Mar

24th 2007

Breaking down the vote on the Iraq War

Filed Under Cartography, Current Events | Leave a Comment

The New York Times has a fascinating breakdown of the vote by the House of Representatives on the withdrawal from the Iraq War.  You can view tabular data by state on the vote or switch over to the map view for a grid breakdown of the voting record by state with each box representing one representative.  The boxes are color coded blue for Democrat and red for Republican with light shades representing a “No” vote and darker shades presenting a “Yes” vote.  Click on the hyperlinks under the legend to further filter the votes by geographic region, income bracket, and voting record of residents in past presidential elections. 

Source: New York Times - Roll Call

Mar

24th 2007

Geospatial Art

Filed Under Cartography | Leave a Comment

An article recently came out in the Washington Post (and syndicated to other newspapers around the country) lifting the veil off of one of the hidden artists in the geospatial world.  According to the article, Nicholas Schiller has been creating an artistic map every two days for the past 1000 days.  Nicholas blogs about his map creations on his site at the Daily Render. 

“To change the world, start with the maps,” says Schiller, co-chairman of the Statehood Green Party in Washington. “As insignificant as my art may be, it’s still an extension of my feeling that each of us has the capacity to change things.”

Schiller uses the public domain aerial imagery from the USGS Geological Survey as his canvas.  The images are then clipped and tesselated into kaleidoscopic mosaics that become political and artistic statements. 

Schiller is also experimenting in other ways in the geographic world.  He recently spelled out “no war” on the rooftop which he hopes will be captured in the next government aerial flyover of Washington D.C. 

You can browse through the chronology of his artistic map making at his blog, the Daily Render.  Prints of his map art can be purchased from Imagekind.

Source: Here Be Dragons: Through Nikolas Schiller’s Eye, Aerial Maps of Familiar Places Become Terra Incognita, Washington Post, March 14, 2007 by David Montgomery. 

Mar

23rd 2007

Overview of Geography

Filed Under Education, General | 1 Comment

If you’re looking to dive into a deeper understanding of geography and aren’t sure where to start, Matt Roseberg provides a roundup in his “Geography 101” page at About Geography.  Matt guides you to topics on the divisions of geography, the history of geography, how and where to study geography, and learning about a career in geography. 

Visit: Geography 101

 

Mar

20th 2007

It’s not a navigation system until it has a name

Filed Under GPS | Leave a Comment

Lauren Beckham Falcone of the Boston Herald has discovered that people have a tendency to name their GPS navigation systems.  As an explanation, Tim Gartner from Garmin states, “I think people just feel like they need to personalize these things.”  He further elaborates by saying, “By naming the GPS, you’re taking a journey with someone.”  

Call me lost without you: Drivers christen their GPS systems

Mar

20th 2007

What really happens if you dig to China?

Filed Under Google Maps | Leave a Comment

This interesting web page asks the question, “If you dig straight down, where do you end up?”  It answers it with a mirrored Google Mashup that shows you your theoretical ending pointing if you were to start digging on the other side of the earth.  I did a test run by double clicking in the Los Angeles area and, as the page pointed out, I ended up swimming in water in the Indian Ocean. 

If you dig straight down, where do you end up?

Mar

18th 2007

The Changing World

Filed Under Current Events, World | Leave a Comment

The BBC has downloadable MP3 and Podcast files available on “theChanging World”.  Recent topics in the series include:

  • BUSH AND BEYOND
  • INDIA RISING, PART II
  • INDIA RISING, PART I
  • DIRTY BUSINESS, PART II
  • DIRTY BUSINESS, PART I
  • BEING DIFFERENT
  • GENERATION NEXT, PART II
  • GENERATION NEXT, PART I
  • HERITAGE, PART II
  • HERITAGE, PART I
  • RATS!
  • AFGHANISTAN - FIGHTING FOR PEACE

    • Visit: The Changing World at BBC

    Mar

    16th 2007

    Plaid Avenger’s World - a new take on geography textbooks

    Filed Under Education | Leave a Comment

    plaidavenger.jpgLast year, geography instructor John Boyer decided to liven up his geography 1014 class by publishing a new geography book called the “Plaid Avenger’s World” The instructor from Virginia Tech teaches “World Regions” and his new textbook presents a new approach to teaching geography. While Mr. Boyer states that he never intended for his book to be read outside of his classroom, the volume is being sold on Amazon under the author name “Plaid Avenger” with a comic style cover showing the “hero” hoisting the world above his head with identifiable world characters standing behind. Holding the belief that textbooks oftentimes are “boring”, Boyer envisioned a comic book style text written in the first person. “The reason I wrote it this way is because I have never used a textbook because I find them insipidly boring and dry,” Boyer said. “The idea was it would use real world events, real people, real presidents, real situations and real dates as a teaching tool.” Source: Collegiate Times The instructor from Virginia Tech teaches “World Regions” and his new textbook presents a new approach to teaching geography.  While Mr. Boyer states that he never intended for his book to be read outside of his classroom, the volume is being sold on Amazon under the author name “Plaid Avenger” with a comic style cover showing the “hero” hoisting the world above his head with identifiable world characters standing behind. 

    Holding the belief that textbooks oftentimes are “boring”, Boyer envisioned a comic book style text written in the first person.  “The reason I wrote it this way is because I have never used a textbook because I find them insipidly boring and dry,” Boyer said.  “The idea was it would use real world events, real people, real presidents, real situations and real dates as a teaching tool.”

     

    Source: Collegiate Times

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