Oblate Spheroid

The San Diego State Geo Department has changed their KML page to include (among some other stuff) a geologic map symbol generator that should be useful to geologists distributing info in Google Earth.

Just finished a Cutting Edge workshop: Early Career Geoscience Faculty: Teaching, Research, and Managing Your Career. I found the workshop fascinating and extraordinarily useful. Of course, I suppose the final verdict really awaits the next round of NSF funding. In any case, I highly recommend the workshop to new faculty in the geosciences (loosely defined – there were ecologists, planetary scientists, chemists, meteorlogists…). The Cutting Edge series is an NSF-funded professional development program associated with Carleton College’s Science Education Resource Center.

As a follow-up to my post on the next-generation iPhone with a magnetometer… here’s the story of a this-generation iPhone used as an accelerometer in a model rocket. Way cool.

The iPhone Rocket: The Story and Data Of How An iPhone Hit 1300ft.

From Wired (boldface is mine):

Various blogs claim receiving tips from informed sources about features in the highly anticipated handset, such as a magnetometer (digital compass), a video camera and a speedier processor.

Sweet! I can’t wait for paleomagnetism to get in on the citizen science action (à la Quake Catcher Network).

Axis Maps has put together a KML-ready (and shapefile-ready) online map viewer that support several different map projections. Not very flexible in terms of symbols, but the projection ability makes this a nice tool to have in one’s teaching arsenal.

indieprojector.

Super cool annotated panorama of a cirque in the north Cascades. This kind of thing would be a great GigaPan project (see also: xrez), and would be fun to do with a class – say, physical geography. Print is available from the photographer for $84 plus shipping.

Nooksack Cirque Panorama by Greg Higgins.

I had to take this test as part of an Early Career workshop I’ll be participating in in June. I think I’m going to give this to my students next time I teach Physics I.

Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire.

An interesting map of Manhattan from Schulze and Webb – looks like some sort of inverse cylindrical projection. [Update 12:56 PM: On closer inspection, the buildings obey a different projection scheme than the ground!] In any case, it makes you think about the reasoning that goes into making maps, which is something I try to teach in physical geography. Thanks to Ethan for the tip.

Here & There — a horizonless projection in Manhattan.

It’s been a while since I updated my blogroll. Here are a few aditions of note:

• The Vigorous North. I’m not sure how to describe this blog. Urban geography? Portland, Mania? There’s much to see here that is either not exactly geographic, or not entirely related to Portland, ME… but is still totally fascinating.
• Radical Cartography. The great stuff here isn’t necessarily on the RSS feed – check out the “six atlases” under the “Projects” heading for North American Foodways (e.g. Gallons of Moonshine Produced per Square Mile, Tennessee, 1969-1970), meanders of the Mississippi River, and a statistical atlas of the 1870 census.
• All of My Faults Are Stress Related. Kim Hannula’s blog about teaching geology at a public, liberal arts college in Colorado. She does a great job documenting what we geoscience profs do all day.
• I’m collaborating with a group of folks including Kyle House of Geologic Frothings and Ron Schott of Ron Schott’s Geology Home Companion on the Digital Innovations sessions at GSA (see my post from 4/22).
• Teaching the Earth Sciences. The NAGT Far West Section has a blog. What about us up here in the Northwest?
• The Planetary Society Weblog. Emily Lakdawalla covers events around the solar system – and beyond – with a planetary scientist’s eye and a sense of humor. This is where I learned that there were actually Space Lawyers. Seriously.

[This is an announcement I'll be sending out shortly to a number of sites. I believe Kyle has posted it to his blog. I'm not sure whether Ron (blogs here and here and here) has done so yet. Pass it on!]

We are pleased to announce a pair of sessions at the 2009 GSA meeting in Portland, Oregon that should be of interest to those using digital technologies in geoscience research, education, and outreach. Descriptions of the Pardee keynote symposium and the related topical session are below.

Abstract submission for the topical session is now open. The submission deadline is August 11. We are looking particularly for case studies of geoscience or geoscience education projects advanced by the digital collaboration, visualization, and data dissemination tools outlined below. Research on the effectiveness of these technologies in geoscience education is also welcome.

P6. Google Earth to Geoblogs: Digital Innovations in the Geosciences, Sun., 18 Oct., 1:30–5 p.m.

Cosponsors: GSA Geoinformatics Division; GSA Geoscience Education Division; Google, Inc.; National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT)

Conveners: P. Kyle House, University of Nevada, Reno, Nev.; John Bailey, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska; Ronald C. Schott, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kans.; Mano Marks, Google Inc., Mountain View, Calif.; Glenn A. Richard, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y.; Peter A. Selkin, University of Washington, Tacoma, Wash.

Description: Digital technologies such as Web 2.0 services, virtual globes, and new applications of digital photography can enhance understanding of geology at all levels and across all disciplines. This session will highlight particularly novel and innovative applications of these technologies.

T160. Digital Innovations in Geoscience Research, Education, and Outreach.

Cosponsors: GSA Geoinformatics Division; GSA Geoscience Education Division; Google, Inc.; National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT); GSA Geology and Society Division

Conveners: Peter A. Selkin, University of Washington, Tacoma, Wash.; Glenn A. Richard, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y.; John Bailey, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska; P. Kyle House, University of Nevada, Reno, Nev.; Ronald C. Schott, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kans.; Mano Marks, Google Inc., Mountain View, Calif.;

Virtual globes, various means of online collaboration, and novel applications of digital images can significantly enhance geoscience research, education, and outreach. This session will highlight particularly innovative examples.