GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

Earlier I have posted the classic image of “Earth Lights at Night,” and discussed the classroom uses of the image.  This cartogram helps take that analysis one step further.  This cartogram helps students to visualize the magnitude of population (with the cartogram adjusting area for population) and then to see the patterns of energy use, global consumption and urbanization with in a new light. 

Tags: remote sensing, worldwide, consumption, poverty, population, spatial, political, regions.

See on www.viewsoftheworld.net

“Norway has recently reached 5 million inhabitants and the capital is growing rapidly. The city scene in Oslo is steadily thickening with taller buildings, more people and the never-ending construction sites. Being by far the most populated city in Norway with 613 000 inhabitants, most Norwegians look to Oslo as a major capital. However, if one compares Oslo to other international capitals, Oslo only ranks as the 112th largest. Oslo is indeed a major capital, just a small one…”

Tags: art, urban, Europe, landscape, unit 7 cities.

See on vimeo.com

Flightradar24 is the best live flight tracker that shows air traffic in real time. Best coverage and cool features!

Ever wanted to find out where that plane overhead came from?  Where is it going?  Here it is.  The flight that was over Rhode Island 5 minutes ago that left the JFK airport?  It’s officially on it way to Geneva Switerland and now over the Atlantic.

Tags: mapping, worldwide, geospatial, transportation.

See on www.flightradar24.com

Here are some seemingly eclectic topics.  All of them center around the appropriateness of the body being displayed publicly and the cultural norms that shape how we think about the issue.  I’ve included a sensational restroom, public nursing, top-free protests, and of course, the Kate Middleton scandal.

Tags: culture, popular culture, gender, place, space.

See on geographyeducation.org

Find the latitude and longitude of a point using Google Maps.

Simple, straightforward and easy to use.  All you do is point and click on the map to get latitude and longitude in both decimal degrees and DMS (degrees, minutes and seconds).  You can also quickly enter coordinates in either format an have the location displayed on the map.

Tags: GPS, mapping, location.

See on itouchmap.com

Until now, there has been a lack of solid, comprehensive spatial data about African groundwater resources.  Researchers have now done so.  For a more academic article on the subject, here are their findings in Environmental Research Letters: (http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/7/2/024009/article).

Tags: water, Africa, resources, physical, environment, environment depend.    

See on www.newsecuritybeat.org

More clashes with Pakistani police, as PM Ashraf orders YouTube to be blocked and Tunisia police surround Salafi mosque.

I think this issue is one that highlights differing cultural values (obviously many other topics are part of this complex situation, but I’ll focus on just that in this post).  While most in the United States are appalled that someone would produce such a culturally offensive video, they also firmly believe that the right of citizens to free speech must be guaranteed.  Most of the protesters are outraged that the video was produced, but also that a society would permit such action.  Pakistan has block ALL of YouTube to prevent the spread of this one video.  Click here for a photo essay of the protests: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/09/anti-islam_video_protests.html

See on www.aljazeera.com

It wasn’t just a high price that kept businessmen away from early portable computers.

Early on most men were adamantly opposed to purchasing a device for themselves that had a keyboard.  Throughout the 1950’s 60’s and 70’s, keyboards and typewriters were seen as secretarial work.

Questions to ponder: How have American gender norms changed since then?  Why have they changed?  

See on www.theatlantic.com