Category: General GIS

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Bucknell/Local Interest Data Environment Events/Calendar General GIS GIS in Computer Science GIS in Engineering GIS in Environmental Studies GIS in Geology Miller Run Restoration Project Slideshow

Physics Dept coffee talk on using the Flying Bison drone to collect aerial imagery

Come hear Nick Urban, Computer Science ’12, talk about designing, building and flying the remote-controlled Flying Bison drone. Nick will be presenting on Monday, 9/26 at noon (Olin 364) as part of the Physics department’s coffee talk series.  He’ll have the plane with him and will be showing some new video that will be captured by the drone in test flights he’s conducting this week.

Below are links to some previous blog posts about Nick’s Flying Bison and the Miller Run Restoration project that the drone collected data for.

1. Article by Julia Ferrante from Bucknell Communications office

2. A short video about the Miller Run Restoration project and the Flying Bison

3. An overview of the Miller Run Restoration project, including the role of the Flying Bison in collecting high resolution aerial imagery.

4. Some background on the spring 2011 competition that Nick flew the Flying Bison

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Bucknell/Local Interest General GIS GIS in Geography Slideshow Videos

More web tools for helping students understand scale

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 Primaxstudio.com), features an interactive graphic that enables users to toggle a slider bar to zoom out from quantum to galactic scales while viewing where a variety of objects and measurements (quarks, bacteria, ostrich eggs, Redwood Trees, Marathon distance, planets, a light year)  fall along that spectrum.

Min                                                                                                   Mid

Max

Max

The other site, Cell Size and Scale (from the Genetics Science Learning Center at the University of Utah), uses the same slider bar device but starts with a 1 square millimeter cell size, a coffee bean and 12 pt Times font and then zooms in – passing an X chromosome, Baker’s yeast, hemoglobin and glucose on the way – until it eventually reaches the size of a carbon atom.

 

Joseph also shared a link to a movie he created, entitled “Why Scale Matters,” that illustrates concepts related to scale in geography:

httpv://youtu.be/blF0fXMCFZU

 

 

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Bucknell/Local Interest Events/Calendar General GIS

Deadlines for upcoming GIS paper, poster & scholarship competitions

Below is a list of upcoming deadlines for student GIS paper, poster & scholarship competitions. All of these deadlines are listed on the newly re-designed Bucknell GIS Calendar. The calendar also includes dates for upcoming GIS  conferences, meetings, presentations, workshops and course/lab sessions. If you have an event you’d like to list on the GIS calendar, please contact me at jlg046@bucknell.edu

September

There are two competition categories: narrative maps and interactive maps.

A narrative map presents information in a way that communicates a story, cause, or message.

An interactive map provides tools that may be used for navigation, location-based services, or exploratory geovisualization.

Each map will be judged by a panel of three professional cartographers. The winners will be announced (and demonstrated) during this year’s NACIS annual meeting in Madison, WI. The winners will also be announced in the following issue of Cartographic Perspectives.

Prizes
A first prize of $500 will be awarded to the best narrative map and best interactive map. At the discretion of the judges, additional noteworthy maps may receive an honorable mention award. All first place and honorable mention maps will receive award certificates.

 

All student posters submitted to the competition will be displayed at NACIS 2011. There is no entry fee. We appreciate advance registration so we can reserve display space for your poster. However, posters should be brought to the annual meeting or arranged to be shipped to the conference hotel (ATTN: NACIS POSTER SESSION) to arrive before Wednesday, October 12, 2011.

Prizes
There will be one winner which will be awarded $500. One runner-up will receive an honorable mention award.  NACIS meeting attendees will vote on entries and the winners will be announced at the conference. Other non-cash award honorable mentions may be given at the discretion of the Student Poster Competition Chair and the Poster Session Chair. All prize-winning and honorable mention posters will receive award certificates.

Poster/Map Gallery Session and Contest – We are accepting posters or map presentations for the 2011 NW PA GIS Conference. The deadline for a poster or map abstract is on Wednesday September 21st, 2011 by 3:00PM via Online Registration form or email (arodriguez@co.crawford.pa.us). The contest will be sponsored by ESRI and the winner will receive a set of the 3-volume GIS Tutorial Series from ESRI press.

All STUDENTS are urged to come and present a paper at the fall meeting.  The reduced rate for enrolled students is $30.00 before September 26th.   MSDAAG also encourages all graduate and undergraduate students to submit and present research papers to the Student Paper Competition. CASH PRIZES are awarded. Student status is as of May 1, 2011. Meeting fees are returned to students who both submit the completed paper in writing by the deadline and present the paper at the meeting.  Completed papers must follow the Middle States Geographerguidelines and can be no longer than 8 pages, single spaced, 10 point Times Roman or equivalent font. Further details on the guidelines are specified at the Middle States Division AAG web site at (http://geographyplanning.buffalostate.edu/msg_guidelines.html).  Entrants should submit abstracts not to exceed 250 words electronically while registering at:http://ku.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_eqGZYfI0H0TJHmc and send electronic copies of completed papers to John Dobosiewicz at jdobosie@kean.edu , MSDAAGStudent Paper Competition Chair, by September 26, 2011.

Presentations – Your presentation should describe the purpose, methods, and conclusions of your research. No one may submit or take part in more than one presentation. Presenters may give one, and only one, of the following presentations:

October

Geography Bowl – Departments, please enter you team by contacting Mark de Socio at Salisbury University

A processing fee of $25 will be charged for each abstract submitted payable upon submission of the abstract. The fee is non-refundable and will not be credited toward the cost of the presenter’s conference registration fee. Abstracts are being sought for oral presentations, panels and posters covering a wide range of topics. To be considered for placement in the program, please go to the link given below to connect to the abstract submittal form.ABSTRACTS MUST BE RECEIVED VIA THE WEB SITE ON OR BEFORE OCTOBER 3, 2011 .

Each of the Marble-Boyle Undergraduate Achievement Awards consists of a cash prize of $1,000, a $200 credit for books published by the ESRI Press and a certificate of recognition. ESRI has also agreed to provide priority consideration to any of the awardees who may be interested in participating in their Summer Intern Program.  All Marble-Boyle awardees will be eligible to compete for an additional research fellowship award that is being offered every two years by the MicroGIS Foundation for Spatial Analysis (MFSA). In addition to access to research facilities, the MFSA fellowship will cover all transportation and housing costs for up to four months of work with MFSA in Lausanne, Switzerland. Depending upon the time of year, there will also be an opportunity to audit courses at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) or, in summer, to receive specific training available from MFSA. For full details on the supplemental MFSA research fellowship award.

Presentation sessions – Posters and papers are welcome.  Abstracts should be sent to Martha Geores (mgeores@umd.edu) by OCTOBER 15. There will be a poster contest for students, with prizes.

 

November

Call for Presentations—Tell your GIS story and help shape this valuable event for Mid-Atlantic ArcGIS users.  Map Gallery—Share your work and knowledge. Submit your Map by November 4.

December

Synopsis of Program: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) Fellowships program, is offering Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) undergraduate fellowships for bachelor level students in environmental fields of study. The deadline for receipt of applications is December 12, 2011 4:00 PM ET for receipt of paper applications, and December 12, 2011, at 11:59:59 PM ET for submittal of electronic applications to Grants.gov. Subject to availability of funding, and other applicable considerations, the Agency plans to award approximately 40 new fellowships by July 30, 2012. Eligible students will receive support for their junior and senior years of undergraduate study and for an internship at an EPA facility during the summer of their junior year. The fellowship provides up to $19,700 per academic year of support and $9,500 of support for a three-month summer internship. Potential Funding per Fellowship: Up to a total of $48,900 over a two-year period. Fellows will receive support for their junior and senior years of undergraduate study and for a paid summer internship at an EPA facility between their junior and senior years.

Spring 2012

CARTOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SOCIETY (CaGIS)  – Student Map Design Competition – National Geographic provides a cash prize and atlases for this map competition that evaluates map design and how a map meets its design objectives. College students can submit maps that are on paper, disc, or online. The deadline is January 29, 2012.   2010-11 AWARD WINNERS: The Arthur Robinson prize for best printed map by a student, consisting of $600 and the National Geographic 9th Edition Atlas of the World, went to Adam Thom, Sir Sandford Fleming College for his map titled Sites and Recreation in Central California. View a sample of his work by clicking here external link icon.  Note: Previews of the winning maps can be viewed on the CaGIS website in the Awards section.   There were no submissions for the David Woodward award for best electronic map by a student. More information, application forms, and past winners are at theCaGIS website.

Undergraduate students and master’s-degree candidates are invited to apply for the National Geographic Award in Mapping. This award recognizes student achievement in the art, science, and technology of mapping and seeks to encourage student research. The first place award consists of a cash prize of $900 (U.S.) and the second place award is $300 (U.S.). Winners will also receiveNational Geographic atlases external link icon or other map products.
Submissions may take a variety of forms, but must focus specifically on maps and mapping. The following types of submissions are welcome: map products in digital and paper format; web-based maps or cartographic services; dynamic, animated, and/or interactive geovisualization environments; or other cartographic projects.

Click here for more info on map gallery guidelines

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Bucknell/Local Interest Data Environment General GIS GIS in Computer Science GIS in Engineering GIS in Environmental Studies GIS in Geology Miller Run Restoration Project Slideshow

Keystone Edge story about the Flying Bison

The online journal, Keystone Edge, recently picked up the story of Nick Urban and the Flying Bison drone.  Published by Issue Media Group, the Keystone Edge

… tells the story of the new economy in Pennsylvania–a narrative of creative people and businesses, new development, cool places to live, and the best places to work and play. Each Thursday, the Web site and weekly online magazine presents original stories, video and photography to tell that story, from Pittsburgh to Philly.

An excerpt from the story is included below. Check out the full story here.

Innovation & Job News – Bucknell student’s remote-controlled plane captures imagery to aid creek restoration – THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 01, 2011

Remote-controlled cars and airplanes were a hobby of Nick Urban’s when he was a boy. That interest remained as he pursued a computer science degree atBucknell University, where he spent this summer building a remote-controlled plane that’s being used to map the landscape around a creek that runs through Bucknell’s campus and into the Susquehanna River. The plane, dubbed the “Flying Bison,” was built of foam, includes Geographic Information System technology and can navigate predetermined paths on autopilot. Digital still and video cameras were attached to the plane so it could capture images of the Miller Run Creek as it flew around the waterway.

 

 

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Bucknell/Local Interest Data Environment General GIS GIS in Geography GIS in Psychology GIS in Public Health GIS in Sociology Slideshow

Williamsport and Lycoming County Asset Mapping

Guest post by Dan Ladd, Middlebury College ’14

One of the major projects the GIS team worked  on for much of the early part of the summer was mapping community assets in Williamsport and Lycoming County. This project was requested by Professors Ben Marsh (Geography) and Carl Milofsky (Sociology). Chad Lawlis (Environmental Studies ’11) and I worked on putting together the information for this project.

The project involved understanding regional community needs in public health, sustainability, social services, homelessness, etc. We explored how community needs like these match, or don’t match, the assets landscape that residents have access to. GIS gives a sophisticated way to understand this match at the scale at which people actuallyinteract with the world.

Much contemporary discourse about community development considers ‘sustainability’ to be ageneralized measure of the capacity of a community to replicate itself into the future. This broader idea of community sustainability describes residents as living in a series of ‘environments’ – a food environment and an activity environment support nutritional well-being, a housing environment affects homelessness, lead-paint risk, community activity, commuting costs and impacts, etc.

Data was collected on different Community Asset Classes (Churches, Healthcare providers, Food store, schools etc.). This information ranged from street address, contact information and a classification of what services each asset provided. These assets were then combined and mapped to give an idea of the spacial distribution of these assets.

 

Williamsport Community Assets

This project also serves as a template for future community asset data collection projects as the eventual goal is to expand this information to cover the Greater Central Susquehanna Valley. These proposed databases will serve as the foundation of a larger data project incorporating a ‘Community Platform’ that the university is contracting for from The Urban Institute and anascent regional ‘2-1-1’ social services phone line project.