Top-10 Graduate GIS Programs

For whatever it's worth...here are Justin Holman's rankings.

Colors in Maps!

Colors are a critical part of map making...unless...you are smart and just stick with grayscale.

• Color Oracle (a color-blindness simulator)
• Vischeck (another color-blindness simulator)
• Daltonize (image corrector for colorblind folks)
• ColorBlender (interactively mix your own colors)
• ColorHunter (similar to ColorBlender)
• ColorBrewer 2.0 (interactive color advice)
• Color Palette Generator
• Color Scheme Designer (interactively design your color palette)
• COPASO: basic and advanced (color palette tool)
• Adobe Kuler (yet another interactive color palette generator)
• Map Symbols for ArcGIS (by Brian Sheahan)
• Relief Shading (tips, information, and resources)
• Shaded Relief (similar to above)
• Map Color Resources (compiled by John Krygier)
• Gretchen Peterson: Colors for Maps
• Gretchen Peterson: Cartographer's Toolkit

LiDAR!

LiDAR data are pretty hip right now...I'm not necessarily sure why all the time, but here are some useful resources and links.

• LiDAR for New Hampshire
• LiDAR for Vermont
• LiDAR for New York (download here)
• LiDAR for Maine
• NOAA Digital Coast (data inventory)
• USGS CLICK
• U.S. Interagency Elevatiuon Inventory

To make things worse (or better...) we now have the LiDAR data format 'wars' starting with Esri announcing a new data format for LiDAR data: Optimized LAS.

Stamen Map Stack

Stamen Map Stack allows you to overlay several map layers, tweak their appearance as needed, and share your map as a PNG file. I wish there were some simple annotation tools and an embed option!

Placemeter

Cool and Scary!
Placemeter  is (supposed to be) able to track, in real-time, the movement of people and things = any web cam or smartphone camera can be used not only to capture video, but to generate 'big data'. Read more about it and similar apps at wired.com.


Placemeter Algorithms Output from Placemeter on Vimeo.

Google Earth Engine

You can explore Google Earth Engine using the embedded viewer below, but head-over to Google for the full-resolution images.

The Best Maps of 2013!

It's this time of the year - here are three compilations of the best and coolest maps of 2013: Wired MapLab, The Atlantic CITIES, and MapHugger. Here are a few that stand-out to me.

• Mapdwell or Cambridge Solar
• The Racial Dot Map: One Dot Per Person
• Stamen Map Stack (make and share your own maps)
• NYCHenge
• Google EarthEngine
• Poverty and Race in America
• Boston Sea Level Rise Map
• Earth Global Wind Map