GA Conference

I will be at the GA Conference at the University of Derby on the 13th and 14th of April 2007
I will be leading a session on the use of GIS for Beginners on the Saturday morning, with a great deal of help from fellow members of the GA Secondary Phase Committee.
I will be mentioning a few Google Earth style links.
Hope to see some of my readers there - come and say hello!
I'll have a limited stock of GeographyPages pens for you to claim!

Tour of the Swiss Alps in GE4

Thanks to Bob Lang for flagging this up on SLN Forum...

Utah...

Was contacted this week by Lucas Shaw.
He works for the Utah Geological Survey and wanted to pass on some news about a new KMZ file to download from the WEBSITE of the UGS.
This offers the chance to fly around some of the geological wonders of the state.
Click on PLACES TO SEE and then GEOSIGHTS, such as the Devil's Playground which is pictured above...

Site also has some TEACHER RESOURCES, such as a presentation on the Ice Age to download.

Check it out ! It's "Something Good" (can you work out the musical link here...)

Geograph Layer

Thanks to Noel J (again) for a tip off of a new layer on Geograph which has updated the existing layers and allows you to see images which have been uploaded. Called the SUPERLAYER. Head over to GEOGRAPH and download the KML file.

His Dark Materials

Noel Jenkins has consistently produced interesting resources for use with Google Earth, and he has now launched another excellent resource idea using text from Philip Pullman's award winning "Northern Lights". This is a book I read over 10 years ago and had a big impact ! The front cover of the edition I have shows the alethiometer: a very geographical looking device. In fact in the USA the book is published as 'The Golden Compass'. The needle seeks out 'truth' rather than true North...

The action in the first book ends with a whirl of events taking place in Svalbard, but not the Svalbard that we know - one that is subtly different i.e: it has armies of polar bears and witches in a parallel world, which has Norroway and Brytain.
Noel's idea is to use Google Earth to find the locations in the book.
This, as Noel says, is difficult on Svalbard except for the small areas where there are high definition images.
Check out NOEL's PAGE for more.

Why not buy Northern Lights from the GeographyPages bookshop. Click the image below to go there then follow the link and spend spend spend !

Noel uses the text to explore the landscape of Svalbard, which is shown in all its glory in the wonderful images of Laurel McFadden at her COLD PHOTO blog.

Also looking forward to the film, which is apparently due out in December 2007.

London in Maps

The British Library have a new free exhibition on at the moment called LONDON IN MAPS.
As part of the exhibition, you can download a free GOOGLE EARTH overlay which contains a range of London maps. It's a chunky 3.4 Mb.
I'm in London doing some GIS training on Friday, so will pop in and let you know what I think (time permitting) - or failing that I'll send you an e-postcard...
The curator even has a BLOG.

Google Earth Transparencies

Another find by Noel Jenkins via another blog, which is often the nature of these things. This is a 'mash up' which looks to be useful. Check out NOEL'S POST for more details.

E-mails

Got this e-mail today:

FROM Jeff Gomo.
Avenu 12 Rue 47 ABIDJAN
DANANI REFUGEE CAMP, ABIDJAN
REPUBLIC OF COTE-D'IVOIRE

Dear,

My name is jeff gomo and my sister, from Sierra Leone. My father and I escaped from our country at the heat of the civil war ,As a result of thepolitical instability in my country even after the war,

my father established his cocoa and coffee export business in Abidjan,Ivory Coast.He was in Buake, a northern city to negotiate for the purchase of a cocoaplantation when he was shot and killed by the rebel troupes fighting to takeover the government of the country on the 22nd September, 2002. The death of my father has now made me an orphan and thereby exposing me to danger.Beforethe unfortunate death, my late father had in his personal account with abank here the sum of $4.500m. As a result of the present insecurity of lives and property in this country,

I wish request that you assist me use youraccount in your country to transfer the balance of my father's account. Again to assist me with a letter of invitation that will make me get a visa to your country for residence inorder for me to continue our education and to invest the fund in a viable business venture.

I am willing to give you 20% while 5% has been earmarked for expenses. If this is acceptable to you, send me a mail through my regular e-mail account (gomo_jeff@yahoo.com) so that we can discuss further on this matter.

JEFF GOMO.

Anyone find this in Google Earth ?
I'm thinking of sending my bank details...

Amazing Touch Screen Interface

Frank Taylor over at Google Earth Blog posted about this amazing touch screen interface for using Google Earth (and other images / videos)
Watch and be amazed...

Ordnance Survey Mapping News

All schools should receive a copy of OS Mapping News twice a year.
The Winter 2006 issue (Issue 31) has just arrived and features a few items of interest for Google Earth users.
There is an article on using Google Earth Plus (an upgrade which costs just $20) and a GPS unit to create and map a historic trail on Cyprus.
There is also an article by Noel Jenkins relating to his San Francisco activity "Visualising a Safer City" which uses Google Earth to look at decision-making related to the location of a new building in the city.
It includes a file to download, and the article gives all the details for working through this tried and tested activity.
There are full details at the JUICY GEOGRAPHY page, from where I borrowed this Google Earth screenshot.
Thanks to Noel for mentioning my GeographyPages Users Guide at the end of the article!

Google Earth Images

Meant to post about this a while ago, but just playing catch up.
Article in The Observer in November 2006 about how London is gaining an advantage over other cities in the UK (and exerting its primacy ?) because of the quality of images on Google Earth is much better in the capital than in other parts of the country.
London's images have up to date buildings whereas those in Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester are still without...
In Liverpool, they reckon the images used were taken around 2001, whereas the new Arsenal stadium is visible in London. The Urbis centre is missing from Manchester for example, and neither is the new Bull Ring in Birmingham.
Google Earth spokesperson Rachel Whetstone said:
"We can only update things as soon as we have the data", and they rely on third party external companies for the data.
Keep an eye out for more updates to come.
Remember that Frank Taylor's GEARTHBLOG is probably the best place to look for news of these...

Google Earth INSET Courses

Want some INSET on Google Earth ?

The RGS-IBG are offering a full day course looking at using Google Earth to create a Virtual fieldtrip by adding digital content. It's on the 22nd of January, and further details are available on the RGS website. School members should also have been sent flyers. The course is being run by Jamie Buchanan Dunlop and will involve fieldwork in Hyde Park. It costs a very reasonable £30.

Noel Jenkins is also running a course in London on June the 28th. Details are already posted on DIGITAL GEOGRAPHY.

There are also some useful tips at the GE LESSONS website.

Happy New Year to all my readers!

Currently listening again to the Radio 4 Today programme on listen again, which was edited by the G Team.
Interesting clip from Vanessa Lawrence on the importance of maps in our everyday lives:
"there is more geography being used today than ever before" OS provide the data for Google Maps.

Also item on the connection between immigration in Britain and the effect on poverty in Africa.
Apparently people of African origin send home an average of just under £1000 a year. Interview with some Ghanaians living in London and from correspondent in Ghana.

An item on the growth of the EU: the link between Europe and links between Europe.

My Walks: project from Northumbria University - look at familiar places as an unfamiliar place. Geography is about change in the contemporary world. Interview with Dr. Duncan Fuller from the university.

Final interview with the guest editors.

Doreen Massey provided a small input relating climate change to globalisation. We demand goods but don't take responsibility for the carbon emissions produced by their production and transportation. We will meet our Kyoto protocol targets because of the change in our economy and this has "reshaped the Geography of the UK itself..." as our economy revolves around London and its financial sector.

Congratulations to Dan, David and Hannah - a job very well done!

Dan talked about his geograpical teaching. Geography sits centrally in the curriculum...
Creates a real meaning and purpose to the curriculum...

David talked about the importance of fieldwork: the basis of which is observing: using your eyes.

Dan talked about how issues tend to be separated by the media rather than brought together using Geography.

Share your Ideas and KMZs...

There's a lot of geographers out there using Google Earth in interesting ways.
Why not share your ideas, and move towards being a COLLABORATOR rather than an ISOLATOR.
Thanks to Quentin d'Souza for allowing use of his image below. Which one most describes your practice and what can you do to move to the left ?

Google Earth and NASA

Ollie Bray made me aware of this via Boing Boing (getting hard these days to establish who does things first...) which is apparently the completion of something announced a while ago.
NASA are teaming up with Google Earth (and the National Geographic) to release NASA data in areas such as weather forecasting...
Could be useful for Geographers. I'll keep an eye out for more...