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How the U.S. Air Force Mapped the World at the Dawn of the Cold War

One specialized unit gathered data that could guide a missile to a target thousands of miles away.

 

The work of the 1370th bridged a crucial gap in the history of military technology. By the late 1950s, both the United States and the Soviet Union had developed intercontinental ballistic missiles, but satellite navigation systems like GPS weren’t yet up and running. That left military planners with a huge challenge: how to program a missile to hit a target on the other side of the world. Even a tiny mistake could be disastrous.

 

Tags: mapping, cartography, technology, historical.

Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

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Creating RI’s Off-Shore Wind Farm

Today, to the southeast of Block Island, there are five new structures rising from the ocean. These are the towers of the Block Island Wind Farm (BIWF), the first offshore wind energy installation in the United States. The turbines will generate 30 megawatts of energy; providing electricity to 17,000 households on Block Island and coastal Rhode Island (McCann, 2016), and replacing the diesel generators that previously powered New Shoreham. The turbines are on schedule to begin turning in November 2016 once commissioning is complete.

Source: uri.maps.arcgis.com

One of the overriding, major take-home points of this ESRI StoryMap, is that a project of this scale, scope, and magnitude requires geographic data across many disciplines (to see the largest off-shore wind farm in the world, click here).

 

Tags: mapping, Rhode Island, ESRI, StoryMap, GIS, resources, water, coastal, energy, environment depend.

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WORKSHEETS: Climate Migrants

“The ESRI storymap on climate refugees does a phenomenal job sampling locations in the world that experience migration effects as a result of climate change. Attached is a guided worksheet that accompanies the ESRI Climate Migrant Storymap.”

Source: www.thehumanimprint.com

This StoryMap shows some key regions where migrants are fleeing some of the negative impacts of climate change and one APHG teacher has created a fabulous worksheet to guide students through this great resource.   

 

Tags: APHG, climate change, migration, refugees, environment, coastal, mapping, ESRI, StoryMap, political ecology.

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Linking the most interesting places in the world

“Every city has a picturesque spot or two where the probability of a photo being taken at any given time is pretty high. Now there’s a world atlas of maps showing the routes people follow while taking these pictures in every city around the world:Mapbox’s Eric Fischer has been working on the “Geotaggers’ World Atlas” for years, using locations of photos uploaded on Flickr over a decade. In his city maps, which now span the world, he connects the dots between subsequent photos taken by a photographer—representing their path in sketchy lines that criss-cross across the city.” 

—Tanvi Misra on CityLab

Tags: mapping, visualization, social media, tourism.

Source: www.mapbox.com

Questions to Ponder:

  1. How does the idea of crowdsourcing influence modern-day cartography and geographic data?
  2. What kind of meaning is there in this seemingly random assortment of geotagged images?
  3. Analyze a particular pattern (anywhere in the world). Describe the location, explain the patterns you see and analyze why they are the way they are.
  4. Analyze a particular pattern (somewhere else in the world). Describe the location, explain the patterns you see and analyze why they are the way they are.
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CIA’s Cartography Division Shares Declassified Maps

“As much as James Bond is defined by his outlandish gadgets, one of the most important tools for real-life spies is actually much less flashy: maps. Whether used to gather information or plan an attack, good maps are an integral part of the tradecraft of espionage. Now, to celebrate 75 years of serious cartography, the Central Intelligence Agency has declassified and put decades of once-secret maps online.  These days, the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies rely more on digital mapping technologies and satellite images to make its maps, but for decades it relied on geographers and cartographers for planning and executing operations around the world. Because these maps could literally mean the difference between life and death for spies and soldiers alike, making them as accurate as possible was paramount, Greg Miller reports for National Geographic.”

 

Tags: mapping, geopolitics, map, historical, map archives. 

Source: www.smithsonianmag.com

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Climate Migrants

Climate change has already displaced tens of thousands of people. If it continues unabated, it could lead to one of the largest mass human migrations in history.

Source: storymaps.esri.com

This StoryMap shows some key regions where migrants are fleeing some of the negative impacts of climate change, a trend that appears very likely to increase in the future.  It is also an excellent example of the ESRI’s new Cascade template for creating a web app. 

 

Tags: physical, weather and climate, climate change, environment, resources, water, coastal, mapping, ESRI, StoryMap, visualization, environment depend, political ecology.

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Making Globes

“Colored printed sections showing the map of the world are cut to shape then pasted onto the surface of the globes and a protective coat of varnish is added. Narrator recounts the fact that lots of the workers have been there for over 30 years and quips: ‘While the rest of the mankind does its best to blow the world up, they like building a new one.'”

Source: www.youtube.com

I love watching globes made by hand and this vintage video shows the process of globes being made in London in 1955.  While most globe production is mechanized today, you can also watch the Bellerby company use gorgeous artistry to handcraft globes today.   

 

Tags: cartography, visualization, mapping, art, geo-inspiration.

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Election Results in the Third Dimension

“By extending each region into the 3rd dimension, it’s possible to show the relative importance of each region while retaining the map’s shape, keeping the areas recognizable. In this case, the height of each county corresponds to its total number of votes, though it could just as easily show population or share of the electoral vote. For a closer look, see the full screen interactive version.”

Source: metrocosm.com

We’ve all probably seen enough maps of the 2016 presidential election and are familiar with the basic patterns (although my favorite is still the interactive that let’s you redraw the states to alter the election).  This 3D map certainly though is an innovative way to portray some of the disparities in the U.S. electorate.

 

Tags: electoral, political, density, mapping.

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GPS Essentials

“GPS Essentials is the most complete GPS tool on Android Market: Navigate, manage waypoints, tracks, routes, build your own dashboard from 45 widgets.”

Source: www.youtube.com

GPS Essentials is a great, free app for a smart phone to create some simple, geospatial data.  Need to create a GPX file with various waypoints (that imports nicely into ArcGIS)?  Try GPS essentials (or if you only need linear data about where you’ve been, Map My Run works if you don’t mind needing a desktop to download the GPX file). 

 

Tags: mapping, GPS, edtech, video.

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