that attaches to an iPad - so now you can combine the image from the camera with the 3D shape of whatever you are photographing. Unfortunately the range for this gizmo is limited to about 10 feet.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Nuke Testing

This is a few years old, but still mesmerizing: all 2053 nuclear explosions between 1945 and 1998.

NPR Map

Seen on FlowingData: Public Radio Map = footprints of all National Public Radio stations across the U.S.

from flowingdata.com

What is Sea Level?

MOOC Completion Rates

Obviously, MOOC completion rates are terrible. Precisely how terrible is something that no MOOC provider or university wants us to know...enter MoocMoocher and her attempt to compile and synthesize MOOC completion rates.

For an interesting take on the future (or lack thereof?) of MOOCs - have a look at Joshua Kim's comparison between MOOCs and netbooks.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Scribner's Statistical Atlas of the United States

Sure, today we have all kinds of options for visualizing census data, for example Social Explorer (especially if you can get access to the Professional Edition). But, have a look at what John Nelson found: Scribner's Statistical Atlas of the United States published in 1883. Below is one of the animated GIFs that John created:

Click over to his blog for more!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Who causes Global Warming?

Here is a pretty impressive interactive infographic: which companies are causing how much global warming? Read more about the study here.

Migration within the United States

Here's a great interactive visualization of migration within the United States by Chris Walker: Restless AmericaGood point by Betsy Mason: This is one of these cases where a map would have been far less effective as a visualization tool - read more at wired.com.

 

Bitcoins!

Coinmap.org is a great example of a crowd-sourced open-source interactive geographic visualization (aka map) - have a look! Read more about it here from Brian Fung.

Welcome to the Anthropocene!

Welcome to the Anthropocene!

Monday, November 18, 2013

Cloud and Server GIS

This looks like a great course: GEOG 897C Cloud and Server GIS (PennState Department of Geography). Run ArcGIS Server on Amazon EC2, run GeoServer, Google Fusion Tables, ArcGIS Online, and more.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Global Forest Change 2000 to 2012

Now this is truly cool: Global Forest Change 2000 to 2012 - all driven by the 654,178 Landsat images for that time period accessible as a global mosaic via Google Earth Engine. Zoom-into, for example, Springfield (MA) to see the 1 June 2011 tornado track across W-MA.

Here's the link to the Science paper.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Clickers and Apps

Here's a small assortment of smart gizmo apps related to teaching and learning.

Clickers: The Clicker Resource Guide - Clicker or Smartphone App? - Using Socrative

Friday, November 15, 2013

Middlebury Campus Tree Map

This is very well done using Google Earth: all trees (over 2,200) on the Middlebury College campus mapped and identified (even with a photograph!).

View Campus Tree Tour in a larger map

Tech-Enabled Field Studies

That's perhaps not the best title for this book, but a great resource nonetheless: method and ideas on how to use GPS- and GIS-enabled smart gizmos, plus cloud resources such as Google Drive and ArcGIS Online, for teaching and learning in the field.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Super Zip Codes

Super zip codes are the country’s most prosperous and highly-educated demographic clusters (average median household income of $120,000, and 7 in 10 adults have college degrees) and now we have a map of them thanks to the Washington Post. So...what do we learn from this that we did not already know...nothing!

xkcd: Simple Answers


















http://xkcd.com/1289/

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Google 'Earth' of the Human Body

This is a great Google Chrome app: The BioDigital Human. It does feel like flying around in Google Earth, except here you are flying in and around the human body. See NCS EdTech News for more education-related Chrome apps.

Map Tips

Great tips from John Nelson for making better maps. I especially like #3: Defaults are evil! and #4: Legends are like collateral damage.

CCAPS

Or: Climate Change and African Political Stability. I'm not sure what to do with this: great data and excellent interactive visualizations, but also proof that there can be too much of a good thing: I can't figure-out what is what and how it is all related. Maybe provide a road map!

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Virtual Fieldwork

Reality is overrated! Plus, it is expensive to take students off-campus and into the field - plus consider the liability. Even better: don't build actual lab facilities - implement a Bring-Your-Own-Device policy on your campus and use virtual labs. And - the Millenials love gaming - so why not use that in teaching? Finally - who needs a campus - let's go fully virtual! Here are some options:
I'm sure there are many more...

Friday, October 25, 2013

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Viewshed and Drive-Time Buffers

Here are two quick and simple web maps to determine viewshed and drive-time buffers. No real options (other than the obvious), but a nice way to introduce these concepts to students before digging deeper into the actual geoprocessing tools.

Smartphone = Microscope!

This sounds like a great thing to try: convert your smartphone into a digital microscope!

Doctopus and Goobric

Sounds weird, but if it works in the real teaching world of K-12 it should also work in higher education. So here are two tools for better managing student assignments shared via Google Drive: Doctopus and Goobric. How can you use them? Have a read over at NCS EdTech News.

And then, let's debate if it is really a good idea to farm-out educational technology to a commercial company such as Google offering 'free' things.

Green Cities

Interesting interactive infographic / web map brought to us by Siemens: The Green City Index. I'm not sure about the connection between Siemens and Green Cities (energy supply maybe?), but a great resource. Below is a nice infographic with the Top-10 greenest cities around.


Animated Twisters

Here is an excellent interactive web map of tornadoes: click on a state and the summary information below the map changes accordingly. Now there are three great twister visualizations out there:

Thursday, October 17, 2013

The Future of Education (and Technology)

This video is worth watching (also available via YouTube) - a nice summary of what is wrong with the way we teach and learn today. Predictably, MOOCs are presented as one solution...I still don't see that until I get an answer to the fundamental question: who pays for the MOOC and the associated overhead?

Monday, October 14, 2013

Wingnuts!

Rather: crazy people doing crazy things!

Trends and Variations

These two graphics and animations have been around for a couple of years - but they are worth to remember in light of all the noise about the 'stopping' of global warming.



Andy Revkin at Dot Earth presents a nice discussion and explanation.



















Same data, different interpretation: see here and here for a discussion.


Saturday, October 12, 2013

Leaflet

Just what we needed...another open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps...yet another alternative to the big bad Esri...back to the stone age with geeky command-line coding...all in the name of flexibility. Check it out: Leaflet and how you can use it to create a Story Map.

Drones and the Law

UAVs (aka drones) are generating quite the hype these days - but what are they? Just high-tech remote-controlled toys, model aircraft, or something else entirely as they (often) are used to record aerial imagery or video. Here's an interesting article in Popular Science.

Adventures in Mapping

Have a look at this slide deck by John Nelson for some impressive examples of maps and data visualization in general.

GIS Career Paths

Common career paths for someone studying GIS (an infographic by USC)

Two Energy Futures

Two Energy Futures is a well-designed interactive infographic. Navigate with the stylized map in the upper-right and energy sources and the toolbox by clicking-on the stylized list in the upper-left.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Trust the Realtor!

Well - maybe - but here's a great web map by Trulia: zoom-in to see home prices and more down to the census block level. Be sure to try the Commute slider! Also included are schools and crimes. The link drops you into Springfield (MA), but you can explore the entire U.S.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

The World Hunger Map

Sad to say, but that's pretty much the pattern I would have expected (brought to you by the U.N. World Food Program).

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Raw

Hmm...I'm not actually sure what Raw does...but it sounds cool. Check it out...maybe you can figure it out.

What's a MOOC anyways?

The answer is pretty simple: a MOOC has to be massive = have so many students taking it that it becomes impossible, as an instructor, to actually interact with students in a meaningful way. In other words: a MOOC that's not actually massive is just an online course with bad pedagogy. I'm therefore not surprised to see the Big-3 LMS providers trying to get into the MOOC game. What does that mean? Just another excuse for college and university administrators to raise the enrollment numbers for online courses by claiming they are MOOCs.

Student Technology Habits

Here is the 2013 ECAR survey of 112,000+ undergraduates and their technology habits and expectations. It is worth remembering the source - EDUCAUSE - a special interest group promoting the use of information technology in education...keep that in mind when reading the recommendations and 'actionable results'.

Real-Time Media Map

Who reads/listens to/watches what and where across the USA? Have a look at the Bitly Real-Time Media Map, but also read the methods and data limitations described here.

Life and Gender in NYC

One person = one dot, telling a story of getting older and moving around in New York City. Be sure to read John Nelson's explanation of the data and patterns.


Monday, October 7, 2013

Apple Cider Pressing

This is a little different: my home-made video of apple cider pressing with friends in Vermont. Nothing fancy here: the videos were recorded on an iPhone 4 and then cut/spliced without anything in Microsoft Movie Maker. Next time: shot in landscape mode!

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Urban Observatory

Urban Observatory is a new high-end Web GIS produced by Esri and others - watch the video to get an idea what this is all about and how you can use it. Then, click on Start Comparing and compare whatever cities and whatever variables you are interested in. Now...this would be even better if the underlying data were available for convenient download!

Mars Panorama

This Mars Panorama is very cool as is on a computer screen - but even better when you view it on smart phone or tablet with the built-in accelerometers: it feels like you are standing on Mars!


Mars Panorama - Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 177 in Out of this World

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

ArcGIS Online: Help and Tutorials

Here's comprehensive listing of all resources related to ArcGIS Online, including free web courses and training seminars, technical workshops, tutorial videos, and more.


Saturday, September 28, 2013

Videoconferencing on iToys

or whatever Smart Gizmo you have! This is more than just FaceTime or Skype - with these apps you can actually talk to more than one person. I'm not sure how the video feed from say 4 different people will look on 4 inch screen, but worth a try!

Where is the Middle of Nowhere?

Everything is located between somewhere and nowhere - have a look!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Landsat 8 in Photoshop

This is a great tutorial: how to use Landsat 8 scenes in Adobe Photoshop. That's not really GIS or Remote Sensing, but a great way to create impressive visuals.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Namaste!

or: Surviving Whole Foods!


Classic xkcd!


Posting and Sharing ArcGIS Online Maps

There are four way to share an ArcGIS Online map using a blog or a website: 1) the ArcGIS Online map viewer link, 2) the ArcGIS Explorer Online link, 3) the embedded map, and 4) the Web Application link.

ArcGIS Online map viewer link: Westfield State Buildings
ArcGIS Online Explorer link: Westfield State Buildings
Web Application Link: Westfield State Buildings


View Larger Map   

Saturday, September 21, 2013

The IPCC

With the IPCC AR5 coming out soon, Nature produced a nice video and infographic about the IPCC and its history.


Teaching with Twitter

This is nothing new - teaching with Twitter has been around for years now. Here is an example of an (apparent?) success story: Creating scientists in 140 characters.

Another success here: Monica Rankin at UT Dallas teaching a history class with Twitter. Watch the video or read the report.

ArcGIS 10.2

I'm getting ready to to upgrade to ArcGIS 10.2 - here are some useful links:

Friday, September 20, 2013

Colorado Flooding From Space

NASA put out these two Landsat 8 images showing the South Platte River in normal flow conditions (29 June 2013) and in flood condition (17 September 2013). Be sure to click-on the VIEW IMAGE COMPARISON button to see both images fade into one another as you move the slider.

Inequality in the USA

Here are a series of animated GIFs showing economic inequality across the USA between 1977 and 2012. I admit: I don't understand these coefficients...so let's just assumes these economists know what they are doing. And, it that case, inequality certainly increased. But this is also a good example of the dangers of maps - sure the colors change towards more inequality, but that visual impression is also a function of map design, color choices, statistical classification systems, and break points.

http://i.imgur.com/EPa5zrO.gif

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Colorado Flooding and UAVs

Interesting story about the use of UAVs in assistance of the flooding in Colorado - sure seems like the perfect application of this technology

Census Reporter

Here are three ways to get to census data. Most would agree that American FactFinder is rather complex and not easy to use. Then we have CensusReporter (still in beta) - which hopefully will be much easier to navigate. Finally there is Social Explorer - my favorite: very easy to use, map interface, all census data for all times. The free edition is nice, but the professional version includes much more data (luckily Westfield State has a subscription via the library). Otherwise: get yourself a free 30-day trial and scrape the data!

http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/gis/manual/census_getdata/images/factfinder_workflow.jpg

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Educational Jargon Generator

I knew it - that's how these assessment - outcomes things get written: with the Educational Jargon Generator!

EarthPorn

The name (thanks reddit...) is unfortunate, but there is nothing inappropriate as far as the content: just spectacular photographs posted by users and thus updated constantly.

MS Excel Art

That seems like an oxymoron - but maybe not! Have a look at Tatsuo Horiuchi's work! Now this would be even better had he not just used the autoshapes, but actual cell values and manipulations - shown as charts. Here's a nice video of his work: The Michelangelo of Microsoft Excel.

USGS Flood Mapper

Yet another nice example of a rich and interactive web map: the USGS Flood Inundation Mapper. It's almost getting to be too much these days...so many ways to look at data and to perhaps download data.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Europe 1000 AD - Today

This is quite nice (especially the music). But: why not add the date line or something?

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) Version 3.2

New release of the Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) - now Version 3.2. It features improved accuracy of glacier outlines in many places, notably Alaska (more recent source imagery) and South America (source imagery with less seasonal snow), filling of some gaps (for example in the tropics and in Burma), and
correction of errors in a number of places.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

NOAA Historical Hurricane Tracks

From NOAA: The NOAA Historical Hurricane Tracker allows users to search by place name, storm name or year, or latitude and longitude points. With the search results, users can generate a map showing the track of the storm or storms accompanied by a table of related information.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

The Last Mile

This is interesting (although don't quite understand the maps and underlying data): an open-source web map for visualizing the logistics of selected mega-cites around the world. Have a look yourself!

Connection

How do you effectively tell a story? In my life that's usually about science, particularly about global warming, its impacts, and what we can and should do about. Randy Olson wrote a great book to help us scientists with just that called Don't be Such a Scientist. Now he's back with a new book Connection - Hollywood Storytelling meets Scientific Thinking. Plus, there is the Connection Storymaker app for Android and iOS.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Bullet Journal

So you sit in a lecture and are supposed to take notes - how do you best do that? There are a bunch of established note-taking systems, but here's a new one: Bullet Journal. This one is interesting in its simplicity: no fancy gizmo or app is needed...just a piece of paper (although it may work better with a notebook).

The Rise of Machines

UAVs are all the rage right now...even for delivering pizza. Here's an interesting and somewhat critical article about the reality and future (?) of these unmanned autonomous systems.

Inequality is Real!

This is a nicely-illustrated animated infographic narrated by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Forecast Lines

Super-cool: Forecast Lines shows you the different forecast from the different forecast models. There is also an iOS version.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

The Automated Teaching Machine

Robots, Kafka, Rocketship, Dreambox, and ENGKEY - this all sounds like MOOCs to me! See for yourself: A Graphic Introduction to the End of Human Teachers.

Google Earth Tour Builder

Here's something new from Google: Tour Builder. Still in beta, so expect the unexpected! This seems to be Google's response to Esri's Storytelling with Maps.

Survey Monkey vs. Google Forms

Google Forms is a nice alternative to Survey Monkey - the results run right into a Google Spreadsheet. I admit: I have not used it 'for real', but it is not limited in terms of questions and responses as the free version of Survey Monkey.

The Age of Cities

Or, rather of buildings in a city - viewed as choropleth maps you get an idea of how the city developed over time.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Maps of Protest

John Bieler created this global view of protest starting in 1979 based on the GDELT data. Read about the limitations of those data on his blog and explore his recent maps of protests in Egypt.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Mapping Guns!

This is MAD: Mapping Arms Data - a visualization of global exports and imports of small arms and ammunition. This takes a little while to load and initially looks chaotic (maybe because that's what the arms trade is?). It's easiest to click on a specific country and look at the different arms categories (military, civilian, ammo, unspecified).

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Where Does Stuff Come From?

Sourcemap is a crowd-sourced directory of supply chains and environmental footprint - as interactive maps! Where do products come from, what they’re made of, and how they impact people and the environment? Always interesting in this context: The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard.

Mapping a Supply Chain with Carbon, Water and Energy Footprints from Sourcemap on Vimeo.


The Geography of Food

Nice analysis and maps by Nathan Yau (aka FlowingData):

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

UAVs in Science and Glacier Research

Here is an actual practical example of using a UAV in a real scientific application - not just to get some cool pictures and video, but to construct a high-resolution DEM for a remote glacier in the Canadian Arctic.
Here's a nice review paper: UAVs as remote sensing platform in glaciology: Present applications and future prospects (Bhardwaj et al. 2016, Remote Sensing of Environment 175).

Bikeshare Maps

Here are five great bikeshare maps / visualizations.
  • Bike Share Map. This is a global map, but you can click-on each city displayed to see its real-time information.
  • Bike Movements in NYC and DC. As the tile says: this map shows average bike availability in New York City and Washington, D.C., both for the entire city as well as individual stations.
  • Bike Trip Visualizer. Here you can explore, for each bikeshare station, where people go and come from (currently available for Washington, D.C., Montreal, Boston, and Minneapolis/St.Paul).
  • BikeShare Data Video. 32,000 trips between 4 and 8 October in Washington, D.C.
  • CitiBike in NYC. Interactive maps and analysis of station popularity.
Bike Share Map for London

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Funny!

FieldScope and More!

FieldScope is National Geographic's Community Geography Initiative: a web-based platform for the collection, analysis, mapping, and sharing of scientific data with a spatial dimension. This all sounds a bit like the GLOBE program (except for the spatial twist). Another great program, more focused on environmental activism than data collection, is Jane Goodall's Roots and Shoots.

National Geographic MapMaker

This is a well-done, simple, and effective flash-based web mapping tool: choose different themes, base layers, add features (point, lines, etc.), and annotate with text and web links. Then you can share, print, or download your map. All that without the annoying requirement to first create an account and log-in (see Esri or Google). Try it at National Geographic MapMaker Interactive.


WorldMap

WorldMap has been around for a while and is a great open-source alternative to ArcGIS Online. Of course, for those of us with an Esri site license we get more from ArcGIS Online (map services, analysis tools, etc.), but WorldMap remains a great way to make and share maps online.


Zelig

Zelig is - according to the folks developing it - everyone's statistical software. That may be partly correct: Zelig is based on R and all is open-source. Still I would expect it to be somewhat challenging to install and use...unless you are somewhat of a computer geek. How about instead using the actual statistical software for everyone: Microsoft Excel (or the OpenOffice alternative Calc)?

Measuring Temperature and Pressure with your Smartphone

This is great - here they crowd-sourced city air temperatures from the internal temperatures of millions of smartphone batteries. Now...I can't believe this really works, but read the paper for yourself. It was published in Geophysical Research Letters, a highly-reputable peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
Mass and Madaus (2014) describe another interesting application - measuring air pressure with smartphones that have a built-in barometer (e.g. Galaxy S V, etc.).

The Saddest Place in NYC?

Or rather: mapping the sentiments or moods of NYC based on Twitter.

Monday, August 26, 2013

America's Busiest Air Routes

Simple and elegant: an interactive map of air travel routes in the USA. A zoom-tool would be a nice addition to better distinguish the air traffic mess in the Northeast.


Sunday, August 25, 2013

Spatial Patterns Across the USA

Have a look yourself...

Operation ARIES!

Well - not sure about this...but the idea is interesting: a online game designed to teach scientific reasoning and critical thinking. One key concept used here: adaptive tutoring in so-called trialogues between the actual student, a tutor, and another student who adapt their behavior according to the real student's responses.



Saturday, August 24, 2013

Google Crisis Response and Map

This is a great service provided by Google - read more about the Google Crisis Response. However, even better, the mapping tool can also be used to quickly create and publish your own maps.

Google Earth Gallery

Google Earth Gallery is a way to share your Google-based maps with the rest of the world. Whether you want to do that is another question...but here are some interesting examples:

Who Owns Your Digital Stuff?

What happens if Google and/or Facebook shut-down or start charging for their services?

I have been thinking about this for a while - we are 100 percent dependent these days on these 'free' services. Furthermore, many schools and universities now use 'free' Gmail services, Google Docs, Google Drive, Facebook as an online learning platform, etc.

Sara Grossman has a nice article about that in the Chronicle of Higher Education and there are a few alternatives. Nothing is truly your own on the Internet, but these options are worth considering:

STEM OERs

Excellent article by Porcello and Hsi in Science (19 July 2013): how to crowd-source and curate online education resources, in this case for STEM. There is so much out there...how do you decide which collection(s) to search, use, and perhaps contribute to?

One thing that would be very helpful: create and use common metadata for these online resources - now searches and queries can be expected to yield more accurate and consistent results across OERs.

Here are a few examples of STEM OERs:

Thursday, August 22, 2013

SERC

The Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College is awesome...but perhaps too massive and complex to navigate effectively. But, there are site guides!

EarthLabs, Visionlearning, Earthlearningidea, and More!

EarthLabs is a nice compilation of student-centered lab activities about earth science (targeted for high school students, but also quite useful for college).
Visionlearning is a free resource for teaching and learning science, for example Biology, Chemistry, etc. as well as science as a process. Includes reading materials, resources, and simple short quizzes.
Earthlearingidea is great: real hands-on activities that can be used as part of classes or labs. Mike Tuke also provides great ideas for teaching Geology that can be implemented easily. Finally, Steve Whitmeyer has some great Google Earth material for teaching geology.

The Sun - Now!

Want to see the sun in real-time (well, almost): NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory

http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/57561895717/our-multicolored-sun

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Maps!

Here are two nice compilation of maps: some weird, some unusual, some crappy, and some really fun!
Here's one of them: global Internet use based on time of day:

http://internetcensus2012.bitbucket.org/images/geovideo.gif

US Fast Food Map

Source: http://assets3.thrillist.com/v1/u/food-chain-national-map.pdf

Fun: Pie charts with actual pies!

The Two Largest Photographs - Ever!

Read more about them at Co.Design:

Birth and Death Rates

Here's a map by Vicky Huang where the size of the type is a function of birth rate (white) and death rate (red). As expected, Europe and North America literally disappear, whereas Africa becomes the 'largest' continent.

The Green Earth

Great high-resolution map (and movie) by NOAA showing the greenness (or lack thereof) of our planet.
Climate boundary in Iran

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

1 Year on Mars in 2 Minutes!

Brewery Map

Finally...a useful application of all that web mapping technology: where are all the breweries around you. And, perhaps even more important, where are all the breweries that are between you and your destination!

Airports: delays and weather

This is nicely done: a web-based visualization showing airport delays (as map and table) and airport weather - all updated periodically by the FAA.

StreetMix

Design your own neighborhood street - complete with trees, bike paths, or bus lanes! Save your design and share it with others: a great tool to explore options of what-could-be.

One Dot per Person!

Here are several maps of the USA where each person is presented with a single dot - cool!
For more information about these dot maps, and additional maps, see FlowingData.


Change Matters!

Esri is now providing free online access to Landsat imagery - very nice! Of course, the Landsat images have been public for a while now via the USGS, but this image service makes it easy and efficient to integrate them into ArcGIS projects (desktop or online) - at least for basic mapping and display purposes. Real quantitative satellite image analysis will still require the underlying multi-spectral images and the dedicated software packages.

Maps as Art

Choose your city, color, and size - makes for a nice holiday present: Custom city maps for the modern home.

Amherst (MA)

Hill Mapper

Where else but in San Francisco? Simple and effective - give it a try!

R

Nothing new here: R has been a popular statistical analysis software for many years now. Now Google has released a nice 21-part series of short videos that introduce the basic functions of R (great for teaching!).
  1. R
  2. R Video Series (by Google)
  3. Better charts in R (Nathan Yau)