tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38097820538604968712024-03-21T22:19:34.061+01:00think in GISAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-76285111682435827902014-03-11T01:32:00.001+01:002014-05-07T14:31:47.333+02:00why geographers are still scared of Neural Networks?While discussing with myself on starting a blog about GIS, I was in sort of enlightenment phase, discovering that GIS is not just ArcGIS (as I was once taught.. ) or other GIS systems (QGIS, JumpGIS or GRASS of which I was sort of scared and was just poking it without a reply). I was enlightened with the GISc light - where Sc stands for Science - and though that nearly every problem, if one can rethink it to find the spatial axis, could be maybe solved with GISc. So came the title: if we have a problem we should think in GIS, as thinking is one or the main parts of the science as such. At the same time I played with words to state that "THINKING IS." Luckily, this last meaning will stay forever, as I am less and less sure about the first one. How one can think in GIS (Seriously!)? We can think.. mathematically, geographically..., logically, but there aren't such expressions as geo-informatically, hm..<br />
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The doubts about the SUPER-science - GISc came just after I have started reading on Artificial Neural Networks, and while googling came across the article "<a href="http://www.integralgis.com/pdf/Neural%20Networks.pdf">GIS & Artificial Neural Networks: Does Your GIS Think?</a>". Of course the GIS in that article stands just for the systems meaning, asking if your system is thinking and all in all article explains just the basics of Neural Networks without really touching GIS as a science. Well, it was just the name that caught me: it is not us that think in GIS, it is GIS itself!? In that case of course my <i>GIS</i> was not thinking.. I was surprised I have not ever heard about Neural Networks in a GIS context and one can say it is my fault, but well, I am a geographer and such topic wasn't popular on the titles in geographical journals. And I have just browsed the online library of <i>Wiley.com..</i> where:</div>
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<em>There are over 90<em> thousands</em> results for: <em>neural networks, but just </em></em><em><em><em>3</em> of those are in<em> "The Geographical Journal" and all of them are of</em></em></em><em><em> meeting, review, ceremony.. Well, no article. </em> </em></div>
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Seems, geographers are not the ones to occupy themselves with such an issue: neural networks! Pff! Or maybe the topic is considered not suitable for the geographical journal?</div>
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Of course there are geographers, the so-called-pioneers, that try to bring novelties to the geography. Somehow not all those novelties, like Neural Networks, get accepted.</div>
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Seems still recently, but already more then decade ago the geographer Stan Openshaw wrote the book "<a href="http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471969915.html">Artificial Intelligence in Geography</a>" filed with such an enthusiasm! The book was sort of a result of the course he was giving back then ant the University of Leeds. Published by the same Wiley, I was browsing for Neural Networks in a journal section. And already back then, being so enthusiastic about neural network applications in geography, S. Openshaw is repetitively asking in his book with a surprise why geographers aren't still using such a powerful tool! Especially for geographical problems that are non-linear as a rule and thus can't be approximated by mathematical models, nor fitted into interrelation independence assumption. S. Openshaw frankly believes and tries to show that Neural Networks is the option we are looking for.</div>
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Really, why don't geographers use neural networks ? Already back then, in 1997 S. Openshaw was happily expecting the upcoming "golden age" for "Thinking GIS", "Thinking Geography" and it never came.. It is surely not because of difficulty as it is the easiest technique to use - one doesn't really need to understand much, how the technique thinks, one just needs to choose the data for the thing he aims.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Magic hand black box!<br />
(found on ebay)</td></tr>
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Maybe it is all because of that mystery that is within the technique, called as black-box. One cannot control much of the process how the output is created. Neural networks do it themselves. They are simply trained by being fed loads of data and the expected result. The relations, how from input data get the expected result are constructed or learned by the network itself approximating his guesses and minimizing the error. But well, one does not even need to understand this to use it. What geographers really need, in my opinion, is simply clearly to say - a great interface and great mapping possibility, thus great graphics, or else Neural Networks will stay as scary as GRASS. And although I'm laughing here, but well, I did not meet much of geographers, especially the social geographers, using GRASS software. Sure software easy to use might not be enough (as there are some already), one would need to make it well accessible(like not too expensive) or commercialized to such extent that even small business would go crazy to have it and so it would be even taught at the university. But, of course you never know.. Maybe that "golden ANN age" will come to geography as well, already being so popular in hydrology, meteorology and geotechnical problems.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-25580328873046632672014-02-05T14:43:00.006+01:002014-02-05T14:43:59.897+01:00BIG nearby anthropogenic data of VGI to solve the consequences, not the processesHow does it come that though we are over flooded with data, there is still a lack of it?<br />
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If one just would be able to grab all available free, crowdsourced volunteered geographical information (VGI) at the time when nearly every smartphone user as a live sensor is or will soon be continuously streaming data, that data would still be just the data about us(!) and around us, but nevertheless it would be just as sequences of point data at a time and place.<br />
The information one could get from VGI data is spatially limited in a sense of horizontal space (VGI is usually nearby surface data from the natural human natural habitats, doesn't matter created by smartphones or digitised from satellite data) and as a result in the sense of scientific domain (or space one could say). For that reason, I would dear to state that the information one can get from VGI could be classified as <i>nearby</i> anthropogenic and therefore can be used to analyse just anthropogenic processes and phenomenons. <i>Nearby</i>- anthropogenic should be understood as just that part of anthropogenic (human re-created) Earth layer which is very nearby natural human habitat (living environment). Shortly to explain: anthropogenic area can be considered from the deepest mining caves up to air plane flying heights, but none of those are the human living spaces, at least not yet. <i> </i><br />
<i>Nearby </i>anthropogenic term well bounds the space from which the volunteered data is coming. That space is a natural result of being the 'common interst' of commons, the habitat. Since the data is not created on any purpose, it usually concentrates at the highly-populated habitats and correlate with the technical accessibility. I could very easily support this idea with those Open Street Map data animated videos and pictures, where one could see how the data is being collected withing highly populated areas with a great technical and Internet access and how just when the purpose comes, f.eg. some natural disaster, the organisations and commons quickly 'color' the white space in the map with the <i>nearby</i> anthropological data like some infrastructure, points of interests and so on. You can look at well publicly known example of <a href="http://itoworld.blogspot.de/2010/01/mapping-crisis-openstreetmap-response.html">Haiti mapping</a>, after the earthquake occurred, for the disaster management.<br />
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And well, despite there is so much data created everyday, it is all <i>nearby </i>anthropological. VGI is very useful for solving or coping with the consequences of some
environmental processes within the human habitat. It is natural we want
to save us and our environment, the things we see around us. Nevertheless problems we meet, let's look at the same example of Haiti, are existing/occurring within a much broader space and requires much more specific and complex data, that is often very expensive. For now no VGI can help us to explain the processes, the geographic phenomena that is not happening within people but does have an effect on them. Those far far away processes are left for the sciences concern, as it is complicated, costly and no clear use at the specific moment (like when the money is injected - looking from the economic perspective).<br />
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I wonder is there any way the VGI data will grow wider? Like will someone actually would be interested in voluntarily downloading apps or getting specific devices for specific data collection and then sharing? Could such devices be built so well that the calibration wouldn't be affected within the time, due to weather change and so on? Could the oil type or precipitation chemical consistence DATA ever become the BIG DATA, big in quantity?<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-53632466411044819502013-09-26T14:38:00.000+02:002013-09-26T14:40:11.437+02:00searching for darkness in our night time: light pollutionAlthough the phrase of "light pollution" might have already slid through your ears some time, the artificial light at night is sliding through your windows to your eyes constantly!<br>
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Yes, that artificial, misdirected, obtrusive light, colouring our dark sky and hiding the constellations is called "light pollution" as it has negative effects on our health and on our ecosystem. There are various types of light pollution as there are various types of lights, leading to various consequences, but I am not going to write about it. Shortly one can loop up at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pollution">wikipedia</a> for more information.<br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6M-sJ5dfYhuKJabXB41O0nvLOQWaqJpoNWEmXXbRwdu-vAD-Q2HMXD34F6NhX1l2JxUzVGCCxu7Qhb6yD6n3Kmll57JseTZPzOtVPAQ09QOa3t9Xc3v-Ox9_fKY8YN47W__ZqsAWfce0e/s1600/IMG_1987_a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6M-sJ5dfYhuKJabXB41O0nvLOQWaqJpoNWEmXXbRwdu-vAD-Q2HMXD34F6NhX1l2JxUzVGCCxu7Qhb6yD6n3Kmll57JseTZPzOtVPAQ09QOa3t9Xc3v-Ox9_fKY8YN47W__ZqsAWfce0e/s400/IMG_1987_a.jpg" width="400"></a></div>
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Looking at this our created phenomenon from geographic perspective, it is interesting how the global <b>light pollution mapping </b>as well as non-polluted - <b>dark-pitch area</b> search is done.<br>
<a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2013/09/searching-for-darkness-in-our-night.html#more">Read more »</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-20951459220995218042013-02-12T10:38:00.000+01:002013-02-12T10:38:00.228+01:00Wikipedia lets the geo-tagging inOnce I was already writing about <a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2011/09/geo-socializing-telling-everyone-your.html">geo-socializing</a> as telling your location for everyone, for a reason of creating like virtual community out of internet users with similar interests. Anyways I still would believe that "Man is by nature a social animal" as Aristotel stated.<br />
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But maybe it isn't just that anymore? Maybe now we really are approaching or comming into a <a href="http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/02/cyborg-anthropology/">cyborg stage</a>? Forget the interests, connect to new broadband and catch the feeling of being important an known! <b>Tell the whole world about yourself. </b><br />
<a href="http://blog.wikimedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Mobile_nearby_prototype-200x300.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://blog.wikimedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Mobile_nearby_prototype-200x300.png" /></a><br />
Now one can do that even through a WIKI!<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Have you ever wondered if there are Wikipedia articles about things near you? Well, wonder no more! Today, we present the <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:GeoData" title="Extension:GeoData">GeoData extension</a> for MediaWiki, which now provides a structured way to store <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/geo-coordinates" title="w:geo-coordinates">geo-coordinates</a> for articles, as well as an API to make queries around this information (<i><a href="http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/01/31/geodata-a-new-age-of-geotagging-on-wikipedia/">wiki blog</a></i>).</blockquote>
Yes, it is experimental, and it's mostly just for seeing near-by articles. But would such aim remain in this open sphere? I wonder how will this function emerge or 'mutate' when people will start playing with coordinates and geo-tagging in this Encyclopedia.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-89876988424550730772013-02-11T21:46:00.001+01:002013-02-11T21:49:20.273+01:00overlay as a core GIS concept is not so strong in humanities GIS<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_DzxbqyZuM8bDDrnaWhQUAVtXOsEEptsV-ny1tiQeJJayLY7oJSHCF1rZmfy1N2R5ACuaWoAlbxEYDxpaaYF1eAlEM8CFGx9LdGSPy6SDLZqrFgP_fGgs6H_DZtRaCurKlAURMGBeM3ds/s1600/bricks_stones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_DzxbqyZuM8bDDrnaWhQUAVtXOsEEptsV-ny1tiQeJJayLY7oJSHCF1rZmfy1N2R5ACuaWoAlbxEYDxpaaYF1eAlEM8CFGx9LdGSPy6SDLZqrFgP_fGgs6H_DZtRaCurKlAURMGBeM3ds/s320/bricks_stones.jpg" width="283"></a>The <b>overlay </b>of different information was one of the very first concepts of GIS. Like the core function, the corner stone, the first brick <...> that engaged the development of GIS on which all GIS users stand now. And it remains one of the most popularly used method for data analysis.<br>
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This concept is explained in every basic GIS cookbook, more objectively I haven't encountered any book that would not talk about overlay presenting it as a concept, technique, procedure, method. It's always presented in a very simple way by visualizing or explaining boolean operations. What else could be said? Apart from scale, resolution, data uncertainty problematics probably not much more, until we look into the GIS for Humanities (as Standford coins) and GIS concepts start to sway..<br>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;">GIS concept suitability for social or humanitarian research is well presented in a book "<a href="http://books.google.de/books?id=8VkhPkIRM4EC">The Spatial Humanities</a>" writen by geographers, historians at the same time having the informatics education. The introduction starts with pointing that "<i>the power of GIS for the humanities lies in its ability to integrate information from a a common location, regardless of format, and to visualize the results in combinations of transparent layers on a map of the geography share by data</i>" and sadly adding that the existing GIS software<i> </i>was created for environmental planning questions and now it "<i>requires humanists fit their questions, data, and methods to the rigid parameters of the software</i>" which makes it challenging in the extreme fussing GIS with humanities. </span></div>
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I have personally experienced that while working on cultural areas visualization. And nothing else was as hard as to find a way to visualize just because the concepts themselves were not suitable for my task! <br>
<a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2013/02/overlay-as-core-gis-concept-is-not-so.html#more">Read more »</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-88639752686420698072012-11-22T22:35:00.003+01:002012-11-22T22:38:26.203+01:00is there a space in cyberspace for geography ?Searching and searching for everything and anything we still haven't found and if already found then searching how to reconstruct and reinvent. Like the new urban image the WIFI-scape or Urban terrain as the Norvegian YOUrban group calls it.<br>
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That's who we want to be - the Inventors.<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5140/5481050939_96fbe6621f_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5140/5481050939_96fbe6621f_z.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LightPainting WIFI from YOUrban group (<a href="http://yourban.no/">http://yourban.no/</a>)</td></tr>
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And so we need more 'space' for Inventions, and so we expand it! Expanding spaces, realities, cognition.. </div>
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Does this expansion affect us as individuals, as society? Does it also expands our research raising new questions, opening new fields or even forming new sub-sciences or indeed it just let us create new terms and subjects to manipulate about the the same things like spaces?</div>
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Such questions grew up after reading an <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2166874">article about the Geography and Cyberspace</a> by M. Graham. Indeed an interesting and easy to go article well presenting the background or the 'hi-/-story' of a cyberspace. What the most interests me is the relation of cyberspace with geography. As it's clear geographers don't seem interested in this topic (no big research done) at all, but as the author tries to prove they should be, because the cyberspace as itself is a sort of space and therefore it should also be reviewed from geographical perspective.</div>
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At that point it seems for me that the article is written in as much serious as with a slight ironic mood<br>
</div></div><a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2012/11/is-there-space-in-cyberspace-for.html#more">Read more »</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-40525651547994137622012-10-09T17:34:00.002+02:002012-10-10T14:48:52.963+02:00digging out the edge of the hillRecently I had a possibility and time to look practically at the boundary questions, the ones I always like to philosophy about... I got a simple task: <u>to calculate the volume of a small heap</u> (much smaller then hill) having an image with elevation values (DEM) and so I just needed to automatize and to simplify the steps that were already determined by
others, mostly some routine work with ArcGIS (ESRI) tools, so just a bit of patience learning to geoprocess with python.<br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrbsSFtx-TLlrsZCBw6NHYbfACs2R5ZnnOxbQSM523M8YrcDJS53sYXUdvKYOJtZWQ5pVPn_P_0JANq69v_BJXxWtkmi9BCGucBa9bE__GhEsALSe4tlY5qT2PUQBbYoc_8OWdqTvb-bad/s1600/Unbenannt.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrbsSFtx-TLlrsZCBw6NHYbfACs2R5ZnnOxbQSM523M8YrcDJS53sYXUdvKYOJtZWQ5pVPn_P_0JANq69v_BJXxWtkmi9BCGucBa9bE__GhEsALSe4tlY5qT2PUQBbYoc_8OWdqTvb-bad/s400/Unbenannt.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Digging the boundary of a heap</td></tr>
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But before starting the calculations I had to find out where is this heap and where it's not anymore. I had to draw clear boundaries in order to start some calculations at all. Apparently there was no tool for a heap determination founded where I work, till now all was done manually, by digitizing: zooming out and
in, searching out that boundary where the heap starts or ends and going around.<br>
The human brain is great, fast recognizing the pattern it
searches for. Maybe recognizing just approximately, but nicely and unconsciously ignoring all other: small depressions, pikes or
elevation model noise due to calculated heights of some bushes or some
artificial constructions or photogrametrical noise...<br>
But the problem is that when having a huge images with a great resolution it takes hours and hours to load it and while zooming back and forward trying to draw
a line in order to determine "exactly" where the heap starts or/and ends. Besides, when you start looking at a greater and greater resolution the picture of all the image disappears and for our brain it becomes hard to process just various tones of colours in pixels in
front. So, I needed to find how to automatize this first step in order I could work on the calculations. And just looking rather at a simple task or indeed at the DEM (it's prety nice!), I fastly ran into a dark dark forest searching the way how to determine where this heap finishes or starts in order to be able to define it and build the script.<br>
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<a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2012/10/digging-out-edge-of-hill.html#more">Read more »</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-873427471332693662011-11-20T17:21:00.001+01:002013-02-11T21:49:53.228+01:00examining boundaries with example of archeological cultureDo exist cultural boundaries? Do cultures bound itself or just scientists draw it?<br>
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Social scientists are so much focused on the concept of boundaries, that there is no question it exists. It's long time it's proved people always have some concept of 'us' and of 'them' in their mind, it means socially they make distinctions. And so social scientists are interested in social phenomenas emerging due to such differentiation. There is a whole <a href="http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~mlamont/papers/StudyOfBoundaries.pdf">study of boundaries</a> done. But the boundary concept is not full - it's just social boundary concept, concept mostly defined by self identification which might define or identify ethnos, but not whole ethnical culture and NEITHER archaeological culture. Archeologists define archeological cultures, which may be ethincal
cultures, cultures identifying themselves as one, but it is never a
rule. All if far from geographical boundaries as well as the culture and it's spread is understood differentially. Geographers try to unite all possible aspects, drawing and presenting the boundaries of cultural regions.<br>
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Let's look at some archaeological boundary of Lithuanian archaeological culture drawn. <br>
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<a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2011/11/examining-boundaries-with-example-of.html#more">Read more »</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-6126624228465115002011-11-16T11:30:00.001+01:002013-09-27T10:15:52.905+02:00media socialization with crowdsourcing and GISThe idea of media transforming socially and spatially is flowing around for the past decade already. In 2001 great GIS scientists M. Goodchild and D. Sui has published a short remark titled "<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=gis%20as%20media&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDcQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fciteseerx.ist.psu.edu%2Fviewdoc%2Fdownload%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.87.8824%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf&ei=No_DTpj_DsvAswbj_4H7Cw&usg=AFQjCNHl8IR2DKWbmmmJ3bQIHjO-YO8Vdw&sig2=0Tmucvuup_PWPZlA6Jrb4Q&cad=rja">GIS as media</a>?" on International Journal of GIS. Over-viewing the latest developments in GIS then, authors have felt the need for fresh conceptualizations <i>for what GIS actually is and will become in the near future</i>. Observing growing relationship between GIS and society authors had proposed that new concept: <b><i>GIS as new media.</i></b><br>
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Some time before I was scribbling in my <a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2011/06/geography-sens-through-journalist-eyes.html">post about media and geography</a>, how journalists 'found' geography. But it was just a quote from Economist, not knowing about this concept existing between scientists. So, let's have look further.<i><b> </b></i><b><i><br></i></b><br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.transmap.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/FloodMaps.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="http://www.transmap.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/FloodMaps.png" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GIS for Everyone from Transmap</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br>
<a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2011/11/media-socialization-with-crowdsourcing.html#more">Read more »</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-70541460772129659112011-11-15T17:51:00.003+01:002011-11-15T22:02:15.558+01:00boundary cognition from satellite imagesSatellites are swapping around the Earth since 1957 - the launch of Sputnik. Already having a couple of thousands, the number is fast growing nowadays.<br>
<br>
<br>
<a href="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50854000/jpg/_50854522_50854521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50854000/jpg/_50854522_50854521.jpg"></a>Just during the last week reading my <i>rss</i>, I got to know that China has launched <a href="http://geospatialworld.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23419%3Achina-launches-rs-satellite-yaogan-xii&catid=46%3Aproduct-remote-sensing-satellite&Itemid=61">Yaogan XII</a>, Vietnam is buying <a href="http://geospatialworld.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23412%3Ajapan-exports-eo-satellites-for-the-first-time&catid=67%3Abusiness-general&Itemid=61">Japanese satellites</a>, Turkish recently launched <a href="http://geospatialworld.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23272%3Afirst-turkish-satellite-begins-image-transmission&catid=44%3Aproduct-satellite-imagery&Itemid=61">satellite RASAT</a> is already transmitting images, Russia is about to launch <a href="http://geospatialworld.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23321%3Afour-glonass-satellites-to-be-launched-in-november&catid=80%3Amiscellaneous-satellite-launch&Itemid=61">4 more GLONASS satellites</a> to existing 28 ones, and so on an so on.. Europe, yes Europe as well, finally launched <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-21/europe-launches-two-galileo-satellites-to-cut-reliance-on-gps.html">2 GALILEO satellites</a> last month. Future, talking about the number of satellites, is amazing..<br>
I am glad we still can see the sky over them.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2011/11/boundary-cognition-from-satellite.html#more">Read more »</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-44899368511662924672011-09-07T22:35:00.000+02:002013-02-12T10:41:02.904+01:00geo-socializing: telling everyone your locationFor the purpose of security, that natural feeling inside us, a human needs to know his location, in a general sense, with a relation to the environment usually. For the same security purpose, kids are always asked to tell where are they going, where will they be, sometimes the adults as well. But it's just within communities.<br />
<br />
In today's web world, new virtual communities have a possibility to upraise, merged from the people you know well, you've just met or have never met. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://sproutsocial.com/insights/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/4-Inspring-FourSqaure-Success-Stories-The-History-Channel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://sproutsocial.com/insights/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/4-Inspring-FourSqaure-Success-Stories-The-History-Channel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
How much is it important to tell your location for your virtual community? It's not for security, but for what? Meeting new people, showing yourself or just playing with virtual power? There is some reason, as more then every tenth smartphone user likes to announce his location! <br />
<blockquote>
A Pew Internet Project report released today represents at least a modest victory for Foursquare and similar services, finding that 12 percent of smartphone users are checking in via location-based apps. (<a href="http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2107085/-smartphone-users-geo-social">clickz.com</a>)</blockquote>
The project report called such phenomena geo-social.<br />
It would be interesting to find some research done or to do one on what role plays that geo-socializing?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-47902055737417493792011-08-24T16:24:00.000+02:002011-08-24T16:24:56.729+02:00border mapping awareness: responsabilities and tensionHow much we are responsible for the information we are given to visualize?<br />
Well, no one can answer and each case might be without a precedent, individual..<br />
<br />
What about mapping the new borders of country? Country that had been fighting for the independence and got it. And then,the new borders are not moved on those interactive maps. Those, the most often used, like Google Maps. Hm.. people get more tense talking about political borders..<br />
<br />
So, the story is, the South Sudan is still not in Google Maps.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://rww.readwriteweb.netdna-cdn.com/images/sudan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://rww.readwriteweb.netdna-cdn.com/images/sudan.png" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The full story is in <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why_dont_the_webs_mapping_services_recognize_south.php">Read Write Web</a> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-75889672214652374982011-08-12T12:17:00.000+02:002011-11-16T21:33:25.556+01:00generalization as a web service - MapShaperOnline shapefile generalizator:<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://mapshaper.org/"> MapShaper</a><br />
It is a free online web-based editor for shapefiles, for generating polygons and polylines. You just simply run the editor in your browser, that has a flash.<br />
<br />
<b>Mapshaper</b> supports three line simplification algorithms. The most common <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramer%E2%80%93Douglas%E2%80%93Peucker_algorithm">Douglas-Peucker</a>, Visvalingam-Whyatt, and a custom algorithm designed to smooth convoluted coastlines and spiky features.The Douglas-Peucker algorythm is used for line simplification in ArcGIS as well.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-3612504521064743632011-07-23T18:10:00.001+02:002011-07-23T18:10:00.107+02:003D history visualization - augmented reality with ArcheoguideAcheoguide is one of European Information Society cultural projects.<br />
The idea of the project was to build a system providing new ways of information access at cultural heritage sites in a compelling, user-friendly way through the use of advanced IT including augmented reality, 3D-visualization, mobile computing, and multi-modal interaction as the <a href="http://archeoguide.intranet.gr/project.htm">project website</a> is stating. <br />
Although the<a href="http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/590000/585015/p131-vlahakis.pdf?ip=128.176.231.214&CFID=33977324&CFTOKEN=61957585&__acm__=1311431311_982ffbc172ae4a8d2e52d36bc83726db"> paper written to summarize the results</a> of the project seems the project worked out, I've just accidentally found about it and have never heard before what probably tells it wasn't so applicable.<br />
<br />
Here's the video how the end product looks like and the impressions of the tourists with small presentation how the mobile device used for visualization works.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwT0YlcBiOjyp8lJycFsok2wqA36i0VTjDfN3PFeHK30kI9nj8DYgmlvk5WF9SkCE13Q1oj6RRdhX_Q8mohmA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
ARCHEOGUIDE is based on a client-server architecture. It comprises three modules: the Site Information Server, the Mobile Units, and the Communication Infrastructure.<br />
<br />
The top-of-the-range Mobile Units (the one you see in video), is the laptop-based one, built on a Toshiba Satellite laptop computer, A Differential GPS receiver and a digital compass are hooked on the laptop to provide position and orientation tracking of the touring user. A PC camera with automatic luminance adjustment for capturing live video from the users viewpoint, and a special Augmented Reality (AR) Head-Mounted Display (HMD) in the form of a pair of see-through sunglasses for displaying AR worlds featuring monument reconstructions on top of their natural surroundings are also attached to the laptop. (<a href="http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/590000/585015/p131-vlahakis.pdf?ip=128.176.231.214&CFID=33977324&CFTOKEN=61957585&__acm__=1311431311_982ffbc172ae4a8d2e52d36bc83726db">Vlahakis et al. 2002</a>)<br />
<br />
There is much more information available, you can find on Archeoguide<a href="http://archeoguide.intranet.gr/publications.htm"> publication page</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-57426292824738734652011-07-23T14:21:00.002+02:002011-11-15T23:19:31.963+01:00Hiroshima mapping project on Google EarthIn memorium <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki">Hiroshima atomic bomb blast</a>, during the second world war, Google Earth made a project: gathered facts and is showing them spatially in 3D, sharing with everyone.<br />
<br />
It is a really sad story, and the visualization of enormous space affected, with loads of photos of famous people, people notes and talks, pictures of before and after, shows the mass of tragedy. Indeed up to 200,000 deaths are counted due to such bombing.. and it wasn't the only one.<br />
<br />
Further you can find the video on youtube that explores the features of Google Earth project. <br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/f-q00isamvs" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
Or you can directly access all this on your browser, having a google earth plug.<br />
<a href="http://hiroshima.mapping.jp/ge_en.html">"Hiroshima mapping project"</a>. You can selectively visualize just videos, photos, testimonies in english or in japan, even tweets that happened within the time. There are old map overlays available and the area where everything was burned down, as well as the are of black rains.. and so on..Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-20786390109295583052011-07-23T13:24:00.004+02:002011-07-23T14:00:37.458+02:00landscape functional zoning methods: cellular automata<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br>
Zoning, Landscape zoning or landscape functional zoning is a method, main working mode of spatial planers precisely landscape planners. In short it is a method of theoretically segmenting the land due to it's best using purposes, in other words ascribing the functions to the land like: agricultural land, recreation land, protected land, urbanized land and so on. And it is generally made on national scale by government. But more precisely, many land usage categories are used, due to different methodologies used by different countries simply due to different scope, different criterion for land quality, vegetation, the level of urbanization, that also depends on historical reasons and so on.<br>
Briefly, and maybe more scientifically the concept is described in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning">wikipedia</a>.<br>
<br>
Zoning was and still is made using logical methods, cartographically visualizing territory: overlaying many layers (GIS works here perfectly), analyzing and making deductions. <br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPdlIzqUxyjboqmKkKFQuIEr2ccWqEtAH9syoZ-X0mS1UddG_xqvDfSXsrexvOGeI3wc4MVgQE9Uwf8dsxHxFabO5HJv0jHJ-3lbHIQJXQfgBsYgIS6xLpKMwEs19xGZD7ldKAGDNRxEBk/s1600/fuctional+zoning+diagram.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPdlIzqUxyjboqmKkKFQuIEr2ccWqEtAH9syoZ-X0mS1UddG_xqvDfSXsrexvOGeI3wc4MVgQE9Uwf8dsxHxFabO5HJv0jHJ-3lbHIQJXQfgBsYgIS6xLpKMwEs19xGZD7ldKAGDNRxEBk/s400/fuctional+zoning+diagram.JPG" width="400"></a></div>I found one <a href="http://sia.eionet.europa.eu/activities/announcements/ann1089108901/coastwatch/Docs2ndDay/BlackSea_Oksana_2.pdf">example with zoning schema</a> (picture above) in one of presentations made at <a href="http://sia.eionet.europa.eu/">EIONET</a> (European Topic Centre on Spatial Information and Analysis). It just shows one particular way, or one approach.<br>
<br>
Nowadays, mathematical models are created to help to solve this ambiguate problem.<br>
<br>
One of a <b>quantitative methods</b> for zoning protected natural areas are presented in argentinians paper (<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-3995.2005.00498.x/pdf">Verdiell et all, 2003</a>) that talks about model based on a <b>simulated annealing algorithm</b>.<br>
<br>
Another well known computational method that is more and more used in landscape planning, is <b>cellular automata (CA)</b> (check <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_automaton">wikipedia</a>), that mostly helps to model the land use change or indeed to simulate the land use change.<br>
Indeed, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldo_R._Tobler">W. Tobler</a>, the one who defined the first law of geography, was the first proposing to use cellular automata as a tool for modeling spatial dynamics.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2011/07/landscape-functional-zoning-methods.html#more">Read more »</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-13295822500909682012011-07-16T18:29:00.000+02:002011-07-16T18:29:39.723+02:00heritage mapping: Fiji in 3D modelThere was a project held in 2005 in Fiji that tried to support community based biodiversity conservation as the basis for ensuring food security and sustainable<br />
livelihoods.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/etK2EJLRyb8" width="425"></iframe><br />
<br />
There were different phases where the GI and GIS was involved. Starting with the beginning phase where the digital elevation map was prepared and later, the 3D completed blank 1:10000 horizontal and 1:6666 vertical scale model was done. On this model locals where asked to mark the heritage objects, to pin them, to color, to label. And later on the model was transferred to a map.<br />
<br />
Looks really interesting and great collaborative work.<br />
Have a look at the <a href="http://www.iapad.org/publications/ppgis/ovalau_report_revised_20050720.pdf">Report on the Participatory 3D Modelling &<br />
Participatory GIS Exercise held on 4-13 April 2005 on Ovalau Island, Fiji</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-4072200370114584582011-07-16T18:11:00.001+02:002011-07-23T13:24:15.840+02:00shape of Earth: planet is getting fat<a href="http://friendsofginandtonic.org/files/fat_earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://friendsofginandtonic.org/files/fat_earth.jpg" /></a>The Earth shape was tend to believe is flat.. we walk on it, along it, but we never found the edge. And so, it was found it is round. That is most common answer, that we learn being at primary school. <br />
We see the images nowadays from satellites - nothing to question: round. But it was found, due to it's turning and force fields, it is a bit flatten on the south and north poles. And then the surface.. being so variant mountains to valleys.. it can't be so round. Technically for the representations and engineering calculations the "round" shape that called geoid was described mathematically with high precision. But the shape is changing all the time, mostly due to internal processes.<br />
<br />
The biggest nowadays process, that people talk so much about is the climate changing or climate warmth (depends on what are focusing), that results in ice-caps melting. Melted water is gathered to the oceans and due to earth dynamics the water is being pulled towards the Equator, making the Earth more fat tells the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2012307/Fat-planet-Melting-ice-caused-global-warming-adding-Earths-girth.html?ITO=1490">dailymail.co.uk.</a> The geophysics at the University of Colorado tells, that's not what was expected. Nowadays the rate of melting ice at the Poles is about 382 billion tons of ice per year.. And that since that weight of ice disappears flowing towards the Equator, the poles become more slimmer.<br />
<br />
One could say that it doesn't change the Earth shape so much. It stays round, indeed.<br />
But the shape of it is very important for determining the location, the location of position, the change of the position. Due to the change of the shape, the gravity center can slightly change, what will cause that the start point of the coordinate grid moves. And then the 'registered' position, which was referenced depending on the gravity center, changes it's location, although we standing on the surface wouldn't see if it changes.<br />
<br />
Well, the global warming change the Earth step by step, they are huge, but not as much that would imbalance the Earth. Anyways, it is very interesting to follow such processes.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-48108329011327119912011-06-25T03:59:00.000+02:002011-11-16T21:21:58.329+01:00students future - life with GISThe director of education for international GIS technology firm, ESRI, Michael Gould, known for many GIS students was lately <a href="http://www.americansentinel.edu/blog/2011/06/03/words-with-a-gis-education-guru/">interviewed </a>about the GIS future.<br />
<br />
The main aspect of all this is that the future of GIS is our life with GIS.<br />
<blockquote>
<i><br />
"Students will find it difficult to avoid GIS in the near future: it will be in their laptops, cars, and phones. A simple application on a cell phone which finds the correct bus that is nearest and going to the correct place, is actually driven by complex GIS on the server side. In the future the application will be smaller, faster, and more functional, and the server will be faster and more powerful.<br />
GIS from a monolythic system is turning into a interconnected collection of models".<br />
M. Gould</i></blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-88773670655058853602011-06-24T18:03:00.003+02:002011-06-24T18:25:32.499+02:00visual information cognition: spatial visualization in 3D with GPlatesObtaining more data and developing methods of analysis, scientists in parallel are working on information visualization as it is the most perceivable and comprehensible way for humans anyone would tell. The <b>visual cognition</b> (visual analysis like perception, acquisition, memorization, of shape properties and spatial relations) is remarkably flexible and efficient (<a href="http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.803/pdf/ullman9.pdf">Ullman 1996</a>).<br>
<br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisoKbv8Y67__cnQZFO7E4yp8CIT62H57o1vH6uVA7Bt7NzeiJjqTkwapNE4HU4p5IAdBEpqWM2l5KjD53Shw9j3fgfE5x2CoSkmMCOQmqpkqQp83oZ19Prbet2qflcyV-WNxyezvwBNYHh/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisoKbv8Y67__cnQZFO7E4yp8CIT62H57o1vH6uVA7Bt7NzeiJjqTkwapNE4HU4p5IAdBEpqWM2l5KjD53Shw9j3fgfE5x2CoSkmMCOQmqpkqQp83oZ19Prbet2qflcyV-WNxyezvwBNYHh/" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map creation with Matematica</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br>
I believe there is a number of research in visual spatial cognition done to prove I've just stated above. One research in 3D vs 2D proves that 3D increases the spatial memory, what means one is able to remember at least longer. (<a href="http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/andrew.cockburn/papers/auic-2d3d.pdf">Cockburn, 2004</a>), although in general it is very hard to prove something about our brain using the same brain itself.<br>
<br>
Indeed, I am not going to argue here if 3D is better then 2D or that visual information is perceived better than textual, as more research on this topic should be done from my side. But all I want to notice, that more and more softwares are developed for<u> spatial information visualization</u>.<br>
If you have a look at the geoweb side, many applications recently launched has a graphical visualization. Statistics are no longer presented as a bunch of numbers, visual interface is developing,as example <a href="http://www.gapminder.org/">Gapminder</a>, or new<a href="http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/visualizationTools/visualizationTools.pdf"> visualization package</a>, <a href="http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/googleVis/vignettes/googleVis.pdf">google visualization </a><a href="http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/googleVis/vignettes/googleVis.pdf">api </a><a href="http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/googleVis/vignettes/googleVis.pdf">package</a> in <a href="http://www.r-project.org/">R</a> software.<br>
Map making has reached the peak already - everybody can do it from simply route creation on Google Maps or Google Earth, to table visualization using Google Fusion Tables, or such geoweb applications like GeoCommons, or we can jump to professional map creation and visualization. Already existing desktop applications that help to visualize data are often updated, besides new desktop softwares with an amazing visualization arise.<br>
<br>
Let's have a look at such hard subject as plate-tectonics and it's visualization.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2011/06/visual-information-cognition-spatial.html#more">Read more »</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-84130680995132160032011-06-22T18:06:00.002+02:002011-11-16T21:25:08.602+01:00geography sens through journalist eyesGeography, several decades ago, was giving the sense that although the world was changing, it was doing so in a slow, orderly, even picturesque.<br />
But now, Geography is "no longer a neutral subject," writes Robert Butler in his latest Going Green column. Climate change has made it "the new history", both more dynamic and more frightening ...<br />
<i>Quoting <a href="http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/robert-butler/going-green-rest-geography">intelligent life from "the Economist" </a></i><br />
<br />
A good article, from journalist view probably. <br />
But it's enough to look at the technological growth and it clearly explains the new development waves in many sciences, as well in geography,the new small discoveries and the boom of information, especially geo-information public available. And since for non-technical people technologies look a bit frightening, the subject may become so as well.<br />
Indeed, it's future, that we are facing and we shouldn't be aware of it neither frightened.<br />
<br />
The world was and is always changing, it doesn't matter we close our eyes or open them.<br />
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<br>
It is interesting to notice that indeed one of the first geographical theories, where done in transportation geography - Central place theory, presented in 1933 by W. Christaller and A. Losh.<br>
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<a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2011/06/place-accessibility-in-transport.html#more">Read more »</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-39660577937961987312011-06-08T21:25:00.000+02:002011-06-08T21:25:36.674+02:00qoute: time to be a geographer!<blockquote><i>Not since the days of Columbus has it been a better time to be a geographer. To state it simply, geography is popular, dare say, even hip. More than 51.3 million people have used web mapping services in the US alone (as of 2005) (Wired, 2005); over 200 million people have downloaded Google Earth (Google Press Center, 2007); over one million maps have been created with Microsoft collections (Helft, 2007); over 40 000 maps have been created with the website Platial (Helft, 2007);...</i></blockquote>Sean P Gorman<br />
School of Public Policy, George Mason University.<br />
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From the comment on response of the other comment in Environment and Planing journal.<br />
<a href="http://www.envplan.com/epb/editorials/b3406b.pdf"><b>Is academia missing the boat for the GeoWeb revolution?</b></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-72902032043897123982011-06-08T16:14:00.004+02:002011-06-08T17:32:40.476+02:00digital reconstructions for collective historical memorySome time I was questioning why do we/I need to know history, the history of family, nation, humanity. Why we always look back? And once I found - people, indeed society, has such thing as <i>collective historical memory,</i> that is built in our heads from our experiences as a group by sharing and it talks us about our culture and identity. The concept is quite clearly explained in wikipedia (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_memory">Collective memory</a>), as well as there is a free document from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut to read (<a href="http://www.greensborotrc.org/intro.doc">Study of historical memory</a>).<br>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://visualizingdc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/latrobesketchcapitol18131.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" src="http://visualizingdc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/latrobesketchcapitol18131.jpg" width="400"></a></div>We do not notice that most of the historical memory we have is a collective, it's a shared memory - not collected empirically. What is interesting that with growing society people are searching for more and more earlier and broader historical memory. We can see that even from mass-media production, which from being interested in fantastic movies some decades ago are now presenting the documentaries, probably that is what the society is asking for - the collective history to share. And it is not just the trend of media information, I feel it is the trend in geographical information. For the places, spaces with great amount of geographical information that is well represented (mainly visualized), the historical geographical information demand is raised more and more often. It's all about the curiosity and about the desire of collective historical memory.<br>
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The historical geographical information representation is a part of reconstruction process, it's a spatial reconstruction process. Not long time ago, there was a movie made by Deutsche Welle about the reconstruction of the Berlin wall - I wrote about in the <a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2011/05/function-of-border-to-wall-in.html">previous post</a>. Now, the new project is published and presented for the society - the Early Washington Visualization done by Image Research Center (IRC).<br>
The project can be found and is fully described on <b><a href="http://visualizingdc.com/">http://visualizingdc.com/</a></b> <br>
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<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eKY45I9Bsho" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br>
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But let's have a look at the geographical/cartographical side of this project.<br>
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<a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2011/06/digital-reconstructons-for-colletive.html#more">Read more »</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3809782053860496871.post-82937203263900339952011-05-22T18:43:00.005+02:002011-06-23T18:05:29.245+02:00function of border: to wall inThe issue of borders keep my mind busy, although it's already long time I live in Europe without borders and I still ask if Europe is really without borders? <br>
If we look back, at the time when a border was a synonym to a wall in Europe..<br>
And we can easily do that nowadays, 20 years past. The German National media - Deutsche Welle, has developed <a href="http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4440098,00.html">a unique project</a> presenting the <b>animated depiction of the former German-German border. </b><i>Click on the picture to open the video.</i><br>
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<a href="http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_single_mediaplayer/0,,4418618_type_video_struct_1432_contentId_4440098,00.html" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="http://www.dw-world.de/image/0,,4441737_4,00.jpg" width="320"></a> <br>
<a href="http://thinkin-gis.blogspot.com/2011/05/function-of-border-to-wall-in.html#more">Read more »</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04379407313349237072noreply@blogger.com1