Cool Stuff





Video games continue to build on spatial data

Feb 2nd, 2012 | By

As I have said before, fan of geo and fan of games, so when they come together it is better than the sum of the parts. The (long awaited) next installment in the SSX series will bring together one of my favorite franchises with real world elevation models. This preview video released by the creators [...]



Vexillology…I think I just learned something

Jan 27th, 2012 | By

Yet ANOTHER reason why I love The Big Bang Theory. “I’m surrendering…to fun.” The sad part is that they probably won’t make the 52 promised episodes.



What people do with maps in the era of GPS and Web Maps

Dec 19th, 2011 | By

In the era of GPS and Web Mapping you might think that paper(physical, concrete things you hold in your hands) maps are on their way out. I don’t necessarily agree, paper maps are very useful when you’re away from our friend electricity and are certainly handy in emergencies. Beyond that I’ve started to notice, perhaps [...]



PhD Comics “More’s Law”

Dec 15th, 2011 | By

Jorge Cham has shared many tech (and academic) truths with us over the years, but this one speaks as much about our connected/cloud future as it does our past.



Conserving the Night Sky

Dec 12th, 2011 | By

Is your portion of the night sky polluted by artificial light?  Check out this really slick Google Map interface I found on the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) web site .  For over 22 years, the IDA has been advocating to keep our night sky clean of light pollution.  Their reasons go beyond astronomy purposes and [...]



Discounts for your GAW and holiday gifts

Nov 15th, 2011 | By

Each year as the holidays approach (and yes I include GAW in that list of holidays) we try to reach out to a vendor who carries Geographic or cartographic items to see if they would be willing to cut you guys a break/provide a discount in exchange for some free ad space on VerySpatial. This [...]



GEOGRAFREE – Front Line podcast in English

Nov 5th, 2011 | By

We are always excited about new Geography or geospatial podcasts since they are few and far between, but I am even more excited that a longstanding Geography podcast has become accessible to me (and other english speakers). The GEOGRAFREE Front-Line podcast has been produced in German for 106 episodes but has switched to english with [...]



Royal Society Opens Its Archives

Oct 27th, 2011 | By

Prepare to watch today’s productivity sink like a log tied with rocks and encased in a block of cement. The Royal Society in the UK has thrown open its archives of papers that date back to the 17th century. There are some seriously amazing gems in that collection. Newton’s first paper? It’s in there. Ben [...]



It’s HERE! It’s Finally HERE!

Oct 26th, 2011 | By

Just in time for my switch to the iOS platform. ESRI has finally released ArcGIS for Android! If you’re on the Android platform, head over to the Android Marketplace and you can download this free app. If you’re familiar with the iOS or the Windows 7 Phone version, you should know what to expect – [...]



Search For Life on Mars

Oct 5th, 2011 | By

Ok, not Mars. Not just yet, at least. Researchers have created really cool science project called MAPPER. The idea is to leverage citizen scientists to comb through data and find signs of life on far away planets. For now, they have tapped into a couple of DeepWorker bots currently exploring the depths of two lakes [...]