Stellar Cartography

The Sky in Google Earth

2007-08-22T12:20:00.000-06:00

Given the name of this blog, you might understand why I'm excited by the latest offering from Google. They have just released a new version of their popular Google Earth software that include the ability to show the night sky above any point on the planet.

Rather than list all the features, I've link to their features video:

In addition to the features shown in the video above, users and organizations have already created special KML files that all the user to explore their sky in an interactive and intuitive way. These KML "tours" include (links will open in Google Earth, if installed):

The Best of Hubble

The Solar System in Motion

Exoplanets

Exploding Star Animation

While this is very exciting news, it's not exactly bug-free. While exploring the interface, I saw a long, winding feature that I couldn't recognize. When I zoomed in, I discovered it was a portion of the 2007 Tour de France route (which I had added to my local data layers). Interestingly, the route is displayed with East and West reversed, which is logical if GE is displaying the sky layers on the "inside" of a projected sphere, with the observer at the center, instead of looking in...

Earth to NASA: WTF?

2007-08-17T13:35:00.000-06:00

I simply cannot fathom why the folks at NASA have decided not to repair the damaged tiles on Endeavour. As William Harwood wrote today:

"Late Thursday, mission managers decided test data and analysis proved Endeavour could safely return to Earth as is. A tile repair spacewalk was ruled out and the astronauts were told to press ahead with the station assembly EVA instead.

The damage assessment brought back memories of an internal debate after the shuttle Columbia's launching in 2003. In that case, a relatively limited study was carried out to determine the possible damage caused by a large piece of foam debris that hit the underside of the shuttle's left wing during launch. NASA's Mission Management Team accepted a hurried analysis by a small group of engineers and concluded Columbia could safely re-enter as is even though the actual impact site could not be seen in launch imagery.

The analysis was deeply flawed. Equally troubling in hindsight, the Mission Management Team did not hear, or take seriously, concerns from lower-level engineers who were not satisfied with the review. As it turned out, what NASA managers believed was relatively minor damage to heat-shield tiles was, in fact, a 4- to 6-inch hole in the leading edge of Columbia's left wing. Sixteen minutes from touchdown, the left wing failed, the spacecraft broke apart and all seven crew members were killed. "

via Spaceflight Now

Here we are again, 4 1/2 years later, and NASA has another damaged shuttle on orbit. The differences in this case are stunning:

NASA knows for certain there has been damage

NASA spent years developing and testing various damage control methods

The newly-developed repair materials are onboard Endeavour

The Endeavour crew have the skills, materials, time, and consumables needed to effect repairs

But even given the facts above, NASA mission planners have decided that the risk in an unplanned EVA is greater than that in landing the orbiter with damaged tiles in a vulnerable location.

But a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who served on the Columbia investigation board 4 years ago, Douglas Osheroff, questioned NASA's hesitancy to perform the repairs since they "can only increase their chances of making it down." "I don't see why NASA is going to invent a fix and not use it," Osheroff told the AP. He added: "This attitude of, 'It looks like it's OK, let's not do anything about it,' it seems like the Columbia NASA."

About those damaged tiles-- NASA reports that the gouge between the two tiles goes all the way to the aluminum skin underneath, approximately 2 inches deep. I am not an engineer, but I'm sure there was a really good reason to make the tiles that thick, given the added cost in weight, fuel, & decreased payload for every gram of extra mass. It just doesn't seem reasonable that a hole in this surface doesn't pose a threat to the orbiter.

Let's hope for the sake of the crew, their families, and the continued human exploration of space that they are right.

Commerce Department Imposes Gag Order on Government Scientists

2007-04-06T09:50:00.000-06:00

An order has been issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce that controls what federal government climate, weather and marine scientists can say to the media or in public, even when they are speaking as private citizens. Under rules posted Thursday, these federal scientists must obtain agency pre-approval to speak or write, whether on or off-duty, concerning any scientific topic deemed "of official interest," according to agency documents released by a national association of government employees in natural resources agencies.

"This ridiculous gag order ignores the First Amendment and disrespects the world-renowned professionals who work within Commerce agencies," said attorney Jeff Ruch, executive director with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, PEER.

The new order will become effective in 45 days and would repeal a more liberal "open science" policy adopted by NOAA on February 14, 2006.

"Under this policy, National Weather Service scientists can only give out name, rank, serial number and the temperature," Ruch said.

The new administrative order on "Public Communications" covers the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, which includes the National Weather Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the NOAA Ocean Service, and the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service.

It forbids NOAA scientists from communicating any relevant information, even if prepared and delivered on their own time as private citizens, which has not been approved by the official chain-of-command.

Any "fundamental research communication" must "before the communication occurs" be submitted to and approved by the designated "head of the operating unit." While the order states that approval may not be withheld "based on policy, budget, or management implications of the research," it does not define these terms and limits any appeal to within the Commerce Department.

National Weather Service employees are allowed only "as part of their routine responsibilities to communicate information about the weather to the public."

"Scientists must give the Commerce Department at least two weeks "advance notice" of any written, oral or audiovisual presentation prepared on their own time if it "is a matter of official interest to the Department because it relates to Department programs, policies or operations."

Ruch says that while claiming to provide clarity, the order "gives conflicting directives." On one hand it tells scientists that if unsure whether a conclusion has been officially approved "then the researcher must make clear that he or she is representing his or her individual conclusion."
Yet, another part of the order states non-official communications "may not take place or be prepared during working hours."

Ruch warns, "This conflict means that every scientist who answers an unexpected question at a conference puts his or her career at risk by giving an honest answer."

Via the ENS

Here's a link to the actual policy announcement.

Google Mashups for the Masses

2007-04-05T07:57:00.000-06:00

Google is calling upon its millions of users to chart a new direction for its online maps.

As part of an initiative being launched today, the Internet search leader will provide free tools designed to make it easy for people to share their knowledge about their neighborhoods and other favorite places by creating customized maps that can assemble information from a variety of sources.

The map creators will be given the option to make the content public or keep it private. Thousands of hybrid maps, often called "mashups," are already available on the Web, documenting everything from local housing markets to active volcanoes.

But cobbling together an online map typically requires some computer coding skills. Google has tailored its tools for a mass audience, making map mashups as easy to produce as pointing and clicking a computer mouse. The Mountain View-based company is hoping the simplicity will generate millions of highly specialized maps that can be stored in its search index.

While testing the new tools, Google's own engineers created maps focused on U.S. Route 66, the Hawaiian island of Kauai, Major League Baseball stadiums and voting patterns in the 2004 presidential election.

VIA http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17962849/

Microsoft's New Search Tool?

2006-11-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

While viewing the map mentioned in my previous post, I noticed the following teaser on the page:

Coming Nov. 7, the next dimension in search!

I tried all the usual sources in an attempt to find out exactly what this means, but was unsuccessful-- I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

2006 Key Political Races on MSNBC

2006-11-05T06:57:00.000-07:00

MSNBC has published an interactive map that lists those key races in next week's mid-term elections that could change hands. Not too surprisingly, it uses Microsoft's LiveLocal map server, powered by Virtual Earth.

via 2006 Key Political Races - Politics - MSNBC.com

Atlas Gloves: A DIY Hand Gesture Interface for Google Earth

2006-09-13T08:57:00.000-06:00

Dan Phiffer and Mushon Zer-Aviv have developed an amazing hand-gesture interface for Google Earth called Atlas Gloves.

If you have access to an LCD projector, a webcam, and can invest about $5 in parts, you can download their free software and use it to control Google Earth as it's projected on a screen.

I've had the opportunity to play with the TouchTable technology at a number of conferences and meetings, but just don't have the ten$ of thousand$ of dollar$ needed to purchase one. Many schools and businesses already have the technology needed-- all they would need is the software and a pair of the do-it-yourself gloves to have a fully-interactive system.

The educational applications alone are amazing the thing about. Imagine how kinesthetic learners might respond by being able to directly manipulate a rich interactive environment such as Google Earth. I hope that the developers can be persuaded to adapt their software to work with other environments, such as ESRI's ArcGlobe & ArcGIS Explorer, and NASA's WorldWind.

Be sure to check out their website and view the two demo movies at http://atlasgloves.org/

Libre Map Project - Sticking it to The Man

2006-08-30T13:11:00.000-06:00

Okay, you've got to love this...

In an effort to circumvent the map vendors who sell public domain information , an individual named Jared Benedict has payed the USGS $1600 for their DVDs containing all 56,000 1:24K/7.5' digital topographic maps, and is currently working to put them online through the Internet Archive (http://
www.archive.org). For a brief period he was soliciting a ransom, I mean, donations, to cover the cost, but quickly received the necessary contributions.

When the maps are ready, they should be accessible from Libre Map Project

via Andy Anderson in the EdGIS Mailing List

Israel-Lebanon War Maps

2006-08-10T12:02:00.000-06:00

The University of Texas has a great online library, including the Perry-Castañeda Map Collection. They have put together an important collection of maps covering the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War.

In addition to link to the latest maps available from online sources such as the BBC and New York Times, they also have published a series of maps that cover the day-by-day operations of the IDF, as well as the activites of various relief agencies.

via Perry-Castañeda Map Collection - UT Library Online

Huge Scale Model of Disputed Border Region of China Found in Google Earth

2006-07-26T14:25:00.000-06:00

This is one of the most interesting finds in Google Earth in quite some time. A few weeks ago a first time poster, called KenGrok, at the Google Earth Community (GEC) discovered a scale model of some mountainous region located in the middle of a desolate area in north central China. Seen in Google Earth the huge scale model is .9 km tall by .7 km wide. It is adjacent to what looks like a military base with many camouflaged vehicles.

Last week, the same poster found the location the scale model represents - a region occupied by China but claimed by India near north central India. If you turn on the 'Borders' layer in GE you will see they are colored red to indicate the dispute. Another GEC member showed how exact the scale model is by taking a screen shot of the satellite photo of the scale model and overlaying it over the real terrain (turn the image overlay on and off to see how exact it is). This scale model was most likely created for military reasons.

via Google Earth Blog

Peer Review Map Gallery

2006-07-26T14:02:00.000-06:00

The good folks over at CartoTalk have put together an interactive map gallery that allows users to post works in progress and receive constructive feedback from other users. I'm a strong proponent of seeking input on mapping projects-- just ask my students.

The gallery is divided into different categories devoted to:

Peer Map Review -- post your maps for peer feedback
Map Critique --post maps not created by you for critique
Interesting Found Maps -- post maps found "in the wild," or other interesting map samples

via CartoTalk

Animated Middle East Crisis Map

2006-07-20T20:55:00.000-06:00

In an earlier post, I mentioned that the BBC had a series of static maps that show the day-to-day details of this crisis. One of their competitors, The Guardian, has improved on this idea by creating a Flash-driven time-series map of the conflict.

Helpful hint: To begin the animation, you must click on the tiny arrow beside the word "Next"-- Why couldn't they have made it easier on the user by making a larger hot spot?

Some Stellar Cartography

2006-07-20T09:12:00.000-06:00

You would think I would have found this resource before now, especially considering the name of my blog...

One of my previous employers has posted a collection of images and artwork from their collection of rare books. This collection features a number of famous astronomical atlases, such as the 1603 and 1661 editions of Bayer's Uranometria, as well at the Atlas céleste de Flamstéed.

There are high resolution images available from each of the volumes online, which are very nicely executed. If you are a fan of early cartographic artwork, you will enjoy exploring this collection!

via United States Naval Observatory website

Middle East Crisis in Maps

2006-07-20T09:01:00.000-06:00

BBC News is publishing updated maps that show the location of the latest Hezbollah and Israeli military strikes. Unfortunately, this is a static map that only shows strikes during the past 24 hours. It's too bad that they don't provide a way to view earlier maps.

via BBC NEWS

Tour de France 2006: Google Maps + GPS + heart rate data = Ubilabs TdF tracker

2006-07-04T07:24:00.000-06:00

I knew that the TdF would inspire a few Google mashups this year, and here's one that updates in real time--

Using rider GPS and heart-rate monitor data, Ubilabs has set up a Tour tracker that lets you monitor the position of 8 riders: Jens Voigt and Christian Vande Velde of CSC, Filippo Pozzato and Bram Tankink of QuickStep, Michael Rogers and Patrik Sinkewitz of T-Mobile, and Sebastian Lang and Beat Zberg of Gerolsteiner.

It also shows the course with intermediate sprints, king of the mountain lines, and feed zones.
Very cool.

via tdfblog

Tour de France 2006 in Google Earth

2006-07-01T06:29:00.000-06:00

Last year, shortly after Google Earth was released, a bunch of Tour de France (TdF) fans in the Google Earth Community (GEC) put up the complete route of the 2005 TdF. The race was still going on while they were completing it. This year, the complete TdF 2006 course has already been mapped in Google Earth well ahead of the July 1st start (see the official TdF 2006 web site). It's a network link, so any refinements will get updated automatically, so save it in your 'My Places' if you plan to follow the race. Once it loads, you will just see the tracks for each stage. For more details open up the folder and turn on each stage's detailed placemarks showing the checkpoints. You can check out the satellite photos, but more importantly make sure you use the pan/tilt features in GE so you can see the mountains they go through.

via Google Earth Blog

NASA: Business as Usual

2006-06-26T11:31:00.000-06:00

My friends and family know that I've been a huge supporter of manned spaceflight since watching the early Gemini launches as a child. I know that there is risk inherent in all spaceflight endeavors and that we as a race need to be willing to take risks.

However, it's my opinion that NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has made a grave decision that will needlessly place flight crews in harm's way. I'm not the only person who believes this-- please take a few moments to read this article from the Herald-Tribune: A Risk Not Worth Taking.

Does this sound familiar? It should-- it's the same business-as-usual crap that has killed three flight crews in the past. NASA ignored warnings about using pure oxygen at overpressure before the Apollo 1 fire. They ignored warnings about O-ring damage in cold weather launches prior to the Challenger explosion. They also ignored video footage showing insulation foam from the bipod mount falling away during launches prior to the Columbia disintegration. Three ignored warnings, three dead flight crews.

During Discovery's "Return to Flight" mission in 2005, a low-level sensor in the external propellant tank malfunctioned, scrubbing the launch. After much head scratching, NASA engineers decided that it was probably safe to launch with a faulty sensor. Launch they did, and although more foam broke off and slightly damaged the Orbiter, the sensors worked as designed. One might think, since the external tank was being redesigned anyway, that they might have addressed the low-level sensor problem, but you would be wrong-- they left the old problematic switches in place.

So here's the situation-- On July 1st, NASA plans to launch Discovery on another "Return to Flight" mission. The newly-redesigned external tank hasn't been flight-tested to determine if it's any safer than the old one, nor have they addressed the sensor issue. I think that AP's Mike Schneider summed it up nicely by referring to this flight as NASA's version of the movie "Groundhog Day."

If Griffin and the rest of NASA continues operating like this, sooner or later they are going to kill another crew.

Driving + Math = Fun

2006-06-20T08:19:00.000-06:00

Ok-- I'm the first to admit that this post isn't about mapping per se, but I think this idea is quite clever and could be useful to math and geography educators.

Jamie Thingelstad has created a web site called Road Sign Math that challenges travellers to find mathematical relationships on highway signage, such as found on this one:

3 x 33 = 99

Users are encouraged to find their own local signs and add them to the database, which in turn adds them to a Google mash-up.

Not all mathematically significant road signs are created equal. Some signs are simply more interesting and exciting than others. Signs are scored in two categories, technical and elegance. High scores in either category are desired, and a total score is computed by adding the technical and elegance scores together.

Google Earth 4 Beta Released

2006-06-13T16:15:00.000-06:00

The good folks at Google have announced new versions of Google Earth and Google SketchUp. Google Earth 4 is available as a public beta, and is a Universal Binary application, bringing mac support to the mapping application for the first time. It features a new streamlined interface, support for objects built in SketchUp, and vastly improved satellite imagery coverage, which reportedly now covers approximately 25% of the Earth's surface.

The Google Earth 4 beta is available for download at http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html

Google SketchUp 5 adds support for textures, allowing you to apply photographs or other images to a building object to add more realism to your Google Earth 3D models. Google SketchUp is free and available for download at the Google Web site.

Google SketchUp 5 is available for download at http://sketchup.google.com/download.html

Gapminder World 2006

2006-06-12T12:33:00.000-06:00

Gapminder is a non-profit venture that develops information technology for provision of free statistics in new visual and animated ways. In short, it enables you to make sense of the world by having fun with statistics. Their method is to turn boring data into enjoyable interactive animations using Flash technology.

The statistics on their site can be viewed in either interactive charts or maps. This is one of the most innovative statistical dataviewers I've come across and is certainly an impressive demonstration of the power of Flash.

Gapminder is a Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. Funding has been mainly by grants from Swedish International Development co-operation Agency, Sida. In collaboration with United Nations Statistic Division they promote free access to searchable public data and their animations of different types of data are freely available at http://www.gapminder.org

via Gapminder site

Map Pros: Careers in Geospatial Technologies

2006-06-12T10:23:00.000-06:00

The following site has just gone live:

http://www.geospatialcareers.net

The site is for students and others interested in learning about careers in geospatial technologies. It features career information and profiles of people who use geospatial technologies.

Since people with skills in geospatial technologies are needed in a wide variety of fields, the site was developed to encourage and assist those interested in exploring career options.

It is sponsored by the NH Space Grant Consortium in partnership with NH GRANIT and the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension. They've done a wonderful job with it and it will be an excellent addition to career presentations, GIS-based workshops, and more.

via Joseph Kerski, USGS

Remote Sensing & Human Rights

2006-06-06T15:34:00.000-06:00

Satellite images captured under a pioneering program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) provide powerful evidence that the government of Zimbabwe has destroyed an entire settlement and relocated thousands of residents as part of a campaign against political opponents.

The images, analyzed by the AAAS staff, show two views of the settlement of Porta Farm, located just west of the Zimbabwean capital of Harare. The first, an archived image from June 2002, shows an intact settlement with more than 850 homes and other buildings; an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 people lived in Porta Farm at the time. The second photo, taken by satellite on 6 April 2006, shows that the settlement has been leveled.

The pictures were released on 31 May as central evidence in a report compiled by the international secretariat of Amnesty International in London and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), based in Harare. The report, “Shattered Lives: The Case of Porta Farm,” views the destruction of the settlement and the forced relocation of its residents as emblematic of a broad campaign by the government of President Robert Mugabe to repress political opposition.

The photos of Porta Farm were collected under a new AAAS program that is exploring how satellite imagery and other cutting-edge geospatial technologies can be used to assess potential human rights violations and prevent new ones before they develop.

"We believe this technology will become a critical tool for human rights organizations worldwide," said Alan I. Leshner, chief executive officer of AAAS and executive publisher of the journal Science. "By using new technology to systematically analyze satellite images and geospatial data, AAAS researchers were able to help Amnesty International and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights document the destruction of Porta Farm. The satellite images show the technology has enormous potential for helping to prove broad human rights violations. And perhaps someday in the future the technology will make it possible to intervene earlier in a human rights crisis, before it’s too late."

via Kristian Gleditsch, University of Essex

Skip to m'Loo Down Under

2006-06-05T07:41:00.000-06:00

OK, It's now official-- I have seen everything...

The Aussie government has published the National Public Toilet Map online, driven by the WhereIs mapping engine.

The map shows the location of more than 14,000 public toilet facilities across Australia. Details of toilet facilities can also be found along major travel routes and for shorter journeys as well. Useful information is provided about each toilet, such as location, opening hours, availability of baby change rooms, accessibility for people with disabilities and the details of other nearby toilets.

In what has to be the most bizarre usage of the .GPX geocaching file fomat to date, the site's FAQ page contains this entry:

Adding a toilet to your GPS device
On the toilet details page, the approximate latitude and longitude of the toilet is displayed underneath the address. Make sure your GPS device is set to display decimal degrees and is set to use the WGS 84 (World) or GDA 94 (Australia) datum. You can then enter these decimal numbers into your GPS and save them as a waypoint (some GPS devices may allow you to choose a toilet icon). Once you have selected your favourite areas, simply click on the "Download your favourite toilets and areas in GPX format" link in your "My Toilet Map" section. The file will be in ".gpx" format and should easily integrate with your GPS device software.

via The Australian Gov't Dept of Health and Aging

From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow

2006-06-01T15:33:00.000-06:00

In case you haven't heard, Mark Monmonier has a new book out: From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow: How Maps Name, Claim, and Inflame. The University of Chicago Press website has published an excerpt from the section on Body Parts and Risqué Toponyms.

Here's a blurb from another well-know geographer...

“Mark Monmonier has done it again! By combining meticulous research with crystal-clear exposition, America's foremost geographic interpreter takes us on a riveting excursion across maps displaying legacies of racism, sexism, colonialism, imperialism, and other cultural and political offenses. In this brilliant and readable exposition, Monmonier ranges from hilltops in Arizona to orchards in Israel, proving forcefully that maps have consequences. This is an entertaining and indispensable resource for anyone who has wondered how certain names got on the map and why some of them are still there.”
—Harm de Blij, author of Why Geography Matters

via the University of Chicago Press

Two Die in GPS Treasure Hunt

2006-06-01T15:08:00.000-06:00

Two GPS treasure hunters were killed over the Memorial Day weekend when their four-wheel-drive vehicle struck the side of a canyon wall near Onyx, CA and then drove over the edge of a 900-foot granite-ribbed cliff.

The two men were participating in a cross-country treasure hunt, believed to have originated in San Bernardino County, using global positioning system coordinates, according to the CHP. Typically in such competitions, participants locate a hidden marker, then move on to the next waypoint on the list.

Based on debris and skid marks at the scene, investigators believe the men struck the side of the canyon wall and then veered back across the road and over the side of the west embankment. The cliff is lined with granite boulders and the Jeep was crushed as it tumbled 900 feet to the bottom.

Contrary to early accounts, there is no evidence that the men were distracted by the GPS unit.

via the Bakersfield Californian

China To Map Uninhabited Lands

2006-06-01T11:23:00.000-06:00

China has started mapping its largest area of uninhabited land to provide a detailed topography of Hoh Xil, a natural habitat for Tibetan antelopes and wild horses at least 4,000 meters above sea level.

The State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping launched a project last month to map this 2-million-sq-km area, which makes up at least 20 percent of the Chinese territory.

A team of 13 experts have arrived in Hoh Xil this week for an intensive survey of the land. They are expected to complete a high-precision map at 1:50,000 before the end of 2010. The map will facilitate scientific research, energy exploitation and wildlife protection in the 83,000-sq-km area.

The mapping of Hoh Xil constitutes part of the country's effort to map the vast 'blind area' in its west, an area covering deserts in southern Xinjiang, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Hengduan Ranges that run from the western Sichuan and Yunnan provinces to eastern Tibet.

In Qinghai Province alone, about 250,000 sq km of land has not been mapped at 1:50,000, mostly in Hoh Xil, the Tanggula Mountain and lakes and swamps in the plateau, where cold, arid weather, thin air and little access for traffic make mapping extremely difficult.

via People's Daily Online

Mapping Terrorism Online

2006-05-31T09:33:00.000-06:00

Based on two databases provided by the RAND Corporation, the MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base has both an interactive and a static map showing terrorism incidents. The static map comes in PDF format and shows terrorism trends during 2005. The interactive map allows users to zoom into an area and display terrorism activity along with population densities, transportation densities, satellite imagery, location of power plants, etc. Clicking on a terrorist incident point brings up a detailed listing of incidents.

Unfortunately, there is no way to download the actual datasets for your own use, as they are proprietary to the RAND corporation.

via Cartography

Google Mashups Made Easier

2006-05-30T12:37:00.000-06:00

'Mark a map location, add some text, send to friends.'

That's all it takes to use 'Pin in the map', a free service from Eden Development launched today which allows everyone to easily send a map link to their friends, with their own info attached. They can also use the service to add a professional location link to their business website.

Created by the author of Google Earth's popular 'Transparent Clouds' plugin, Pin in the map combines the phenomenal power of Google's mapping service with a foolproof three-step interface.

This makes it easier than ever before to pinpoint locations and to share them with contacts. The pins never expire and ensure that those with the link can find the pin whenever they need to.

Business owners can opt for a 'premium pin', allowing them to place a customized link directly on their web page showing their customers where to find them. Future versions of the software promise a premium pin service allowing business promotion on a site listing.

'Pin in the map was designed for the simple reason that we discovered we needed it,' said Eden Development's founder, Chris Parsons. 'Before this, we were forever printing out maps to write on, and or marking the exact location on a map in a paint program.

'After plenty of frustration, we thought, 'There must be a better way to do this!' And now there is.'

Try out the service at http://pininthemap.com

via eMediaWire

TrackStick GPS Data Logger

2006-05-24T11:09:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite websites, ThinkGeek, is selling a nifty little GPS datalogger called the "TrackStick."

This small GPS gadget can easily be placed in a car, boat, land speeder, or just about any moving object and will record its own time, date, location, speed, direction and altitude. The recorded information can then be downloaded to your computer through the USB port and optionally integrated with Google Earth or Mapquest. This feature allows you to 'playback' the location points of the TrackStick and see a visual mapped history of its travels. There are no special software applications to buy and the raw data can be exported in RTF, XLS, HTML, or Google Earth KML formats.
via ThinkGeek

The Harley-Davidson® Ride Atlas of North America

2006-05-22T09:52:00.000-06:00

The good folks at Rand McNally have issued a new map designed especially for motorcyclists. Here's the blurb from their website:

Rand McNally and Harley-Davidson are ready to hit the road together with the first-edition Harley-Davidson® Ride Atlas of North America. Designed especially for Harley® riders, the atlas comes loaded with motorcycle-friendly maps, rides, and on-the-road resources. Makes a great gift for any rider!

via Rand McNally

At first blush, this sounded like a great idea: a biker-friendly atlas. However the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this will probably end up being that gift that you receive but never use. I hate to sound sexist, but the vast majority of Harley owners are men-- do you really see one pulling over to the median to check a map?

Neither do I.

Satellite Tracking Google Mash-up

2006-05-22T09:39:00.000-06:00

While there are many mash-up sites that link all kinds of datasets to the Google Maps API, the Real Time Satellite Tracking site authored by N2YO (his/her radio callsign) provides second-by-second tracking of Earth-orbiting satellites. The site defaults to a view that is centered on the International Space Station and the underlying Google map recenters itself about once a second to stay current.

The site provides links to hundreds of satellites and a sidebar not only gives each one's current position and speed, it tells you if is currently above your local horizon. You position is based on a query made to the IP2Location service, and may or may not be accurate, depending on your ISP.

I noticed that the AJAX interface uses a simple query based on the NORAD ID for each satellite, so I was able to map satellites that weren't on his list of links. For example, the lab where I work recently launched a constellation of 6 microsatellites. Since I knew the NORAD ID for each one, I was able to create a URL for each one.

The one improvement I'd like to see in this site is to be able to center the map on a location and then display the satellites that were currently above the horizon. Unfortunately, this is probably more than AJAX can handle, so I'll keep using http://www.heavens-above.com

Hic Sunt Dracones (Here Be Dragons),

2006-05-19T07:12:00.000-06:00

In today's Times Online, Ben MacIntire wrote an excellent article about how GPS is changing the world. While I don't agree with everything in the article, he raises some interesting points. Here are two quotes...

"But above all, I resent [GPS] because [it is] gradually killing off maps, the charts that have revealed the changing contours of our world and minds since the birth of culture. English mapmakers once placed the phrase Hic sunt dracones, ÂHere be dragonsÂ, on maps to mark the edges of the known world. [GIS] has slain what few dragons remained. With a GPS embedded in dashboard, wristwatch or mobile telephone, we will never be lost again."

"The paper map will soon die, and with it something central to human experience. There is a joy is not knowing exactly where you are. The electronic gizmo takes you from A to Z, but it does not show you the place you never knew about, off at the side of the map, the road lestraveleded. The joy of exploration lies in not knowing exactly where you are, or where you are going, in trying to match the visual world outside with the one-dimensional world represented by the map. Wherever you go now, the machine has got there first."

via Times Online

Microsoft Releases MapCruncher

2006-05-17T13:09:00.000-06:00

MapCruncher brings mashups to a whole new level by allowing developers to import entire maps to supplement the existing road and aerial imagery with detailed, application-specific information. The possibilities are endless: bicycle maps, transit maps, national park maps, university maps, antique city maps, or whatever scale maps you personally find interesting.

MapCruncher makes it easy to publish maps overlaid on Virtual Earth. Once you get familar with the tool, it will take you about ten minutes to crunch a new map. Just find 5 to 10 corresponding landmarks on your map and on Virtual Earth, and MapCruncher will register your map to the global coordinate system, warp it to fit a Mercator projection, and generate a set of image tiles that can be seamlessly mashed up with VE's standard road or aerial imagery. It even makes a sample HTML page to show you how to use your mashed-up map.

MapCruncher accepts both drawing formats (PDF, WMF, EMF) and image formats (JPG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, BMP).

via Microsoft Research

Mapping Urban Sprawl

2006-05-17T12:48:00.000-06:00

An unprecedented survey of urban sprawl in the continental United States is challenging conventional notions about development. The research, published in the May issue of the Quarterly Journal of Economics, offers a detailed view of how land use varies across the country and, for the first time, explains what may be causing the variation.

'There was a lot of talk about urban sprawl and there were no facts. We put this data set together so that we could get some facts,' said Matthew Turner, associate professor of economics at the University of Toronto.

Questions and opinions about urban sprawl and its causes have been around for years. But according to Turner, the opinions and policies arising from these debates are based largely on speculation.

To produce meaningful data, the researchers merged high-altitude photography from around 1976 with satellite images from 1992 -- the most recent images available. They divided the space into 8.7 billion grid cells, each representing 900 square meters (a little less than a quarter of an acre).

The scientists pinpointed development by measuring the percentage of impermeable cover, such as that created by buildings and concrete, producing a sprawl index. The higher the index, the more scattered a city. For example, among metropolitan areas with a population over one million, Atlanta has an index of 56 percent, while New York has an index of 20 percent.

via Discovery Channel

Mapping Language Usage

2006-05-17T07:16:00.000-06:00

Dr. Huffman has classified the languages of the Ethnologue into broader groupings following Merritt Ruhlen’s A Guide to the World’s Languages (published 1987, 1991 by Stanford University Press), and has produced as series of maps of language phyla and families using this classified data and GMI’s World Language Mapping System and Seamless Digital Chart of the World geographic datas sets.

PDF versions of the maps available for download, as are Dr. Huffman’s data and ArcGIS project files.

via Global Mapping International

NGA to Use Microsoft Virtual Earth

2006-05-16T12:41:00.000-06:00

A U.S. Department of Defense agency and Microsoft will collaborate to improve Microsoft’s Virtual Earth mapping program for military and non-military purposes, the Redmond, Wash., company announced Thursday.

Microsoft signed a letter of understanding with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), which is a 'Department of Defense combat support agency,' the company said. Microsoft and NGA will use Virtual Earth, part of Microsoft’s Windows Live, for tasks such as guiding relief efforts for natural disasters. The program was used during Hurricane Katrina last year to direct first responders and government branches, Microsoft said.

Neither party specified the potential military applications of Virtual Earth or its application programming interfaces beyond 'national security efforts.'

via CIO

Real-time Map of USGS River Gauges

2006-05-15T14:37:00.000-06:00

The USGS has added another excellent real-time mapping resource to their website. Areas in blue are wetter than at the same time last year, while drier areas are in red.

The map tracks short-term changes (over several hours) in rivers and streams. The general appearance of the map changes very little from one hour to the next, but individual sites may change rapidly in response to major rain events or to reservoir releases.

via USGS WaterWatch

2006 Survey of Geographic Literacy

2006-05-02T12:29:00.000-06:00

The National Geographic Society recently sponsored a survey of 18 to 24 year-old Americans. While some of the questions in the survey have been criticized (such as asking which of 5 cities is the setting for the TV show CSI), then results are predictibably frightening.

Americans are far from alone in the world, but from the perspective of many young Americans, we might as well be. Most young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 demonstrate a limited understanding of the world, and they place insufficient importance on the basic geographic skills that might enhance their knowledge. They answered about half (54 percent) of the survey questions correctly. Only 37% of young Americans can find Iraq on a map—though U.S. troops have been there since 2003. Here are a few "highlights:"

6 in 10 young Americans don't speak a foreign language fluently.
20% of young Americans think Sudan is in Asia. (It's the largest country in Africa.)
48% of young Americans believe the majority population in India is Muslim. (It's Hindu—by a landslide.)
Half of young Americans can't find New York on a map.

via National Geographic

Big Daddy is Watching!

2006-04-28T10:46:00.000-06:00

This article caught my eye this morning...

Maybe parents don't really have eyes in the backs of their heads, but an increasing number of monitoring devices means they can have eyes almost anywhere else. Right or wrong, advances in technology allow parents to track exactly where their teens are going and how fast they're getting there by using GPS-enabled cell phones. And software is available to keep track of every click on the Internet - sometimes without children knowing they are being tracked.

via sacbee.com

The part about monitoring your kids' speeds reminded me of something the Ohio State Police used to do when I was a kid in the '60s. Traveling along the Ohio Turnpike involved stopping at an entry point and being issued your toll card, which was an old-style hollerith punch card (kids-ask your parents) that was encoded with your point and time of entry. When you reached your exit, the attendant would run your card through a reader to determine the toll. The fun part of this was that by knowing the entry and exit time as well as the distance traveled, it also determined your average speed. If it was over the speed limit-- PRESTO!-- a state trooper would appear (seemingly out of nowhere) to issue you a ticket!

SketchUp is now free!

2006-04-27T09:36:00.000-06:00

I've used SketchUp in an educational setting for the past three years. I think it is the easiest-to-use 3D modeling tool out there. As you probably know, Google recently bought this Boulder-based company and not too surprizingly, has now offered a free version:

Google SketchUp (free) is an easy-to-learn 3D modeling program that enables you to explore the world in 3D. With just a few simple tools, you can create 3D models of houses, sheds, decks, home additions, woodworking projects - even space ships. And once you've built your models, you can place them in Google Earth, post them to the 3D Warehouse, or print hard copies.

via SketchUp

My only question is whether they will still give away the infamous "SketchUp-- It doesn't stink!" socks at meetings and exhibitions?

GPS vs Common Sense: Round 3

2006-04-24T19:48:00.000-06:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again-- there is only a fixed amount of intelligence in the world and as the population grows, there's less to go around!

Getting from Christchurch to Nelson in four hours was "no trouble", Australian tourists Anthony Hoiberg and Clarinda Mojar had been told. The couple were yesterday resting after their hired car satellite navigation system took them on a 10-hour detour over one of the South Island's roughest passes, described as "a shingle goat track".

It took them seven hours travelling at a maximum speed of 15kmh, and stopping to open gates, to get from Hanmer Springs to the Rainbow Station near St Arnaud, where they encountered a locked gate and waited more than an hour for someone to open it.

"He couldn't believe we did it in a car. His jaw dropped," Hoiberg said of the worker who found them. Mark Watson, of the New Zealand Alpine Club, said: "It's not the sort of road you'd like to take a normal car on." Rainbow Station manager David McEwen said the road could best be described as "a shingle goat track". "To say they're following their GPS quite frankly doesn't wash with me. They've gone past signs that said `Road Closed' that are 6ft high and 3ft wide and are illuminated."

The couple said they were taking to the road again today, returning to Christchurch for their flight home.

via Fairfax New Zealand Limited

Score at the end of round 3: GPS 3, Common Sense 0

GPS vs Common Sense: Round 2

2006-04-24T09:06:00.000-06:00

In a recent post, I told you about GPS units in the UK taking drivers along a dirt track at the edge of a 100-foot cliff. In today's installment, motorists are driving into a river, despite prominent warning signs...

There is a lucrative new sport in the Wiltshire village of Luckington: fishing stranded motorists out of a ford at £25 a time.

Since a road closure, dozens of drivers have blithely followed directions from their satellite navigation systems, not realising that the recommended route goes through the ford.

Normally the water — the start of the River Avon — is about 2ft deep but it can swiftly double in depth after heavy rain. Every day since the main B4040 was closed after a wall collapsed on April 8 one or two motorists have been towed out, having either failed to notice or ignored warning signs. Some farmers have been charging £25 to give a tow with tractors.

The ford, known as The Splash, is in Brook End on the edge of Luckington, which is near Malmesbury. Lesley Bennett, 59, a Luckington parish councillor who lives by the ford, said: “When the car conks out the driver looks stunned. When you ask what happened, they say, ‘My sat-nav told me it was this way’.
via Times Online

I can't pass up this opportunity to comment on what my brother refers to as "nominal determinism." On one hand, the name of the ford "The Splash" certainly matches, although the name of the village needs some work!

The score to date: GPS 2, Common Sense 0

The National Map Corps

2006-04-20T08:25:00.000-06:00

Still trying to figure out what to do with your GPS receiver? Frustrated with out-of-date topo maps? The USGS wants you to serve your country (as a volunteer).

The National Map Corps consists of private citizens who devote some of their time to provide mapping information to the U.S. Geological Survey's The National Map. Members may be invited to participate in projects within mutually determined work areas. The only requirements needed to contribute to this effort include owning a GPS receiver and having Internet access.

The National Map is a consistent framework for geographic knowledge needed by the Nation. It provides public access to high-quality, geospatial data and information from multiple partners to help support decision-making by resource managers and the public."

via USGS

Finding Your Way in a Pre-GPS World

2006-04-19T13:04:00.000-06:00

The April 24 issue of The New Yorker contains an entertaining article about pre-GPS car navigation technology dating back to 1907.

Which of the following devices were not among the GPS precursors:

McNally's Photo-Auto Guide (a series of turn-by-turn photographs between 2 cities)
Neva's Stop-n-Ask (a device that should make even the most stubborn man ask for directions)
Jone's Live-Map (directions stored on phonograph-like disks that connected to an odometer)

You'll have to read the article to find out.

via: The New Yorker

Comparing Online Maps

2006-04-19T12:40:00.000-06:00

Online mapping has come a long way in the last year. Google Maps entered the field and added satellite imagery to spring itself into the spotlight – challenging the colorful cartoon-like map images of longtime mapping frontrunner Mapquest. The Google Maps API enabled developers to create new applications and mashups, thereby pushing the Google Maps brand to mainstream audiences. Microsoft, Yahoo and others quickly followed.

As popular as Google is, it is not the most well trafficked map service. It is virtually tied with Yahoo Maps. Comscore says that Google Maps had 19.1 million unique visitors in March, whereas Yahoo had 20 million. Both were dwarfed by Mapquest, with a whopping 46.4 million unique visitors in March, more than Yahoo and Google combined.

via TechCrunch

Walter Ristow Dies at 97

2006-04-18T18:32:00.000-06:00

Walter W. Ristow, who was known never to have gotten lost and would have had no excuse if he had — considering he was in charge of more maps than anybody else in the world — died April 3 in Mitchellville, Md. He was 97.

Dr. Ristow's writings covered maps as far back as those of 16th-century explorers. But quirky detours into more populist terrain kept popping up: Dr. Ristow wrote discursively about the history of free gas station road maps, lamenting their extinction after billions were printed.

Dr. Ristow was head of the map divisions at the New York Public Library, which has more than 400,000 maps, and later at the Library Congress, which holds more than 5 million maps. He is credited with molding the profession of the modern-day map librarian, and was a prolific cartographic scholar as well, writing hundreds of articles and several important books.

via the New York Times

Venus Express Enters Orbit

2006-04-12T13:56:00.000-06:00

Venus Express, a space probe built and opearated by the European Space Agency (ESA) successfully entered orbit around Venus yesterday.

“With the arrival of Venus Express, ESA is the only space agency to have science operations under way around four planets: Venus, the Moon, Mars and Saturn” underlines Professor David Southwood, the Director of ESA’s science programmes. “We are really proud to deliver such a capability to the international science community.”

If the name of this probe sounds familiar, you may be thinking of ESA's Mars Express that arrived in December, 2003.

via ESA - Venus Express

Using GPS to Find Crackpot

2006-04-07T06:46:00.000-06:00

The following illustrates why GPS navigation systems are no substitute for common sense...

Drivers following satellite navigation systems through a village called Crackpot have been directed along a track at the edge of a 100ft cliff. Cars, minibuses and trucks have taken the steep, twisty road from Swaledale to Wensleydale in North Yorkshire, UK.

When vehicles become stuck, drivers are reversing perilously close to the cliff edge, say worried locals. Carol Porter, 39, who lives at Summer Lodge Farm, said: "We want this sorting out before something terrible happens." She said that she and her husband Steven, 41, who live next to the track, have been helping at least one driver a week. "When they get grounded on the small boulders, we're having to go up there in the tractor and pull them out," said Mrs Porter. "If we're outside, we try to stop them, but it's a public right of way so we can't put any signs up saying no entry." The
couple want to see the track removed from the route recommended by satellite navigation systems for traveling between Swaledale and Wensleydale.

A spokeswoman for Trafficmaster, which makes the Smartnav system, said it had removed any possibility of through-routes making use of Crackpot from its mapping database after tests on Wednesday morning.

via BBC

The Pop vs. Soda Page

2006-04-05T19:00:00.000-06:00

The Pop vs. Soda Page is another one of those "lost" links that I stumble across every now and again.

Alan McConchie has a simple page set up that asks What generic word do you use to describe carbonated soft drinks? Users select either pop, soda, coke, or other and enter their US zip code. He uses the results to map the regional variations across the US.

CommonCensus Map Project

2006-04-05T18:52:00.000-06:00

Don't you just hate it when you lose a favorite link? I've been trying to find this site for a week now...

The CommonCensus Map Project is redrawing the map of the United States based on your input, to reveal the boundaries people themselves feel, as opposed to the state and county boundaries drawn by politicians. View the maps to see how the country is divided into 'spheres of influence' between different cities at the national, regional, and local levels.

This information will finally settle the question over exactly where cultural boundaries lie, contribute to the national debate over Congressional redistricting and gerrymandering, and educate people everywhere as to the true layout of the American people that they've never seen on any map before.

Bird’s Eye Tourist

2006-03-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

Bird’s Eye Tourist: First Google brought us Google Local and Google Earth. Then Microsoft followed suit with Windows Live Local, featuring stunning new imagery. Bird's Eye images provide a high-resolution, low-angle aerial view of a small area.

This website is the definitive guide and repository for the coolest Windows Live Local locations.

NASA - Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29

2006-03-18T14:17:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, 2006 March 29, a total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor which traverses half the Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in Brazil and extends across the Atlantic, northern Africa, and central Asia where it ends at sunset in western Mongolia. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes the northern two thirds of Africa, Europe, and central Asia.

via NASA - Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29

GLOBE at Night

2006-03-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

GLOBE at Night is the first international event of its kind designed to observe and record the visible stars as a means of measuring light pollution in a given location. Help us reach our goal of 5,000 observations entered on the GLOBE web site! Participation is open to anyone - anywhere in the world - who can get out side and look skyward during the week of March 22-29, 2006.

GLOBE at Night is an excellent activity for families and student groups, and requires no special training or instruction. The GLOBE at Night web site provides all the information needed to participate, including guides for teachers, students, and parents. Spread the word to your colleagues overseas, too, and help us reach our goal of 5,000 observations from around the world!

GLOBE at Night - Home page

Google Mash-up Showing Atomic Blast Effects

2006-03-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

Eric Meyers has written a Google mash-up using AJAX that maps overpressure radii generated by ground-level detonations.

The radii are indicators of structural damage to buildings, however no other effects, such as thermal damage or fallout levels, are mapped.

The displayed rings are "idealized"-- they don't take into account terrain, weather conditions, etc.

Follow this link to view a 100 KT blast centered on Bounder, Colorado

via kartentisch.de

The Smallest Map Ever Made

2006-03-16T16:27:00.002-07:00

Angels on heads of pins? Secret Soviet microdots? They have nothing on scientists from the California Institute of Technology.

Paul Rothemund, along with colleagues, have coaxed strands of DNA to make a shape that resembles the Americas.

This map is just a few hundred nanometers (billionths of a meter) across- a scale of 1:200 trillion.

They published their research in Nature.

via the BBC

Google Mars

2006-03-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

The folks at Google have combined my two interests by creating Google Mars. This site combines their now-familiar map interface with three image-based datasets: elevation, visible and infrared imagery. They have also included 9 different point layers (including spacecraft, craters, and even news stories) that are searchable.

As interesting as this is, they still have some bugs to work out. Zooming in reveals a bizarre patchwork of "no imagery available" squares, that are intermingled with available squares. I much prefer the treatment they gave Google Moon-- zoom in far enough and you see what the Moon is really made of!

Welcome to Stellar Cartography!

2006-03-02T09:50:00.000-07:00

No, you haven't wandered into an episode of Star Trek: TNG...

My two main professional interests are the educational aspects of astronomy and geography, and especially Geographic Information Science (GIS). My intent is to use this blog to share interesting bits of news from both disciplines.

So expect the unexpected! One entry might describe the latest astronomical discovery while another might point you to a novel online mapping site.

I hope that you find this blog informative as well as entertaining.

Clear Skies!