The Participatory Geoweb

"'When you get in trouble and you don't know right from wrong, give a little whistle'. Jiminy Cricket. As if to prick our conscience about climate change, the humble cricket is providing powerful evidence of its impact." (BBC News) Monitoring crickets on the other side of the pond using maps is yet another example how UGC can help scientists. This article also provides the link to a butterfly watch in the UK as well.

This article address the issue of major trends in the use of spatial information from two different perspectives.

Jeff Thurston recognizes three major trends...

1. Increasing use of remotely sensed imagery
2. The integration of information for GIS / CAD modeling
3. Graphically rich visualization / simulation environments.

Matt Ball on the other hand identifies a different set of current spatial information fashions...

1. Data as a service
2. Do it yourself Data
3. Custom Analysis

Read more using the link above.

The ARKive website details quite succinctly the status and research on Erioderma pedicellatum, and also provides several highly detailed photos of the rare lichen.  

Report this year's cicada sitings at Magicicada.org and have your siting posted to a Google map. Do you love or hate the sound of cicadas during those select years in the dead of summer? If you hear or see them, you can report them. This website does an excellent job of incorporating user generated content (UGC) into an easy to navigate and figure out, mash up. The form to fill out reporting the cicadas is clear and concise.

This is a National Geographic sponsored project created and maintained by John Cooley at Yale.

Everyone is talking about it. Google launched a satellite The Geo Eye-1 satellite will take photos with a resolution of 0.41 cm / pixel. 

It is highest resolution commercial remote sensing satellite, launched successfully today an Vandenberg Air Force Base on Saturday September 6.

Read more at

google satelite on joetronic

GeoEye on arstecha

 Spatial Sustain

This inspiring and optomistic segment about how Web 2.0 can help African farmers is definately worth watching. This video clearly explains what Web 2.0 is and great examples of how it is helping in Africa. People are learning to use successful techniques of composting, preserving local knowledge, and helping generate revenue by reading and contributing to wikis.

Sorry I forgot to add the link. Web2forDev

Picasa launched its new site yesterday. Picasa offers a new game called "Where in the World?" It is very fun and very addictive. Pictures that people upload onto Picasa are revealed and the player must click on the map and guess where that picture was taken. I find it is really hard to georeference babies, the landscapes are a bit easier. Have fun!

In case any of you are using google maps or google earth and want to make your own unique icons for this project This site helps you do just that. Happy icon making!

This contest is open to you and your students...Good luck!

Dear Professor,

Upon speaking to [Mc Gill School of Environment] Director Marilyn Scott about the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, and our recent focus on empowering youth with tools to make a difference, your name came up as a professor who would be interested in finding out more about the $100,000 Go Green Challenge. Please consider taking the time to pass on this information to your colleagues and students. Another option is to implement the 2nd ever $100,000 Go Green Challenge as a class assignment. As of now, we are still waiting for the official rules and electronic poster to send off to students. Once we receive this we will send over an email with all of the details.

This year, the theme of the contest will be Urban Sustainability. Open to Canadian university and college students, the challenge requires a maximum 4,000 word essay with creative, workable plans for promoting greener communities. The four winning teams each receive $25,000 for their green ideas and recognition as a future green leader within the community. (More details to follow).

Thank you for taking the time to read this email. Please let me know if you are interested in integrating the $100,000 Go Green Challenge as a class assignment or if you have any other ideas to help us promote the Challenge. We can send you:
•    Posters to hang in the halls and your office
•    Power Point slide to discuss in class
•    Electronic email blasts to forward to your students

Sincerely,

Michelle Haddad

Friends of TD FEF
UTours Account Coordinator
1-866-829-2285 ext. 230
michelle@friendsoftdfef.com

This article shares arguments made by Mary Spence of the British Cartographic Institute criticizing the geoweb. This might be a good topic of discussion for our group. Ms. Spence makes claims that "Corporate cartographers are demolishing thousands of years of history - not to mention Britain's remarkable geography - at a stroke by not including them on maps which millions of us now use every day." I wonder if she has read any literature on critical cartography. Things are left off the map on every map not just corporate maps.

Mentioned in the same article, Ed Parsons, geospatial technologist at Google, states: "Internet maps can now be personalised, allowing people to include landmarks and information that is of interest to them. Anyone can create their own maps or use experiences to collaborate with others in charting their local knowledge." Web 2.0 and the geoweb are just a different kind of map, new and unique it its own way.