A VerySpatial Podcast
Shownotes – Episode 356
May 13, 2012

Main Topic: Our conversation on potential cuts to the US Census Bureau

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If you have met me, you know that I would love to teach a geography class using  the book  World War Z by Max Brooks, a journalist who uses a zombie apocalypse to discuss current events and world geography. David Hunter, a middle school teacher in Seattle, Washington beat me to the punch. He is asking for help on Kickstarter to create a  Grade 5-8 Standards Based curriculum “Learning Geography skills through a Zombie Apocalypse Narrative”.  His concept is not as far fetched as it seems. At the WV Association for Geospatial Professionals conference this week Sheila Wilson, Executive Director of the GIS Certificate Institute (GISP) started off her talk with the CDC  Zombie Preparedness Guide. She talked about how in the guide a GIS team who were prepared to spatially analyze zombie hot spots, were prepared for anything.  According to Cartographia, Austin TX has been prepared for a zombie outbreak since 2007.

Joking aside, I think that the zombie apocalypse creates a “sandbox” for researchers, educators, and society to analyze and understand complex, interconnected geospatial issues in a non-threatening way.  I’m not the only one who feels this way. Edward Gonzalez-Tennant a geography professor at Monmouth University is hopefully going to be presenting a paper on “Popular Culture and GIS: Using Geospatial Technologies to Model and Prepare for the Zombie Apocalyze.” at the 2012 ESRI Education User’s Conference (EDUC). There is also a 2012 ESRI International User’s session dedicated to Health, Behavior, and Zombies.  Preparing for zombie outbreaks on Earth is inspiring geospatial professionals to innovate and think big much like Star Trek has inspired decades of engineers.

If you want to experience your own zombie attack, Class 3 Outbreak is a zombie outbreak simulator played via Google maps at hundreds of locations world wide.

A VerySpatial Podcast
Shownotes – Episode 355
May 7, 2012

Main Topic: Our conversation with Robert Cheetham of Azavea

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A VerySpatial Podcast
Shownotes – Episode 354
April 29, 2012

Main Topic: 3D and Geo

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I am floored! We talk all the time about the use of SketchUp in building out virtual worlds and have just taken for granted that it was tied in to Google’s draw for Earth and Maps. Apparently that was not such a given.

Trimble will be adding SketchUp and the 3D Warehouse to its growing pantheon of applications. There are of course short and long term questions from a users perspective regarding the availability of the free version, the licensing costs for the Pro version, the terms of use/copyright rights for 3D Warehouse content, and of course the direction of the software in the future. On the other hand, I am excited about the potential for a tool with the easy to use UI of SketchUp with a better/tighter coupling with GIS applications. Or, how about the ability to use data from existing Trimble hardware and software to streamline model generation.

The SketchUp acquisition is just the most recent in a line of notable acquisitions that include eCognition for Remote Sensing and PeopleNet for logistics, as well as others that link to SketchUp’s potential such as BIM and StruCAD.

These software trends have been on top of Trimble’s growing GNSS and a related hardware offerings.

The Big Think channel on YouTube (and of course connected to the Big Think website) highlights ideas from a range of individuals on a number of topics…as would be expected from a channel with the name. This video is one of a group that focus on how individuals perceive how Geography shaped them.

A VerySpatial Podcast
Shownotes – Episode 353
April 23, 2012

Main Topic: The global importance of Earth Observation

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A VerySpatial Podcast
Shownotes – Episode 352
April 17, 2012

Tech Conferences…a valuable experience?

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This morning Space Shuttle Discovery left Kennedy Space Center in Florida on its way to its new home at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, and it got a great sendoff in Florida, with tons of pictures out there on the Internet for those who couldn’t be there. When Discover got to Washington, its piggyback carrier plane did a flyby of the city, a cool and touching tribute and welcome. Definitely check out NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Facebook page and the usual social media suspects for images.

A BBC article, “Pretty Pictures: Can Images Stop Data Overload?” by business reporter, Fiona Graham, supports what many geospatial researchers have argued about the many reasons for business to use GIS and visual images. A neuroscience and psychology lecturer at Brunel University found using images help the brain process large amounts of data because they can use and retain the information more efficiently. They use David McCandless’s Information is Beautiful website as an example of data visualisation.

One thought that the article raises is the abscence of any spatial vocubulary even though data visualization leans heavily towards geospatial patterns, analysis, and mapping.  GIS and other geo-spatial techniques remain an invisible step in the process between data and visual outcome or “pretty pictures”.  Finding support for the use of images in the business world might be step towards raising awareness of the diverse applicability of GIS and geo-visualization.