Posts Tagged ‘Great Backyard Bird Count’

04
Feb
2015

GIS and GeoWeb Technologies

categories: Digital literacy, information technology, instructional technology

https://www.libraryjuiceacademy.com/moodle/login/index.php

Eva Dodsworth

Since the emergence of easily accessible dynamic online mapping tools, there has been a drastic increase in geographic interest and awareness. Whether for personal, social, professional or academic uses, people are using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to communicate information in a map format. Whether it’s using Google Earth to study urban change, or creating Google Map Mashups to deliver library resources, more and more members of society are turning to mapping programs for their visualization needs. With so many using GIS technology in their daily lives, library staff are now more than ever assisting library clients with their mapping queries.

This course will introduce students to a variety of mapping tools and GIS technologies such Google Earth and the creation of dynamic KML files; ArcGIS Online and webmap publishing; Google Fusion Tables and geocoding; and GIS fundamentals with geospatial data creation. Students will be able to apply their GIS skills in their reference work, in digitization projects, in webpages, in library instruction, and more.  Through hands-on exercises, pre-recorded demonstrations and lectures, students will receive a thorough overview of mapping resources that will enhance and expose their library’s resources.

http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/WeekOne_2014.wmv

 

http://www.placingliterature.com/map?modal=1

http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/WeekTwo.wmv

http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/WeekThree_Part_One.mov

http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/WeekThree_Part2.mov

http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/WeekFour.mov

 

– How to enable offline maps in your Google Maps app – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/map-happy/how-to-enable-offline-maps_b_6525832.html

– Huge news – Google Earth Pro, which used to cost the public $400 is now free! What does that mean for you? Extra features! You can import GIS files, tables, and export animated movie files!  http://google-latlong.blogspot.com.es/2015/01/google-earth-pro-is-now-free.html

– Don’t live in Canada?  Too bad! Google Maps plots best tobagonning hills in Canada!http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/google-map-plots-canada-s-best-tobogganing-hills-1.2218207

– a map of 19 countries that were named after specific people – http://www.vox.com/2015/2/1/7954179/map-countries-pe

 

Maps that shaped the world

By Paul KerleyBBC News Magazine

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30840318

 

 

Content for Week Two – February 9th – February 15th

Week Two:

Podcast includes:

  • Citizen Mapping
  • OpenStreetMap – crowdsourcing
    more heads are better then one
    NYPL geomapping volunteers.

http://www.openstreetmap.org/

citizen crime reporting app for NYPD http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/crime_mapping/nyc_crime_map_introduction.shtml

when the jet disappeared, crowdsourcing for parts on the satellite maps of the ocean

potholes map

maps of the threes. emerald bug in Mnpls

http://www.fuf.net/

how does foursquare and checkins in FB and Google +fit it

  • Google Earth
  • Assignment

Podcast and Powerpoint can be accessed from:http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/JuicyLibrarianMaterial.html

Tutorials: Google Earth

Assignments:

1.       Discussion question:

Discover some citizen mapping projects that you are interested in OR

Contribute your local knowledge to Google Map Maker AND Share with the class online

2.       Google Earth Map

Please complete the tutorial and then create a map in Google Earth with the following components:

  • A title
  • A written introduction to your project
  • At least five placemarks, embedded with html tags, and images, if possible.
  • Imported KML file(s) file format by GEarth, but other apps is using it. using notepad or MS Word, one can create KML file.
    screen overlay, can be text, image, anything. legend. HTML code.
  • A screen overlay  (i.e. a legend)

areal photography.

history.
images from the library, Google is willing to buy them. citizen mapping. scanning and uploading.

geographical and societal awareness.

Gallery: 360Cities.

google street view – historical views

Google Earth Mapping

Submit online as a KML/KMZ file

I had the opportunity to experience a gizmo that can be used to display a variety of mapping projects, including citizen mapping: Science on a Sphere. It is a sphere on which you can project static maps or animations. The one I saw, in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s facility on Ford Island in Honolulu, displayed animations showing the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2011 tsunami in Japan, as well as airline flight paths, ocean currents, polar ice cap change over time, and many other types of geospatial data.

The Great Backyard Bird Count actually starts today and runs through Monday, February 16th. At a minimum, it only requires 15 minutes of observation on any or all the days:  http://gbbc.birdcount.org/

Happy Cow is a site well-known to many vegetarians/vegans for finding restaurants which I’ve used when travelling. Users can submit reviews and/or restaurants that they’d like profiled (although the site reserves the right to approve or not the listing). http://www.happycow.net/search.html 

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wq and leaflet – a framework that could catch on
by Timothy Clarke – Thursday, February 12, 2015, 2:21 PM

One of the impediments to citizen mapping is the line-of-sight cell tower limitations of mobile phones, or the wifi requirements for other mobile devices.  Citizen mapping in urban and suburban environments is well-served by mobile devices, but what about natural areas, dense leaf cover, or extreme topography?  Even if obtaining absolute mapping coordinates isn’t the issue, much crowdsourcing assumes an ability to connect back to a central data repository (e.g., a web database, ‘the cloud’).  Equipment that can interact with GPS satellites and support data capture is typically expensive and generally requires proprietary software.

wq (https://wq.io/) is a framework that is ‘device first’ and ‘offline-enabled’.  It attempts to leverage several open source technologies to build an entire mobile solution that can support citizen science data collection work, and then synchronize with a central repository once the device (and operator) return to an area served by cellular or wifi networks.

I’m stretching here, so if I get stuff wrong, please don’t yell.  Still, I’ll take a pass at generally describing the framework and its related technology stack.

wq relies upon python, and a web framework called django for building offline-capable web apps that can run on iOS and Android devices.  These web apps, then, rely very heavily upon javascript, particularly requirejs (http://requirejs.org/) and mustache (https://mustache.github.io/), for the templates that permit quick and (somewhat) painless web application development.  Data visualization relies upon d3.js (http://d3js.org/), and geography makes heavy use of Leaflet (http://leafletjs.com/) — maybe the most pertinent layer of the stack for those of us in this course.  If you’re not familiar withLeaflet.js, check it out!

Finally, wq extends several other open source technologies to enable synchronizing between a central data repository and multiple mobile devices in the hands of citizen mappers.  Lastly, wq employs a set of tools to more easily build and distribute customized mapping apps that can be served from Apple’s app store, Google Play, etc.

What wq intends is to allow highly specialized citizen science/citizen mapping apps to be more easily and quickly built, based upon a solid collection of aligned F/OSS tools.  Ideally, an app can spin up quickly to respond to a particular need (e.g., a pipeline spill), or a specialized audience (the run up to a public comment period for a development project), or even something like a high school field trip or higher ed service learning project.

Some examples of citizen mapping projects already built upon wq are here:

https://wq.io/examples/

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Creating a walking tour map with Google Earth_2014

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Week 3

Podcast includes:

  • Geocoding
  • Georeferencing
  • Spatial Data Formats
  • Geospatial Data Online
  • Discussion Question

Podcast and Powerpoint available from: http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/JuicyLibrarianMaterial.html

Tutorials: BatchGeo (optional); Google Fusion (optional)

https://en.batchgeo.com/

enter Xcel data, and export KLM file ready for google map and/or google earth

https://support.google.com/fusiontables/answer/2571232
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fusion_Tables

store maps online, no latitude needed.
visualize geospatial data by map
spatial analysis by mapping different layers together
showing data by map, graph or chart
e.g. how many cars cross specific point
crowdsourcing: spotting butterflies, using fusion tables to map the spices and sightings
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/mar/31/deprivation-map-indices-multiple

students: journalism, history, geography.

Georeferencing (geocoding – data, geo referencing – image)
historical air maps or photos are much more useful when they are georeferenced.
Photos from different year is difficult to lay over one another without referencing. the only reference might be the river. usually reference the four corners, but sometimes river. Using GIS program to determine the longitute/latitude for each corner. sometimes only farmland and it is impossible