sethdixon

Author

sethdixon

I am a geography professor at Rhode Island College.

Interactive: The 50 Largest Ports in the World

Investigate for yourself the mechanisms of global trade

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

This more clearly shows the regional restructuring of the global economy than just about anything I’ve ever seen, especially manufacturing. The 8 largest and busiets ports in the world are all in East or Southeast Asia (and 11 of the top 13). A quick glance at the historical charts will show that most of these were relatively minor ports that have exploded in the last 20 years.

Tags: transportation, globalization, diffusion, East Asia, industry, economic.

See on www.smithsonianmag.com

May 10, 2013 0

As coast erodes, names wiped off the map

For decades, south Louisiana residents have watched coastal landmarks disappear as erosion worsened and the Gulf of Mexico marched steadily inward.

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

Just because you’ve mapped a physical land feature, it doesn’t mean it will stay that way forever. This is a reminder that the Earth and it’s cultural and physical landscapes are constantly changing.

Tags: mapping, erosion, landscape.

See on www.houmatoday.com

May 9, 2013 0

Is Your State’s Highest-Paid Employee A Coach? (Probably)

You may have heard that the highest-paid employee in each state is usually the football coach at the largest state school. This is actually a gross mischaracterization: Sometimes it is the basketball coach.

See on deadspin.com

May 9, 2013 0

Free Online Mapping Course

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

This podcast explains the MOOC Maps and the Geospatial Revolution. It is designed to be an easy on-ramp to 21st century geospatial tools and any geography teacher hoping to modernize their skillset would do well to take this summer course from the Program of Online Geospatial Education at Penn State, taught by Dr. Anthony Robinson. Click here to register for free.

Tags: GIS, teacher training, mapping, cartography, geospatial, edtech, geography education, unit 1 GeoPrinciples.

See on twitter.com

May 9, 2013 0

Breakfasts Around the World

Imgur is used to share photos with social networks and online communities, and has the funniest pictures from all over the Internet.

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

Previously I shared a gallery portraying 20 families from around world together with a full week of groceries (from the book Hungry Planet or in this abbreviated online version). Today it’s the breakfast table which shows differences in agricultural, development and cultural patterns around the world.

Tags: food, agriculture, worldwide, consumption, culture, development.

See on imgur.com

May 9, 2013 0

Rising Anti-Immigration Sentiment in the EU

Stratfor Europe Analyst Adriano Bosoni discusses the political implications of the increasing number of migrants from the European Union’s periphery to its core…

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

The economic crisis has contributed to rising anti-immigration sentiment and policies in Europe. Immigrants from Eastern Europe continue to enter the core, but now more from the struggling southern periphery of Europe are also on the move.

One of the free response questions in the 2012 AP Human Geography test focused on increasing Muslim population in many European countries. This video some background context for that particular Free Response Question (as would this article from Al Jazeera titled Europe’s failure to integrate Muslims).

See on www.youtube.com

May 8, 2013 0

Ancient Eurasiatic ‘superfamily’ found at root of European and Asian languages

“Languages spoken by billions of people across Europe and Asia are descended from an ancient tongue uttered in southern Europe at the end of the last ice age, according to research. The claim, by scientists in Britain, points to a common origin for vocabularies as varied as English and Urdu, Japanese and Itelmen, a language spoken along the north-eastern edge of Russia. The ancestral language, spoken at least 15,000 years ago, gave rise to seven more that formed an ancient Eurasiatic ‘superfamily’, the researchers say. These in turn split into languages now spoken all over Eurasia, from Portugal to Siberia.”

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

Tags: diffusion, historical, spatial, language, culture.

See on www.rawstory.com

May 8, 2013 0

Geography lessons make a world of difference in education

“To meet workforce needs, scholarships must be available to support the best and brightest students who choose to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in geography”

The authors of this article are from American Geographical Society and discuss the results of a study that indicate that Americans want more geography education in the school systems today. Often geography gets buried within the social studies curriculum and it is up to the individual teacher to ensure how much geography actually gets taught in the classroom. This is not a new problem; in a bulletin published by the Bureau of Education in 1922, it was said, “So long as it is assumed that history is all of the social studies the elements of the others will be neglected as they are now.” This article provides good sources to help educators argue for more geographic content in the curriculum at all educational levels.

Tags: Geography Education, geo-inspiration.

See on www.nj.com

May 8, 2013 0

Google Maps Engine

“Google Maps Engine makes it easy for you to create beautiful maps, share them with others, and reach your audience no matter where they are. It’s built on the same platform that provides Google services to millions of people worldwide, so your users have a consistent and familiar experience wherever they are.”

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

Google has become more and more involved with geospatial technologies and platforms. This new Maps Engine (still in beta testing) appears to be Google entry into the world of GIS. Maps Engine is not nearly as robust as ArcGIS Online or even Google Earth and it has many limitations (can’t upload a CSV file with more than 100 data points, can’t use KML or shapefiles, no archive of ready-made layers, etc).

It’s redeeming value lies in the simplicity of the platform; if all you want to do is draw your own points, lines and polygons on top of a map and be able to get started within 30 seconds, then this is worth exploring. Those features are incredibly intuitive and user-friendly and I foresee various educational possibilities using this in the classroom, but am still ‘test-driving’ the platform.

Tags: google, GIS, geospatial, edtech, K12.

See on accounts.google.com