geoweb

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 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.

Researchers in Germany and the Czech Republic have found that deer and cows have an innate magnetic sense, as they tend to align themselves with the Earth's magnetic field lines when at rest. And what did they use to reach this conclusion? Google Earth of course!

Researchers examined Google Earth satellite imagery of 8,510 cattle in 308 pastures and plains around the world, as well as field data collected on nearly 3,000 deer in 225 locations in the Czech Republic. They found that when grazing or resting, deer and cows were found to face either magnetic north or south. Read more in the LA times or CBC.

This is pretty basic and lacking information on Canada but still a step in the right direction. Atlas of Climate Change

Ontario Parks has recently updated their website to incorporate Google Maps. After exploring the new “locate parks by region” function and associated Google Maps I checked out other provinces' park websites to see how they do things. I am comparing the Ontario Parks site vs. Manitoba Parks site in terms ease of use/type of use by end-users and the likely resource costs (hardware, software purchases, app development, employee training) in developing these sites.

Manitoba Parks uses a point and click mapping interface similar to the Google map associated with the Ontario parks website. The Manitoba site starts with an image map and after clicking an icon the link to that particular park's website is provided. Manitoba has each park map scanned and available on the website. It takes a bit of time to download a pdf file even after you have spent some time locating the document. The park map is helpful information once you have reached the park but I have no idea how to get to any of these parks from my house or how long it will take. For users with no familiarity with Manitoba, (eg. me) it is difficult to understand where to locate the map I'm currently looking at.

Users are likely to be more familiar with a Google map found on the Ontario Parks page. With a Google map you can zoom out until you find something familiar to contextualize what region of the world you are observing.

Developing these sites brings up other issues. Once a developer learns the basics of Google maps it is easy to manipulate the API to fit the needs of the site. Embedding a Google map into your website is free. The Manitoba site likely needed a cartographer or graphic designer to create the map using expensive software like Adobe Illustrator, then require a programmer to make the map clickable and maintain the data. At the simplest level, a site like Ontario's on the other hand only needs one neogeographer, an Internet connection and website host to be functional.

I know it sounds like I have definitely drank too much of the Google juice but I am relieved to see that some standardization practices are developing. End users and programmers alike have developed some practices that are becoming more widely used and ease manipulation and navigation. Ontario Parks offers multiple avenues of searching for the park that most closely fits the needs of the visitor. They may not do it in the most straightforward way but the user can search for a park by name, location or service offered by the park. Google Maps offers the icing on the cake on this site (if you can find the small map link) with door to park driving directions. GIScientists see the geoweb as having infinite possibilities for storing and distributing data, however most users continue to use it to find out how to get from point A (their house) to point B (summer vacation destination).