Geography Matters : Education

ESRI President Jack Dangermond Talks about the Future of GIS

GeographyMatters — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:18:00 GMT

Recently, Jack Dangermond, ESRI president, talked with Government Technology on what lies ahead for GIS and how the Web plays a crucial role.

"My forecast is that as society becomes familiar with looking at things through geospatial visualization, they will be increasingly interested in services that go beyond simple maps and images. GIS servers managed by public and private GIS organizations will be used to provide these kinds of complementing services.

"The Web and Web services pattern simply represent a new and powerful way to share information and collaborate in its use."

Read the entire article ESRI Founder Jack Dangermond Predicts the Future of GIS

High School Atlas Project Charts Success

GeographyMatters — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:04:00 GMT

A group of Turners Falls [Massachusetts] High School students used GIS to map and describe various aspects of their community such as population, industries, and environmental changes. It gave them an opportunity to see and appreciate where they live in a new way. In addition, they saw the value of this information and how it could be used by those involved with planning, economic development, and environmental protection.
Read the complete article in The Republican, by Cori Urban.

The project was part of ESRI’s Community Atlas program that promotes geographic learning and community involvement. Below is one of the maps the students created.

"Student Population

We examined population density by age, and how that related to the placement of public schools. Throughout the area, school districts have been discussing ways to save money by closing schools, and we wanted to find out if the schools in our area were in areas close to school age children. (Schools are marked with a yellow dot.)

Some members of the community have also wondered if two elementary schools (Sheffield and Hillcrest) so close together makes sense. We looked at our map, and found that those two schools serve a larger population than Gill, Montague Center or Erving schools. Therefore, having two schools, in close proximity to a center of student population (Turners Falls) does make sense. "

See the complete Turner Falls project.

Spatial Thinking: Habits of Mind

GeographyMatters — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 16:37:00 GMT

Spatially literate people should have an understanding of spatial concepts and have spatial skills attached to their tool belts. However, there is more to a spatially literate person. According to the National Academy of Sciences report Learning To Think Spatially, spatially literate people should also have the "habit of mind" of thinking spatially, knowing where, when, how, and why to think spatially.

Most people I know in the spatial learning and geotechnology education communities fit this characteristic to a "T." They seem to know why to think spatially, because they seek opportunities to advocate the importance of thinking spatially beyond education into society. They seem to know how to think spatially, do so from many viewpoints, and do so throughout the day: When reading a map of airline routes in an in-flight magazine, they may consider network analysis, regional transportation, and tourism's impact on the environment. When the buds burst forth on trees, they may ponder the effect of latitude, altitude, and climate on the speed of the arrival of spring. When looking at a menu, they may speculate about diffusion and how restaurant franchises decide in which cities to locate. When going hiking, they may mark waypoints with their GPS, take photographs, make sketches, thinking about how the landscape has changed in the past and how it will change in the future.

How did the spatial and geotechnology education community develop these habits of mind? Many claim that since childhood, they have always loved maps, geography, or both. Childhood vacations and exploring a vacant lot over the fence may have served to bolster this affinity. However, in most cases, a primary or secondary school class or university program of study has nurtured this love into a lifelong way of thinking and acting. Therefore, educators have an important job of inspiring students, the decision-makers of tomorrow, to think spatially-and not just in their GIS or geography classes, but throughout their days and throughout their lives. Yes, educators have the opportunity to shape these "habits of mind!"

Learn More:

GIS for K-12 Education
Two Necessary Approaches
By Joseph J. Kerski, Ph.D., Education Industry Curriculum
Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center

Teacher Recognized for Incorporating GIS in the Classroom

GeographyMatters — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:40:00 GMT

Kathleen Galau teaches middle school at Floyd Dryden MS in Juneau, Alaska. This month, she was honored as a Featured Teacher by WIRED Science Education for using GIS as part of her curriculum.

Recently, she took her students into the field to track a bear they had collared and tagged. Using GIS analysis, they were able to answer questions like, Was the bear habituated to people? Did the bear frequent garbage dumps? And, how often did the bear cross roads?

GIS Researchers See Pollution Come to Light

GeographyMatters — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:37:00 GMT

Artificial light is not conventionally thought of as a source of contamination, but its disruption of habitats and behaviors of plants and wildlife have brought it into the spotlight as a threat to the environment. Excess light can affect nocturnal predators that need the dark to hunt, wildlife that require darkness for protection and reproduction, and the navigation of birds and other avian wildlife. Unfortunately, due to population growth and unawareness of correct lighting fixtures and practices, dark skies are becoming extinct.

Mount Desert Island, an island off the coast of Maine, is home to Acadia National Park. The park, rich with a variety of wildlife and a diverse landscape, is made up of mountains, beaches, wetlands, forests, and tidal areas. Neighboring the park is Bar Harbor, a town full of lobster boats, restaurants, and hotels.

Last winter, students from nearby College of the Atlantic (COA) conducted one of the first endeavors to map light pollution locally using geographic information system (GIS) software. The main objective in mapping levels of brightness on Mount Desert Island was to create a visual depiction of the sources of extraneous light, quantify that light, and design a method for mapping light pollution locally. Local maps of light pollution would enable decision makers to develop rules to restrict light use, change lighting fixtures in polluted areas, and target ways their own light use can be reduced.

Gathering their data at night, students drove around the island multiple times, measuring the brightness of the sky using a sky quality meter. Averaging three data readings from each of their 140 data points around the island, they used the ModelBuilder application in ESRI's ArcInfo software to create a map that demonstrates the amount of light pollution on the island. In the Bar Harbor area their map shows some of the color red; a concern for Acadia Park officials because red represents a densely populated area such as New York City.

The methodology that the students designed will provide online resources about light pollution in the Mount Desert Island area as well as give Acadia National Park staff the information needed to implement change in lighting fixtures. In addition to providing this information locally, the students hope to make data like this available online. Maps created using their procedure and GIS technology can increase awareness of light pollution in communities and across the globe. Awareness is the first step in providing alternate lighting options that will preserve the earth's wildlife and conserve its energy resources.

Acknowledgement: Research conducted by COA students Nicholas Bacon and Apoorv Gehlot under the supervision of COA GIS instructor Gordon Longsworth.

AN INVITATION TO CONTRIBUTE TO A SPECIAL EDITION OF THE JOURNAL OF MAPS STUDENT EDITION

GeographyMatters — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 23:45:00 GMT

I received this from Mike Smith, editor of Journal of Maps.

We are currently inviting contributions for a special issue of the Journal of Maps Student Edition devoted to the production of university campus maps.

The aims are to

develop excellence in the production of campus maps, targeted at general (i.e. an entire student body) or specific (e.g. visually impaired) audiences
promote the role of cartography within spatial disciplines
encourage the use and cross-fertilization of ideas between GIS, cartography and graphic design in the production of static and interactive maps
develop relationships between university and department level cartographic specialisms

The Journal of Maps (http://www.journalofmaps.com) is an open-access electronic journal. Each article consists of a map or series of maps, in pdf format, accompanied by a relatively brief text (~2000 words). The map(s) could be designed for hardcopy handout to new students in an orientation package, or they could be designed as on-line interactive campus maps. It offers a unique outlet for graphical material that might be difficult or expensive to publish in conventional paper-based journals. Submission to the Student Edition requires support from an instructor or supervisor and is reviewed internally. Students must be currently studying for an undergraduate or postgraduate qualification. If a submission is accepted, a recommendation will be made as to whether the article is suitable for submission (and subsequent external peer review) to the full version of JoM.

We hope this issue will encourage both students and instructors on GIS and cartography courses to submit high quality material for review and potential publication. The quality of campus mapping, between universities, is often variable and the outputs from this issue are potentially of practical use to a wide audience.

Publication Schedule

1. If you are an instructor thinking of submitting material from your class and you would like to discuss aspects of this, please do contact

Sally Hermansen: sallyh@geog.ubc.ca
Mike Smith: michael.smith@kingston.ac.uk

2. If you are a student and would like to submit to this issue and have any queries, feel free to contact:

Sally Hermansen: sallyh@geog.ubc.ca
Mike Smith: michael.smith@kingston.ac.uk

3. If you are an instructor, please email a short note outlining the class and potential submissions, by 1st February 2008 to Sally Hermansen (sallyh@geog.ubc.ca).

4. The deadline for submission of completed maps/articles (~1000-2000 words) is 30th May 2008.

5. The Special Issue will be published by the end of 2008. The Journal is managed as a charitable learned society, and it charges a nominal submission fee of £15 for the Student Edition to help cover administrative costs.

Sally Hermansen, Editor for Campus Maps Special Issue, University of British Columbia

Dr Mike J Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Maps

Dr D. Berg, Editor, Journal of Maps Student Edition

Submitted by:
Douglas D. Behm (dbehm@fa.ua.edu ) University Geologist
Office of Land Management and Real Estate Services
University of Alabama

University of Alabama Associate Professor to Create Digital Map of Dhaka

GeographyMatters — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 23:26:00 GMT

University of Alabama, Birmingham, U.S.A. (UAB) Associate Professor Akhlaque Haque, Ph.D., is returning to his native country of Bangladesh to begin a four-month adventure to create Bangladesh's first comprehensive digital maps using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. Go to http://www.uab.edu/bangladesh to learn about the project. Students can blog and participate in the project.

Specifically, Haque plans to create a map of the capital city of Dhaka, the nation's largest city with more than 5 million people and a major commercial and cultural center. To begin the project, he and his team will spend weeks traveling through Dhaka's roadways and crowded, narrow streets carrying GPS units to collect location data on Dhaka's roads, neighborhoods and major buildings. To collect the data, the team will have to navigate Dhaka's famously congested traffic, with people traveling by car, bike, scooter or rickshaw or riding crowded buses and trains. The team will drive past the city's colorful bazaars, shops and mosques, past shanties and modern buildings and high rises.

Teaching Geography is Fundamental

GeographyMatters — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:03:00 GMT

If you're reading the Geography Matters blog, chances are you know the importance of geography in education and the roll geography plays in understanding today's interconnected world.

My Wonderful World, a National Geographic-led campaign, is supporting an effort to help us tell our lawmakers that we need geography in our classrooms. They've created a letter appropriate for all legislators that you can have e-mailed on your behalf or that you can print and mail.

Not sure to whom you should write? Simply enter your 5-digit U.S. ZIP code and you'll get a list of your legislators and their contact information.

Take action now and tell your lawmakers that you support geography.

To learn more about why we need to Bring Back Geography!, read the article in ArcNews by Jerome E. Dobson, president of the American Geographical Society and professor of geography, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.

The Ship that Will Launch a Thousand Opportunities

GeographyMatters — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:59:00 GMT

Founder of the GIS Institute and the nonprofit organization Service at Sea, Drew Stephens works hard to maintain a certain way of life: "Service, work, learning. This is my life. This is fun." The members of Service at Sea will execute this motto by sailing The Copper Sky [pictured right] across the globe to provide GIS training to communities and conservation organizations.

Drew saw a need for an organization like Service at Sea because many communities and conservation organizations have GIS technology but are not adequately equipped with GIS training. The Service at Sea crew will reach out to local conservation organizations that are using GIS technology and aid them in their conservation goals by providing instruction, training, workshops, and other GIS experiences that will ensure sustainable conservation practices.

On June 22nd, Service at Sea had a ceremonial launch from the ESRI User Conference in San Diego, California. The official expedition will begin in July to provide service to communities, conservation groups, teachers, and students. The Copper Sky will take a crew of eight to 12 students, teachers, and earth scientists on a four-year journey dedicated to community outreach, K-12 education, and adventure.

The crew will aid communities by implementing GIS education programs in K-12 schools. They will help teachers develop GIS curriculum and activities that integrate GIS use into other academic spheres, such as science and social studies. Teachers will have online access to curricula and live broadcasts developed from each visited community’s conservation experience. Service at Sea's unique approach to spreading knowledge, having fun, and seeing the world will provide communities with the tools they need to conserve and better manage their resources.

The first leg of The Copper Sky's journey will take the crew up the coast of California, Oregon, Washington, Canada, and finish at Valdez, Alaska. The next segments of the expedition will take them to South America, Africa, India, Indonesia, and other destinations.

If you would like to track the route of the Copper Sky, read the crew's blog, sign up to be on an e-mail list for updates, or learn more about the organization, visit Service at Sea's Web site .

GIS Is Providing a New Medium for Understanding

GeographyMatters — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:47:00 GMT

In a recent issue of ArcNews, ESRI President Jack Dangermond explains the new and expanding role of GIS professionals and outlines some of the underlying technologies that will support this vision. He also talks about the future of GIS on the Web and how that is making geographic knowledge easier to access and more available.

Geographically Enabling the Web

GIS technology is evolving on the Web, making geographic knowledge easier to access and more available. As the natural and cultural processes of the planet become more wired or "connected," we will increasingly see new geographic information services and communities of users who incorporate these services into their daily decision making. Some have called this new environment the GeoWeb—a geospatial dimension of the cyberinfrastructure.

What the GeoWeb Means

GIS on the Web will provide many new possibilities for sharing, integrating, and leveraging geographic knowledge. GIS professionals will increasingly make available (publish) their data, maps, spatial analysis models, and 3D visualizations as services for others to access and use. This will create a whole new way of thinking about GIS. Our combined services will provide a new distributed GIS that is open, interoperable, and dynamic. Individual systems and communities will use each other's services, breaking down the earth into components and allowing the dynamic integration of knowledge. The management of this knowledge will be distributed. Services will be interconnected to create new services, and as a result, various parts of organizations will become increasingly collaborative and interdependent. Eventually, these services will provide a global network of geographic knowledge for the planet that is widely accessible and reflects the dynamic changes occurring.

Read the complete article.

Maps and GIS Matter to Libraries & Museums

GeographyMatters — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 18:23:00 GMT

Libraries and museums are centers of knowledge and learning. Librarians and curators collect and organize information about our world so that it can be made available to everyone. Maps in print and digital form are an important part of any collection.

The Library of Congress has been archiving maps and atlases since its beginning in 1800. Since then, the collection has grown from three maps and an atlas to cartographic holdings that include more than 4,250,000 map sheets, 53,000 atlases, 700,000 microfilm images, 300 globes, 2,000 terrain models, 1,600,000 aerial photographs and remote sensing images, and 1,820 computer files.

The Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress provides cartographic and geographic information for all parts of the world to governments, the scholarly community, and to the general public. Housed within this division, the Congressional Cartographic Program (CCP) is a one-stop GIS shop that provides GIS data and services to congressional personnel to assist in making better-informed public policy decisions.

Maps in Our Lives is an exhibit that celebrates a thirty-year partnership between the Library of Congress and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM). Although the physical exhibit is no longer on display, you can still experience the online exhibit that explores four constituent professions represented by the ACSM: surveying, cartography, geodesy, and GIS. Maps include those from the Library’s historic map collections and the ACSM collection in the Library of Congress.

While not all institutions manage holdings of this size, libraries and museums are realizing that a GIS can not only help organize their growing collections, but can help make the information more easily available to their communities.

Here are just a few examples.

Read Prototype Geographic Search and Query Tools for a Library Digital Archive to see how the University of Southern California GIS Research Laboratory for the USC Collection Information Systems Digital Information Management team built an ArcIMS-based application that provides the existing archive Web site with advanced spatial search. Users can easily define a geographic area of interest using interactive map, view available holdings within the selected area, and search the Digital Archive for information on those holdings.

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis has an online exhibit called Maps: Tools for Adventure, presented in partnership with National Geographic Maps. You can pick an explorer and then follow the links for activities at home, in the classroom, or at the museum to build your mapping skills and learn more about where you live.

The library at the University of Arizona has an online map gallery where you can find a large collection of maps about Arizona on topics such as business and economics, and people and society. They also provide a GIS-based online mapping application so you can create your own map.

The David Rumsey Map Collection combines historic maps with present day satellite imagery, political boundaries, and street maps, so you can follow the development of cities such as Boston, San Francisco, and Tokyo through time. More maps from the David Rumsey collection are available in the book Cartographica Extraordinaire from ESRI Press, which traces advances in the art and science of mapmaking from the 1700's to the present.

Plan a visit to your local library, and instead of just looking for a good book, look for a good map.

Jack Dangermond on Enterprise GIS

GeographyMatters — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 19:43:00 GMT

GIS has evolved to meet enterprise-wide needs much like the enterprise software evolutions in the financial, human resources, supply chain, and customer management arenas. An enterprise GIS is an integrated, multi-departmental system for collecting, analyzing, visualizing, managing, and disseminating geographic information. It includes the infrastructure, mission critical capabilities, and robust architectures associated with other enterprise software. It is intended to address both the collective and individual needs of an organization, and to make geographic information and services available to both GIS and non-GIS professionals.

The principal purposes of an enterprise GIS are to provide broad access to geospatial data, a common infrastructure upon which to build and deploy GIS applications, a common GIS data management framework, and significant economies of scale and resulting business value through organization-wide deployment and use.

Characteristics of an enterprise GIS include:

Organization-wide data availability-any authorized user who would benefit from geospatial data has easy access to it
Key to the achievement of mission critical business objectives
Scalable, extensible, reliable, and secure
Capable of being effectively integrated within the enterprise
Supports a wide range of technical and non-technical users through a robust set of GIS tools ranging from lightweight browsers to expert-level analytical, modeling, geodata management, and development programs
Organization-wide standards and governance processes-software, data, and infrastructure standards must be established and governed across the enterprise
Like other enterprise technologies, may be complex to implement-requires significant planning and support
Delivers a high return-on-investment

The manner in which an enterprise GIS is administered and managed depends on the needs, operational maturity, and even the culture of an organization. In some organizations, a centralized group performs the planning, implementation, and support of enterprise GIS data and infrastructure. In others, core data layers and related infrastructure are administered centrally while individual departments maintain the data and infrastructure specifically required to meet their unique requirements. There is no single enterprise GIS model that is right for everyone. The more complex the organization, the more thought needed to determine the optimal architecture, procedures, and governance processes.

Many ESRI users have successfully deployed enterprise GIS in their organizations including federal agencies, state and local governments, utility companies, national mapping organizations, and transportation agencies. Scott Bowman from the City of Fresno, California, and Linda Gerull from Pierce County, Washington, are two GIS managers with experience implementing an enterprise GIS.

Read their thoughts on this topic in an issue of ArcUser that included a special focus section on Managing a GIS.

GIS is a Natural Tool for Archaeologists

GeographyMatters — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:54:00 GMT

We often think of archaeologists as standing beside a dusty ruin, hunched over a screen, sifting through dirt searching for tools, pottery, bones, and other artifacts from an ancient civilization.

But archaeologists also do a lot of computer work, including using geographic information system (GIS) technology to map their finds, analyze what they found and where, and construct databases to keep track of collections. They also employ the computing power of GIS to create 3D models of excavations and map where undiscovered archaeological sites might be located.

Some pioneering researchers began to adopt GIS for archaeology in the 1980s, including those who attempted to do predictive modeling of where prehistoric settlements might be found based on factors such as elevation, soil type, and water sources. For example, Dr. Ken Kvamme, now a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas, collected site location information and landscape variables that were associated with where these sites were found. He obtained some digital elevation models (DEMs) of the area where he was working and started creating models that showed sites tend to occur on one land form more than another. Growth in the use of GIS for predictive modeling showed promise in the 1980s and early 1990s, but good data was hard to come by.

Read Ken Kvamme's article about how GIS is used to create predictive models of archaeological sites.

GIS in archaeology was more widely adopted in the 1990s, driven mainly by the need of state agencies, cities, or provinces to manage site location information. Historic preservation legislation was enacted, resulting in developers hiring archaeologists to check sites for historic significance before building roads, laying pipes, or doing other work. The need to manage all of the site and survey location data that this generates drove many states to develop archaeological GISs, such as AZSITE in Arizona.

With improvements in computing power and display and output technology, GIS became more powerful and easier to use. The invention of global positioning systems plus more sophisticated remote and geophysical sensing tools, better satellite imagery, and higher resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) provided archaeologists with better data, too.

Learn more about how GIS gives archaeologists the tools to create 3D models of excavations.

The Internship that Mapped my Future

GeographyMatters — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 21:00:00 GMT

Lauren Rosenshein is geography major at McGill University, Montreal, beginning her senior year this fall. Instead of going on vacation this past summer, she interned at ESRI's Washington D.C. office.

In an article for Directions Magazine call The Internship that Mapped My Future, she talks little bit about geography and a lot about her internship and why it was so valuable. Essentially, she talks to other students in similar situations and offers advice on how to advance your career.

"Sometimes it is not only about what you know, but about your character and your drive to learn and adapt your skills."

If you haven't considered an internship, maybe you should. Sure, you can earn some money and getting ready to pay off those student loans, but in Lauren's words, "To me, this summer internship has been much more than something to put on my resume. It has been my window into the rest of my life, and my way to gain an understanding of just how incredible the technology can be."

GIS and geography has become more than a career for her, it has become a passion. Is it yours?

Learn more about internships and careers in geography in a recent post called A Degree in Geography Just May be the Next "Engineering" or visit www.esri.com/careers

A Post by Jack Dangermond: More Thoughts on the Benefits of GIS

GeographyMatters — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 21:05:00 GMT

Last month I wrote about educating upper management about the value and benefits of GIS. Now I would like to discuss these benefits in more detail.

Organizations of all sizes and users in almost every industry get value from GIS. They are increasingly interested in and aware of the economic and strategic value of GIS, in part because of the more standards-based technology, as well as the greater awareness of the benefits demonstrated by GIS users.

GIS enterprise solutions and IT strategies that include GIS are growing rapidly. The benefits of GIS generally fall into five general categories:

1. Greater efficiency resulting in cost savings. These are associated either with carrying out the mission—labor savings from automating or improving a workflow—or improvements in the mission itself. An example for both of these is Sears, which implemented GIS in its logistics operations and has seen dramatic improvements. Sears reduced the time it takes for dispatchers to create routes for their home delivery trucks by about 75 percent. It also reduced the costs of carrying out the mission, reducing drive time by 12-15 percent by selecting routes using GIS. Sears also improved customer service, increased efficiency with respect to return visits to the same site, and provided more efficient scheduling of customers.

2. Better decision making. This typically has to do with making better decisions about location. Common examples include real estate site selection, route/corridor selection, zoning, planning, conservation, natural resource extraction, etc. Making the correct decision about a location is increasingly seen as strategic to the success of an organization.

3. Improved communication. Maps and visualizations created using GIS greatly assist in understanding situations and story telling. They are a new language that improves communication between different teams, departments, disciplines, professional fields, organizations, and the public.

4. Better geographic information recordkeeping. Many organizations have a primary responsibility of maintaining authoritative records about the status and change of geography. Cultural geography examples are zoning, population census, land ownership, and administrative boundaries. Physical geography examples include forest inventories, scientific inventories, environmental measurements, water flows, and a whole host of geographic accountings.

GIS provides a strong system framework for managing these types of systems with full transaction support and reporting tools. These systems are conceptually similar to other information systems in that they deal with data management and transactions, as well as standardized reporting of changing information. However, they are fundamentally different because of the unique data models and hundreds of specialized tools used in supporting GIS applications and workflows.

5. Managing geographically. In government and many large corporations, GIS is becoming essential to understand what is going on. GIS information products are now being used to communicate among senior administrators and executives at the highest levels of government. They are providing a visual framework for conceptualizing, understanding, and prescribing action. Examples of this include conducting briefings about various geographic patterns and relationships including land use, crime, the environment, and defense/security situations.

GISs are increasingly being implemented as enterprise information systems. This goes far beyond simply spatial enabling of business tables in a DBMS. Geography is emerging as a new way to organize and manage organizations. Just like enterprise-wide financial systems transformed the way organizations were managed in the late twentieth century, similarly, GIS is transforming the way that organizations manage their assets, serve their customers/citizens, make decisions, and communicate.

Examples in the private sector include most utilities, forestry and oil companies, and most commercial/retail businesses. Their assets and resources are now being maintained as an enterprise information system, not only to support the day-to-day work management tasks, but also to provide a broader context for assets and resource management.

Specific examples of ESRI users gaining real benefits from GIS can be found at www.esri.com/casestudies.