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.

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.

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!

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 America. Good 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!

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.

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.

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

• Attendance2: An iPhone app for - well - taking attendance!
• JotNot Scanner Pro: Who still needs a scanner!
• Mindjet Maps: Visual maps of projects, ideas, and anything else!
• Popplet: Map and organize your thoughts and ideas

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!).

• Middlebury Campus Tree Map

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.

• Tech-Enabled Field Studies
• Additional information from the Esri Ed Team

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/

Better than LiDAR?

Airborne DSLR Photogrammetry

Why is Fieldwork Important to Geography?