In previous posts here, here and here I've mentioned different resources that can be useful in helping students understand scale. Joseph Kerski, ESRI's Education Curriculum Development Manager, recently posted to one of the GIS in higher ed listserves about some new web-based tools for teaching students about scale. One of the websites, Scale of the Universe (created by … [Read more...]
New data available on Pennsylvania forest patches
New data on Pennsylvania forest patches is available on Xanthus. The datasets were created by the Pennsylvania chapter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC). The forest patches were delineated using the new 2006 NLCD data (also available on Xanthus). The TNC defines forest patches as "contiguous areas of natural cover bound by any linear fragmenting feature (roads, railroads, … [Read more...]
More about scale: the true size of Africa
Here's another in a series (see here and here) of interesting maps that address scale. Created by Kai Krause, the map aims to show the true size of Africa by visualizing all of the countries and regions that could fit inside the continent - including the U.S., China, India, Japan and all of Europe. Krause calls the map "a small contribution in the fight against rampant … [Read more...]
How big is it really?
Back in December I posted about an NPR story about map scale. I got so excited about the baseball on the moon map that I neglected to point out the other really interesting link from the story - to the BBC Dimensions website. Dimensions (or, 'howbigisitreally') has a tool that lets you plug in any zip code or location and then choose from a list of events, places or things … [Read more...]
Baseball on the moon? Not such a giant leap.
Here's a link to an interesting NPR story about scale. It highlights a new map from Frank Jacobs (from the Strange Maps blog) that superimposes a map of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's 1969 moon walks onto a baseball field to better convey the scale involved. Jacobs' map is actually a re-make of a NASA map that superimposed the moon walk route onto a soccer field (see … [Read more...]