School (K-12) Geographic Data Available (SABINS)

A new GIS data engine has come along - SABINS (School Attendance Boundary Information System) and seems much like the incredibly rich dataset at NHGIS (National Historical GIS). Tell your Education department members or others on campus who study school systems, student walking distances, and demographic variables within the public schools. I haven't tried using the SABINS site but I used the very similar NHGIS site and wrote about it in the past (here). From the email announcement:

The College of William & Mary and the Minnesota Population Center are pleased to announce the launch of the new School Attendance Boundary Information System (SABINS) website. SABINS is a project funded by the National Science Foundation to assemble, harmonize, and disseminate GIS data for grade-specific school attendance boundaries embedded within school districts throughout the United States. In addition to GIS data for school attendance boundaries, SABINS also provides:

• Census data tabulated for the school attendance boundaries


• Crosswalk tables that link school attendance boundaries to data from the U.S. Department of Education's Common Core of Data

When users visit the SABINS website, they will find:

• A front page providing access to crosswalk tables, FAQs, user guides and data documentation


• A data extract system where they can:
  
  
  
  • download Census data for multiple grade levels in one extract,
  
  
  • download GIS data for multiple grade levels in one extract, and
  
  
  • constrain or expand data searches by specifying any combination of topics or datasets.
  
  
  
  

Looks great and very useful!

Mystery Map X: What divides New York State?

Well, it's that time again. The Skidmore College GIS Center for Interdisciplinary Research has produced a new mystery map. If you have ever traveled across upstate NY, there's a good chance you know what it is. Check it out here:

See Mystery Map X

Have a super day!

Mapping the Grenadine Islands: This Time It's Terrestrial

Recent Middlebury College grad and geographer, Aly DeGraff, has a blog...Carto-island-graphy ... documenting her Compton Mentor Fellowship year working on a participatory mapping project in the Grenadines. If you had any interest in my work in 2009-10 in the Grendadines or like reading about mapping in the developing world, I encourage you to check out Aly's work. She sprinkles maps and photos throughout her posts that will make you pine for the Caribbean. 

Aly's mentor on her project is the PhD candidate, Kim Baldwin and project leader on Grenadines MarSIS, whom I worked with by helping assemble the KML of Kim's marine-based dataset. Aly will be collecting and collating the terrestrial-based GIS dataset and exporting that data into a KML. A table of some of the datasets is shown below.

I gave a talk on my Grenadines Google Earth project for the Woodin Colloquium at Middlebury about a year ago and Aly was a very enthusiastic undergraduate in attendance. She wanted to do a mapping project similar to mine and wanted to be in the Caribbean. I'm so thrilled that the work that I participated on through the Fulbright program is living on in Aly. Not a bad place to do some fieldwork!

Flood Map: Is Your House On High (Enough) Ground?

This Flood Map (in Beta) map helps to visualize where the flood-prone areas are in the event of sea level rise. I am not sure of the accuracy of the map and data, but it is pretty fun to play with. Here is a right-click on Central Park and then putting in a sea-level rise of 20 meters.  One should be okay there but the rest of Manhattan and the five boroughs look pretty dodgy. Put in your home address and rise the sea level then prepare to be shocked.

Heard about this from a Buzz from @DonMeltz.

shhh...there's a new mystery map...

Here's the scoop...just posted a new mystery map on the OnLocation blog. Go check it out:

Mystery Map IX

Can you figure out what it is? 

Mystery Map from the Skidmore GIS Center for Interdisciplinary Research

This is my first post to this blog, so I figured I would post some content from the Skidmore College GIS Center blog to test it out. Here is our most recent "Mystery Map." All last year we posted maps of different kinds of spatial distributions over the landscape to get people thinking spatially. (Check some old mystery maps out here). This is the first map for the 2011/12 academic year. Can you guess what it is? Leave a guess in the comments on this blog or on the GIS Center blog "on location" here. Typically to get the word out on campus about the mystery map I would tweet it on the @geoparadigm Twitter account, post it on the GIS Center facebook page, and even get it in th student announcements. Some mystery maps also have a reward for the first student on campus who guesses correctly in the blog comments. The prize this time is a NEARC t-shirt. I can't take full responsibility for the Mystery Map idea...I have to give some credit to Jon Caris at Smith College who spoke a little about Smith's program and Mystery Maps in this NITLE: Spatial Perspectives podcast.

So, check out the podcast and try to guess the mystery map! Good luck.

Once you have pondered this unique spatial distribution, check on the solution to the mystery map here.

Google Earth, Why Are You Still Free?

I saw this nice post "Why Do We Do It?" from Mano Marks who is the Geo Developer Advocate at Google in which he answers the question I've had for so long: Why is Google Earth (and Google Maps API) free? I love Google Earth and have been a devotee since it came out in the mid 2000s. I've marveled at how Google Earth is made available to all of us for nothing and all of us can come up with incredible ideas with how to use Google Earth and Google Maps.

Mano: "But fundamentally, we do it because it's the right thing to do, we do it because we believe that people want to, that they benefit from using maps as a platform for understanding data."

Hurray for free! Hurray for all of us using maps for understanding where we live!

The Google Earth image above was grabbed from the Teaching Science and Math blog.

Added 10/5/11: This just in...Google Earth has been downloaded more than 1 Billion times. Crazy, right?!

Tablet PCs in Field Education: "But What If It Works?"

I'm about to rant. So if listening to (somewhat random and perhaps out-of-context) complaints is not your cup of tea, please go to the next blog post in your reader.

I worked hard to make a top-notch mobile mapping computing "lab" at my old job. The mobile computing lab had 15 or so tablet PCs with GIS software and GPS receivers. All charged up and ready to go, these tablets were used by faculty and students at a moment's notice or for a regular class session. The lab, at its inception, was designed for outdoor education.  When I say I worked hard on this project, I mean I found the technology and talked about it with faculty members, I found the grant RFP, I co-authored the proposal with faculty members, I figured out what else was needed to make these tablet PCs work for the teaching and research needs of the department. You know, project management stuff. This was in 2003/2004 and no one that we knew of was using tablet PCs, let alone for using GIS software to map.

The long story short...they worked! They were awesome. Having tablet PCs right in a department allowed for so much flexibility in teaching environmental sciences, geology, GIS, urban studies and other classes. More professors on campus got to try them out and more people adopted using tablet PCs. We got the original grant that gave us, of course, free tablet PCs and one of the academic deans at the time said that "if they work," the college will fork up the money to replace them one. And as proof, we wrote a few papers and gave invited talks on how we used them and talked about our successes.  So the original tablets were replaced once with newer better, faster, more robust features.  It was all even more wonderful. But that was the end of the story. I recently heard through the grapevine that the thing that actually worked, the mobile mapping lab built in 2004, is no longer supported and will be eliminated. The purse string holders on campus who paid not one cent for the hardware since 2004, have decided to close up the shop.

In higher ed, I'd like to hear every now and again "But what if it works?" These tablets worked. They still work. And they are no longer being supported. RIP mobile mapping lab, you were a priceless resource for so many students and faculty.

Hurricane Tracking Map via New York Times

The awesome cartographers at the New York Times strike again, this time giving us a beautiful and interactive web map showing the track, wind speed and the projected track of Hurricane Irene, which is hitting the east coast of the U.S. right now. You can go back and forth between a simple Google Maps basemap or use an aerial photo from today (Aug 26) or August 24. Check the wind speed graph too.

Thanks, @elguary, for the tweet.

See the full gallery on Posterous

 

Rugged Cover for the iPad2

I've been trying out an iPad2 for use in the field this summer. One must have 3G/wifi but it does seem like one could do real-time mapping on these things. Now I found a rugged case. It's by Griffin Technologies and it's called a Survivor.

Funny thing is is that this case looks just like the ruggedized case we used on our circa 2003 tablet PCs (HP TC1100, to be exact). Those were awesome but when the newer tablet PCs came out, there was no similar rugged case to buy, the new models were strictly business use-style.

See the full gallery on Posterous

If You're an Academic Technology Professional, Tell Us About What You Do: Publish!

I've been somewhat quiet on my blogs of late. I have been working on a few different professional things, so this is a post explaining what these things are. Over the past year and a half, I’ve had a lot of time to write about activities that I did at my previous job. Some of those papers were in review while I was in Barbados, some are a little fresher. Here’s what’s up.

Late last year, I had a short piece in EDUCAUSE Quarterly titled "Increasing Corporate Philanthropy to Enrich Technology Innovation in Higher Education." It's on a topic that has been on my mind for some time, I had tried to get it published in another venue, and finally gave EQ a try. I'm thrilled it made it to the light of day, even though my piece, on how our students and faculty in higher ed do not have the skills needed for a future inundated with technology and that we need to make a priority appropriately educating them in media fluency and that corporations should be helping in this regard, wasn't read by many people. Ridiculously long sentence above aside, please read it and tell me what you think.

After submitting the above paper and while browsing the EDUCAUSE Quarterly issue, I looked at the topics for the 2011 issue and noticed that there was a coming issue devoted to Mobile Computing. I know a thing or two about mobile computing so I hustled and put together a paper for the first issue of EQ. The paper that I had in my mind to write was strictly about work I did with a Biology professor and a research associate in an Ecology class. But I thought that a paper with two or three other colleagues from small liberal arts colleges, would be even more interesting for the readers of EQ, so I contacted some folks I know out there doing interesting things with true mobile computing and teaching and learning in the field and we, in short order, put together a paper called, "The Educational Potential of Mobile Computing in the Field." This paper, if you have not read it, is written with a professor, a field assistant and a librarian, and we are talking about best practices for using a tablet PC in field based classes, some that use GIS and some not. The upshot is that tablet PCs are a pretty effective tool for doing field work. Again, please read it. Please let me know what you think.

A paper that I had written and submitted as a book chapter, that was seemingly never going to come out, I re-submitted to SAA-Archaeological Record. Thankfully, the editor there happily took it. It is called "The Excavation is the Classroom" and it's about, you guessed it, archaeological field work, teaching, and technology....tablet PC technology.

The last two papers are from work that I did with faculty members. I thought it was interesting work. So did they. They are busy and don't have time to write up anything about their teaching efforts because they are taking the time to write up their research efforts. I said I'd take the lead and give a talk and eventually write a paper and they were more than thrilled to let me do that. Think about it. If you go to all the effort to help a professor make something really special happen in the classroom, shouldn't that story be told? Give a talk. Go to a professional meeting, go outside of your discipline of study perhaps, and tell it!

I’ve got another paper in review at the Hacking the Academy book-in-a-week project that sort of goes into this topic, of how academic technology professionals should be academics first and technologists after that somewhere. Still waiting to hear on that project.

I've been asked a couple of times to give talks about the work that I did at the University of the West Indies, in particular on the MarSIS project. A paper from that project, which I went to Mountain View to present at Google, is in the works for the GSA Penrose compendium.

So, to wrap this up and to discuss the point of the title of this post, if you're reading this and you are an instructional technologist, please write about what you're doing. Please tell us about the interesting use of teaching with technology that you've been involved with. We want to learn from you. Share your knowledge.

Pad and pen photo above is CC Flickr image by Tony Hall.

Cat, dog and laptop photo is CC Flickr image by Sara Westermark.

Google's Chromebook, Will It Eliminate the High-end Computer Lab?

I'm a huge fan of Google products. I love Google Docs, Gmail, Google Earth (naturally!), Google Maps (of course), and I use no other search engine but the Google. So I suppose I should be fanatically happy about the coming Google Chromebook which operates solely in the cloud. I'm there already, right?! Maybe not.

I use software that does not run well (if at all) in the cloud...ESRI's ArcGIS.  I also use drawing programs and photo editing software but Google Draw and Picasa do not do nearly what I need them to do. They are merely okay.  For a long time I have had a not-so-silent dream...Google buys ESRI and turns GIS software into something that 1) is easy to use, 2) has an intuitive interface, 3) is robust, and 4) can truly operate in the cloud. Google already makes geospatial visualization a breeze with their mapping products, why wouldn't they want to go the next step and allow folks to do some real geospatial analyses within Google Earth and Google Maps?

Alas, a Chromebook does not solve my need for having all my "apps" on one device. Will it be a gamer-changer in higher education that so many seem to think the iPad is? Can we remove the Windows or Apple computer labs and replace those stations with Chromebooks? No. We cannot. Sergey Brin says "And I think Chromebooks are a new model that doesn't put the burden of managing your computer on yourself." Hallelujah!  I've argued that academic technologists should not be managing computer labs (though I don't think Mr Brin was thinking of me and my compadres when he made that statement), we all want life to be easier.  But the Chrome OS or the iPad, for that matter, do not yet replace the tried and true Apple or Windows high-end desktop machines. Those are the computers where our students learn how to edit video, or make it look as thought O.J. was wearing Bruno Maglis shoes, or create architectural drawings, or, yes, geo-process digital orthophotos and analyze for percent tree coverage.

The Chromebook will be great for those on the go who want to write and check email and use a simple spreadsheet. It starts up in eight seconds, for crying out loud! I have an old clunker laptop that takes eight minutes to start up? But it has all my "apps," so I can't part with it! 

Scientific Visualization, GIS, and Mobile Computing in Higher Ed: Learning Outside

Colleagues of mine and I recently published a paper on using tablet PCs, "The Educational Potential of Mobile Computing in the Field," for teaching science courses outside, in the field. I think readers of this blog might be interested in the paper because two of the three given examples utilize GIS software in mapping features in-situ. Three small liberal arts colleges provide examples of using tablet PCs in outdoor teaching and learning.

If mobile computing is of interest to you, check out the the first issue of EDUCAUSE Quarterly for 2011, the focus of which is entirely mobile.

Thanks, Nancy Hays, attentive editor of EDUCAUSE Quarterly, and Jeremy, Jeff and Keri!

Atlas of Rural and Small Town America

Saw this great web map showing GIS data by counties in the U.S. It's called Atlas of Rural and Small Town America, but it shows the whole country by population, employment, agriculture, and "county classifications." The map above shows the percent of farmland in the U.S. by county (using 2007 data).

And this one above shows the counties by farms involved with Community Supported Agriculture from 2007. An added plus is you can download the U.S. Dept of Agriculture data. 

Seeing this site came on the heels of a New York Times article on mapping broadband access in rural America. Broadband in the Heartland is lacking.  Though the Atlas of Rural America does not show these data (internet access across the country) the article shows a couple of interesting maps.

Poster Session Video - GSA Penrose #GEPenrose

This is a wee bit passed its prime, but I'm posting it anyway. This is a video of the final poster session from the Geological Society of America Penrose conference last month. I'm wandering through the posters and interactive demos of Google Earth projects that focus on geoscience education. I can't believe the conference was already a month ago.

Click here to see who was presenting (from 3 to 5pm).

Historical Photos and Place - WhatWasThere

I don't believe this is the only mapping web site of its kind, a space or archive to geo-locate older photographs, but What Was There looks great and seems easy to use. How they describe themselves:

WhatWasThere ties historical photos to their modern physical context, allowing you to tour familiar streets to see how they appeared in the past.

There is a limitation...lack of photos. I searched Poughkeepsie, NY. Nothing. I searched Delaware, Ohio. Again, nothing. So I searched around Los Angeles and found some interesting shots like the ones above. Isn't it neat when someone takes a cute little 1930s restaurant, knocks it down and builds something ugly? This is a common occurrence, of course, especially in Los Angeles, but now we might be able to see some of these old art deco gems. So upload!

I hope this or another platform like this takes off. I remember working on a project with a faculty member who was creating a "digital tour" of a place. The local county historical society wanted the professor to pay big bucks to merely scan some of their archival images. And then to present the data to other people outside of campus walls presented even more layers of 'no.'  Needless to say this faculty member's project never made it to the web. Now, perhaps, we can move forward with images that should be freed from shoe boxes and historical society's accordion files.

Follow WhatWasThere on Twitter.

See the full gallery on Posterous

GIS at a Small Liberal Arts College - DePauw

This is a great essay in the Academic Commons on DePauw University's GIS work - "From Project to Program: The DePauw University GIS Center Engaging the Campus With GIS."

Taken together, this modest list outlines the initial components that ultimately led to the creation of a thriving and sustainable Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program at DePauw University.

GIS software and other geospatial technologies are such useful and discipline-spanning utilities yet challenging to use. This article goes into nice depth on how DePauw's GIS program works to bridge the campus community with mapping. As Diana Stuart Sinton puts it "the investment that DePauw has made in its curriculum, personnel, and other resources is clearly paying off!" 

Factory Farm Web Map for the U.S.

U.S. Census data are used to create this web map showing factory farms in the U.S. In the image above you can see where hog farming is prevalent. The site gives loads of information on how these farms - chickens, cattle and pigs - impact our environment, our food security, the affects on the animals and on our health.

This is a project of Food & Water Watch.

Get Updates on Google Imagery for Maps and Earth

If you're interested in a certain place of places in the world and would like notification of new imagery updates in Google Maps or Earth, go here.

Read all about what the Google Geo Team is doing so you can "Follow Your World." 

The President's Speech and Thoughts on Paying for Innovation #SOTU

President Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday night had several aspects that should be of interest to educators, scientists and technologists. Readers of this blog, most typically GIS and geospatial specialists, should take heart in some of the ideas brought forward by the President.  Though Obama stressed innovation in fuel and medical technologies, and I will not hypothesize on what Winning the Future might mean, I argue that strength in all areas of technology and innovation will be critical for the nation's future on the global front. 

Some highlights from Obama's speech:

We'll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology - an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people.

and

That's what Americans have done for over 200 years: reinvented ourselves. And to spur on more success stories like the Allen Brothers, we've begun to reinvent our energy policy. We're not just handing out money. We're issuing a challenge. We're telling America's scientists and engineers that if they assemble teams of the best minds in their fields, and focus on the hardest problems in clean energy, we'll fund the Apollo projects of our time.

We need to get behind this innovation. And to help pay for it, I'm asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies. I don't know if you've noticed, but they're doing just fine on their own. So instead of subsidizing yesterday's energy, let's invest in tomorrow's.

This sounds good and it appears to be a plea for an increase in innovative ideas. But when the President says "we're not just handing out money," I fear that that may be exactly what is done. How will the President go about encouraging America's "scientists and engineers" to "innovate"? 

We have to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world.

How? My thought is we need to work on the pipeline of young minds who will be doing the innovating. 

As Obama said, we are a nation of Google and Facebook, homegrown technologies that didn't sprout in a medical lab or an engineering school.  How do we cultivate in grades K to 12 and in colleges and universities more Sergey Brins, Mark Zuckerbergs, and Bill Gates when we do not place importance on teaching with, about and how to use technology? Though I usually feel government spending on education is sacrosanct, I think we need to tap the business sector more and seek more "innovative" technological funding ideas from all of the corporations that benefit from smart, technological young minds. I wrote my thoughts on this idea for an opinion piece in Educause Quarterly. Rather than rely on Uncle Sam to fix it and rather than expect Microsoft or Google to fix it, all areas of the private sector benefit from a technologically ready and capable workforce.

And one more thing, it must involve more than the scientists and engineers to work out the real problems we are facing right now, so let's spread around the responsibility.

I co-opted the above image from the White House's Flickr site.

FedEx and Cartograms

I'm not really sure why FedEx - delivers to a changing world - got into the map visualizations game, but take a look at some of the many cartograms of the world. Attached here are recycled paper use by country (largest is China), beer imports (the U.S. leads), and population density (largest Singapore). Click on See Other World Topics and check out the other maps that FedEx has put together. Some look goofy but it's still kind of fun to look at these maps.

Thanks to my friend geoparadigm for tweeting this.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Can You (Really) Map on an iPad?

I wanted to find out whether anyone has figured out how to use an iPad to map with. I tried out an iPad (with 3G) a couple of months ago and used the Google Earth app, Google Maps app and ESRI's GIS app. With plenty of nearby cell service, I could find myself pretty accurately. Great! But I could not for the life of me figure out how to save a location and, thus, create a KML.

I put the question to a list that I'm on plus I sent out a call on Twitter.  Because I think information like this should be freed from the lock-box of email threads and Twitter streams, I am compiling my findings here. I should also say that I am a known skeptic when it comes to the iPad. My research was out of self-interest as I am writing a paper on using tablet PCs in field-based classes and I wanted to talk about alternative mapping technologies. (The geologist in the photo is using a Toughbook, just to confuse you/get your attention.) The reviewers of our paper did not believe me and my collaborators when we said that iPads were not a viable mapping option.

What do you think?

My question:
Dear NY GIS-users list:

I am collecting information on whether anyone has tried to use an iPad for data collection. Whether you tried and failed or tried and found success, I am most interested in use of the iPad for mapping. Can it be used for collecting and saving points, lines and polygons? Or if you do Google: placemarks, paths, and polygons?  Using the iPad's 3G capability, one can get a fairly accurate location when using ESRI's mapping app or Google Maps or Earth, but can one actually map location and saving and share as a shapefile or KML?

Many thanks,
Meg Stewart

Geospatial Instructional Technologist

_______

Meg,

The android operating system has similar capabilities.
See also  http://www.seeclickfix.com/citizens

Brgds,
Susan
_______

Hi Meg,

I saw your question on the list serv and thought you might be interested in an app that we have developed, MobileRecon. Attached are two PDFs with additional info [Note: just look at the link]. There are actually new features in addition to what is in the brochures, so, if you're interested, let me know and I can detail those for you. While MobileRecon is built for iPhone, we have a version in the works for iPad that takes advantage of its larger surface area.

http://navagis.com/Mobile_Recon.php

Best, Jay
________

This summers On the Cutting Edge GIS and Remote Sensing workshop had a number of us exploring this. On one field day we had a mix of iPads, Toughbooks and Tablets running ArcPad, ArcMap and other software. Still working out best methods for mapping directly on the iPad, but a consensus was that this had real promise. I'll be exploring more this spring. We looked at using ESRI Arc on iPad, GoogleEarth and GoogleMaps and MotionX GPS HD.

Key points were,

-need cellular service to access imagery/servers in the field
-GPS was quite good in most cases (we were working in "good" environments)
-screen visibility was good, and in many cases much better than tablets
-iPad will not hold up like Toughbook, but does not cost $5000 either
-ziplock bag worked well to "weatherproof" iPad
-stylus needed to draw accurately

I'm currently testing BlueSLR app & hardware that links iPad and digital camera to encode GPS data in the EXIF data of digital photos.

Be really interested in hearing what others have to say on this.

Cheers,

Dave
_______

Via Twitter
@TheSteve0  @meg_stewart the browser would let you do it with something like openlayers - but not potlach2 since that is flash #GIS#ipad

Restored Map From 1770

Someone at the New York Times loves maps and stories about maps. Yesterday we got a glimpse of a lovingly restored map of the lower New York Harbor drawn in 1770 by cartographer Bernard Ratzer. Here is the Times story but you should really check out the interactive digital image of the map in it's "old" state and then again in the newly rehabilitated state (both shown here from the same location on either map). Check out the west bank of the Hudson River, in New Jersey. All of that swamp land has been filled in to make Hoboken and Jersey City and Ellis Island was called Bucking Island.

They don't make maps like that anymore.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Final Day of the Google Earth GSA Penrose #GEPenrose

From this past week of GSA Penrose Google Earth talks and posters, my head is swimming with ideas.  There were people here from all areas of expertise and from very different backgrounds. Most were geology professors, but there were some of us who are geospatial and/or educational technologists. There were course designers, academic press reps, and folks from funding agencies. I think there was so much enthusiasm at this conference that I do not believe this is the end of the conversation. It is the beginning.

Again, I will just copy in the tweets from the day. The links give a good overview of what we heard.

2011-01-09 03:52:53
@guertin I'm in this #gigapan image! But the shirt I'm wearing makes it too easy to pick me out at #GEPenrose... http://gigapan.org/gigapans/68275/ 

I'm in this #gigapan image! But the shirt I'm wearing makes it too easy to pick me out at #GEPenrose... http://gigapan.org/gigapans/68275/

— Dr. G (@guertin) January 9, 2011

2011-01-08 21:26:50
@guertin Really inspired by #GEPenrose... want to work on developing some new GE exercises to try out this semester. Too bad classes start on Monday!

Really inspired by #GEPenrose... want to work on developing some new GE exercises to try out this semester. Too bad classes start on Monday!

— Dr. G (@guertin) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 20:59:56
@thetaph1 Now moved from #GEPenrose to @michibusch 's place.

Now moved from #GEPenrose to @michibusch 's place.

— Uwe Schindler (@thetaph1) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 19:52:41
@rschott And that's a wrap for #GEPenrose!

And that's a wrap for #GEPenrose!

— Ron Schott (@rschott) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 19:47:02
@thetaph1 Possibilities for publishing KML data: http://www.pangaea.de, http://www.elsevier.com now also accepts KML files! #GEPenrose

Possibilities for publishing KML data: http://www.pangaea.de, http://www.elsevier.com now also accepts KML files! #GEPenrose

— Uwe Schindler (@thetaph1) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 19:44:27
@meg_stewart Want to suggest some features for Google Earth? http://goo.gl/vJk7v You know you do. #GEPenrose

Want to suggest some features for Google Earth? http://goo.gl/vJk7v You know you do. #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 19:43:32
@thetaph1 Final session at #GEPenrose

Final session at #GEPenrose

— Uwe Schindler (@thetaph1) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 19:41:25
@meg_stewart Virtual Globes in Geosciences in Journal of Computers & Geosciences http://goo.gl/3ZnQg Hope this links works. #GEPenrose

Virtual Globes in Geosciences in Journal of Computers &Geosciences http://goo.gl/3ZnQg Hope this links works. #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 19:29:07
@meg_stewart Google Earth KML archive via John Bailey (will grow) http://www.snap.uaf.edu/earth/KMLarchive/index.html #GEPenrose

Google Earth KML archive via John Bailey (will grow) http://www.snap.uaf.edu/earth/KMLarchive/index.html #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 19:16:02
@meg_stewart #GEPenrose wrap-up session. Talking about publications.

#GEPenrose wrap-up session. Talking about publications.

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 18:47:10
@meg_stewart DigitalPlanet wants to help you get virtual geology to ur students. http://www.digitalplanet.org/DigitalPlanet/Get_involved.html #GEPenrose 

DigitalPlanet wants to help you get virtual geology to ur students. http://www.digitalplanet.org/DigitalPlanet/Get_involved.html #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 18:41:42
@meg_stewart Or get a grant and some grad students and use a 3D scanner - NextEngine for $3000 #GEPenrose Bring the hand samples out of drawers and share

Or get a grant and some grad students and use a 3D scanner - NextEngine for $3000 #GEPenrose Bring the hand samples out of drawers and share

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 18:40:23
@meg_stewart In SketchUp create a rough model that mimics the hand sample shape. Drape the photos over the sides. Not that easy to do. #GEPenrose 2/2

In SketchUp create a rough model that mimics the hand sample shape. Drape the photos over the sides. Not that easy to do. #GEPenrose 2/2

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 18:39:12
@meg_stewart Creating a virtual specimen Take 6 pics of a hand sample in the X, -X, Y, -Y, Z, & -Z directions. Bring those into SketchUp. #GEPenrose 1/2

Creating a virtual specimen Take 6 pics of a hand sample in the X, -X, Y, -Y, Z, & –Z directions. Bring those into SketchUp. #GEPenrose 1/2

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 18:35:32
@Trevesy 'I've built a virtual hand specimen model that you can split with a virtual hammer' Declan gets appreciative 'oohs' from audience #GEPenrose

'I've built a virtual hand specimen model that you can split with a virtual hammer' Declan gets appreciative 'oohs' from audience #GEPenrose

— Trevesy (@Trevesy) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 18:18:04
@terraunbound How do students know what to 'see' when looking at visualizations and images? #GePenrose 

How do students know what to 'see' when looking at visualizations and images? #GePenrose

— Shelley terraunbound (@terraunbound) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 18:14:05
@meg_stewart Declan: As faculty members or technologists, it becomes increasingly harder to remember what it was like to be a novice. #GePenrose

Declan: As faculty members or technologists, it becomes increasingly harder to remember what it was like to be a novice. #GePenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 17:57:22
@terraunbound RT @meg_stewart: "NSF is like an investment banker"-- and think long term /strategically. #GEPenrose #edtech

RT @meg_stewart: "NSF is like an investment banker"-- and think long term /strategically.#GEPenrose #edtech

— Shelley terraunbound (@terraunbound) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 17:15:10
@rschott Wrapping up #GEPenrose this morning. Oodles of great ideas - dig thru the #GEPenrose hashtag posts esp. those by @meg_stewart & @Trevesy.

Wrapping up #GEPenrose this morning. Oodles of great ideas - dig thru the #GEPenrose hashtag posts esp. those by @meg_stewart & @trevesy.

— Ron Schott (@rschott) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 16:51:20
@meg_stewart First talk of the last day of conference: @pffli on NSF perspectives on research and education #GEPenrose

First talk of the last day of conference: @pffli on NSF perspectives on research and education #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 15:06:57
@meg_stewart Taking the Group Photo #GEPenrose http://post.ly/1S4x8

Taking the Group Photo #GEPenrose http://post.ly/1S4x8

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 17:19:40
@Trevesy Interested in Prezi as a presentation tool? I combined video editing and Prezi in this talk http://bit.ly/gegbe9 #GEPenrose

Interested in Prezi as a presentation tool? I combined video editing and Prezi in this talk http://bit.ly/gegbe9 #GEPenrose

— Trevesy (@Trevesy) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 17:15:26
@meg_stewart Day 4 of the GSA Penrose Conference: Just the Tweets #GEPenrose http://post.ly/1S74c 

Day 4 of the GSA Penrose Conference: Just the Tweets #GEPenrose http://post.ly/1S74c

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 01:04:08
@FortBendHouston RT @pffli: The DeepWater Horizon wreck is modelled in 3-D in Google Earth if you turn on the Buildings layer. #GEPenrose.

RT @pffli: The DeepWater Horizon wreck is modelled in 3-D in Google Earth if you turn on the Buildings layer. #GEPenrose.

— Gordon Vaughan (@FortBendHouston) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 01:46:32
@meg_stewart The #GEPenrose attendees were more than ready to talk to the Googlers http://flic.kr/p/98kcMF http://flic.kr/p/98kgb4 

The #GEPenrose attendees were more than ready to talk to the Googlers http://flic.kr/p/98kcMFhttp://flic.kr/p/98kgb4

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 8, 2011

Day 4 of the GSA Penrose Conference: Just the Tweets #GEPenrose

No time to write a full blog post, so I've ported over just the tweets from yesterday's excellent discussions.

2011-01-08 01:10:37
@FortBendHouston ..Sylvia Earle: "Our goal is to identify areas with potential for Gulf [of Mexico] ecosystem recovery" http://ht.ly/3A7XG #GEPenrose

..Sylvia Earle: "Our goal is to identify areas with potential for Gulf [of Mexico] ecosystem recovery" http://ht.ly/3A7XG #GEPenrose

— Gordon Vaughan (@FortBendHouston) January 8, 2011

2011-01-08 01:06:57
@FortBendHouston RT @pffli "Check out Google's LatLong blog for info on new data in..Gulf from@natgeosociety & @usoceangov http://ht.ly/3A7XG #GEPenrose" .. 

RT @pffli "Check out Google's LatLong blog for info on new data in..Gulf from @natgeosociety & @usoceangov http://ht.ly/3A7XG #GEPenrose" ..

— Gordon Vaughan (@FortBendHouston) January 8, 2011

2011-01-07 22:46:20
@Trevesy My tutorial on how to do a rising block like they are just showinghttp://bit.ly/gGBykn #GEPenrose 

My tutorial on how to do a rising block like they are just showing http://bit.ly/gGBykn #GEPenrose

— Trevesy (@Trevesy) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 22:30:57
@Trevesy I really like Prezi as slideware, gr8 for adding ref links to talks but I don't like the rotated text feature - no purpose #GEPenrose 

I really like Prezi as slideware, gr8 for adding ref links to talks but I don't like the rotated text feature - no purpose #GEPenrose

— Trevesy (@Trevesy) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 22:25:52
@terraunbound Don Duggan-Haas creating place-based professional development with local teachers #gepenrose 

Don Duggan-Haascreating place-based professional development with local teachers #gepenrose

— Shelley terraunbound (@terraunbound) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 22:24:56
@tedlouie RT @cbdawson: Really appreciating the tweets and blog posts from@meg_stewart and others about #GEPenrose 

RT @cbdawson: Really appreciating the tweets and blog posts from @meg_stewart and others about #GEPenrose

— Ted Louie (@tedlouie) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 22:21:47
Really appreciating the tweets and blog posts from @meg_stewart and others about #GEPenrose / @cbdawson

Really appreciating the tweets and blog posts from @meg_stewart and others about #GEPenrose

— Cian Dawson (@cbdawson) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 22:18:04
@terraunbound Using Prezi is like being flown around on a google earth tour... how's it feel?#GEPenrose 

Using Prezi is like being flown around on a google earth tour... how's it feel?#GEPenrose

— Shelley terraunbound (@terraunbound) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 22:15:38
@meg_stewart Ooo, this is my first experience of a live Prezi presentation. #GEPenrose 

Ooo, this is my first experience of a live Prezi presentation. #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 22:09:51
@meg_stewart Ryan: We need to keep these conversations going (develop a community of practice). Tools shouldnt be developed in isolation. #GEPenrose 

Ryan: We need to keep these conversations going (develop a community of practice). Tools shouldnt be developed in isolation. #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 22:04:37
@meg_stewart Jeff Ryan: Do students really learn with technology and informatics tools and resources? We need authentic assessment #GEPenrose 

Ryan: Do students really learn with technology and informatics tools and resources? We need authentic assessment #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 22:03:34
@meg_stewart Jeff Ryan: Private sector tools and data systems are becoming the "standards" for geo-information access. That’s GE and ArcGIS #GEPenrose 

Jeff Ryan: Private sector tools and data systems are becoming the “standards” for geo-information access. That’s GE and ArcGIS #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 20:17:15
@meg_stewart Speaker: Because integration of Google Earth in classrooms is fairly new, more research should be done on learning outcomes. #GEPenrose 

Speaker: Because integration of Google Earth in classrooms is fairly new, more research should be done on learning outcomes. #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 20:16:11
@terraunbound I like this: "A well written learning objective is a contract between you and the student" #GEPenrose 

I like this: "A well written learning objective is a contract between you and the student" #GEPenrose

— Shelley terraunbound (@terraunbound) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 20:11:44
@meg_stewart Talk now is about use of Google Earth & assessment. Lecturer uses the Carlton resource of structural geol http://goo.gl/BNpHO #GEPenrose 

Talk now is about use of Google Earth & assessment. Lecturer uses the Carlton resource of structural geol http://goo.gl/BNpHO #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 20:01:47
@meg_stewart Comment about use of Google Earth in early edu so that by the time students get to college, they can use more advanced features. #GEPenrose 

Comment about use of Google Earth in early edu so that by the time students get to college, they can use more advanced features. #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 19:59:56
@meg_stewart Hearing about use of GE to teach middle schoolers geographic literacy & geol and geog skills. http://www.spatialsci.org/ #GEPenrose 

Hearing about use of GE to teach middle schoolers geographic literacy & geol and geog skills.http://www.spatialsci.org/ #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 19:30:17
@Trevesy Sean Askey on spreadsheet mapper bit.ly/gmup1O Good if u have a table with lat longs and want to put data in rich pop up balloons #GEPenrose 

Sean Askey on spreadsheet mapper bit.ly/gmup1O Good if u have a table with lat longs and want to put data in rich pop up balloons #GEPenrose

— Trevesy (@Trevesy) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 19:27:50
@meg_stewart Have a lot of points w/photos to bring into GE? Use Spreadsheet Mappr.http://earth.google.com/outreach/tutorial_spreadsheet.html #GEPenrose 

Have a lot of points w/photos to bring into GE? Use Spreadsheet Mappr. http://earth.google.com/outreach/tutorial_spreadsheet.html #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 19:20:54
@pffli To get lat lon GPS data from placemarks in Google Earth, save them as a .kml file, rename the extension to .xml, import to Excel. #GEPenrose 

To get lat lon GPS data from placemarks in Google Earth, save them as a .kml file, rename the extension to .xml, import to Excel. #GEPenrose

— Dr. Paul Filmer (@pffli) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 19:14:37
@Trevesy It was a techy discussion so I didn't understand it but Google were there #GEPenrose 

It was a techy discussion so I didn't understand it but Google were there #GEPenrose

— Trevesy (@Trevesy) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 19:13:59
@meg_stewart Day 3 of the GSA Penrose Conference: Using a GigaPan #GEPenrosehttp://post.ly/1RqjH 

Day 3 of the GSA Penrose Conference: Using a GigaPan #GEPenrose http://post.ly/1RqjH

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 20:47:49

 @AVMaltese @meg_stewart ABSOLUTELY!! We spent lots o time last spring looking thru all sorts of Fed & State sites 4 layers that work well. #GEPenrose 

@meg_stewart ABSOLUTELY!! We spent lots o time last spring looking thru all sorts of Fed & State sites 4 layers that work well. #GEPenrose

— Adam Maltese (@AVMaltese) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 19:12:34
Re poles problem; at a conference that one of the digitial globes (not one of the main ones) had it fixed 4 years ago (cont) #GEPenrose / @Trevesy

Re poles problem; at a conference that one of the digitial globes (not one of the main ones) had it fixed 4 years ago (cont) #GEPenrose

— Trevesy (@Trevesy) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 20:42:07
@meg_stewart @AVMaltese Good to know. Sounds like you know how to find your layers for teaching. Would it be easier to have them in 1 place? #GEPenrose 

@avmaltese Good to know. Sounds like you know how to find your layers for teaching. Would it be easier to have them in 1 place? #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 19:06:23
@pffli The poles have always been a problem in Google Earth - this is a deep level issue in coding that is a long way from being solved. #GEPenrose 

The poles have always been a problem in Google Earth - this is a deep level issue in coding that is a long way from being solved. #GEPenrose

— Dr. Paul Filmer (@pffli) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 20:39:36
@meg_stewart Margins project for Google Earth and plate tectonics & geologyhttp://serc.carleton.edu/margins/minilessons/PTLandforms.html #GEPenrose 

Margins project for Google Earth and plate tectonics & geology http://serc.carleton.edu/margins/minilessons/PTLandforms.html #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 18:52:33
@tweetingdonal RT @pffli: Check out Google's LatLong blog for information on new data in the Gulf from @natgeosociety and @usoceangov http://ht.ly/3A7XG #GEPenrose 

2011-01-07 20:39:14

@AVMaltese @meg_stewart Haven't used TOC (Tab of Contents?) or the Showcase much - the layers I use R from agencies (i.e., USGS, EPA, etc.) #GEPenrose 

@meg_stewart Haven't used TOC (Tab of Contents?) or the Showcase much - the layers I use R from agencies (i.e., USGS, EPA, etc.) #GEPenrose

— Adam Maltese (@AVMaltese) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 18:47:38
@pffli Check out Google's LatLong blog for information on new data in the Gulf from@natgeosociety and @usoceangov http://ht.ly/3A7XG #GEPenrose 

Check out Google's LatLong blog for information on new data in the Gulf from @natgeosociety and @usoceangov http://ht.ly/3A7XG #GEPenrose

— Dr. Paul Filmer (@pffli) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 20:33:49
@Trevesy @AVMaltese @meg_stewart re: alternative to layers is to put it in the Google Earth showcase #GEPenrose 

@avmaltese @meg_stewart re: alternative to layers is to put it in the Google Earth showcase #GEPenrose

— Trevesy (@Trevesy) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 18:46:52
Do you use Google Earth to teach with? and do you use Layers? Just wondering.#GEPenrose / @meg_stewart

Do you use Google Earth to teach with? and do you use Layers? Just wondering. #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 20:24:20
@meg_stewart Dave Mogk: One reason to use GE in the classroom - allows for observation of the unobservable. #GEPenrose 

Dave Mogk: One reason to use GE in the classroom - allows for observation of the unobservable. #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 17:28:53
the novice sees the representation, the expert sees the thing it represents#GEpenrose / @terraunbound

the novice sees the representation, the expert sees the thing it represents #GEpenrose

— Shelley terraunbound (@terraunbound) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 17:20:37
@Trevesy Janice Gobert explaining why logging students' actions when working through geological educational materials is critical #GEPenrose 

Janice Gobert explaining why logging students' actions when working through geological educational materials is critical#GEPenrose

— Trevesy (@Trevesy) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 17:19:30
@meg_stewart Janice Gobert on using visualizations for teaching concepts, esp. geological, presents all information at once. #GEPenrose 

Janice Gobert on using visualizations for teaching concepts, esp. geological, presents all information at once. #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 20:19:16
@meg_stewart Google Ocean View, perhaps? RT @kwinkunks Better Google ocean data from... this? http://flic.kr/p/98hkcP #GEPenrose 

Google Ocean View, perhaps? RT @kwinkunks Better Google ocean data from... this? http://flic.kr/p/98hkcP #GEPenrose

— Meg Stewart (@meg_stewart) January 7, 2011

2011-01-07 21:09:04
@guertin RT @FOFSgigapan: GigaPan of the audience at #GEPenrose http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/68275/ 

RT @fofsgigapan: GigaPan of the audience at #GEPenrose http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/68275/

— Dr. G (@guertin) January 7, 2011