Your year in Maps

This Bloomberg project was excellent and resulted in some very creative maps.

Worth checking out....

OneSoil

An AI generated map showing crops in USA and Europe.

Google Earth Case Studies

Andy Funnell has been working away on his Earth Case Studies mini blogpost.

World GIS Day 2020

Will put up a few posts today for World GIS Day.

This is an excellent map of the National Risk Index in the USA, produced by FEMA.

Up over 100 000 views

Well that sneaked up on me... the blog is now up over 100 000 views, since first launching back in 2005. Thanks for reading.

Why Study Geography?

 Plenty of mentions for GIS and Google Earth in this latest books of mine.

"I have always been a Geographer and have always believed that the state of geography in universities depends on attracting good sixth formers to become undergraduates."

Andrew Goudie 

My latest solo authored book came out earlier this week. I've had copies for a week, and colleagues and some of those who contributed to the book have been receiving copies as well. Family copies are earmarked and  I'm delighted with the finished product, which is part of a growing series of books asking the same question for different subjects.

There's already been interest from a number of countries including the USA and Turkey, and I'm hoping for further reviews in addition to the ones that the publishers have already elicited from geographical journals and organisations, and individuals who can help the book reach its intended markets.

It is called 'Why Study Geography' and is published by the London Publishing Partnership.

It explores why students should continue to study the subject, and provides answers to a number of key questions from Y9-13, plus their parents and UCAS tutors.

Here they are opposite on the Contents page.

The final chapter contains links to over 50 resources to support your exploration of geography including films, books, websites, podcasts and others.

It explores all aspects of the subject and is unashamedly 100% geography. 

There are so many people who have helped me out with the book in various ways. These include colleagues from the GA and the RGS, along with teaching colleagues. It includes vignettes from a number of people including Kit Racklet, Corinna Hawkes and Ben Hennig. There are details of how the subject developed, and more on academic geography. It finishes by exploring the reasons why geography matters now more than ever - mirroring the theme of this year's GA Conference under the Presidency of Gill Miller.

Copies will be available from additional outlets soon including bookshops, online outlets, Book Depository and others.

I would suggest it would make a good book for a number of different groups of people:

- students - of different ages

- parents

- UCAS tutors / careers advisers

- geography teachers - both ECT and experienced teachers

- teacher educators - ITE colleagues from a number of different routes

Look out for lots of tweets with the hashtag #whystudygeography over the next week or so as we try to make as many people as possible aware of the book and its potential value for their work.

Also available on Wordery, Blackwells, Waterstones and as a Kindle or Kobo e-book version for convenience.

Data Classification and Mapping

A new and very helpful StoryMap.

Check it out...

Developing Place knowledge - a new DfS resource

Simon Catling and Emma Espley have been working on some new materials for the resource area of Digimap for Schools, designed for subscribers, but free to access by all.

Digimap for Schools gave free access to their service to schools during lockdown, and I am sure many will have found it a useful and effective resource.

The resources explore Place Knowledge using the new global mapping along with the familiar Digimap tools...

Mapping our Future - from paper to pixels

A programme on how Digital Mapping and Paper Mapping interact. What are these map apps doing to us?

Jerry Brotton programme can be listened to on BBC Sounds. 
From paper to pixels... Mapping of the Coronavirus as an example of why it is important...
A good input from Ed Parsons on the dynamic nature of digital mapping and the change in map projection - from Mercator close in to a globe zoomed out. Google Earth as "a browser for the planet". This also shows no national borders... and referencing Tobler's first law of Geography.
Plenty of other good contributions as well.
Apple and Google worked together on a contact tracing app.
References 'Powers of 10' which I use to explore scale, and 'Earthrise'.
Reference to the Ordnance Survey's origins as well, and its military origins, and the US military's involvement in Keyhole - the forerunner of Google Earth. Earth Observation Satellite programme was also called Keyhole.

"Surveillance capitalism" is a useful phrase for some of the work of these large organisations in a book by Shoshona Zuboff.

It also mentionsWilliam Morgan's vast map of London.
Mentions the commercial information which blocks out some other information on the map.

A map of the human population is being created by our interactions with these digital maps. Counter-mapping is challenging this work.
Interested to read about Poly-Olbion

And the work of Stephen Walter of course.

Finishes with Borges 1:1 scale map of the Empire. The only truly accurate map, but its size makes it useless... All maps pursue certain agendas and define the way in one way rather than another.
Corporations are mapping the world....
Don't give up completely on the paper map.
Well worth listening to.

Free access to Digimap for Schools until the end of July

In an effort to help students and parents during this challenging time of isolation and home schooling, Digimap for Schools will be free for any school to access from today until the end of July 2020.

If you are an existing Digimap for Schools subscriber, they are automatically extending  subscriptions by four months, at no cost, subscribers don't need to do a thing.

Register your details and start accessing Digimap for Schools immediately.

Geograph - now available in Welsh

The Geograph project has appeared here numerous times over the years. It played a big part in my first trip up to the SAGT Conference.

When it was first launched, I publicised it over on GeographyPages and contributed some early images of the Norfolk area and bagged a few squares along the coast.


The Geograph Project Ltd is a small national charity – an online community and project that maps the British Isles with photographs and information, “to advance the education of the public in geography and heritage”. They have over 6 million moderated, geo-located and dated images on www,geograph.org.uk , made available through a Creative Commons Licence.

Many people use the website to learn about where they live or areas they might visit.
Don't forget that there is also a schools area providing some activities and games that can be played to explore the millions of images.

After a lot of hard work, the site has been translated into Welsh.

The Schools Area is also now available in Welsh.
Take a look if you haven't been before, or haven't been for a while.
The site is supported by the Ordnance Survey.

what3words

We had a visit from what3words into school a few weeks ago...
Here is the original idea / TED talk

Ridge Maps

Another tip off from Ben Hennig is this Github mapping tool and script.

Open it up and navigate to a location, zoom in and change the angle of the map if necessary.

Open Settings and you will see various options for the creation of peaks on the map using height data.
These can be made more exagerrated, and the colour changed - messing with other settings produces different effects. Why not have a play?



It's a way of making a Joy Division 'Unknown Pleasures' style image...

Here's a map of the island of Ely in the Fens... with the Ouse Washes the flat area running diagonally across.

And here's one with the Wash and King's Lynn at the top - spot the edge of the Fens... see, Norfolk is actually far from flat...