Category Archives: News

National Land Cover Database

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Just released, the latest edition of the nation’s most comprehensive look at land-surface conditions from coast to coast shows the extent of land cover types from forests to urban areas. The National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2011) is made available to the public by the U.S. Geological Survey and partners.

Dividing the lower 48 states into 9 billion geographic cells, the massive database provides consistent information about land conditions at regional to nationwide scales. Collected in repeated five-year cycles, NLCD data is used by resource managers and decision-makers to conduct ecosystem studies, determine spatial patterns of biodiversity, trace indications of climate change, and develop best practices in land management. Click below to check it out.

2014 NACIS Student Mapping Competitions

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The North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) recognizes the important contributions students make to our field. To recognize some of their hard work and achievements, we offer two fantastic student competitions each year at our annual conference (this year October 8–11 in Pittsburgh, PA). All students currently enrolled in a certificate program, undergraduate, or graduate/post-graduate program are eligible to enter, as long as they have not previously won top prize in either competition.

Student Dynamic Map Competition: The North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) recognizes the importance of dynamic mapping in cartography. We are sponsoring the 15th Annual Student Dynamic Map Competition to promote cartographic excellence and innovation in this versatile medium. A first prize of $500 will be awarded in each category. Deadline for submissions is September 12th. To view the rules and prizes, please visit http://nacis.org/index.cfm?x=4 .

Student Map and Poster Competition: Students who would like to display their works at NACIS 2014 should register for the Student Map and Poster Competition. We encourage all students to submit their maps and technical/research posters for a chance at a prize of $500! There is no entry fee. All entrants will be displayed in the Map Gallery, and the winner will be selected by a ballot of all meeting attendees. The deadline to register is September 12th, 2014. For more information, please visit http://nacis.org/index.cfm?x=18 .

Please take a moment to encourage your students to enter either of the above competitions. We look forward to seeing the diverse range of entries in Pittsburgh!

Travel Grants and Memberships: As an organization (and as former students ourselves), we’re aware that student budgets don’t often allow for extras like conference attendance or organizational memberships. Each year, NACIS offers up to 10 free memberships to undergraduate students, as well as offering a number of travel grants to students wishing to attend the annual conference. To find out more, please visit http://nacis.org/index.cfm?x=27 .

Thank you, and we hope to see you in Pittsburgh in October!

Martha Bostwick
NACIS Board of Directors
Chair – Awards and Travel Grants Committee
mlbostwick@mac.com

NASA-JAXA Global Rain and Snowfall Satellite

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NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have released the first images captured by their newest Earth-observing satellite, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, which launched into space Feb. 27.

The images show precipitation falling inside a March 10 cyclone over the northwest Pacific Ocean, approximately 1,000 miles east of Japan. The data were collected by the GPM Core Observatory’s two instruments: JAXA’s Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR), which imaged a three-dimensional cross-section of the storm; and, NASA’s GPM Microwave Imager (GMI), which observed precipitation across a broad swath.

The GMI instrument has 13 channels that measure natural energy radiated by Earth’s surface and also by precipitation itself. Liquid raindrops and ice particles affect the microwave energy differently, so each channel is sensitive to a different precipitation type. With the addition of four new channels, the GPM Core Observatory is the first spacecraft designed to detect light rain and snowfall from space.

In addition to seeing all types of rain, GMI’s technological advancements allow the instrument to identify rain structures as small as about 3 to 9 miles (5 to 15 kilometers) across. This higher resolution is a significant improvement over the capability of an earlier instrument flown on the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission in 1997.

Click image below for more info.

Resources of the National Geophysical Data Center

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A live training Webinar, “Resources of the National Geophysical Data Center,” will be offered on Wednesday, April 23, 2014.

Register today for “Resources of the National Geophysical Data Center.”

Start Time: 2 p.m. Eastern Time
Duration: 60 minutes
Speaker: Dan Kowal, Data Administrator at the National Geophysical Data Center
Summary: Dan will provide a background of one of NOAA’s three data archives that specializes in the scientific data stewardship of geophysical data that spans the surface of the sun to bottom of the seafloor. He will give an overview of the types of services available from the Data Center.
Learning Objectives: Participants will learn about the breadth of data disciplines covered by NGDC and the access tools available to query and retrieve data.

Registration is required. Space is limited on a first-come, first-served basis. Upon registering, an e-mail confirmation of registration will include instructions for joining the Webinar.

Registration confirmations for the Webinar will be sent from sqldba@icohere.com. To ensure delivery of registration confirmations, registrants should configure junk mail or spam filter(s) to permit messages from that email address.

FDLP News & Events is a service of the Federal Depository Library Program.

Google Announces JavaScript Maps API Support for GeoJSON

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GeoJSON has emerged as a popular format for sharing location-based information on the web, and the JavaScript Maps API is embracing this open standard. This means, as a developer, you can now pull raw data from multiple data sources, such as the US Geological Survey or Google Maps Engine and easily display it on your website with this bit of code:

map.data.loadGeoJSON(‘earthquakes.json’);

Visit Google’s blog to read more about it.

California Assembly Bill 1327

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From Scott Gregory, California State GIO:

As you may or may not know, AB1327 is a bill that could potentially impact the work that we do in regards to remote sensing and aerial imagery collection, etc… in the near future. See the link below for more detail. My office is in the process of providing the Legislature a summary analysis of the bill. In our analysis we want to highlight civilian use (non-public safety governmental) cases for UAV technology as a rebuttal to some of the limiting language in the bill.

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1327

If this bill will affect your organization’s future data collection needs, please provide me a brief summary to be incorporated into the analysis. Something like the follow would be appropriate:

Dept. of Water Resources
Levee Inspection
The use of civilian accessed UAV technology would greatly enhance our ability to assess the current conditions of the State’s levee system. This would enhance collection efforts saving time and money in the process because it is accomplished remotely without having to send staff and resources to the field for collection. This process would increase accuracy of surveys….

Basically, I would be looking for the organization name, use case and description of that use case. Please circulate to the user community within your respective organizations to solicit feedback. Please email or call if you have any questions. I would like to have these complied by 10am Friday (3/14/14). Thanks for your help.

Scott Gregory
Deputy Director
State Geographic Information Officer
California Department of Technology
Scott.Gregory@state.ca.gov
916.431.5449
10860 Gold Center Drive
Rancho Cordova, CA. 95670