GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

Israeli airstrikes began November 14, following months of Palestinian rocket fire into Israel.

“Monday, the top leader of Hamas dared Israel to launch a ground invasion of Gaza and dismissed diplomatic efforts to broker a cease-fire in the six-day-old conflict, as the Israeli military conducted a new wave of deadly airstrikes which included a second hit on a 15-story building that houses media outlets.”  This photo essay shows 34 powerful images that are emerging from this deadly conflict.  If students need some background to understand who are the major players in this conflict, this glossary should be helpful. 

See on www.boston.com

This map shows each verified incident of violence in Gaza and Israel since last week’s assassination of Hamas leader Ahmed al-Jabari.  Geospatial technologies combined with social media are changing how we learn (and wage) war. 

See on www.guardian.co.uk

Neighborhoods that are perceived by outsiders as economically successful have created a cultural niche that draws in visitors with a mixture of shops and amenities that appeal to a particular demographic…

A vibrant cultural ambiance is not just a backdrop for selling commodities in shopping districts.  The feel of a neighborhood and a sense of place can be the commodity as Air BnB is artfully demonstrating.

Tags: neighborhood, place, culture, economic, planning.

See more on geographyeducation.org

Want to know where your Thanksgiving food comes from? 

This provides the geography of holiday food production with links to the data so you can map out the data with GIS (links produced by Western Illinois University).

See on ymlp.com

China is simply to important to ignore and this profile is a good primer for students unfamiliar with the East Asian country to get caught up to speed. 

See on www.bbc.co.uk

By 2025, the developing world will be home to 29 megacities.

See on www.guardian.co.uk

Through this interactive mapping feature with rich call-out boxes, the reader can explore the latest UN estimates and forecasts on the growth of megacities (urban areas with over 10 million residents).  These ‘cities on steroids’ have been growing tremendously since the 1950s and present a unique set of geographic challenges and opportunities for their residents.

Download the data yourself as a CSV file and your can import this into ArcGIS online and symbolize your map with any of the columns in the dataset.

Tags: urban, megacities.

The terms cooks enter into search engines can provide clues as to what dishes are being cooked around the nation.

Some fascinating (if not entirely scientific) maps that show the most common searches on www.allrecipes.com and regional differences in food preferences.  More importantly, it also is an interesting glimpse into the geography of language.  Some similar dishes are called by more regional names (e.g.-“Stuffing” in the Northeast and West, “Dressing” in the Midwest and South).  This set of maps also reinforces the concepts of regions.  This is a fun way to teach some actual content and enjoy the holiday.

Tags: language, food, diffusion, regions, seasonal.

See on www.nytimes.com