http://picasaweb.google.com/freeman1066/ActivityPictures
Faye Trailhead 38°52'12.99"N 119°48'37.26"W
Barrow Pit 38°50'59.62"N 119°47'41.77"W
Fredricksburg Cemetery 38°49'39.70"N 119°47'12.04"W
River Road 38°47'36.50"N 119°47'28.77"W
Friday, May 9, 2008
Friday, May 18, 2007
Lets work together
Cartographic design in today’s world is all about collaboration. There are no projects that are not reviewed, edited, fixed, noted, helped to produce, or at least referenced. Every thing in the world has been mapped to death, so today’s cartographers have the option of reproducing old maps. To do this, the cartographer has to collaborate with at least the original cartographer who produced the original production in the original projection. This referencing is the first step of collaboration. The next step is producing the thing worth producing and collaborating with other professionals and experts to come up with the best solution to any problems the publication may or may not accomplish. This could be in many forms, over the internet, through email, in an office, or simply by oral suggestion from one ideas-man to another. The next step is to send a pseudo finished piece off to an editor or publisher; this person or people mark it up and change the project to there specific specifications. This is usually done by many means of communication, but usually it’s done by people within the company or firm responsible for the print. All of these processes’ are done with a means to a greater good. All the cartographic communication and cartographic knowhow bundled into a package to try and create the best finished product available. With a single cartographer, we can only get one set of ideas, one manipulation of content, but with even two cartographers the ideas multiply exponentially and build upon each other for ever. Based upon this basic premise, multiple cartographers working on a project simultaneously is obviously preferred to a single projecteer.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
NEVADA!
Nevada is an unbelievable place. It is full of desert, mountain, and forest. The government owns most of the state and the parts they don’t are owned by mining companies or railroads. This is a good and a bad thing for mapping the state. The good thing is there is a myriad of data available from the census and other government organizations, so data collection is not an issue. However, the bad thing about Mapping Nevada is out of the 17 counties, about 90% of the population is located in two of them. The other fifteen shows up as blanks in pretty much every data set you have. This makes the types of maps and how you show your maps very important. Meaning you can lie very easily in Nevada because of the types of data. Many mapmakers have shown this by creating multiple layers with differing transparencies; this creates an interesting effect on the mapped layers. By changing even the amount of categories you have to work with, you can change how the map looks and therefore how individuals interpret the information. With these different looks created by processing the same data sets is neat in a way, because this gives the mapmaker the ability to tell many different stories just by selecting a variety of categories to map. Instead of the norm where mapmakers are bound by their data and must tell the story the data dictates.
Having Mapped and appreciated the intricacies of Nevada, I have a greater appreciation of the state and how data fields work in other places as well. Nevada is both beautiful and challenging, but it is also worth mapping and needs to be done more.
Having Mapped and appreciated the intricacies of Nevada, I have a greater appreciation of the state and how data fields work in other places as well. Nevada is both beautiful and challenging, but it is also worth mapping and needs to be done more.
The world according to Google
After playing, experiencing, learning, examining, probing, exploring and investigating a plethora of “Virtual Worlds;” such as, Google Earth, Celestia, World Wind, Microsoft Live, and Map Quest. There are many others out there, but they don’t have nearly the publicity. These virtual worlds are an amazing tool for individuals to play around and look at the world. It gives the laymen the opportunity to look at things they wouldn’t normally be able to see. I know plenty of people who have not been out of their home state, but with this new technology they are able to see places around the world, not nearly as intimately of course, but still, fairly closely. These things will all in all make humankind, at least the technological literate with access to the will to these programs, a better understanding of the world and how it works. With this knowledge, hopefully the human race isn’t doomed to oblivion. That’s a good thing.
Virtual worlds are cool. That’s the bottom line. They are fun, cool programs that users can do many things with and create new ideas and communicate in new ways. I love all types of virtual worlds, I’ve been lost in Celestia, I’ve researched trips in map quest, and I’ve incorporated GPS points into Google earth to make movies of trips. Basically, I’ve played with these virtual worlds quite a bit, and if you haven’t, I recommend you do.
Virtual worlds are cool. That’s the bottom line. They are fun, cool programs that users can do many things with and create new ideas and communicate in new ways. I love all types of virtual worlds, I’ve been lost in Celestia, I’ve researched trips in map quest, and I’ve incorporated GPS points into Google earth to make movies of trips. Basically, I’ve played with these virtual worlds quite a bit, and if you haven’t, I recommend you do.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Games
The use of maps in games, no matter the kind, has always been helpful to gamers. I want to look at four types of games; geography based board games, geography based computer games, regular board games, and regular computer games. I want to make the distinction between these different classes because of the way they implement special variability.
Geography based computer games. These can be very interesting and fun games. They usually are geo-trivia sorts of games like find the state on a map, or find the country. However there are a few games which enhance a broader set of geographic ideas, such as: this does a very good job at being geo-trivia and at enhancing special ideals at the same time. However, most people find most geo-computer games to be boring.
Geography based board or card games are common as well. National Geographic has a few out; most of these again are geo-trivia. Such as name the capitol, or find the state. These are well implemented in many classroom activities, but may not be as interesting for the lay person. Some of these games do also promote more than just geo-trivia; they also try and inform the gamer on matters of scale, and why places are where and whatnot.
Regular computer based games are usually quite fun and exciting for many people. If you think about it, most all of these games require a map, a place, or at least a reference to where things are within it. A game like Age of Empires, a popular real time strategy game, has a different map almost every game. Maps are very important to these types of games and the more familiar a gamer is with the games maps or mapping systems, the more successful the gamer will be.
The last category I want to look at is board games. I will split this in half as well; first I will look at board games which utilize maps and then the games which do not. There are many games that use real world maps to instigate play, such as, Risk, Axis and Allies game series, Take Off, and many others. These games make use of the real world to play the game, this does more than just provide an interesting experience for participants, and it also makes the players subconsciously learn something about their world. Certain games such as Axis and Allies will also teach participants about world history, and if the participants know some world history, they will benefit in the strategy of the game. The other types of games are none map based games; such as Chess, Checkers, Stratego, and others. These games may not have a map element to them, but people do have to learn and analyze space to be successful. Chess for example, if a player does not see many possible different moves in different directions and different pieces, they will certainly fail. If the same player can see the whole board as well as the spaces of each piece, success will be much more imminent.
I believe that a person who can see more than one space at a time will succeed more readily in any type of game he or she does pursue. Maps are integral in many types of games and many of those games could not exist without the use and help of maps. This is just another notch on the importance of maps in society today. They benefit our entertainment purposes.
You can see the use of maps in other issues of modern day entertainment. The use of place names to identify a sports team, movies use places to help tell the story… and in all of these they are displayed via the use of maps.
Geography based computer games. These can be very interesting and fun games. They usually are geo-trivia sorts of games like find the state on a map, or find the country. However there are a few games which enhance a broader set of geographic ideas, such as: this does a very good job at being geo-trivia and at enhancing special ideals at the same time. However, most people find most geo-computer games to be boring.
Geography based board or card games are common as well. National Geographic has a few out; most of these again are geo-trivia. Such as name the capitol, or find the state. These are well implemented in many classroom activities, but may not be as interesting for the lay person. Some of these games do also promote more than just geo-trivia; they also try and inform the gamer on matters of scale, and why places are where and whatnot.
Regular computer based games are usually quite fun and exciting for many people. If you think about it, most all of these games require a map, a place, or at least a reference to where things are within it. A game like Age of Empires, a popular real time strategy game, has a different map almost every game. Maps are very important to these types of games and the more familiar a gamer is with the games maps or mapping systems, the more successful the gamer will be.
The last category I want to look at is board games. I will split this in half as well; first I will look at board games which utilize maps and then the games which do not. There are many games that use real world maps to instigate play, such as, Risk, Axis and Allies game series, Take Off, and many others. These games make use of the real world to play the game, this does more than just provide an interesting experience for participants, and it also makes the players subconsciously learn something about their world. Certain games such as Axis and Allies will also teach participants about world history, and if the participants know some world history, they will benefit in the strategy of the game. The other types of games are none map based games; such as Chess, Checkers, Stratego, and others. These games may not have a map element to them, but people do have to learn and analyze space to be successful. Chess for example, if a player does not see many possible different moves in different directions and different pieces, they will certainly fail. If the same player can see the whole board as well as the spaces of each piece, success will be much more imminent.
I believe that a person who can see more than one space at a time will succeed more readily in any type of game he or she does pursue. Maps are integral in many types of games and many of those games could not exist without the use and help of maps. This is just another notch on the importance of maps in society today. They benefit our entertainment purposes.
You can see the use of maps in other issues of modern day entertainment. The use of place names to identify a sports team, movies use places to help tell the story… and in all of these they are displayed via the use of maps.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Polotics...
Political geography is the differences between people in there belief in government over a broad range of space. You can look at political views in many different scalar quantities. You can look at and analyze voting and policy matters patterns of people anywhere from one voting district to Carson County to the State of Nevada or on the nation as a whole. Political geography looks at people and their government on different scales, political cartography maps people and their government at a multitude of scales. The basis of political cartography is voting, be it on a specific candidate or on a policy or on a party, or a party’s platform, voting is the primary form of political mapping. Mapping voting patterns.
By mapping these patterns we can see where people are and what there views on everything are. Based on that analysis we can then make deductions about other things on the populous. If, for example, we see and intensely high number of republican voters in an area we may deduce an influx of a certain type of person from that area, and then we can deduce why that area has those types of people. For example, Douglas county Nevada voted republican for pretty much every possible ballot question and office last election. I know from talking with such people that most ranchers are republican. So based on the land use and the available land in Douglas county I would say it has a higher percentage of ranchers than say lawyers or bankers.
Political cartography is a great way to map the U.S. and each state and discover what people believe in each of those regions. You can tell California is more liberal than Nevada based on its voting patterns. Etc.
Michael F. Goodchild does an excellent job in telling of how GIS and politics are affected by each other in his article Just the Facts, Political Geography Quarterly, 10(4): 335-449. This article helps explain many of the fallacies of GIS and its applications and gives a brief overview of political geography.
Basically political cartography maps out how people think about government. This can then indicate how people think in general. This is a great help to human and cultural geographers who are trying to map why people are where and who is where they are. It has become another tool in the democratic world to help indicate where who is and why.
In Vladimir Kolossov's article "American geography and the rise of political geography in Russia". Kolossov explains how political geography and political cartography didn’t exist when the communist government was in control, but as the soviet block fell apart and a democratic system was put into place American geographers and emerging Russian geographers began to map out the new system. This excited American geographers because it enabled them to see how people moved, voted and thought based on where they were from the beginning of the new system. American and Russian geographers monitored and mapped voting patterns and came to many conclusions. The point of the matter being, some governmental systems simply are not good environments for certain science fields. Apparently communism is bad for political geography. But this also makes me think, if this is the case, what sciences or thought process are we missing being democratic? Capitalistic? What could we think about without such governmental controls? I believe it would have mostly to do with people, since that is what government controls, people. So I think government affects the sciences of the people; psychology, sociology, anthropology and of course human geography. But governmental controls could are found that reduce the productivity of biologists, chemists, geneticist, and quite a number of other fields. They do this because the government deems their research unethical. I read an article last week about a research project at Oregon State that was modifying the DNA of rams which would only mount other rams. They were trying to modify the genetic material enough to encourage the rams to mount sheep. This was halted by the governing body because it was encouraging research on gays and could have a negative reaction from the gay community.
Political cartography will live as long as there is a decent electoral body to map. If nobody votes, if nothing is passed, if no issues present themselves before congress, then political cartography will die.
Citation:
Kolossov, Vladimir. 2004. “American geography and the rise of political geography in Russia” GeoJournal 59: 59 – 62.
By mapping these patterns we can see where people are and what there views on everything are. Based on that analysis we can then make deductions about other things on the populous. If, for example, we see and intensely high number of republican voters in an area we may deduce an influx of a certain type of person from that area, and then we can deduce why that area has those types of people. For example, Douglas county Nevada voted republican for pretty much every possible ballot question and office last election. I know from talking with such people that most ranchers are republican. So based on the land use and the available land in Douglas county I would say it has a higher percentage of ranchers than say lawyers or bankers.
Political cartography is a great way to map the U.S. and each state and discover what people believe in each of those regions. You can tell California is more liberal than Nevada based on its voting patterns. Etc.
Michael F. Goodchild does an excellent job in telling of how GIS and politics are affected by each other in his article Just the Facts, Political Geography Quarterly, 10(4): 335-449. This article helps explain many of the fallacies of GIS and its applications and gives a brief overview of political geography.
Basically political cartography maps out how people think about government. This can then indicate how people think in general. This is a great help to human and cultural geographers who are trying to map why people are where and who is where they are. It has become another tool in the democratic world to help indicate where who is and why.
In Vladimir Kolossov's article "American geography and the rise of political geography in Russia". Kolossov explains how political geography and political cartography didn’t exist when the communist government was in control, but as the soviet block fell apart and a democratic system was put into place American geographers and emerging Russian geographers began to map out the new system. This excited American geographers because it enabled them to see how people moved, voted and thought based on where they were from the beginning of the new system. American and Russian geographers monitored and mapped voting patterns and came to many conclusions. The point of the matter being, some governmental systems simply are not good environments for certain science fields. Apparently communism is bad for political geography. But this also makes me think, if this is the case, what sciences or thought process are we missing being democratic? Capitalistic? What could we think about without such governmental controls? I believe it would have mostly to do with people, since that is what government controls, people. So I think government affects the sciences of the people; psychology, sociology, anthropology and of course human geography. But governmental controls could are found that reduce the productivity of biologists, chemists, geneticist, and quite a number of other fields. They do this because the government deems their research unethical. I read an article last week about a research project at Oregon State that was modifying the DNA of rams which would only mount other rams. They were trying to modify the genetic material enough to encourage the rams to mount sheep. This was halted by the governing body because it was encouraging research on gays and could have a negative reaction from the gay community.
Political cartography will live as long as there is a decent electoral body to map. If nobody votes, if nothing is passed, if no issues present themselves before congress, then political cartography will die.
Citation:
Kolossov, Vladimir. 2004. “American geography and the rise of political geography in Russia” GeoJournal 59: 59 – 62.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
The Earth, Moon, Stars and Mars; Now in 3D!
There’re two programs I like to use when I look at three dimensional cartography today, I use one of two programs; either Google Earth, or NASA World Wind. (Follow the links to download these free programs.) These are both wonderful programs and do an enormous amount, but each is slightly different.
Google Earth does a wonderful job of displaying earth in all of its capacities. It represents all earth systems well, some better than others, but all in all it is an incredibly useful program to do research. NASA’s World Wind gives viewers most of the same information with a few differences. But again, this program has a plethora of information to display to its users.
The main differences between these two programs become quickly apparent to most users. Google Earth is set up to handle a cultural geographic aspect of earth, whereas NASA’s World Wind is set up to view earth from a physical geographic point of view. Some of the basic features of Google Earth include dining stops, roads, sightseeing information, lodging, and transportation. World Wind has tools that allow you to look at current precipitation patterns, wind patterns, pressure heights, and ocean current movement. Each program has a search program to locate specific cities or addresses, but Google Earth’s has much more detailed information and incorporates Google Maps into the process. This makes for a very easy way to plan a trip route and decipher how different places work culturally. Some of the advantages of World Wind besides the metrological earth systems include current cloud cover information, recent and current disasters, (such as dust storms, fires, earth quakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc…) and different projections of use on the three dimensional level. World Wind also has a tool known as Place Finder, which makes use of Yahoo maps to display similar travel and location information compared to Google Earth. Another fun feature utilized by World Wind is some other layers besides Earth. You can cruise around the moon, Jupiter, Mars, and one of Jupiter’s moons. These may not be useful, but they do provide hours of entertainment (for map geeks like me.)
Google Earth does a wonderful job of displaying earth in all of its capacities. It represents all earth systems well, some better than others, but all in all it is an incredibly useful program to do research. NASA’s World Wind gives viewers most of the same information with a few differences. But again, this program has a plethora of information to display to its users.
The main differences between these two programs become quickly apparent to most users. Google Earth is set up to handle a cultural geographic aspect of earth, whereas NASA’s World Wind is set up to view earth from a physical geographic point of view. Some of the basic features of Google Earth include dining stops, roads, sightseeing information, lodging, and transportation. World Wind has tools that allow you to look at current precipitation patterns, wind patterns, pressure heights, and ocean current movement. Each program has a search program to locate specific cities or addresses, but Google Earth’s has much more detailed information and incorporates Google Maps into the process. This makes for a very easy way to plan a trip route and decipher how different places work culturally. Some of the advantages of World Wind besides the metrological earth systems include current cloud cover information, recent and current disasters, (such as dust storms, fires, earth quakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc…) and different projections of use on the three dimensional level. World Wind also has a tool known as Place Finder, which makes use of Yahoo maps to display similar travel and location information compared to Google Earth. Another fun feature utilized by World Wind is some other layers besides Earth. You can cruise around the moon, Jupiter, Mars, and one of Jupiter’s moons. These may not be useful, but they do provide hours of entertainment (for map geeks like me.)
Google Earth
NASA World Wind
If you want to compare these two three dimensional programs to some two dimensional references, you could say that Google Earth runs much like Rand McNally atlases; it shows human cultural activity, where World Wind acts more like the National Geographical atlas, showing earth systems features.
Three dimensional cartographic programs in general are evenly useful and can show a plethora of information and have many different utilities within them. These programs are a recent addition to a vast cartographic library of resources. These programs are all derived from the same information as a flat wall map.
Another type of three dimensional cartography, which in today’s world of technology is commonly overlooked, is globes. Much how Google Earth was derived from a program like Google Maps, (a 2 dimensional program) globes were derived from flat paper maps. Globes are a great way to view our earth, they show viewers many misconceptions made by looking at maps. For example, I know a girl who would swear on her mother’s grave that Alaska was an island just east of Hawaii and just west of Mexico. Sadly these perceptions of our earth do happen, however globes silence many questions people have about how the earth actually is. Globes are the most accurate tangible reference map people can use today, and I believe they are fundamental in human understanding of earth.
So if you need a basic understanding of this grand world of ours; dust off an old globe and spend a few hours perusing its contents. If you need a detailed route on how to get to aunt Sally’s in New York and what to do when you get there and where to stay and eat on the way and what airport to fly out of and intimate directions on all of these things, go to Google Earth. If you want to know what the five hundred mille-bar height of the atmosphere four days ago was and if it’s going to snow this weekend then tryout World Wind. All in all, you can’t go wrong with three dimensional cartography and the myriad of informative doors it opens up.
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