Weary Mappers

it's been a while since i pointed you all to the Atlas
of Cyberspace but it continues to be one of my favorites
in understanding information flow... cybermaps
http://www.cybergeography.org/atlas/


Then there are the flows themselves finding their own
mappings to loosely coupled interfaces... take, for
example these realtime RSS feeds via map...
http://www.mappedup.com/fullscreen/

weary mapper j-man has been busy mining and educates
us on the middle east via http://www.mapsofwar.com/index.html
continual pursuit of the temporal dimension...
as well as what happens when you don't qa/qc your film product...
http://maps.google.com//maps?hl=en&t=k&q=Germany&ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=48.857699,10.205451&spn=0.002404,0.006738&om=1
and what music looks like...
http://www.turbulence.org/Works/song/index.html

The State of Maine is taking digital preservation of GIS data
seriously (http://www.maine.gov/sos/arc/GeoArchives/geoarch.html )
likely shining the flashlight ahead for the rest of us...

... and we heard that a most notorious paper map thief got 3.5 years -
punk.

we'll keep a seat open for you...

the mappers

keystrokes on the downstroke -

we're working on outlining a gangbuster publication aimed at assisting Wisconsin users in understanding location, spatial reference systems and conversion/transformation

Picasso once said, " When I work, I relax..." a good thing to take to heart if you wish to keep up on any or all of what's happenin' in the mappin' world...  we'll discuss the rest but here are some hints:

In the fast-forward world of parcels and geocoding... Canada is pushing forward a nation-wide parcel model for multi-jurisdictional applications while Proxix (whom I've attempted to describe to y'all before) is interviewed by Directions lending creedence to both their methods and their goal of growing their database of 50 million US parcels to 100 million by mid-2007 - a formidable force indeed:  http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=2286&trv=1

Meanwhile, for the viz folks in the group, one mapper forwards... http://www.thebudgetgraph.com/ for a visual view of the federal 2007 budget... have fun.

For the international geeks in the group, open source programmers continue to follow on the lead of the cheeky Tikiwiki Mapserver (http://maps.tikiwiki.org/tiki-index.php)  and advance it toward an open-source GeoCMS (that's geographic content management system) for areas less financially enabled (see:  http://www.sopac.org/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=mapserver)  ... those open-source folks ...

Meanwhile, social networks continue to express themselves and organize around contributor-based principles... take for example:
the blog-based FARK network and their google earth thread here:  http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=2294440
as well as the recently stumbled upon stumbleupon.com  ...  I don't know that these are so much spatial or cartography as self-organizing communities which often relate back to geography for virtual reference...

For the presenters in the group... you have until October 6 to submit your abstract for Coastal GeoTools '07 out East and until October 13 to submit for WLIA's annual conference in Appleton in March.

If you want an impression of the true distribution of web-interfaced local GIS in Wisconsin, in addition to WISCLINC (www.sco.wisc.edu/wisclinc/) you can also get a visual image-map portal to these sites at Dave Hart's coastal site:
http://coastal.lic.wisc.edu/wisconsin-ims/wisconsin-ims.htm

Another map lister has been working on a photoblog... http://www.flakphoto.com/

And finally, for the historically curious cartographer in you.... another mapper forwards the (potentially in question) cartographic origin of the pound sign also known as the octothorpe
"The word "octothorp" is so obscure that isn't even in the Oxford English Dictionary (first or second editions). The typographic stylist and philosopher Robert Bringhurst defines "octothorp" in his Elements of Typographic Style ( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0881791326/octothorppres-20 ) (p. 282):

Otherwise known as the numeral sign. It has also been used as a symbol for the pound avoirdupois, but this usage is now archaic. In cartography, it is also a symbol for village: eight fields around a central square, and this is the source of its name. Octothorp means eight fields.

SOURCES:  http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Octothorp
Also, Barron's Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms, 6th Ed., page 326,  octothorpe "Originally a map-maker's representation of a village with eight fields (thorpes) around a central square. Also called a pound sign."  NOTE FROM ANDY:  Per some sources, "thorpe" does NOT exactly mean field, but rather closer to "village" in English, although it originated as "torp" in Norse languages and meant something closer to field. See http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/thorp  "

One of these days, these maps are gonna walk right over you....

dear friends - are you weary ?

i think i need a compass...

with little time to write - here are a few thoughts:

one mapper passes along a way-cool realtime topic map -
http://labs.digg.com/swarm/     as it happens...

Geog 970 is looking for brainy ideas for cultural mapping...
http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/   is one effort...

Some mapserver developers at UI-Chicago are also pecking away...
-  http://www.gisforhistory.org/

All work and no play makes for blase maps...


are you weary ?
Weary Traveler - 5.45ish

In highlighting its recent release (as others have echoed),
I borrow the intro quote from a new Nat'l Academies Press
publication entitled:  "Beyond Mapping: Meeting National
Needs Through Enhanced Geographic Information Science" (2006)
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11687.html

"Digital mapping is about to change our world by
documenting the real world,then integrating the
information into our computers, phones, and lifestyles.
Roll over, Mason and Dixon: spurred by space
photography, global satellite positioning, mobile
phones, search engines and new ways of marketing
information for the World Wide Web, the ancient
art of cartography is now on the cutting edge.
—Levy 2004, p.78

and so as I prepare to engage in informal participation
in discussion and creation of a digital cultural map of
Wisconsin (thanks to Prof. Harrower -
http://www.geography.wisc.edu/%7Eharrower/
and ponder Mr. Stone's 'Interaction Design Model for
Digital Maps,' I'm musing first over the seeming
convergence (assuming it works) in object-oriented
programming, software development, database modeling,
usable interface design, and now, interactive
cartography in utilizing high-level modeling to
drive the process...
specifically an interaction design model... driven
by among other things:  User Profiles

which reminds me that we, as map/visualization pushers
always need to put ourselves in the shoes of the
audience or see if the audience is already speaking...

Take, for example, this article from Int'l Journal of
Health Geographics on, what else but, A tool for
exploring space-time patterns in disease mapping
and control: an animation user research
http://www.ij-healthgeographics.com/content/5/1/35

my only point is that as our cutting-edge art expands,
it's more important than ever to look to the topical
domain experts to profile intermediate/expert users
while maintaining the integrity of the GI domain
underneath.

Also important is examining research/findings whereby
a map by any other name is a "Rich Internet Application"
for which usability is being re-examined...
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/usability_for_rich_internet_applications/

Points, lines, and closing arcs:

Recent geography researchers have been busy with
everything from specific tool research -
MapShaper:  http://www.mapshaper.org/

to post-studies private endeavors like a map of
the Chicago Marathon:
http://www.axismapslive.com/marathon.html (site no longer available, sorry!)

and the SDSC and NSF want the infrastructure
to be well-embedded and ready... many resources
now online at:
http://www.geongrid.org/CSIG06/resources.html

and a whole site gets devoted to educating those
seeking careers in GST's (geospatial tech's) as
well likely as those who would need one once they
understand what one is...
http://www.geospatialcareers.net/

Finally, on the open source front, OpenLayers hits
1.0 and is indicative of just a myriad of javascript
libraries emerging enabling high-class, glossy
interaction especially when combined with mapping API's

check out:  http://openlayers.org/gallery/

but especially my favorite for the week, this slick
free-for-the-taking example of elegant integration
of freely-available stuff to compare, contrast, and
explore... It's Ocarto !  http://www.ocarto.com/

Left to your own speculation are a partnership between
a geospatial niche function firm and video gaming firm
as well as the cash buy-out of Intergraph hailing the
age of privately-owned, picked-apart, re-assembled
companies that may well change the landscape of "house-
hold names" in GIS/GST/geoviz forever after...

care to share ?

are you weary ?

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