Cartographia

#GIS #geography #remotesensing #geospatial #humangeography #cartography #spatial

In addition to my tumblr blog which is themed for pictures of anything geo-related - I have recently created an additional blog which will be more text-based with geographic storyboard postings.

GeoSocial Networking Site »

GeoNetworks is a collaborative Social Networking website for the Geographic, Geoscience, and Geospatial Communities and a site for geo-professionals to network and learn from each other. Some of the options are galleries, forums, walls, chat, messages, groups, events, news, and blogs.

Survey: Geographic Attitudes and Perceptions by Adults »

All: If you live in the United States, please take this survey sponsored by the American Geographic Society. You do not have to like geography to take it :)

Awesome…I can’t believe someone took the time to analyze Santa’s journey (tracked by NORAD) via spatial-temporal analysis with the visualization software Geotime. Had to share with this my fellow geographers and Santa-lovers.

Earth’s city lights at nightime - This #map says it all for all aspects of #geography. #urbanization #humangeography #science

“This image of Earth’s city lights was created with data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS). Originally designed to view clouds by moonlight, the OLS is also used to map the locations of permanent lights on the Earth’s surface.

The brightest areas of the Earth are the most urbanized, but not necessarily the most populated. (Compare western Europe with China and India.) Cities tend to grow along coastlines and transportation networks. Even without the underlying map, the outlines of many continents would still be visible. The United States interstate highway system appears as a lattice connecting the brighter dots of city centers. In Russia, the Trans-Siberian railroad is a thin line stretching from Moscow through the center of Asia to Vladivostok. The Nile River, from the Aswan Dam to the Mediterranean Sea, is another bright thread through an otherwise dark region.

Even more than 100 years after the invention of the electric light, some regions remain thinly populated and unlit. Antarctica is entirely dark. The interior jungles of Africa and South America are mostly dark, but lights are beginning to appear there. Deserts in Africa, Arabia, Australia, Mongolia, and the United States are poorly lit as well (except along the coast), along with the boreal forests of Canada and Russia, and the great mountains of the Himalaya.

The Earth Observatory article Bright Lights, Big City describes how NASA scientists use city light data to map urbanization.”

‘Tabula Rogeriana’ - map is a modern copy drawn by Muhammad al-Idrisi for Roger II of Sicily in 1154 A.D. and is an upside-down version with North Oriented up.

“Muhammed “al-Sharif” al-Idrisi (c. 1100-1165) was a major Muslim scholar, geographer and mapmaker of the medieval Islamic period. He was born in the town of Ceuta, in Morocco, and was descended from a line of nobleman who traced their lineage to the Prophet Mohammed.

Al-Idrisi took an interest in foreign lands and travel early in life. Starting in his teenage years, and continuing into adulthood, he made extensive voyages through Spain, North Africa, the Middle East and Europe, deliberately gathering geographical data along the way.

After completing university in Cordoba, Spain, he relocated to Sicily where the Normans had recently overthrown its Arab rulers. Opportunities were rife in Sicily for people like al-Idrisi since, as Ibn Jubayr, another Arab traveler-savant wrote, “the Normans tolerated and patronized a few Arab families in exchange for knowledge.”

Sicily’s new ruler, Roger II, invited al-Idrisi to join his court at Palermo. His education, travels, and his extensive political connections made him a valuable addition to the King’s court. Being a patron of the arts and sciences, and having huge interest geography, Roger commissioned al-Idrisi to produce a new map of the world that would rival no other. It was task that would consume a large portion of the mapmaker’s life.

Al-Idrisi combined his personal knowledge and experience with information from older maps, particularly Roman and Ptolemaic charts. He and his team also collected reports from seafaring Muslim merchants, Norman voyagers, and Christian scholars, and used that information to assemble what would be the most accurate map of its time.

In 1154, after 18 years of toil, al-Idrisi produced his magnum opus, a map which came to be called the “Tabula Rogeriana”, or the “Book of Roger”. It was a chart of the known world comprising Europe, Asia, and North Africa and the Horn of Africa – and extending all the way to Southeast Asia. Al-Idrisi is said to have presented the map to Roger on a disc of solid silver two metres in diameter. The map was also made into manuscript form, a few of which survive today.

In keeping with Islamic tradition, al-Idrisi’s map is oriented with the south appearing at top, and north at the bottom (the maps here are turned right-side up for viewing). Though lacking images of people, animals, or plants, it contains stylized portrayals of mountains and rivers. It is also one of the first maps of its kind to depict the Indian Ocean as an open body of water connecting to the Pacific – details which were perhaps provided by Arab and Chinese mariners.

For three centuries, geographers used al-Idrisi’s unaltered maps. His works inspired some of the world’s greatest explorers, scholars and cartographers including Ibn Battuta, Ibn Khaldun, Piri Re’is, Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama.”

A nice overview for newcomers to the #GIS field -A GIS Journey - @natgeo #geographyteacher #geo

Census Bureau map of spatial distribution of indigenous people @NCGE #map #census #geography

“The U.S. Census Bureau has produced two new maps that would be great resources when teaching about the distribution of indigenous peoples of the United States. Large maps show the American Indian and Alaska Native areas reported or delineated for the 2010 Census. Inset maps show native population on the county level. Other insets highlight data from the census. The map PDFs are available for free download. A 48-by-36-inch printed wall map is also available.”

GEOINT (geospatial intelligence) support to MLB all-star game in Phoenix, AZ.

Earth from Space via Envisat radar satellite: Indus Valley - #remotesensing -Change detection over several satellite passes.

“This Envisat image shows western India and southern Pakistan, with the Indus River snaking through Pakistan’s Sindh province before emptying into the Arabian Sea. Source: ESA.

This Envisat image shows western India and southern Pakistan, with the Indus River snaking through Pakistan’s Sindh province before emptying into the Arabian Sea.

With a total length of over 3000 km, the river provides key water resources for Pakistan’s people. The area is known for its substantial agricultural base, where cotton, rice, wheat and many kinds of fruit are grown.The Indus River floods its banks during the monsoon season. Last year, particularly heavy rains caused severe flooding that affected millions of people.

The red area in the lower-central portion of the image covers a seasonal salt marsh over Pakistan’s border with western India. During India’s summer monsoon, the area of salty clay fills with standing water, and becomes an important wetland area providing breeding grounds for flamingos.

This image is a compilation of three passes by Envisat’s radar on 15 May, 14 July and 12 September. Each is assigned a colour (red, green and blue) and combined to produce this representation. The colours reveal changes in the surface between Envisat’s passes.” ~ GIS Lounge

A map of the United States showing the regional areas from one point-of-view. #geographyteacher

This map depicts the regions of the United States according to Andrew Shears, an Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley in Menasha, Wisconsin..

Personally, I see the country’s regions very similar to this as well. I grew up in New York and see the country’s regions from a northeastern perspective. Questions that people sometimes have where I am from are where does the South begin? Is Florida part of the South? What states encompass the midwest? The opinions across the country vary greatly on this such topic. How many of you agree with this depiction of regions?

A few years ago, I took a geography class where the teacher handed us a state map of the U.S. and then had us draw the areas of the countries based on what we thought was where the regional boundaries lie (similar to this map). I only remember that culture and economics usually played a role where we all drew the boundaries. Usually, this ended up being all relative to the area we grew up in and very few of the student’s maps matched exactly especially regarding the imaginary borders of the midwest: some people included western Pennsylvania while other included Minnesota. It is interesting to see different views of people across the country.

The following descriptions are from Andrew Shears’ website:

“Appalachia- Hills, hills and more hills. Appalachian landforms contribute to landscapes of isolation, and really cool meandering settlement patterns that I always find fascinating when driving through or when flying over. Isolation, though, has brought tremendous poverty and really, really good music (and by this, I am talking about bluegrass).

Down South- A sort of compilation of the leftovers of the old Confederate States of America, once you surgically remove Appalachia’s southern reaches, and then hack off Texas, the Gulf Coast and Florida. Is this assumption outdated? Sure, I have no doubt. It’s kind of a catch-all region for places with a broadly shared cultural identity. At the risk of insulting the technological center in the Triangle of North Carolina and the tourist areas of the coast, my mind still lumps this all together even though I know better. To the old CSA, I’ve added part of Kentucky and the southern portions of Missouri, Indiana and Ohio, where many people are seemingly still proud to fly Dixie’s flags.

East Coast- I know, tiniest region ever, right? And not terribly accurate in its description. In my mind, most of that Acela corridor fits together, with the urban areas of NYC, Philly, DC and Baltimore. It’s mostly urbanized, and this region is probably the urban epicenter of the country. Then again, when you go north of suburban Connecticut, to me it seems more a part of the “Northeast.”

Florida- Most of peninsular Florida has managed to distinguish itself culturally, in my mind, from the remainder of the south. Any Floridian will tell you that Florida’s two coasts have drastically different characteristics. I’ve grouped most of Florida with the Atlantic coast, because I feel like the character of Florida’s gulf coast is far more similar to neighboring areas in Alabama and Mississippi.

Great Plains- On a clear day in Topeka, you can see the Rockies, right? Well, not really, but it sure seems like it should be true if you’ve ever taken I-70 west of the Kansas state capital to Denver. In some ways, the Great Plains are one of the most breathtaking regions in the United States in terms of physiography, simply because of their vastness. The region’s largely flat in topography, semi-arid in climate, and primary sector (agriculture and petroleum) in economy. Settlement is sparse, to where tiny tiny towns have an incredible level of importance and provide many more services than a town of similar population back east.

Gulf Coast - The Gulf Coast, from the Everglades through the Texas border, are far more marshy than the Atlantic coast. Waves are (typically) calmer, and the resort communities seem to be a slower pace. Mobile’s a nice city, and New Orleans is unique to the world.

Midwest- A lot of people debate over where the midwest is. To me, it has one major thing in common, and that’s an agricultural landscape. Sure, there are cities there, and many of these cities have significant industrial capacities. By and large, though, this is a predominantly rural area with active farming, including dairy, livestock, grain and fruit. Farm sizes aren’t nearly as large as the big wheat farms and ranches of the plains, though they may approach 600 acres in the midwest. This is my homeland, and driving there from NE Ohio to see my parents, I always get a little bit of warmth in my belly when we pass Mansfield, the land flattens out, and the trees disappear in favor of farm fields.

Northeast- This is, admittedly, my least traveled region in the continental US. I’ve never been to New Hampshire or Maine, and that’s pitiful, I admit. I’ve only been to Massachusetts twice, and only through a tiny portion of Vermont on a train. Possibly because I am less familiar with this area, it all gets lumped together in my head as being the Northeast.
Old Industry- Some would call this the Great Lakes, but I always found that definition a little odd because a huge portion of the Great Lakes has nothing to do with this area (see “Up North”). This is an old industrial belt that borders the southern edge of the Great Lakes, from Milwaukee to Syracuse. Not all of it was industrialized, but most of it was at one time, and most of it is also transitioning out of those industrial economies to other use. Some of the more striking landscapes in the United States are the industrial wastelands of this region, factories that undoubtedly cost millions upon millions of dollars to construct that now apparently aren’t worth owning at all.
Out West- It’s a huge region on my map, and maybe for good reason. This was the prime area we’d explore when my mom would take us on the field camps she led when we were kids. My brother and I would always talk about those trips as going “Out West” and the name has always stuck with me. It’s probably my favorite region of the country to visit, and I’d love to live there, amongst the incredible scenic beauty of the Rockies, or even the desolate majesty of the Great Basin.

SoCal- California’s diverse enough that you could split it into seven regions or twenty and maybe still fail to do it justice. It’s an amazing place. One region of that state that must be set aside is SoCal (Southern California) because of its distinct Mediterranean style climate, it’s unique style of sprawling urbanism, its many cultural influences, and its rich economic engines.

Southwest- Dry, hot, beautiful in its sparseness, and large influences from Hispanic and Native American cultures. I’ll never forget camping at a teacher’s property on the Hopi reservation, using the world’s most decrepit outhouse in the middle of the night and having a cool desert breeze blow the door open (the latch was broken) as I sat there pooping, treating me to one of the most glorious views of a starry night sky I’ve ever seen in my life, all dimly illuminating the second mesa in the distance.

Texas- Texans firmly believe that they live in their own country. In some weird ways, Texas seems a lot like Canada… basically America but with their own way of doing those American-style things. In Canada, that means universal healthcare. In Texas, that means giant 4,000 square foot houses with Texas-shaped swimming pools in the back yard, all selling for $150,000. Oh, and guns… lots of guns. The lesson here is clear: Don’t Mess with Texas.

Up North- Lots of conifer trees and cold-ass winters. People seem to only come up here if they like hunting or fishing, snowmobiling or other winter activities. Beautiful place, and maybe one of the last true wildernesses in the eastern half of the US, but lonely and very, very cold.

West Coast- Rainy, foggy, mild, progressive and absolutely beautiful. Three great metropolises — San Francisco, Portland and Seattle — that rival those in any other region. The coast of northern California through Seattle may be some of the most glorious coastline ever to exist.”

National Geographic and Esri Team on Map for Web and Mobile

RT @ geospatialnews RT @spatialsustain

“National Geographic and Esri reveal a new multi-scale general reference map of the world for use by the public and for education purposes. The map uses the familiar cartographic styling that National Geographic developed over more than 100 years of map making, and offers multiple scales of viewing from global all the way down to 1:144k scale for the globe and 1:9k scale for North America.

Through ArcGIS online hosting, users are able to use this map for the creation of their own maps, by adding layers to this basemap or creating their own overlay layers.

The map uses data from a variety of leading data providers, including DeLorme, NAVTEQ, UNEP-WCMC, NASA, ESA, USGS, and others.

Take a tour of the map features here or access the map here.” ~vector1media

A Map without political boundaries or a division between land and water. Just population density throughout our world. Nice map!

“New visualization technique to map population density, by Fathom at http://fathom.info/dencity/ The map also highlights the 20 most populous cities in the world today. “

Open Source Technology and Esri | ArcNews Online »

Open Source GIS info