Geography

• Most Topular Stories

• 2013 U.N. Human Development Report

  About.com Geography

  30 Apr 2013 | 9:56 am

  The United Nations has issued their 2013 Human Development Report and it includes several exciting findings. Titled "The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World," the report points out that China has already overtaken Japan as the world's second largest economy, improving the quality of life for hundreds of millions of Chinese. Additionally, countries like India and Brazil...Read Full Post

• Meet the new Google Maps: A map for every person and place

  Google LatLong

  Lat Long

  15 May 2013 | 11:45 am

  What if we told you that during your lifetime, Google could create millions of custom maps...each one just for you?  In the past, such a notion would have been unbelievable: a map was just a map, and you got the same one for New York City, whether you were searching for the Empire State Building or the coffee shop down the street. What if, instead, you had a map that’s unique to you, always adapting to the task you want to perform right this minute?  This is what you will have with the introduction of the new Google Maps – a mapping experience that helps you find places you…

• Earth Day is Monday

  About.com Geography

  21 Apr 2013 | 12:46 pm

  Established in 1969, Earth Day is a celebration of our planet and our environment. Learn about this history of this annual commemoration of our planet and its environment, which takes place on Monday, April 22, 2013. What will you do on April 22 to consider our planet? Share your comments below...

• The Shifting Geography of The Catholic Church

  About.com Geography

  18 Apr 2013 | 5:33 pm

  The election of Pope Francis (Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio) of Argentina is a signal of the growing significance of Latin America to the Catholic Church. In recent decades the church, much like everything else, has experienced the effects of globalization. Historically, the center of the Catholic world was in Rome, Italy; today that is changing.

• GPS solution provides three-minute tsunami alerts

  ScienceDaily: Geographical News

  17 May 2013 | 5:58 am

  Researchers have shown that, by using global positioning systems (GPS) to measure ground deformation caused by a large underwater earthquake, they can provide accurate warning of the resulting tsunami in just a few minutes after the earthquake onset. For the devastating Japan 2011 event the analysis of the GPS data and issue of a detailed tsunami alert would have taken no more than three minutes.

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  ScienceDaily: Geographical News

• GPS solution provides three-minute tsunami alerts

  17 May 2013 | 5:58 am

  Researchers have shown that, by using global positioning systems (GPS) to measure ground deformation caused by a large underwater earthquake, they can provide accurate warning of the resulting tsunami in just a few minutes after the earthquake onset. For the devastating Japan 2011 event the analysis of the GPS data and issue of a detailed tsunami alert would have taken no more than three minutes.

• Topography of Eastern Seaboard muddles ancient sea level changes

  16 May 2013 | 3:20 pm

  The distortion of the ancient shoreline and flooding surface of the US Atlantic Coastal Plain are the direct result of fluctuations in topography in the region and could have implications on understanding long-term climate change, according to a new study.

• Team wins Cubesat berth to gather Earth energy imbalance measurements

  16 May 2013 | 1:57 pm

  A team of scientists has won a berth on a tiny satellite to explore one of NASA's most important frontiers in climate studies: the imbalance in Earth's energy budget and the extent to which fast-changing phenomena, like clouds, contribute to that imbalance.

• World's biggest ice sheets likely more stable than previously believed

  16 May 2013 | 11:25 am

  A new study suggests that the previous connections scientists made between ancient shoreline height and ice volumes are erroneous and that perhaps our ice sheets were more stable in the past than we originally thought. The study found that the Earth's hot mantle pushed up segments of ancient shorelines over millions of years, making them appear higher now than they originally were millions of years ago.

• World's melting glaciers making large contribution to sea rise

  16 May 2013 | 11:25 am

  While 99 percent of Earth's land ice is locked up in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the remaining ice in the world's glaciers contributed just as much to sea rise as the two ice sheets combined from 2003 to 2009, says a new study.

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  About.com Geography

• Geothermal Pools

  5 May 2013 | 2:59 am

  Geothermal pools are unique and spectacular features which are home to a plethora of species found nowhere else in the world. In addition, geothermal pools provide a cornucopia of ecosystem goods and services such as energy, a source of hot water, health benefits, thermostable enzymes, tourism sites, and even concert venues. Learn all about geothermal pools and their importance in this brand-new article from Claire Weber.

• 2013 U.N. Human Development Report

  30 Apr 2013 | 9:56 am

  The United Nations has issued their 2013 Human Development Report and it includes several exciting findings. Titled "The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World," the report points out that China has already overtaken Japan as the world's second largest economy, improving the quality of life for hundreds of millions of Chinese. Additionally, countries like India and Brazil...Read Full Post

• Geography of MMORPG Gold Farming

  25 Apr 2013 | 9:14 am

  Due to economic globalization, outsourcing has become a modern business norm. Goods are now often manufactured in developing countries and shipped overseas to be sold in industrialized markets. This practice, however, is not limited just to the exchange of concrete items. Today, even virtual goods and services are outsourced. Learn about the economic geography of gold farming and the global divide between the gold farmers and the gold buyers in MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) from this latest article by Ping Zhou.

• Earth Day is Monday

  21 Apr 2013 | 12:46 pm

  Established in 1969, Earth Day is a celebration of our planet and our environment. Learn about this history of this annual commemoration of our planet and its environment, which takes place on Monday, April 22, 2013. What will you do on April 22 to consider our planet? Share your comments below...

• The Shifting Geography of The Catholic Church

  18 Apr 2013 | 5:33 pm

  The election of Pope Francis (Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio) of Argentina is a signal of the growing significance of Latin America to the Catholic Church. In recent decades the church, much like everything else, has experienced the effects of globalization. Historically, the center of the Catholic world was in Rome, Italy; today that is changing.

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  Google Earth Blog

• How underwater Street View works

  Mickey Mellen

  17 May 2013 | 2:52 am

  Last September we showed you the first set of amazing underwater Street View images that Google had released.  They were absolutely stunning, as you can see in the example here: TechCrunch recently spoke with Google about their Ocean Street View program, and came away with some amazing insights, including: …the cameras his team uses for this project are very different from those used by Google’s other Street View vehicles. The team had to use wider-angle lenses, for example. Google’s underwater Street View camera has three cameras on its front and takes images every three seconds.

• Google Earth arrives in the browser with no plugin required

  Mickey Mellen

  16 May 2013 | 4:36 am

  The Google Earth Plugin has been an amazing tool to help bring Google Earth into the browser, but with the upcoming release of Google Maps you’ll be able to view Google Earth in your web browser without needing a plugin at all!  Here’s a quick video from Google that shows more of what’s coming in the new version of Maps: There are quite a few enhancements in this new update to Maps, but the Earth integration could be quite compelling.  We’ve seen some amazing uses of the Google Earth Plugin over the years (things like youbeQ, concert seating, Ships and even a great…

• 10 things you didn’t know about Google Earth

  Mickey Mellen

  15 May 2013 | 4:07 am

  PC Advisor recently published an article that discussed the “10 things you didn’t know about Google Maps and Google Earth” and I thought we’d take a look at it.  Some of these won’t be surprises for you, a Google Earth Blog reader, but it’s a list that would be fairly helpful to the typical computer user. 1 – Google Maps isn’t Google’s only mapping product. You don’t say? 2 – Because it uses software on your own PC, Google Earth offers a more polished interface than Google Maps. That could be argued either way.  I’d say…

• Reconstructing a lightning bolt in 3D

  Mickey Mellen

  14 May 2013 | 4:05 am

  Thanks to sheer luck, two people in the Denver area captured a photo of the same lightning bolt from very different locations.  Richard Wheeler to decided to try and use those two images to reconstruct the lightning bolt in Google Earth and seems to have done a pretty good job! Richard went through a number of steps to create the model of the bolt: Scaled both images to the same size Traced both images and matched up the coordinates of each location in the bolt Put the resulting data in a table to calculate the difference in x and y position in each image After he had done that, he had some…

• Tracking down Star Wars in Google Earth

  Mickey Mellen

  13 May 2013 | 5:54 am

  Roughly 35 years ago, the original Star Wars movie was filmed in a variety of locations around world.  The opening of the first movie features Luke complaining about having to work at his uncle’s moisture farm, and was shot in the country of Tunisia.  The sets have been left virtually untouched for all this time, and New York-based photographer Ra di Martino recently traveled out there to photograph them. So how did she find the area?  Google Earth.  From Co. Design: A few years ago, when Di Martino was working on a project on the Chott El Jerid, a salt lake in Tunisia, she was…

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  Esri News Feed

• GIS Helps Construction Mind Its Surroundings

  30 Apr 2013 | 4:21 pm

  GIS is helping more and more construction companies mind their collective surroundings.

• How GIS Can Help Organizations Manage Facilities

  30 Apr 2013 | 4:21 pm

  With proper facilities management, organizations can reduce costs and manage space efficiently.

• UAH grad student trains Madison teenagers in geographic technology

  30 Apr 2013 | 4:21 pm

  University of Alabama in Huntsville graduate student has shown Madison teenagers ways that cell phone technology can help them both study and protect the environment.

• The expanding swath of GIS

  30 Apr 2013 | 4:21 pm

  Widening application of GIS across diverse sectors enables better access, sharing and analysis of information.

• Sharing is everything

  30 Apr 2013 | 4:21 pm

  Global environmental issues are increasingly complex and interconnected, hence resolving them requires generation and sharing of information at the global level.

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  GIS Education Community

• Student Videos to be Featured at EduC Plenary

  dibiase

  18 May 2013 | 6:58 am

  This Spring, Esri’s Education Team invited nominations of outstanding students and alumni to present their stories in a special plenary session at the 2013 Esri Education GIS Conference. Nominations were to include a video in which the student or alum demonstrates how GIS education made a difference in his or her life. Of the many nominations received, we’ve selected the following five nominees to appear in the Celebrating Student Success plenary session Saturday morning July 6 in San Diego: Steve Chignel, Colorado State University Julien Clifford, Texas A&M Corpus Christi Mohan Rao,…

• Connecting and Empowering Young Professionals

  Joseph Kerski

  17 May 2013 | 5:57 am

  I recently participated in the European Association of Geographers conference in Belgium.  There, I had the pleasure of interacting with energetic and knowledgeable young professionals promoting the European Geography Association for Students and Young Geographers, the EGEA. Some members of the European Geography Association, with Karl Donert above left, President of the European Association of Geographers. It is an honor for Esri to partner with and support this organization, along with our colleagues at the University of Utrecht and elsewhere.  The goal of EGEA’s network is to…

• Eighteen

  Charlie Fitzpatrick

  13 May 2013 | 8:05 am

  Esri’s Education Industry Team began formally on Monday June 1 of 1992, and the K-12 side slid into playing catch-up before the week was out. Late in 1994, Judy Laudenbach joined the “Schools & Libraries” team and started fielding initial calls, sending out info, and helping people get software. She became the primary contact for school districts anxious to get software, arrange special services, or find a business partner who could help. For 18 years, with down-home ease from small-town Minnesota and years in banking, she has talked and emailed with thousands of people,…

• East Dakota, West Dakota

  Joseph Kerski

  10 May 2013 | 6:00 am

  East Dakota and West Dakota GIS is often used to help us understand the world as it is, or was in the past, or model what it could be like in the future. But it can also be used to explore what could have been. Take the case of North Dakota and South Dakota. These two states were carved out of the Dakota Territory in 1889.  President Harrison did not want to show favoritism when he signed the documents in terms of which state was admitted first, so they are listed alphabetically, with North Dakota listed as the 39th state and South Dakota listed as the 40th state.  In many ways, the manner…

• Examining volcanoes of the world using webcams and ArcGIS Online

  Joseph Kerski

  3 May 2013 | 6:58 am

  ArcGIS Online makes it  easy to create engaging content on relevant issues of our planet tied to real-time data.  For example, as part of our focus on created STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) resources here at Esri, I recently created a volcanoes of the world map in ArcGIS Online with webcams. Volcanoes map in ArcGIS Online with Webcams. Each webcam is tied to selected volcanoes as images tied to the popups that appear when the user clicks on each one of them.  The webcams update every minute or every few minutes depending on how the webcam operator set them up.

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  GISCafe.com CorpNews

• Getmapping Wins bid to Supply Scottish Government with Aerial Photography

  17 May 2013 | 8:51 am

  May 17, 2013 -- Getmapping has won a bid to supply Scottish Government with matched ‘True Colour’ (TC) and ‘Colour Infra-Red&rs

• Big Data Helps City of Dublin Improve its Public Bus Transportation Network and Reduce Congestion

  17 May 2013 | 8:50 am

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• Geospatial World Innovation Award goes to RIEGL VQ-820-G topo-hydrographic airborne scanner

  17 May 2013 | 3:35 am

  Horn, Austria, May 16, 2013 -- On May 15th, RIEGL won the Geospatial World Award in the category Geospatial Technology Innovation Surveying at the Ge

• Revised Kentucky and Tennessee Maps Reveal New Design

  17 May 2013 | 3:18 am

  Newly designed maps covering Kentucky and Tennessee are now available online for free download May 15, 2013 -- US Topo maps now have a cris

• Dell Reports Fiscal Year 2014 First Quarter Financial Results

  16 May 2013 | 3:14 pm

  Revenue of $14.1 billion Enterprise Solutions, Services and Software revenue up 12 percent

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  GIS Lounge

• Open and Machine Readable Now the Default for Government Data

  Caitlin Dempsey

  19 May 2013 | 10:52 am

  On May 9, 2013, President Barack Obama sign an executive order making the default for government data "open and machine readable". The executive order was accompanied by the White House's Open Data Policy. The post Open and Machine Readable Now the Default for Government Data appeared first on GIS Lounge.

• Google Map Redesign

  Caitlin Dempsey

  16 May 2013 | 1:07 pm

  Googles Maps is preparing to debut its newly revamped Google Maps.  Terming it “smart recommendations” the new functionality of Google Maps is intended to be more interactive and custom tailored to the specific user.  The more you use the map to search for locations, favorite items by starring them, and write location reviews, the more [...]The post Google Map Redesign appeared first on GIS Lounge.

• Crowdsource Power Plant Data Project

  Caitlin Dempsey

  14 May 2013 | 1:05 pm

  The Ventus Project at Arizona State University is seeking the public's help to map out the location of all the world's power plants. The project is led by Dr. Kevin Robert Gurney and seeks to measure carbon dioxide output at those power plants.The post Crowdsource Power Plant Data Project appeared first on GIS Lounge.

• Shapefile Viewers

  Caitlin Dempsey

  14 May 2013 | 10:57 am

  Listed here are shapefile viewers for viewing GIS vector data in shapefile format by using desktop software or an online option.The post Shapefile Viewers appeared first on GIS Lounge.

• Timelapse Satellite Imagery – View Changes on Earth over Time

  Caitlin Dempsey

  9 May 2013 | 10:44 am

  The series of Landsat satellites has been collecting global imagery continuously since 1972.  A total of eight satellites and millions of pictures (and trillions of pixels) has resulted in a hugh amount of imagery which, when compiled, visualizes the massive amount of global change over the past thirty+ years.  Landsat satellites capture imagery of the [...]The post Timelapse Satellite Imagery – View Changes on Earth over Time appeared first on GIS Lounge.

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  Directions Magazine - Top Stories

• Wyndham City Council Further Enhances its Residents Geographic Information with an Enterprise GIS Solution

  15 May 2013 | 11:14 pm

  In the city of Wyndham, Australia, rapid population growth, coupled with the diverse business activities of the city, has increased demand for spatial services exponentially. This article discusses how the Spatial Systems Unit at the Wyndham City Council planned to provide an accurate and current enterprise GIS for all staff, empowering them to obtain information seamlessly, while catering to future changes to other corporate systems.

• GEOStore: New Web Marketing and Distribution Techniques for Geolocated Digital Content

  14 May 2013 | 11:51 pm

  The GEOStore project explores new types of geolocated digital content, such as 3D models and augmented reality, and defines new bundling and Web distribution techniques for digital content to facilitate new business models. In this article, the authors discuss the ways in which the GEOStore addresses the challenges of interoperability and Web-based distribution of geospatial data content to users in sectors such as education, geomarketing, tourism and urban management.

• Privatizing National Mapping Technology

  14 May 2013 | 1:31 am

  Google has not only become the de facto mapping app, the de facto navigation app, the de facto remote sensing app, the de facto change detection app, etc. It's the de facto National Map, as well. The USGS collected the data (imagery, topo, etc.) but Google monetized it. Is this an acceptable model where the government invests but the private sector monetizes the data? What is the future of privatization of national geodata?

• Why Gartner’s Magic Quadrant Missed the Importance of Location Analytics to Business Intelligence

  13 May 2013 | 12:15 am

  Location-based data and analysis are considered so critical to the understanding of a business’ operations that business analytics software companies routinely and prominently boast maps as part of their dashboard visualization toolkits. But Gartner, the market research company, gives scant mention of the importance of location intelligence. Editor in Chief Joe Francica looks at what’s missing from its most recent “Magic Quadrant” report. 

• Western U.S. Disasters and Health & Air Quality: California Flames and Oregon Plains - NASA DEVELOP

  9 May 2013 | 2:00 am

  This past fall, NASA DEVELOP interns partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Oregon Department of Forestry to apply NASA EOS in understanding the impact of the 2012 wildfire season in Oregon on landscape and air quality. DEVELOP students combined VIIRS and Landsat 7 data to create burn scars and fire risk maps, and CALIPSO curtains and HYSPLIT modeling to visualize the extent of smoke plumes and particulate matter from the fires. 

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  Spatially Adjusted

• Waze valued at $1B

  James Fee

  9 May 2013 | 2:09 pm

  So Waze may be part of Facebook for a cool ”One Billion Dollars”. After spending $1 billion on Instagram last year to keep pace with the mobile photo explosion, Facebook is now reportedly ready to spend a similar amount on popular social driving app Waze. Waze is considered the second most popular navigation map in the USA so it’s not too much of a surprise. I do find it interesting though that Facebook would spend this money on the data. They don’t need the users, that’s for sure and they can buy engineers to solve the problem. I can only think it is better to…

• Esri and an OGC Standard

  James Fee

  9 May 2013 | 11:31 am

  So there is a ton of talk about Esri’s REST API trying to become an OGC standard on Twitter. We mentioned it on my hangout yesterday and it’s still a hot topic. Here are some bullet points. OGC exists to help software vendors, open source projects, contractors market to the federal government. There is no altruistic goal other than to make money. OGC standards are standard only in the world of contracts. Just because Esri gets their REST API “blessed” doesn’t make it worth using any more than it was before. Esri submitted their REST API to OGC so they could use…

• Hangouts with James Fee:: Live from the Airport

  James Fee

  8 May 2013 | 10:23 am

  Steve Citron-Pousty joined me to talk about some of the latest trends in the spatial world. We hit on Google Glass, Esri, Frameworks, housing prices, travel, iD and OSM, naming stadiums and of course being in an airport. The IRC log is here

• This Week's Hangout with Steve Citron-Pousty

  James Fee

  7 May 2013 | 9:30 am

  This week’s hangout should be fun. Steve C-P joins me to talk about the latest trends in the spatial world. We’re going to have fun and crowdsource the topics. If there is something you’d like to see talked about tomorrow, just add it to this Gist. As always, we go live at 11am PDT and the video will stream live here on this blog.

• MapBox's OpenStreetMap editor

  James Fee

  7 May 2013 | 7:51 am

  Go to osm.org right now and click the edit tab. Select the “Edit with iD” and check it out. It’s like nothing you’ve seen before. This is the tool that OSM needs to finish the map as Steve Coast said on my Hangout last week. All this is because of the Knight Foundation grant to MapBox which finally gives users tools they need to edit the map. As I said back then: I’ve always felt OSM was held back by it’s editing tools. They are designed by nerds for geeks. Well no longer, the editor is live and it’s gorgeous! Check out how you add a road: Or add a park:…

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  VerySpatial

• A VerySpatial Podcast – Episode 409

  Sue

  19 May 2013 | 9:45 pm

  A VerySpatial Podcast Shownotes – Episode 409 May 19, 2013 Main Topic: Some thoughts on geofencing Click to directly download MP3 Click to directly download AAC Click for the detailed shownotes Music This week’s podsafe music: “A Laptop Like You” by Jonathan Coulton News Construction company in Belize destroys Mayan pyramid Lots of updates for Google Maps from Google I/O and Location APIs ArcGIS for Windows Phone update, Windows Phone jumps to #3 in the smartphone market ArcGIS API for Javascript 3.5 Web Corner Geoguessr Main topic This week, we feature a conversation…

• The Apostrophe’s Last Stand

  Barb

  16 May 2013 | 8:23 am

  The Wall Street Journal has an interesting, spatially relevant article on regulation and standardization of place names and the disappearing apostrophe in U.S. signage, “Theres a Question Mark Hanging Over the Apostrophes Future: Its Practically Against the Law to Use the Mark in a Places Name; Sorry, Pikes Peak.”    Read the title again to catch the humor that Barry Newman uses to construct a brief history of place signage. He states that the U.S. is the only country that standardized out apostrophes because they were seen as conveying private ownership of a public place. The…

• A VerySpatial Podcast – Episode 408

  Sue

  12 May 2013 | 9:55 pm

  A VerySpatial Podcast Shownotes – Episode 408 May 12, 2013 Main Topic: Public/private sectors in Geospatial Click to directly download MP3 Click to directly download AAC Click for the detailed shownotes Music This week’s podsafe music: “Test Drive” by Black Kettle News OpenStreetMap and MapBox launch new iD editor Lightsquared gets a reprieve? ENVI geoprocesses with ArcGIS Online Changes to Adobe CS India launches Central Monitoring System Web Corner Geospatial Education Program Finder Main topic This week, we feature a conversation offering some of our thoughts on…

• The Best Geographic Visualization I’ve Seen In Ages

  Frank

  7 May 2013 | 4:26 am

  It’s all well and good you can rattle off that most of the worlds population is in Southeast Asia. However, conceptualizing that is sometimes really challenging. It’s almost too abstract. That’s why this graphic is so amazing – more than half the world’s population lives inside this ‘circle’. That’s AMAZING! That tiny little circle encompasses the majority of the human population. The visual is just staggering. Who says Geography isn’t cool? Via i09.com

• A VerySpatial Podcast – Episode 407

  Sue

  5 May 2013 | 8:30 pm

  A VerySpatial Podcast Shownotes – Episode 407 May 5, 2013 Main Topic: Geospatial and online education Click to directly download MP3 Click to directly download AAC Click for the detailed shownotes Music This week’s podsafe music: “Code Monkey” by Jonathan Coulton News Bill to replace peer review in NSF funding Google Earth incorporates grassroots aerial imagery Winner of the Arthur Robinson Award for Best Printed Map Announced Dawn Wright to stay at Esri as Chief Scientist OGC calls for comments on OpenMI Web Corner CultureBlocks Main topic This week, we feature a…

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  GIS Stuff

• no legend test

  @SDBBQ

  25 Apr 2013 | 3:11 pm

  View Larger Map [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• Clean test

  @SDBBQ

  25 Apr 2013 | 3:10 pm

  View Larger Map [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• 2007 San Diego Firestorm - Fire Boundaries

  @SDBBQ

  28 Jan 2013 | 12:02 pm

  In 2007 there were multiple fires burning in the San Diego region. These fires caused a lot of confusion and fear, as well as being the reason for one of the largest evacuations ever in the state. Below is a quick map of the various fires that burned in the region. Collectively these are known as the 2007 Firestorm. View Larger... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• A map for Tony

  @SDBBQ

  4 Dec 2012 | 9:23 am

  Sample embedded map showing data hosted in the cloud. View Larger Map Learn more at http://www.arcgis.com/ [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• 7 Nov 2012 | 12:34 pm

  @SDBBQ

  7 Nov 2012 | 12:34 pm

  Showing someone the capabilities of embedding maps in web pages. View Larger Map Searched for data layer, added to map, changed symbology, modified pop-up, saved, shared. It's that easy! Made web map in five minutes, posted to the web in one. Could also save to web application. And the web map will open up in any browser, on any device... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

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  BostonGIS Blog

• Chopping rasters with gdal_translate

  9 May 2013 | 1:21 am

  We had this big raster that we needed to chop up into tiles and only extract a portion of for load into PostGIS. raster2pgsql doesn't currently have an option to pull just a portion of a raster and also we don't have the windows raster2pgsql compiled with MrSID support. Luckily GDAL commandline gdal_translate has this switch that allows you to specify a chunk of a raster to grab based on a projected or unprojected box window. We wanted to grab just that portion that is part of boston and chunk it into bite size pieces. What we needed was a grid generator similar to what we described a while…

• PostGIS 2.1 Manual in EPUB format

  5 May 2013 | 11:10 am

  Following PostgreSQL's lead, I thought it would be nice to provide PostGIS manual in ePub format. It turned out not to be a lot of work, but probably a lot more to fine tune it. I've changed Debbie (a PostGIS build-bot) to build this format and publish to PostGIS site whenever a change to PostGIS 2.1. You can download from http://postgis.net/documentation. The link next to EPUB. I would appreciate if people could try it out on their eReader devices. On my Android tablet it looks pretty good, and had the nice feature of when I clicked on the epub link to download it, it added it to my library.

• pgRouting Tutorials: Part 1

  11 Apr 2013 | 7:55 pm

  As mentioned in prior article we have windows binaries available for upcoming pgRouting. When we get new things, we like to take them for a test drive. So we've put up our first tutorial ever on pgRouting: pgRouting: Loading OpenStreetMap with Osm2Po and route querying. The OSM2PO pgRouting loading content we borrowed from Anita Graser's An osm2po Quickstart, but put a Boston spin to it. We hope to use this tutorial series as a springboard for testing the radical changes in pgRouting currently going on.

• pgRouting 1.07dev windows binaries available for PostgreSQL 9.2 32-bit and 64-bit

  8 Apr 2013 | 9:08 pm

  We've made our first huge milestone. With much of Steve Woodbridge's help and patience as well as support from pgRouting Windows campaign sponsors, we have windows PostgreSQL 9.2 binaries for the pgRouting 1.07 development branch for both PostgreSQL 32-bit and 64-bit. You can download these from: Winnie's 9.2 windows downloads. Details on how to install are described on Windows download page at bottom. Please give these a try to see if they work okay for you. These binaries will work for PostGIS 2+ releases as well as the experimental PostGIS 2.1 builds and upcoming PostGIS 2.1 release. We…

• Waiting for PostGIS 2.1: ST_FromGDALRaster free those images

  1 Apr 2013 | 8:01 pm

  We have a confession to make. We're not GIS analysts; we just play one at parties. Truth is the bread and butter of our business involves pretty boring stuff like e-Commerce, pricing (venture capital, private equity, travel, pension management), project management, work force management and all that other stuff that would bore a real GIS analyst to tears. Somehow we've got a lot of pictures to deal with particularly with project management and e-commerce work. So I was elated when Bborie checked in this new function ST_FromGDALRaster. With this function you can do all resizing and other…

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  GIS in Education

• Winners: NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) Program 2013

  talk

  17 May 2013 | 2:06 pm

  NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) Program - 2013 winners announced. Congratulations to the following students and advisors for submitting NASA Earth and Space Sciences Fellowship (NESSF) proposals that were selected for funding. NASA received a total of 587 applications in 2013 to the NASA Earth and Space Science (NESSF) Fellowship Program announced in November 2012 among Earth Science Research, Heliophysics Research, planetary Science Research, and Astrophysics Research - the four research programs of the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) at NASA Headquarters. These four SMD…

• NASA Accepting Proposals for Tribal College and University

  talk

  16 May 2013 | 9:18 am

  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of Education is accepting proposals in response to the Education Opportunities in NASA STEM (EONS) 2013-14 NASA Research Announcement.  This new announcement is an umbrella announcement for opportunities under the Minority University Research and Education Program (MUREP), and includes calls for proposals in the following program elements for Fiscal Year 2013:•    NASA Innovations in Climate Education - Tribal (NICE-T)•    Tribal College and University Experiential Learning Opportunities – (TCU…

• 2013 AGU Science Policy Conference: Preparing for Our Future

  talk

  15 May 2013 | 1:00 pm

  Join the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2nd annual Science Policy Conference, to be held Monday, 24 June to Wednesday, 26 June 2013 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D. C. Join hundreds of Earth and space scientists, students, policymakers, and industry professionals as they discuss key Earth and space science topics that address challenges to our economy, national security, environment, and public safety. This meeting will focus on the science that helps inform policymakers’ decisions related to energy, natural hazards, technology and infrastructure, climate,…

• Reticle FMV: Motion Imagery Software Suite Released

  talk

  13 May 2013 | 8:35 pm

  2d3 Incorporated (dba 2d3 Sensing), a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxford, UK-based OMG plc and a technology leader in the field of computer vision, image understanding, and full motion imagery/video (FMV) exploitation, announced today the launch of Reticle FMV metadata improvement and georegistration in the latest release of its motion imagery processing, exploitation, and dissemination product suite. The suite includes TacitView 3.2, Catalina 3.1, and Tungsten 3.2 and is available now. Integrated within Catalina, Reticle improves geospatial data for use in mapping and targeting, correcting…

• Free GIS Seminar: Real-Time GIS with ArcGIS GeoEvent Processor for Server

  talk

  11 May 2013 | 9:35 pm

  Join the Esri live training online seminar on "Real-Time GIS with ArcGIS GeoEvent Processor for Server." Seminar Overview ArcGIS includes the capability to use real-time data in everyday decision making. ArcGIS GeoEvent Processor, a new extension for ArcGIS for Server, allows organizations to connect with almost any type of streaming data and automatically alert personnel when specified conditions occur—all in real-time. In this seminar, you will learn how to incorporate real-time information streams with your existing GIS data and IT infrastructure, perform continuous processing and…

• 

  GIS and Agent-Based Modelling

• Tweets from President Obama's inauguration 2013-01-21

  10 May 2013 | 1:15 pm

  Following on from a previous post on agent-based modeling and elections. Here we show geo-located tweets during the day of President Obama's inauguration 2013-01-21. If you want to explore what people are currently saying about President Obama check out our Geosocial Gauge Website.Screen shot of Geo social Gauge. Clockwise from top left: Location of tweets, basic sentiment of tweets (green positive, red: negative and gray: neutral), most active countries tweeting and a word cloud of the most popular words in the tweets.

• Employment Growth through Labor Flow Network

  10 May 2013 | 7:37 am

  Omar Guerrero and Robert Axtell from the Department of Computational Social Science at GMU have recently published a paper in PLoS ONE entitled "Employment Growth through Labor Flow Networks." The work uses "newly available micro-data and the ability to work with large-scale, complex networks computationally, to study labor dynamics." Below is the abstract from the paper:It is conventional in labor economics to treat all workers who are seeking new jobs as belonging to a labor pool, and all firms that have job vacancies as an employer pool, and then match workers to jobs. Here we develop…

• ABM & Elections

  9 May 2013 | 2:36 pm

  Ever wondered if agent-based models have been applied to look at elections? I recently came across a nice little NetLogo model by Michael Laver which is part of the book "Party competition: an agent based model" (2012). This simple model allows users to explore the 2012 US presidential election campaign, Just like the election itself the model has two phases. 1) the  primary contest between the  Republican challengers.  2) The winner of the Republican primary then goes head to head with the Democratic incumbent.

• GeoSocial Gauge

  8 Apr 2013 | 7:32 am

  Over the last couple of months we have been working on getting our GeoSocial Gauge system up and running. The idea behind the website is to bring together social media and geographical analysis to monitor and explore people’s views, reactions, and interactions through space and time. It takes advantage of the emergence of social media to observe the human landscape as the living, breathing organism that it is: we can witness the explosion-like dissemination of information within a society, or the clusters of individuals who share common opinions or attitudes, and map the locations of these…

• Compuational Social Science @ GMU

  5 Apr 2013 | 6:29 am

  The Department of Computational Social Science (CSS) at George Mason University is the first of its kind. It has active PhD, Master and Certificate programs in CSS. If readers are wondering what CSS is hopefully the quote from our Facebook page should help:Computational Social Science is the interdisciplinary science of complex social systems and their investigation through computational modeling and related techniques. The field is at the intersection of social science and computer science and spans anthropology, economics, political science, sociology, and social psychology - as well as…

• 

  Geospatial Talk

• Everything new at Google: The big Google I/O Preview

  joesonic

  12 May 2013 | 11:44 am

  Android 4.3 and the new Nexus 7, Updates of the Nexus 4, Chrome and Google Glass will be in focus of the conference. Originally Google I/O was intended as developer conference but quickly became one of the biggest and most important IT events of the year. We can hardly remember the time where Google was purely a search engine provider. With products such as Android, Chrome (OS) and Google Glass

• Google Glass + Google Maps - Launch of a new Google Service?

  joesonic

  17 Apr 2013 | 2:08 pm

  In the source code of Google+ shows some evidence of a new Google Service which could combine Street View, Google Glass and the social network Google+. The name for this service could be YouTour. Tours can be enriched with Audio and Video comments and shared with friends or other contacts. Capabilities of the service are completely vague, but the name can be read out from several hints in the

• Overflow of OpenStreetMap Node IDs

  joesonic

  15 Feb 2013 | 10:06 am

  Openstreetmap node IDs were implemented as a 32-bit variable. Since 9 February 2013 the variable container is too small to store unique IDs. Therefore users and developers are invited to update their software and use tools which are capable to store 64 bit identifiers. Currently the project counts more than 2147438647 node identifiers, which are too much for a 32-bit integer variable. Now more

• Downgrade Android Nexus Devices

  joesonic

  3 Feb 2013 | 6:28 am

  Many people are very keen on update Android devices to the latest version. Some also use custom ROMs like Cyanongen Mod ROMs, but are not happy with the performace or anyoing bugs. There is a way to get your original factory image back on your Device. Googles Factory Images for Nexus Devices This page contains binary image files that are provided for use in restoring your Nexus device's

• Android 4.2.1 for HTC One Series in Q2 2013?

  joesonic

  20 Jan 2013 | 9:25 am

  Currently there is no official statement from HTC for the next Android update for the HTC One Service (HTC One X, HTC One S, HTC One V), but it is very likely that Android version 4.2.1 Jelly Bean will also run on One Series. Samsung is not the fastest company updating their Android Tables and Smartphones. But Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and the Galaxy S3 will be updated during April, May or June.

• 

  ArcGIS Resources » Mapping

• User Software Applications Fair

  Shane Matthews

  14 May 2013 | 1:18 pm

  Attention Community Map Contributors! There will be a User Software Applications Fair at this year’s Esri International User Conference. The submission deadline is June 21, 2013. In order to participate, you will need to register for the conference. The application categories are as follows: Web-based Applications—GIS applications delivered via web browser Mobile GIS Applications—GIS applications developed for mobile platforms such as Windows Phone, Android, iOS (iPad or iPhone), ArcGIS Mobile, or ArcPad Desktop GIS Applications—ArcGIS Desktop or ArcEngine applications,…

• Red, Blue and Purple: mapping the 2012 US Presidential Election

  Kenneth Field

  29 Apr 2013 | 3:57 pm

  Every time an election occurs, maps become a key component in telling the story, but what type of map best tells the story of the winners and losers? Red/blue choropleths? Areas shaded in an array of purples? Value by alpha maps? Dot density by County? Ultimately, the areas used (e.g. Counties) are arbitrary, exhaust space and dictate the visual pattern we see.  We can warp them into cartograms but these sometimes distort geography too much for them to make much sense. The patterns we see are as much a product of the boundaries as the voting patterns of real people in real places. This blog…

• What are Visual Specifications?

  ProductionMappingTeam

  29 Apr 2013 | 8:23 am

  Visual specifications – what are they and where would I use them, you may ask?  Many of you might have symbology and labeling standards for maintaining consistency in your map products. Visual specifications is a tool available in Esri Production Mapping that allows you to standardize these map specifications by linking symbols and labels to feature class attribution using a series of logical expressions. You can set up rules for how your features should be symbolized and labeled using visual specifications. These rules along with the symbology are stored and managed within a central…

• AAG flow mapping presentation available for download

  abuckley

  23 Apr 2013 | 11:23 am

  By Aileen Buckley, Esri Professional Cartographer The demonstration that I gave at the 2013 AAG Annual Meeting has an associated PowerPoint presentation that you can now download. The Mapping Flow Data presentation is about 16 MB because it has videos. Topics covered in the presentation include: What are flow maps? What types of flow maps are there? The remainder of the presentation was a demonstration of how to make the various types of flow maps using ArcGIS. This is also a topic for an upcoming workshop at the 2013 Esri Education User Conference in July. After that conference I will make…

• Discover San Francisco Hackathon

  alaframboise

  22 Apr 2013 | 7:30 pm

  Last weekend Esri joined forces with Airbnb, the City of San Francisco’s Mayor’s Office of Innovation, and GAFFTA to put on the Discover SF Hackathon.  This event brought together designers, developers, and entrepreneurs to hack the urban experience by promoting discovery and exploration for residents and tourists alike. A sneak peak at GeoTriggers This was also the first public preview of Esri’s new ArcGIS Geotrigger Service!  The API and service connects you with your surroundings so app developers can provide physical context to users. To help people get up and running, some of…

• 

  Jonathan Crowe: Recent Map Posts

• A Topographic Map of Titan

  Jonathan Crowe

  16 May 2013 | 5:26 am

  The Cassini team has released a global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan. What makes this map interesting is the fact that, due to its thick atmosphere, Titan can only be mapped by radar during Cassini's close flybys. As a result, only half of its surface has been imaged, and only 11 percent has topography data. For this map, the remainder was, well, extrapolated: Lorenz's team used a mathematical process called splining -- effectively using smooth, curved surfaces to "join" the areas between grids of existing data. "You can take a spot where there is no data, look how close it is to the…

• Google Maps Redesigned

  Jonathan Crowe

  16 May 2013 | 4:19 am

  Google announced a complete redesign of Google Maps at their I/O developer conference yesterday. The new maps are vector-based, take up the entire browser window and change based on the context -- highlighting certain streets, for example, based on a search -- and your usage patterns. It's also apparently quite resource intensive: these are maps designed for fast processors and fast Internet connections. It's just an invite-only preview at the moment. For coverage see Engadget and The Verge.

• OpenStreetMap's New Map Editor

  Jonathan Crowe

  8 May 2013 | 4:04 am

  OpenStreetMap has launched a new map editing interface that runs, for the first time, in HTML5. (Potlatch, the previous web-based map editor, uses Flash, and JOSM runs in Java, which I always thought was ironic for an open project.) The editor, called iD, is live now, and is designed to make editing the map more accessible to beginning mapmakers. I've given it a quick try this morning. My summary judgment is that if you have any experience using another editor, you should stick with it. iD is far slower than Potlatch at the moment, and does things sufficiently differently that you might have…

• Fictional Worlds Map-Making Competition

  Jonathan Crowe

  21 Apr 2013 | 1:25 pm

  A map-making competition asking participants to submit maps of their fictional worlds? That's precisely the sort of thing I should bring to your attention, now that it's been brought to mine. First announced in February; deadline May 21.

• The KickMap Comes to London

  Jonathan Crowe

  4 Apr 2013 | 7:04 am

  In 2007 Eddie Jabbour released the KickMap, a map of the New York subway system that tried to square the circle of various competing and controversial New York subway map designs. The KickMap later became an iOS app; I reviewed the iPad version in 2010. Now Eddie reports that he's released a KickMap for the London Underground -- not satisfied with updating Massimo Vignelli, he's going after Harry Beck. [W]hile the Tube Map's updates over the decades have attempted to follow Beck's design, a glance at the current iteration reveals that his design heirs have failed to retain his core credo of…

• 

  Google Maps Mania

• Not the New Google Maps

  Keir Clarke

  19 May 2013 | 11:19 am

  Because of the design changes in the new Google Maps, v4 of the Maps API must be in the pipeline. I expect however that the release is some way off. Inspired by the new index card effect in Google Maps I decided to have a little Sunday hack to see if I could create something similar. Here's the result, Not the New Google Maps. First off to add the new look map base layer it is a simple process to add google.maps.visualRefresh to the javascript for the map. Initially I decided to replace information windows with a slide-down index card. It was simple enough to create a div element for the…

• The Google Maps of the Week

  Keir Clarke

  19 May 2013 | 4:20 am

  What with Google I/O and the launch of the new look Google Maps, it has been a reasonably quiet week for reviews of new Google Maps apps. At Google Maps Mania our attention has been drawn away by the live streams from I/O and playing with the new look Google Maps. However, some great maps did get featured this week. One map that grabbed my attention this week was from Rough Guide. One feature of the Rough Guide site that I really like is how you can drill down from general reviews of countries, to reviews of individual towns and cities and then search for great individual locations to visit…

• The Hand Drawn Maps of the Week

  Keir Clarke

  18 May 2013 | 6:53 am

  This week saw the 70th anniversary of the World War II Dambuster raids. On 16–17 May 1943 an attack on German dams, carried out by Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, subsequently known as the "Dambusters", used a specially developed "bouncing bomb" invented and developed by Barnes Wallis. The BBC has put together an interactive map that retraces the mission. The interactive uses a hand-drawn map from the official June 1943 British Air Ministry report on the Dambusters raid. The map shows the routes taken by the planes, the location of the planes that crashed and the location of the German…

• Luftwaffe Aerial Imagery on Google Maps

  Keir Clarke

  18 May 2013 | 4:46 am

  FlyfotoArkivet LW1944 is a Google Map of Denmark overlaid with historical aerial imagery of the country taken by the Luftwaffe, under occupation, in 1944. Just over 75% of the country is covered by this collection of historical aerial photographs; including Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense. Other Historical Aerial Photo Maps The New Jersey State Atlas - aerial photography of the entire state taken in the 1930's Neighborhood Change in Connecticut - aerial photos from 1934 Catbus - 1947 aerial imagery of Montreal Old Maps of Moscow - a  large collection of historical maps & aerial imagery…

• Google Maps - New Maps for Old

  Keir Clarke

  17 May 2013 | 9:24 am

  Ubilabs have been testing out the new look base map layer that is now available in the Google Maps API. They have created a simple demo that allows you to compare the new look that is available if you add google.maps.visualRefresh to your code. If you mouse-over the demo map you can switch between the old and new designs. So far Ubilabs have confirmed the following design changes in the new base map and map controls: No shadows for markers Markers are slightly bigger Simplified InfoWindow Smaller MapType toggle Smaller Google logo (bottom left) Smaller TOS bar (bottom right) Tweaked zoom…

• 

  Mapperz - The Mapping News Blog

• QGIS equals no need for ESRI anymore.

  9 May 2013 | 7:27 am

  QGIS equals no need for ESRI anymore. Quantum GIS is replacing our ArcGIS platform. Simple Why, with the up and coming of QGIS 2.0 (currently at 1.9 alpha) Why the... Map and GIS News finding blog. With so many Maps and GIS sites online now it is hard to find the good from the not so good. This blog tries to cut the cream and provide you with the newest, fastest, cleanest and most user friendly maps that are available online. News has location and it is mapped.

• OpenStreetMap GPS Data Visualised

  2 May 2013 | 7:15 am

  OpenStreetMap GPS Data Visualised All the raw gps data - the fundamental part for creating the OpenStreetMap project is shown on this map gpx file index... Map and GIS News finding blog. With so many Maps and GIS sites online now it is hard to find the good from the not so good. This blog tries to cut the cream and provide you with the newest, fastest, cleanest and most user friendly maps that are available online. News has location and it is mapped.

• GIS Stack Exchange Election has started 22nd April 2013.

  22 Apr 2013 | 1:13 pm

  GIS Stack Exchange Election has started 22nd April 2013. 2 Moderator positions available 7 worthy candidates in the running (Good luck to all and please vote.) not part of GIS Stack... Map and GIS News finding blog. With so many Maps and GIS sites online now it is hard to find the good from the not so good. This blog tries to cut the cream and provide you with the newest, fastest, cleanest and most user friendly maps that are available online. News has location and it is mapped.

• Ordnance Survey Terrain 50 - OpenData

  5 Apr 2013 | 11:37 am

  OS Terrain 50 - OpenData OS Terrain 50. A new product, which has a similar resolution to Land-Form PANORAMA, will enable users to access an advanced product with consistently maintained height... Map and GIS News finding blog. With so many Maps and GIS sites online now it is hard to find the good from the not so good. This blog tries to cut the cream and provide you with the newest, fastest, cleanest and most user friendly maps that are available online. News has location and it is mapped.

• AutoCAD 2014 and Bing Maps

  3 Apr 2013 | 11:11 am

  AutoCAD 2014 now has a built-in Geolocation feature and allows users to create and enhance their designs with Bing Maps geocoding and map data. Bing Maps inside AutoCAD 2014 brings in location... Map and GIS News finding blog. With so many Maps and GIS sites online now it is hard to find the good from the not so good. This blog tries to cut the cream and provide you with the newest, fastest, cleanest and most user friendly maps that are available online. News has location and it is mapped.

• 

  MapPoint Forums

• VW Beetle 5th Wheel – I want one!!

  Streets & Trips Team Blog

  15 May 2013 | 8:01 am

  This 1970s video has been making the rounds this week.* I wish someone would drive one of these to the next Rally. More...

• Importing Greek Prefectures problem

  Lettuce1980

  9 May 2013 | 1:43 pm

  Hello from Greece, This is my first post so please be kind! I have tried to import the population of Greece in the map with no errors but the analysis isn't by prefecture , only by region. It seems that the application ignores all the Greek Prefectures and shows only the sum of the data by region.When I 'm importing the xls file everything seems ok , all the columns are recognized correctly with no errors.I am selecting <Other data> for the amount of population for each prefecture. I'm choosing shaded area for my map type and population for the data field but the "Prefecture"…

• Mapping Lat/Long With Radius and sector

  mhaleen

  8 May 2013 | 9:53 am

  Ok Guys, Hopefully you can help with this. I have an excel sheet with lat/long and other data. Basically it is a sheet of Cellular Call Detail History and Cellular Tower locations indicated as a lat/Long. This information shows what cellular tower a person was using during a specific phone call. Cell towers are generally divided into three 120 degree sectors, so with the included data is the beginning angle and ending angle for the cell site sector. What I am looking to do is import the data into Mappoint 2013 and create a map showing the cell tower location along with a 120 degree sector…

• Plotting stops using postcodes and Geo-locations

  DaveN

  8 May 2013 | 2:06 am

  Hi, i am using MP 2009 and a dataset that consists of address, postcodes and long/lats, some of the long/lat data is missing however, which then prevents the stop from being plotted on the map. I would like MP to use long/lats as the primary source, and where this data is missing to then use postcodes instead so that all the stops are included. Is this possible ? Is there a way to display address detail in the route planner tab instead of long/lats when creating a route ? thanks in anticipation. David

• Cannot remove GPS trail

  MapsUser

  6 May 2013 | 9:22 pm

  A GPS trail from a recent travel that I saved together with my various waypoints can't be removed in AutoRoute 2011 (which is basically the same as MapPoint). I used to remove such trails by pointing to it with the mouse cursor, then right click and "cut" that trail. The "cut" function is no longer available. How shall I proceed to remove that ennoying trail anyway?

• 

  All Points Blog

• GEOINT with SAP HANA, Esri ArcGIS

  16 May 2013 | 10:27 am

  David Cruickshank from SAP's Co-Innovation Lab (COIL) describes in his blog the architecture of how SAP users can perform geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) analysis using both SAP's HANA in-memory database with a workflow to Esri's ArcGIS. Some of the workflow is explained as... Continue reading

• Landsat Data Continuity Mission: The Long Swath by NASA Earth Observatory-GigaPan

  16 May 2013 | 4:29 am

  On April 12, 2013, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) reached its final orbit, 705 kilometers (438 miles) above Earth. One week later, the satellite's natural-color imager scanned a swath of land 185-kilometers wide and 9,000 kilometers long (120 by 6,000 miles)--an unusual,... Continue reading

• GIS/GPS Camp in Colorado and other Education GIS News

  16 May 2013 | 3:23 am

  Colorado State University Extension is offering a four day summer camp called GEAR-Tech-21, which will introduce youth to robotics and GPS/GIS technologies. Youth 10 to 14 years of age may attend the day camps at five sites in northeast Colorado: Sterling, Akron, Brush, Holyoke and... Continue reading

• Esri Offers Interactive Map for Directory of Major Malls

  16 May 2013 | 3:23 am

  Esri and the Directory of Major Malls have partnered to create the DMM Future Retail story map that media can embed or share as part of ongoing retail and local business coverage. Built on exclusive data from the DMM, this map shows 25 lifestyle/specialty and urban mixed-used projects... Continue reading

• Research: US Minorities Live in Heat, Whites in Cooler Areas

  16 May 2013 | 3:01 am

  UC Berkeley researchers tapped satellite imagery to locate warmer communities. They then used U.S. Census figures to determined who lived in those areas. The conclusion, published this week in the journal, Environmental Health Perspectives: Heat-prone neighborhoods were... Continue reading

• 

  Google LatLong

• Meet the new Google Maps: A map for every person and place

  Lat Long

  15 May 2013 | 11:45 am

  What if we told you that during your lifetime, Google could create millions of custom maps...each one just for you?  In the past, such a notion would have been unbelievable: a map was just a map, and you got the same one for New York City, whether you were searching for the Empire State Building or the coffee shop down the street. What if, instead, you had a map that’s unique to you, always adapting to the task you want to perform right this minute?  This is what you will have with the introduction of the new Google Maps – a mapping experience that helps you find places you…

• A picture of Earth through time

  Lat Long

  9 May 2013 | 4:15 am

  (Cross posted on Official Google Blog) Today, we're making it possible for you to go back in time and get a stunning historical perspective on the changes to the Earth’s surface over time. Working with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and TIME, we're releasing more than a quarter-century of images of Earth taken from space, compiled for the first time into an interactive time-lapse experience. We believe this is the most comprehensive picture of our changing planet ever made available to the public. Built from millions of satellite images and trillions of pixels, you can explore this…

• Bridging the gaps with Street View

  Lat Long

  3 May 2013 | 9:00 am

  Recently we sent our Street View cars driving through the historic seaport town of Kaliningrad (the modern name for Königsberg) in Russia as part of our quest to keep Google Maps comprehensive, accurate and useful. While there, we were reminded of a classic mathematical problem: the Seven Bridges of Königsberg. The mathematical problem posed an interesting challenge: find a route through Kaliningrad—which was once separated by the Pregel River—by crossing each of the seven bridges in town. The catch? One could only cross each bridge exactly once. This sketch shows the town’s original…

• Matt Harding: Around the World, one dance at a time with Google Maps

  Lat Long

  29 Apr 2013 | 9:00 am

  Today is International Dance Day, a celebration of a universal art form that spans cultures and countries. But dancing isn’t just limited to holidays. Since 2003, Matt Harding has famously been dancing his way across the globe with people from all walks of life and sharing to millions on his YouTube channel. His mission is simple: Dance. Dance with everyone. Dance everywhere. Dance to spread joy. Matt’s journey began with a serendipitous, single dance step in Hanoi. While traveling through Southeast Asia, his friend encouraged him to dance for the camera—and he just kept dancing. At…

• Building Better Maps in Southeast Asia

  Lat Long

  24 Apr 2013 | 6:58 am

  Have you ever found yourself standing on the western bank of the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok, looking for a way to get across to the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha? Or perhaps you’ve spent time scouring a map of Jakarta to find Indonesia’s famous National Monument. In order to make it easier for locals and visitors alike to find what they need and get to where they want to go, today we are publishing more comprehensive and accurate maps for Thailand and Indonesia. View Larger Map These updated maps are part of a project called Ground Truth that began in 2008 as part of…

• 

  Between the Poles

• Geospatial analytics for the smart grid

  Geoff

  9 May 2013 | 7:30 am

  At the Distributech 2013 conference, the largest electric power distribution conference in North America with attendance of about 9600, earler ths year in San Diego, if there was one consistent message, it was that smart grid has become mainstream - every utilty is doing something related to smart grid.  I was interested in how gespatial was being used for smart grid applications by vendors at Distributech.  At the conference there were something on the order of 400 talks and panels.  Of these only a few explicitly mentioned geospatial or GIS so you might have concluded that geospatial was…

• Economic value of big geospatial data could reach $700 billion/yr by 2020

  Geoff

  8 May 2013 | 6:30 am

  McKinsey Global Institute published a report Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity that analyzes the state of digital data, how it is used in different domains in both the private and public sectors, and offers suggestions for policy makers. In addition to looking at big data as a whole, the report examines five areas in detail including personal location data. Real-time location data generated by mobile phones and other devices has created an entirely new set of location-based services from navigation to pricing property and casualty insurance. Personal…

• Estimating the economic and financial impact of poor data quality

  Geoff

  7 May 2013 | 7:00 am

  I have blogged on numerous occasions about data quality issues relating to infrastructure data at utiltiies including geolocational accuracy, most recently here.   There is an interesting compilation of statistics in an InsightSquared infographic relating to the cost  of poor data quality in general, not just for utilities. The cost of bad or dirty data exceeds $600 billion for US businesses annually. Poor data across businesses and the government costs the US economy $3.1 trillion a year. But it's worthwhile remembering David Loshin's (The Practitioner's Guide to Data…

• Infrastructure excellence competition

  Geoff

  7 May 2013 | 6:00 am

  Infrastructure-excellence.com is hosting the second annual competition showcasing Excellence in Infrastructure— highlighting the best projects done in 2012/2013. The winners will be given over US$10,000 in prizes by the competition sponsors.  The competition is open to anyone 21 years and older who is planning, designing, building, and managing infrastructure projects.  Project types may include the following: Transportation (roads and highways, rail, airports, or bridges) Land development (commercial sites, subdivisions, public parks, or recreation) Water (distribution, water resources,…

• Privacy and personal geographic data

  Geoff

  6 May 2013 | 10:33 am

  At the Creating the Policy and Legal Framework for a Location-enabled Society conference in Boston, Kirk Goldsberry, who is a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Geographic Analysis at Harvard, gave a fascinatng presentation with the help of two of his students on the topic of personal geographic data and privacy. According the the Federal Trace Commission, which is responsible for protecting privacy at the Federal level, the 4 holy data types are Financial data Medical data Data about children Geographic data Goldsberry's main point was that the first three are treated as very sensitive…

• 

  GPS Tracklog

• This week in GPS — May 18th, 2013

  Rich Owings

  18 May 2013 | 6:02 am

  This week in GPS is a weekly link roundup of (mostly) GPS related odds and ends, from GPS Tracklog and other places around the Web. To get a few of the biggest stories as they break, follow me on Twitter. This week’s lead image is of the Earl Backcountry Survival Tablet; there’s a discussion thread on Groundspeak. From GPSread moreThe post This week in GPS — May 18th, 2013 appeared first on GPS Tracklog.

• Truncated GPS 3 deployment in favor of GPS 4?

  Rich Owings

  15 May 2013 | 5:55 am

  Even though the first GPS 3 satellite won’t be ready for launch until next April, it appears that the US Air Force is considering limiting the number of GPS 3 satellites launched and speeding up development of the next generation: During a discussion of the service’s GPS 3 plans at an April 25 hearing ofread moreThe post Truncated GPS 3 deployment in favor of GPS 4? appeared first on GPS Tracklog.

• Garmin nuvi traffic symbols

  Rich Owings

  13 May 2013 | 6:25 am

  I’m not sure how many folks actually take the time to review Garmin’s traffic symbol legend. When you’re fighting traffic probably isn’t the best time to do it, and it’s not that simple to find the legend either. First of all you have to have the traffic receiver connected and receiving, so there’s no wayread moreThe post Garmin nuvi traffic symbols appeared first on GPS Tracklog.

• This week in GPS — May 11th, 2013

  Rich Owings

  11 May 2013 | 5:45 am

  This week in GPS is a weekly link roundup of (mostly) GPS related odds and ends, from GPS Tracklog and other places around the Web. To get a few of the biggest stories as they break, follow me on Twitter. This week’s lead image is from an interesting geographic data visualization. From GPS Tracklog Our posts from the pastread moreThe post This week in GPS — May 11th, 2013 appeared first on GPS Tracklog.

• 2013 Garmin nuvi series traffic is ad-free

  Rich Owings

  10 May 2013 | 6:01 am

  When Garmin introduced lifetime traffic in 2008, it came bundled with their units but was ad-supported. You can see an example in the screenshot below. Personally, I found the ads low-key, but they certainly annoyed lots of folks.  Well get this — I was testing the nuvi 3597LMTHD for traffic coverage the other day, whenread moreThe post 2013 Garmin nuvi series traffic is ad-free appeared first on GPS Tracklog.

• 

  GPS Insight Blog

• New Icons for accessing Clusters, Traffic, and Centering options within Maps

  rdonat

  17 May 2013 | 1:49 pm

  We cleaned up the area within our mapping that gives you the option to display clusters, traffic, or center the map. The updated section now has icons that can be clicked to either toggle the particular function on or off. New Icons in GPS Insight Mapping New Icon for turning Clusters on/off When turning on either Clustering or Traffic, the icon is no longer “greyed out”: New Icon for turning Traffic on/off New Icon for Centering the Map Before, text labels took up a lot more room within the map, especially within dashlet maps. We hope this update makes viewing your vehicles and…

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  Making Maps: DIY Cartography

• Making Maps that Smoke

  John Krygier

  23 Apr 2013 | 5:28 am

  Chemical smoke puffs represent exploding shells… Surveyed through field glasses that make it appear miles away, a novel war map at Princeton University makes artillery practice realistic to students of the Princeton unit of the Reserve Officers Training Corps. …Each student takes his turn at directing the miniature “barrage.” The ingenious map is operated by the instructor, who follows the student’s data and commands to fire. A small adjoining map is criss-crossed with lines showing where shells with various ranges would strike. Over this key chart moves a lever…

• “A Map of Nowhere Showing Everything”: Andre’s Plan & Map Drawing (1891)

  John Krygier

  2 Apr 2013 | 5:19 am

  “Plan shewing principle characters of work used in mapping.” A map of nowhere showing everything. Without and with color. Terrain symbols. “Plan shewing proposed new street.” Maps are propositions, right? Trees and terrain. Geological mapping. George G. André The Draughtsman’s Handbook of Plan and Map Drawing Including Instructions for the Preparation of Engineering, Architectural, and Mechanical Drawings. London, New York, E. & F. N. Spon, 1891 Entire book available from Google Books

• Graduated Egg Map | 1931

  John Krygier

  20 Mar 2013 | 8:29 am

  Iowa is dignified by the largest egg of all… Innovations in poultry maps, 1931… An egg map of the United States, showing at a glance relative egg production of each state, ca. 1931. Each state is represented by imitation eggs of different sizes. Popular Mechanics, May 1931

• War Maps Made During Aeroplane Flights | 1913

  John Krygier

  8 Mar 2013 | 4:25 am

  Several signal officers flying alone or as passengers were able to make usable sketch maps of the country below them, as they flew two or three thousand feet in the air. The practicability of making war maps from aeroplanes during aerial scouting expeditions into the enemy’s territory has recently been tested by the signal corps of the United States army and found entirely feasible. Several signal officers flying alone or as passengers were able to make usable sketch maps of the country below them, as they flew two or three thousand feet in the air. Two maps that were made during these…

• Map Poetry | Cupid’s Weather Map | 1907

  John Krygier

  4 Mar 2013 | 7:17 am

  The isotherms nestle together, The isobars tenderly twine… Cupid’s Weather Map If Gladys had sent me no message, Or the mail from Palm Beach met mishap, Though I lacked premonition or presage Or courage the wires to tap, I am sure I could learn when she planned her return From one look at the weather man’s map. You’ll notice, no matter in what light These loops and festoons you may view, Wherever she moves, like a spot-light, A zone of fair weather moves, too. The breezes of May will be blowing her way When our cars and our fingers are blue. One sunshiny patch, set off…

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  Geographic Travels

• Council of Nicaea was in Nicaea Because of Religious, Not Political, Geography

  19 May 2013 | 10:00 pm

  1,688 years ago today (May 20, AD 325) the First Council of Nicaea was opened.  The council was the second council of the Church.  It dogmatically defined Jesus Christ as part of a trinity which comprised God as opposed to the Arian view that Jesus Christ was just somesort of super-angel/super-being.  Council trivia enthusiasts will remember it was at Nicaea where Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) punched Arius in his heresy-spewing mouth so hard that Nicholas was thrown in jail.  The Council was convened by Emperor Constantine I. After discussing with…

• Greater Middle East Autocomplete: Commonwealth Edition

  16 May 2013 | 7:20 pm

  After the fun of doing Google autocomplete for Middle Eastern nationalities I decided to compare the United States's version of Google with that of Google UK, Google Canada, Google Australia, and Google New Zealand.  Orange will represent all the countries' Googles have the same top result for autocomplete.Turkish Airlines (Same as US)Syrian Civil War (Same as US)Lebanese FoodForces, RecipesCafe (Canada is into the military while food takes the rest of the Anglo sphere) Libyan EmbassyCivil WarCivil WarCivil War (The UK's expat and business community beats out war…

• Greater Middle East Autocomplete

  14 May 2013 | 7:30 pm

  So I decided to do a simple Google autocomplete search of Middle East nationalities (Turkish vice Turkey) to see what the popular American connotation is for each place/culture.  Some answers were surprising.  Results in bold and personal thoughts in parentheses.Ordered roughly in geographic terms from north to south, west to eastTurkish Airlines (Flag ship of Turkey)Syrian Civil War (Syria is this generations Lebanon)Lebanese Taverna (The new yuppie generation likes the friendly Middle East they think of when they imagine Lebanon, not the 1980s civil…

• The Military-Industrial Complex and Geography

  13 May 2013 | 10:00 pm

  Geography is a racket.  Well, professional and academic Geography can be, anyways.  The crooked relationship between professional geography, academic geography, and the military is not universal but it does exist.  While many academic geographers are on the political Left and would go well out of their way not to be associated with the military while they feed off public money via salaries and grants, some in the more conservative geospatial realm of Geography are forming a military-industrial-academic iron triangle.The main main alliance is between ESRI and the government and…

• The Irony of Comparing Syria and Qatar: Countries and Cultures Can Fluctuate

  12 May 2013 | 10:00 pm

  The pro-Assad/pro-Syrian Arab Republic Facebook account Amazing Syria has created the below meme showing how advanced Syria was 77 years ago with a functioning parliament while the (alleged photo of) Qatar shows desert bedouin living in a tribal culture.The photo shows what a leg up the French-mandate gave Syria by ensuring Syria had minority protections, parliamentary government, and a mixture between religion, nationalism, and secularism cultures functioning together.  This was Arabia still in the post-Napoleon shock, the Arabia which looked towards Europe…

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  geography « WordPress.com Tag Feed

• Mudlarking Mayhem!

  rps4md

  17 May 2013 | 2:20 pm

  Today 4MD had a go at mudlarking as part of the immersion stage of our current project- ‘Our sea- Portal, Protector, Provider. After putting on some very important waterproof clothing- the children waded through the waters in Deptford Creek while listening to information about trades that used the water to survive. The children got to do a spot of fishing and collected a few treasures that they found in the mud. It was a great day and I was really impressed by the great behaviour I witnessed. Here are some pictures from our visit.

• We Are Just Stalkers Masquerading As Writers

  writerelh

  17 May 2013 | 2:14 pm

  One of the great things about being a writer is the research. I’m sure many would disagree, but I really enjoy it. I love finding out more about where my character’s live and which cafe they frequent on weekends. It can help sometimes to have visual geography in which to base my fictional city or neighborhood. Right now I am working on something based in Boston. Boston Medical Center features prominently in the story line, so I have been doing research on the surrounding neighborhoods. I found one in particular I really liked- in fact, I am using it as a basis for my main…

• The Top 10 Universities Around the World 2012 [INFOGRAPHIC]

  Tanya Wlodarczyk

  17 May 2013 | 2:00 pm

• Inside South Ossetia article published

  Gerard Toal

  17 May 2013 | 1:16 pm

  The article “Inside South Ossetia: a survey of attitudes in a de facto state” has just been published by Post-Soviet Affairs (now owned by Taylor & Francis). I’ve already spotted a typo while the corresponding author email is wrong. Hopefully there are no other issues. Below is the Abstract. South Ossetia was the main site of the August 2008 war between Georgian military forces, local South Ossetian forces, and the Russian military. Soon thereafter, the Russian Federation recognized the territory as a state, the South Ossetian Republic. This article reviews the…

• Science, Social Studies and National Geographic

  Lauren

  17 May 2013 | 12:31 pm

  We just added Science Power and Social Studies Power from World Book and National Geographic Kids to our list of databases. Search widgets can also be found on Databases A-Z as well as select Hot Topic pages. The World Book additions are great for teachers as well students. Be sure to point them out to your Home Schooling groups and private schools. National Geographic Kids, contains magazines and ebooks. This resource will be a great to get kids reading during Club Read this summer. 36.042379 -115.246316

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  Google Sightseeing

• Great panoramic views over Turin from the “Turin Eye”: a massive, tethered hot air balloon

  James Turnbull

  8 May 2013 | 3:15 am

  Great panoramic views over Turin from the “Turin Eye”: a massive, tethered hot air balloon http://POSTURLHERE #streetview You're reading an entry from Google Sightseeing, which is copyright © 2013 Alex Turnbull & James Turnbull and must not be reproduced without permission.

• brb, just taking my pet alpaca out for lunch.

  James Turnbull

  8 May 2013 | 2:46 am

  You're reading an entry from Google Sightseeing, which is copyright © 2013 Alex Turnbull & James Turnbull and must not be reproduced without permission.

• Rozenburg Wind Wall

  James Turnbull

  7 May 2013 | 2:30 am

  The Netherlands is renowned for being a very flat1 and windy country. In the western town of Rozenburg the strong sea winds created problems for shipping on an important canal, so a unique2 solution was created – a 1.75km long wind wall consisting of around 125 individual concrete slabs. The Caland Canal allows ships to pass from the North Sea via the Nieuwe Waterweg to the industrial port of Brittaniehaven. As ships increased in size – in particular those used to transport cars – the narrow waterway became more difficult to navigate in strong winds, particularly around the Calandbrug…

• Lesotho: Kingdom in the Sky

  Kyle Kusch

  29 Apr 2013 | 6:30 am

  Lesotho is one of the most unique countries on the planet. It’s the southernmost landlocked country, the largest country that’s entirely surrounded by another country (South Africa), and the highest country on Earth (the lowest elevation in Lesotho is 1,400 m (4,593 ft) above sea level!)1. Yet, it doesn’t really show up on too many people’s radar. With the arrival of Google Street View imagery this month to Lesotho, it’s time to shed some light on the world’s largest enclave. The Kingdom of Lesotho (pronounced li-SU-tu) occupies 30,355 km2 (12,727 sq mi) in the middle of South…

• Stargate found in Lesotho! A portal to the other one in Andorra perhaps?

  Alex Turnbull

  24 Apr 2013 | 7:48 am

  You're reading an entry from Google Sightseeing, which is copyright © 2013 Alex Turnbull & James Turnbull and must not be reproduced without permission.

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  BrickHouse Security Blog: Tech News, Hidden Cameras, GPS Trackers and more

• “What’s Your Most Important Tip for Parents to Keep Their Children Safe Online?”

  Erik Helin

  9 May 2013 | 1:22 pm

  The question that tops this story was recently posed to a panel of security and parenting experts by safesoundfamily.com. One of those experts was none other than our own CEO, Todd Morris, who offered one of the many salient pieces of advice found in the article. Let’s take a look at his advice as well as some of the other experts’. The most frequently cited recommendation for parents looking to keep their children safe online is to simply talk to them. Having an open dialogue about not only the technology kids are using, but how they’re using it, is essential to protecting…

• Marathon Swimming, Awful Abuse & More – Security News Roundup, Week of May 6

  BrickHouse Security

  7 May 2013 | 12:02 pm

  Every week it seems that security products are used to shine a light on both humanity’s triumphs and absolute low points. This week is no exception; read all about how hidden cameras have uncovered child abuse, how GPS tracking is helping save the elderly, and much more. Follow an Australian Swimmer As She Makes Her Way from Cuba to Florida This June, Australian open-water swimmer Chloe McCardel will attempt the 90-mile swim from Cuba to Florida; a feat you can follow via the GPS tracker she will have with her on her journey. The 10-day swim is a fundraiser to help in the fight against…

• Esquire Names BrickHouse Security’s Spark Nano the Top Dog of GPS Trackers

  Marc Horowitz

  2 May 2013 | 11:03 am

  Recently, BrickHouse Security was honored to be recognized (or should we say “recognised?”) in Esquire UK’s “50 Things No Man Should Be Without This Spring” feature. The magazine’s May issue highlighted our Spark Nano GPS Tracker (specifically the International Version), calling it “remarkable” and “ridiculously accurate,” and singling out the Nano’s geofence feature as a unique selling point. Unfortunately, the issue isn’t available online, but you can click here for their full write-up, and an awesome dog photo.

• Medical GPS, Heartfelt Reunions & More – Security News Roundup, Week of April 29

  BrickHouse Security

  1 May 2013 | 12:15 pm

  With a number of security news highlights from around the world, this week saw GPS, hidden cameras, and more used to crack down on crime and make the world a better place. Here are some of our favorites. Using GPS and Satellites to Kill Polio The Bill Gates Foundation has helped implement a polio eradication program that relies on GPS and satellite photos to bring the vaccine to even the poorest and most remote villages in the world. Using GPS-enabled phones, coordinators can ensure that they don’t miss a single village, home, or gathering place in the parts of the world where polio remains…

• Can Big Brother Protect Us Against Terrorism?

  Erik Helin

  29 Apr 2013 | 8:03 am

  Questioning Surveillance’s Role in a Post-Boston Bombing World While the world’s eyes locked on one set of brothers, the conversation surrounding the Boston Marathon bombing quickly shifted to Big Brother, and surveillance’s role in preventing acts of terror. We’re here to parse the opinions, and say why everyone is right — and wrong. Three days after the Boston bombings, the suspects were identified as brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The ensuing daylong manhunt led to the killing of older brother Tamerlan and the capture of Dzhokhar. The identification…

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  GIS Lounge

• Open and Machine Readable Now the Default for Government Data

  Caitlin Dempsey

  19 May 2013 | 10:52 am

  On May 9, 2013, President Barack Obama sign an executive order making the default for government data "open and machine readable". The executive order was accompanied by the White House's Open Data Policy. The post Open and Machine Readable Now the Default for Government Data appeared first on GIS Lounge.

• Google Map Redesign

  Caitlin Dempsey

  16 May 2013 | 1:07 pm

  Googles Maps is preparing to debut its newly revamped Google Maps.  Terming it “smart recommendations” the new functionality of Google Maps is intended to be more interactive and custom tailored to the specific user.  The more you use the map to search for locations, favorite items by starring them, and write location reviews, the more [...]The post Google Map Redesign appeared first on GIS Lounge.

• Crowdsource Power Plant Data Project

  Caitlin Dempsey

  14 May 2013 | 1:05 pm

  The Ventus Project at Arizona State University is seeking the public's help to map out the location of all the world's power plants. The project is led by Dr. Kevin Robert Gurney and seeks to measure carbon dioxide output at those power plants.The post Crowdsource Power Plant Data Project appeared first on GIS Lounge.

• Shapefile Viewers

  Caitlin Dempsey

  14 May 2013 | 10:57 am

  Listed here are shapefile viewers for viewing GIS vector data in shapefile format by using desktop software or an online option.The post Shapefile Viewers appeared first on GIS Lounge.

• Timelapse Satellite Imagery – View Changes on Earth over Time

  Caitlin Dempsey

  9 May 2013 | 10:44 am

  The series of Landsat satellites has been collecting global imagery continuously since 1972.  A total of eight satellites and millions of pictures (and trillions of pixels) has resulted in a hugh amount of imagery which, when compiled, visualizes the massive amount of global change over the past thirty+ years.  Landsat satellites capture imagery of the [...]The post Timelapse Satellite Imagery – View Changes on Earth over Time appeared first on GIS Lounge.

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  THE WORLD GEOGRAPHY

• 15 Wonderful Hilltop Towns and Villages

  18 May 2013 | 9:57 am

  Hilltop towns and villages are picturesque settlements nestled into the hillsides or on top of hills. They often date from the Middle Ages, and the most common reason for such geographical position is the protection from the invaders. Fairy-tale look, medieval buildings, narrow winding streets and beautiful views of the surrounding valleys are just some of the reasons why these destinations are offered by many travel agencies. 1. Èze, France link Read more »

• 15 Charming Side Streets

  8 May 2013 | 10:04 am

  Side streets are often small, narrow streets, usually with beautiful facades and balconies, which are covered with various flowers and vines. Mainly available only to pedestrians, they are a favorite place for tourists and photographers, because during the walk amazing photos can be taken. 1. Street in Antibes, France link Read more »

• 10 Real Life Fairytale Islands

  25 Apr 2013 | 12:43 pm

  The approximate definition of a real life fairytale island would be that it is small island often covered with lush vegetation, from which emerges a magnificent ancient buildingWhen people say that a place is like something from a fairy tale often they are exaggerating, but that is not the case with these charming islands listed below. 1. Bled Island, Slovenia link Read more »

• 12 Fascinating Gorges Around the World

  17 Apr 2013 | 2:43 pm

  Gorges, also known as canyons, are deep ravines found between cliffs. They are formed from the landscape after being carved by rivers which naturally reach a baseline elevation, creating these stunning natural visuals in the process. Gorges are much more common in arid areas than in wet areas because physical weathering has a greater effect in arid zones. The word "canyon" has a Spanish origin with many being found in the United States while Europeans prefer to use the term "gorge". 1. Takachiho Gorge, Japan link Read more »

• 11 of the Most Unusual Elevators

  6 Apr 2013 | 12:22 pm

  Elevators have a simple task: take passengers from one floor to another safely. But it doesn't mean that they have to be boring. Elevator towers for urban transport and modern design elevators attract great attention of tourists, because of its uniqueness, unusual looks and the driving experience. Let's have a closer look at the most unusual elevators around the world. 1. AquaDom, Germany link Read more »