Yesterday I was talking with James, via Google Talk, about what type of master’s program I should look into applying for next year. Currently, I hold a B.S. in geography with certificates in “Geographic Information & Science”, “Remote Sensing of Coastal Environments”, and “Surveying” (half of my B.S. was civil engineering.) Then somewhere in my 180 credits of undergrad bliss I have a “cluster” in “Technology & Society.”
Well, this makes for an interesting dilemma for me. I have singled out three programs I am interested in, they being a master’s in information systems (with CIO certification), a M.A. in geography, or a M.S. in security policy studies. Intially, the master’s in geography is low on the totum pole since I feel that my undergrad degree could easily have been a master’s if I was allowed to do all of my course work with the understanding that with three or four more pages I could have earned a master’s. I wrote more than the master’s students anyway.
Then I came to the conclusion that I wanted to do something different, like security studies. Have you seen C-SPAN? To be successful you need at least twenty years in the field with a few books pimped on Imus in the Morning… Or, VerySpatial.
Finally, with all of the project management stuff that I have been learning at work lately and my insane creativity to change the geospatial infrastructure of the world, I thought that I may want to look into an MIS (with CIO certification.) Now, the local program near by is pretty good and I could probably do more with the MIS than I could with the geography or security studies degrees anyway. Yet, I think that I am looking to do a master’s in geography at some point in the future, but not before I get the MIS. I think that what I want to do is become the first official GIO in my office, but I think it is going to take earning the MIS. Shuushhh. Don’t tell work.
Of course, Paul would say that I would need to take ESL and learn how to spell before I would even apply for a master’s program.
So, if you folks out there in the GeoBloggosphere have any recommendations or comments I would like to hear them. I may take them seriously too.
Wow, talk about Christmas in August!
Today I received my NACIS Preliminary Program, and boy oh boy is it chalked full of cool stuff.
All throughout the week they have sessions like: “Man vs. Machine: 3D by hand vs. Sketch-up”; “The Future of the New York Public Library Map Division”; “Lunch”; “The History of Maps on Cloth”; “Old Methods for New Maps”; “Lunch”; “Preservation of Historic USGS Topographic Maps” (my favorite); and finally…
The “Map-Off!”
Is that like a dance-off in cartographer terms? Anyway, I can’t wait to see who is the first to get shanked with an X-acto knife and wrapped in an acetate layer of highway shields. Which is “Old Skool.”
Link: http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,68662,00.html
Scientists believe that the Earth’s core spins faster than its crust (that’s where we live.) I would say that the theory is pretty neat with the laws of physics and all.
I wonder what would happen if it suddenly stopped being a hot-hot ball of “mag-ma?”
The U.S. Board of Geographic Names (BGN) is the United State’s executive body who officially coordinates federal recognition of geographic place names. They meet on a regular basis and consist of representatives from USGS, NGA, State Department, CIA, and other government agencies. Of note, which is important here, is that National Geographic has an advisory non-voting seat on the BGN.
Why? Maybe they make nice maps? Or, they just like get-togethers? I hear they have a pretty nice spread of fine meats & cheeses at BGN meetings.
National Geographic has been on the BGN for a number of years providing input and listening about what issues the BGN deals with. I would assume they would be the voice of reason too since their writers and photographers seem to be everywhere these days. Yet, why has no one else been invited to participate on the BGN?
I couldn’t tell you.
I assume that invites are limited because of the Board’s inherently governmental function. So why in this new era of international spats over boundaries and place names in Google Earth has anyone from GE or the BGN thought to coordinate? If the two do not, would Google Earth become the de facto source for international boundaries and place names and usurp any official governmental geonames policy?
This is possibly the reason why National Geographic was invited years ago when they had a large influence on the public with their distrobution of maps & atlases.
It may happen, but I think at some point the BGN is going to need to address this with those who provide web mapping services like Google, Microsoft, and their data providers. Eventually floating BGN invites to those who have a significant international influence.
Like those with Gmail accounts.
UPDATE: After reading James’ note on the “UN protest” to Google Earth, I have come to the conclusion that James is correct. Google does need to figure out metadata. Could one embed a URI for metadata in their KML file? Or, do I have absolutly no clue of what I am talking about?
[Scoffing laugh] Google running borders by anyone. Ha! That’s a good one.
Recently someone in my office noted that they thought that they had read something about where scientists had determined the height of K2 to be higher than that of Mount Everest and asked me if this was true. I supposed they asked me because I was the only geographer they had ever met, but I offered to find out for them. So, I did what any other geographer would do… Look it up on the Internet.
I’m not climbing Everest or K2. Nor am I buying commercial imagery to create an elevation model either. I have posts to write.
I came up with this.
Now, it looks like Everest is still higher. Although, with advances in geopositioning technology, these people state that Mt. Everest’s height may need to be adjusted.
Since I’m not climbing Everest or K2 soon. So, good luck to those who do the survey. If they find someone crazy enough to do the survey. Godspeed.
I was relaxing in front of the television Tuesday evening watching C-SPAN coverage of a World Population Data briefing at the National Press Club from the Population Reference Bureau. They posted some interesting facts about the differences in the global population, especially disparages in the populations between “developed” countries and “undeveloped” countries. A specific examples noted the difference between Poland and Tanzania, where the Polish birth rate is 1.2 births per female, where in Tanzania it’s some thing like 3… 4… Or, something larger than Poland’s. They did note that the United States is the only “developed” nation with a growing, albeit slow, population.
Being the geographer that I am, I feel like I don’t pay much attention to world population and the factors that affect it. I guess I have been too wrapped up in the “visualization” of maps and the technical aspects that catch this geogeek’s eye. Well, most people don’t pay attention to the causes and effects that events have on the geographic aspects of the human species either. So, I think I’m ok.
Yet that is where I think I have to grow as a young geographer. I need to look deeper into issues and identify the patterns that are causes and effects of issues related to the relationship of humans and the earth. I probably haven’t taken my career development as serious as I probably should. I guess I will just have to change that.
So, thank you C-SPAN for the motivation.
I was doing some research this morning for something that I am working on and I came across an article (below) about a “tiff” between South Koreans and the Japanese. It was over a place name on Google Earth of all things that sparked a number of denial of service attacks on a few opposing view bulletin boards in the two countries. I know wars have been fought over land and place names before, but I think this may be one of the first times in history that denial of service attacks have been exchanged because of a disagreement over the name of the East Sea, or the Sea of Japan, in a mapping program.
Of note, last year Iran tried to exercise an argument that National Geographic should change the name of the sea between Saudi Arabia and Iran from the Arabian Gulf to the Persian Gulf in a recently published atlas. I believed the Iranians even pulled out historical maps to prove their point and had their president on television presenting a case to the UN. I’m not sure if it worked or not. All I know is that I have a map on my wall that has that body of water as the Persian Gulf. Perhaps they did win? [An article on the subject is here.]
Getting back on topic, now that digital mapping is making a big splash globally how will programs like Google Earth and others mitigate the risks of mis-naming a place? Will it fall to the data developers, such as NavTeq or TeleAtlas? Or, do we see a social movement for citizens to map their neighborhoods correctly and submit that information to Google Earth? And where do organizations like the U.S. Board of Geographic Names fit into this discussion?
Compromise: Let’s just call that sea the East Sea of Japan. Or, better yet… The FANTOM Sea.
Japanese Internet Users Said to Attack ROK Website Over ‘East Sea’ Decision
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) — Internet users carried out a concerted cyber attack against a South Korean online civic group in response to earth.google.com’s decision to use the term East Sea to refer to the body of water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
VANK, or the Voluntary Agency Network of Korea, said that unidentified internet users launched a denial-of-service attack on its Internet bulletin board (www.prkorea.com) on Thursday making it hard for ordinary users to post messages.
The civic group is an organization dedicated to raising international awareness about South Korea and correcting misinformation about the country.
The disruptive messages that swamped the Website’s bulletin board a short comments arguing that the East Sea should be called the Sea of Japan. The cyber attacks started about the time that Google started to use the East Sea reference on its cyber map service.
The denial-of-service attack also spilled over onto VANK’s internal electronic bulletin boards on Saturday, forcing the organization to restrict both overseas and domestic connections early Sunday.
It said that its English homepage had been hacked about the same time as it implemented connection restrictions.
“At the moment we believe it was angry Japanese Internet users that were behind the attack,” said Park Ki-tae, the head of the civic group. He said that the group had received prior warning of the attack and that after its system security is upgraded on Monday it should be open for regular operations.
Update: This is what my Google Earth search came up with
James went on holiday and left us with this. It’s AWESOME!
If you’re into geography, like to travel, and dig motorcycles, then Glen Heggstad’s lifestyle is for you. His website called Striking Viking chronicles Glen’s meandering motorcycle trips around the world. As a former Hell’s Angel, it reads as if Glen has seen it all. According to the website and a CBS article, he was once captured by the rebel ELN group in Colombia.
Talk about an experience that I would want no part of.
I haven’t read through all of the website and the corresponding book, Two Wheels Through Terror, but I think the majority of you would find it interesting.
If you’re into global motorcycle trekking, some of NASA’s WorldWind users have developed and add-on that maps Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman’s Long Way Round. It’s a great book that beautifully paints the human and phyiscal terrain of Eurasia in the eyes of a group of motorcylists. As I was reading this book, I wanted to get up and get a bike myself. Then I realized that the cool part of the book is the challenge and struggle to be on the road in the middle of nowhere for so long. Which I have done, lived, and would rather not do again frankly. It’s a good read that you should enjoy.
