Showing posts with label maps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maps. Show all posts
Friday, June 22, 2012
Geographic Variability of Childhood Food Allergy in the United States
As a past, current, and future allergy sufferer, I found this review interesting. Allergies can be regional, based on local weather, regional climate, and distribution of vegetation. I had not thought to map the incidencen of childhood allergies, thinking those were coincident with population size. I might be wrong in thinking that, perhaps, based on maps and geographic analysis.
Elevation and Cholera: An Epidemiological Spatial Analysis of the Cholera Epidemic in Harare, Zimbabwe, 2008-2009
Health care is an important beneficiary of geographic information and geographic analysis.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Google is a Mapping Company
Google is a mapping company. For years I've used Google Earth in lieu of a physical globe in my world geography courses. If you have not experienced Google Earth download and install Google Earth (GE) after reading my post. Don't download and install now because once you realize the shear genius of GE I will have lost your attention.
GE is a wonderful teaching tool for children 7 and older. GE is easy to use and is loaded with simple features, like a measuring tool and bookmarks, which can help parents teach basic geography to kids. GE is linked to Wikipedia; thousands of sites are referenced via Wikipedia. YouTube places are also linked indicating where people have posted videos of some event occuring at the location. Be advised: some videos are not educational and only informative in the sense of illustrating Darwinian processes at work among people. But, some videos are nice and informative. GE contains a wealth of links to outside sources such as the World Wildlife Foundation, National Geographic, and the United States Geological Survey.
Grabbing screenshots from Google Earth is a cinch and embedding JPEGS from Google Earth can improve posters and presentations. Using a keyboard or a mouse, 3D terrain can be simulated providing a sense of scale and landscape relief. I recommend visiting the Karakoram Mtns in northern Pakistan, my favorite mountain range. The world's highest highway is found here.
GE also has a flight simulator embedded within. Using simple controls and basic physics, a user can pilot around any place in the world.
Now, Google recently revealed plans to map in 3D a number of cities using aerial photography. Nothing especially new about such efforts. Most large cities engage in aerial mapping missions every few years. As cities grow aerial photography helps city planners identify buildings, land use, help them plan for utility growth, estimate population density, estimate potential stormwater drainage issues, and in public safety efforts - all sorts of pursuits. Most states will fly aerial photography mapping missions every 5 to 10 years to help monitor landscape change. The federal government acting through the Department of Agriculture collects aerial photography across states dominated by agriculture. The USDA uses aerial photography information to assess crop type, acreage, productivity, and keeping farmers honest with regards to subsidies and set aside programs.
Kentucky has plans for collecting not only aerial photography statewide but also LiDAR statewide. LiDAR is an acronym for "Light Detection and Ranging." Essentially, a plane equipped with a laser shoots the ground a million zillion times and the laser reflected back to the plane is sensed, allowing distance to be calculated. The result after post-processing are highly detailed terrain maps or maps of city structures, or landforms. The amount of data points is immense; LiDAR collected for a small watershed in Arkansas was in excess of 300GB.
Right now, Google Earth users can fly around the world with some interesting terrain but the cities are mostly flat unless someone has used SketchUp to add 3D buildings. Examine Washington, D.C. for a good example of 3D urban builds.
With Google's new efforts to collect aerial photography of major cities people from around the world will be able to go on virtual field trips, or plan real trips. I'm sure Google will expand their Google Earth API to include such data for wild and crazy new apps.
Check out earth.google.com
PAX
GE is a wonderful teaching tool for children 7 and older. GE is easy to use and is loaded with simple features, like a measuring tool and bookmarks, which can help parents teach basic geography to kids. GE is linked to Wikipedia; thousands of sites are referenced via Wikipedia. YouTube places are also linked indicating where people have posted videos of some event occuring at the location. Be advised: some videos are not educational and only informative in the sense of illustrating Darwinian processes at work among people. But, some videos are nice and informative. GE contains a wealth of links to outside sources such as the World Wildlife Foundation, National Geographic, and the United States Geological Survey.
Grabbing screenshots from Google Earth is a cinch and embedding JPEGS from Google Earth can improve posters and presentations. Using a keyboard or a mouse, 3D terrain can be simulated providing a sense of scale and landscape relief. I recommend visiting the Karakoram Mtns in northern Pakistan, my favorite mountain range. The world's highest highway is found here.
GE also has a flight simulator embedded within. Using simple controls and basic physics, a user can pilot around any place in the world.
Now, Google recently revealed plans to map in 3D a number of cities using aerial photography. Nothing especially new about such efforts. Most large cities engage in aerial mapping missions every few years. As cities grow aerial photography helps city planners identify buildings, land use, help them plan for utility growth, estimate population density, estimate potential stormwater drainage issues, and in public safety efforts - all sorts of pursuits. Most states will fly aerial photography mapping missions every 5 to 10 years to help monitor landscape change. The federal government acting through the Department of Agriculture collects aerial photography across states dominated by agriculture. The USDA uses aerial photography information to assess crop type, acreage, productivity, and keeping farmers honest with regards to subsidies and set aside programs.
Kentucky has plans for collecting not only aerial photography statewide but also LiDAR statewide. LiDAR is an acronym for "Light Detection and Ranging." Essentially, a plane equipped with a laser shoots the ground a million zillion times and the laser reflected back to the plane is sensed, allowing distance to be calculated. The result after post-processing are highly detailed terrain maps or maps of city structures, or landforms. The amount of data points is immense; LiDAR collected for a small watershed in Arkansas was in excess of 300GB.
Right now, Google Earth users can fly around the world with some interesting terrain but the cities are mostly flat unless someone has used SketchUp to add 3D buildings. Examine Washington, D.C. for a good example of 3D urban builds.
With Google's new efforts to collect aerial photography of major cities people from around the world will be able to go on virtual field trips, or plan real trips. I'm sure Google will expand their Google Earth API to include such data for wild and crazy new apps.
Check out earth.google.com
PAX
Monday, April 30, 2012
U.S. Citizens Worry Me
I'm trying to get out of the habit of saying, "Americans." As a society, we are really a self-centered lot. North America is comprised of both Canada and the United States. Technically, a Canadian could call herself an "American," as she lives on the continent of North America. But, would that make people living in the United States, er, "Statesians?" or, "USians?"
Someone living in Mexico could call themselves an "American," too. By some geographers account, Mexico is part of North America. I tend to prefer to link Mexico with Central America. Even so, "Central America" is an "America," thus qualifying anyone from the Rio Grande to the Panama Canal to adopt the moniker of "American."
South America is also an "America." A few years ago, I spoke with someone from Brazil. The running joke in Brazil is people in the United States think their country is the only one in the Western Hemisphere. Brazilians, I was told, are "Americans" as much as residents of the United States.
Now, don't misunderstand me. I am not saying these other "Americans" fall under protection of the United States Constitution, nor are governed by U.S. Civil and Criminal Codes. I am saying anyone essentially living in the Western Hemisphere, from an area historically described as being the "Americas" has as much right to call themselves an "American" as anyone in the United States.
Which brings me to a couple points, the first I will cover here, the other I will cover in a second post.
Each semester, the very first activity I engage in, before I even determine attendance, or recite the syllabus, is give a map quiz. My map quiz is not any old map quiz. I present the students with a world map. I ask they identify 18 specific countries. The 18 countries I have them attempt to locate are countries featured prominently in the news: Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, and so on. I tabulate correct responses and create a frequency distribution.
At the end of the semester, students making their way to the end of the course are then presented with the same map and asked to identify the same collection of countries. I tabulate correct responses and create a second frequency distribution.
I've been collecting statistics for about 8 years or so.
I have no idea if college students are representative of the U.S. population. At first blush, I would say, No, simply based on the fact more than 2/3rds of the U.S. population never receive a college degree.
Walking in the door and sitting down at a desk, the initial results I find disturbing. Also, the initial results have not appeared to significantly improve over my measurement period. Thus, I can only conclude people are just as uninformed today as they were in 2004.
Here are some notable statistics:
Despite having been actively engaged in Afghanistan & Iraq for 10 years or so, both countries are the most commonly misidentified countries, at 99% error rate.
Many people self-identify as "Christian" yet cannot find Israel on a map of the world, with an error rate of 95%, only slightly less than Afghanistan or Iraq.
Venezuela, an important supplier of oil products to the United States, fares about the same as Israel, as does Pakistan and North Korea.
Do people ever incorrectly identify the United States? Yes, a few individuals cannot locate the United States on a world map. The error does not happen very often; out of 100 students I can almost guarantee at least one person will not correctly identify the United States. Whereas about 1% will miss the United States, about 5% will miss Mexico.
Finally, most of my college students cannot label correctly all 50 United States. I'm still working on current statistics, but historically greater than 90% of college students taking my courses cannot identify all 50 United States.
We are buffered by two of the world's largest oceans. Yet, in today's globalized economies, I cannot find any excuse or reason why we, U.S. citizens, should have such a poor grasp of our planet's geography.
I would like to give a map exam to all of our state and national leaders, see how well they do. Then, fire all the ones which get less than a 70% (C).
Someone living in Mexico could call themselves an "American," too. By some geographers account, Mexico is part of North America. I tend to prefer to link Mexico with Central America. Even so, "Central America" is an "America," thus qualifying anyone from the Rio Grande to the Panama Canal to adopt the moniker of "American."
South America is also an "America." A few years ago, I spoke with someone from Brazil. The running joke in Brazil is people in the United States think their country is the only one in the Western Hemisphere. Brazilians, I was told, are "Americans" as much as residents of the United States.
Now, don't misunderstand me. I am not saying these other "Americans" fall under protection of the United States Constitution, nor are governed by U.S. Civil and Criminal Codes. I am saying anyone essentially living in the Western Hemisphere, from an area historically described as being the "Americas" has as much right to call themselves an "American" as anyone in the United States.
Which brings me to a couple points, the first I will cover here, the other I will cover in a second post.
Each semester, the very first activity I engage in, before I even determine attendance, or recite the syllabus, is give a map quiz. My map quiz is not any old map quiz. I present the students with a world map. I ask they identify 18 specific countries. The 18 countries I have them attempt to locate are countries featured prominently in the news: Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, and so on. I tabulate correct responses and create a frequency distribution.
At the end of the semester, students making their way to the end of the course are then presented with the same map and asked to identify the same collection of countries. I tabulate correct responses and create a second frequency distribution.
I've been collecting statistics for about 8 years or so.
I have no idea if college students are representative of the U.S. population. At first blush, I would say, No, simply based on the fact more than 2/3rds of the U.S. population never receive a college degree.
Walking in the door and sitting down at a desk, the initial results I find disturbing. Also, the initial results have not appeared to significantly improve over my measurement period. Thus, I can only conclude people are just as uninformed today as they were in 2004.
Here are some notable statistics:
Despite having been actively engaged in Afghanistan & Iraq for 10 years or so, both countries are the most commonly misidentified countries, at 99% error rate.
Many people self-identify as "Christian" yet cannot find Israel on a map of the world, with an error rate of 95%, only slightly less than Afghanistan or Iraq.
Venezuela, an important supplier of oil products to the United States, fares about the same as Israel, as does Pakistan and North Korea.
Do people ever incorrectly identify the United States? Yes, a few individuals cannot locate the United States on a world map. The error does not happen very often; out of 100 students I can almost guarantee at least one person will not correctly identify the United States. Whereas about 1% will miss the United States, about 5% will miss Mexico.
Finally, most of my college students cannot label correctly all 50 United States. I'm still working on current statistics, but historically greater than 90% of college students taking my courses cannot identify all 50 United States.
We are buffered by two of the world's largest oceans. Yet, in today's globalized economies, I cannot find any excuse or reason why we, U.S. citizens, should have such a poor grasp of our planet's geography.
I would like to give a map exam to all of our state and national leaders, see how well they do. Then, fire all the ones which get less than a 70% (C).
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Create and Share Custom Maps with ArcGIS Explorer
Geography is so much a part of our everyday lives we take our experiences for granted. Being a geographer is not enough; we are still susceptible to bias and not immune to being oblivious. However, I would submit the holistic nature of Geography allows trained geographers to see, interpret, and question patterns many others would miss.
How can we develop better spatial skills ourselves? How can we help others develop better spatial skills? Everyone needs better spatial thinking skills as much as we all could use more critical thinking skills. In fact, I would argue each goes in hand with the other.
If you are in the position of helping others see patterns, analyze and interpret information, you might find ESRI's ArcGIS Explorer Online a nice tool for enhancing your web site or your presentations. Explorer Online is a wonderful app allowing anyone to create, develop, and share maps, using prepared data.
Initially, you will want to perform two tasks. First, install Silverlight for your web browser. Second, in order to share any map you create you will need to save the map. Saving a map requires an ESRI Global Account. Creating an account is free and allows you to save, store, and share your maps. On your first visit to ArcGIS Explorer Online [link] go ahead and setup an account.
The app is so easy to use a child could create a meaningful map in about 5 minutes and share her map with friends or classmates around the world. Wordpress.com blogs do not allow "iFrames" so I am providing a link to a public map [link] so you can see a working map which I created in less than 5 minutes. An argument to host my own web site I suppose :)
I'm not going to do anything about explaining data, as my intention here is merely to detail two cool functions of ArcGIS Explorer Online a person can use immediately, and we have to have a working map before those option are available to us.
Once you login, an interface will load showing three button at the upper-left, "Home," "Details," an "Share," plus four icons, Save, Print, Basemap, and Add Content. Mouse-over the buttons and a popup box will identify each button.
Click "Add Content" and a scrolling menu will appear. A good habit in working through any exercise, one I practice, is to examine any dialog box which should appear. Software changes so rapidly written directions are often out of date within weeks or months of apps being launched.
After you have examined the Add Content scrolling list, replace the "Search or URL" with 'median household income,' then search. You don't have to follow my example verbatim; I am going to "add" the first result in the list, "USA Median Household Income." Click outside the dialog box, the box will disappear, and click on the "Zoom To Rectangle" tool found under the "Presentation" tab. Draw a rectangle around the coterminous United States (the lower 48.) The view will zoom, capturing the area you defined with your box. Save your map; you'll have to name the map - I called mine, Mike's Map.
Awesome Map Option #1
At the top left, see the "Share" button? Click the button. Right there on the dialog box are a number of really great choices. You can share your map to Facebook, or Twitter immediately. If you have created an ESRI Group, you can share with group members, or you can simply allow everyone in the world to see your map. At the bottom, you can generate HTML code to embed you map in your own web site. How cool is that? Except, like I said earlier, the HTML uses iFrames which might be an issue for some web sites.
Awesome Map Option #2
At the top-center of our window are two tabs, one says Mapping, the other Presentation. Choose Presentation and watch how the app changes.
We are prompted to "Click to add first slide." I am not going to walk you through all of the finer details though by mouseover, you should be able to discern the functions of all buttons. However, anyone with elementary Powerpoint skills should be able to figure out how to add, delete, insert, and run a slide presentation.
An awesome trait of the Presentation mode is the maps upon which the slides are built is "living" data. In other words, you are not creating screenshots of your maps, your slides are your maps. You can update, alter, modify your maps as you develop your presentation. You can even introduce more data during your Presentation. Change them on-the-fly. And, as we saw on the Share button, you can share your Presentation with whoever you want, or embed within a web site.
Thanks to Joseph Kerski, ESRI's Education Manager for helping pass along the niceties of ArcGIS Explorer Online. Faculty and staff were very excited by the sharing and ease-of-use potential of Explorer.
I suggest getting your kids involved. A child 8+ might find making maps interesting. The exposure to the technology might inspire them in new and different ways to bring geography into their classroom. I can see Explorer being a great tool for homeschooling, as well. Free technology, using real data, and easy to use and share.
Brilliant!
How can we develop better spatial skills ourselves? How can we help others develop better spatial skills? Everyone needs better spatial thinking skills as much as we all could use more critical thinking skills. In fact, I would argue each goes in hand with the other.
If you are in the position of helping others see patterns, analyze and interpret information, you might find ESRI's ArcGIS Explorer Online a nice tool for enhancing your web site or your presentations. Explorer Online is a wonderful app allowing anyone to create, develop, and share maps, using prepared data.
Initially, you will want to perform two tasks. First, install Silverlight for your web browser. Second, in order to share any map you create you will need to save the map. Saving a map requires an ESRI Global Account. Creating an account is free and allows you to save, store, and share your maps. On your first visit to ArcGIS Explorer Online [link] go ahead and setup an account.
The app is so easy to use a child could create a meaningful map in about 5 minutes and share her map with friends or classmates around the world. Wordpress.com blogs do not allow "iFrames" so I am providing a link to a public map [link] so you can see a working map which I created in less than 5 minutes. An argument to host my own web site I suppose :)
I'm not going to do anything about explaining data, as my intention here is merely to detail two cool functions of ArcGIS Explorer Online a person can use immediately, and we have to have a working map before those option are available to us.
Once you login, an interface will load showing three button at the upper-left, "Home," "Details," an "Share," plus four icons, Save, Print, Basemap, and Add Content. Mouse-over the buttons and a popup box will identify each button.
Click "Add Content" and a scrolling menu will appear. A good habit in working through any exercise, one I practice, is to examine any dialog box which should appear. Software changes so rapidly written directions are often out of date within weeks or months of apps being launched.
After you have examined the Add Content scrolling list, replace the "Search or URL" with 'median household income,' then search. You don't have to follow my example verbatim; I am going to "add" the first result in the list, "USA Median Household Income." Click outside the dialog box, the box will disappear, and click on the "Zoom To Rectangle" tool found under the "Presentation" tab. Draw a rectangle around the coterminous United States (the lower 48.) The view will zoom, capturing the area you defined with your box. Save your map; you'll have to name the map - I called mine, Mike's Map.
Awesome Map Option #1
At the top left, see the "Share" button? Click the button. Right there on the dialog box are a number of really great choices. You can share your map to Facebook, or Twitter immediately. If you have created an ESRI Group, you can share with group members, or you can simply allow everyone in the world to see your map. At the bottom, you can generate HTML code to embed you map in your own web site. How cool is that? Except, like I said earlier, the HTML uses iFrames which might be an issue for some web sites.
Awesome Map Option #2
At the top-center of our window are two tabs, one says Mapping, the other Presentation. Choose Presentation and watch how the app changes.
We are prompted to "Click to add first slide." I am not going to walk you through all of the finer details though by mouseover, you should be able to discern the functions of all buttons. However, anyone with elementary Powerpoint skills should be able to figure out how to add, delete, insert, and run a slide presentation.
An awesome trait of the Presentation mode is the maps upon which the slides are built is "living" data. In other words, you are not creating screenshots of your maps, your slides are your maps. You can update, alter, modify your maps as you develop your presentation. You can even introduce more data during your Presentation. Change them on-the-fly. And, as we saw on the Share button, you can share your Presentation with whoever you want, or embed within a web site.
Thanks to Joseph Kerski, ESRI's Education Manager for helping pass along the niceties of ArcGIS Explorer Online. Faculty and staff were very excited by the sharing and ease-of-use potential of Explorer.
I suggest getting your kids involved. A child 8+ might find making maps interesting. The exposure to the technology might inspire them in new and different ways to bring geography into their classroom. I can see Explorer being a great tool for homeschooling, as well. Free technology, using real data, and easy to use and share.
Brilliant!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
The Geography of Starbucks
Thanks to Dante Chinni for an interesting article on the geography of Starbucks.
Here we go:
Stereotypes. Some people believe that the "Wal-mart Nation" favors John McCain; the "Starbucks Nation" favors Barack Obama. Probably not true.
What I found immensely fascinating was the division of the United States into 11 Starbucks Communities. I am not going to summarize them here; you can visit the article to discover the 11 Communities, but I will list them (mostly so I don't forget)
Here we go:
Stereotypes. Some people believe that the "Wal-mart Nation" favors John McCain; the "Starbucks Nation" favors Barack Obama. Probably not true.
What I found immensely fascinating was the division of the United States into 11 Starbucks Communities. I am not going to summarize them here; you can visit the article to discover the 11 Communities, but I will list them (mostly so I don't forget)
- Minority Central
- Service Worker Centers
- Campus & Careers
- Military Bastions
- Tractor Country
- Immigration Nation
- Monied Burbs
- Evangelical Epicenters
- Boom Towns
- Emptying Nests
- Industrial Metropolis
These communities do not correlate with any common perceptual region, i.e. the Bible Belt, the Sun Belt, the Midwest, or the South, for example. These communities exist wherever people who fit the demographic profile of the community live. For example, an easy one is Military Bastions, or military bases, like Ft. Campbell, KY, or Ft. Benning, GA. Immigration Nation may refer to those areas that are attractive to migrant laborers, or perhaps some urban centers that recent migrants tend to gravitate towards, such as Dallas, Phoenix, New York, Atlanta, etc.
The article deals with an area of geography called Market Segmentation. Some might say that market segmentation falls within the jurisdiction of marketing and business. However, we cannot forget that whenever place enters into the discussion, and the resulting characteristics or traits can be mapped, then we are now well within the domain of geography.
I like this Patchwork Nation idea created or implemented by the Christian Science Monitor to track trends in our culture.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
EarthPulse - National Geographic
EarthPulse - National Geographic
I recently had the opportunity to review some new educational materials published by Wiley & Sons, in cooperation with National Geographic. Earthpulse represents a collection of maps, stories, images, and statistics collected and bound for student's use, to augment instruction.
Earthpulse is now a branch off of the National Geographic website. I have just started to examine this website, but I can already see me using this in my World Geography courses. Imagery really helps convey a sense of place; graphics help convey information. The "Globalization" page under "Our Connected World" seems to indicate that much of the money we spend on goods tends to stay in our own country, despite all the noise we hear that all of our dollars are headed to China.
This site will take much exploration.
I recently had the opportunity to review some new educational materials published by Wiley & Sons, in cooperation with National Geographic. Earthpulse represents a collection of maps, stories, images, and statistics collected and bound for student's use, to augment instruction.
Earthpulse is now a branch off of the National Geographic website. I have just started to examine this website, but I can already see me using this in my World Geography courses. Imagery really helps convey a sense of place; graphics help convey information. The "Globalization" page under "Our Connected World" seems to indicate that much of the money we spend on goods tends to stay in our own country, despite all the noise we hear that all of our dollars are headed to China.
This site will take much exploration.
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