Category Archives: News

EPA Map of California Tracks Pollution

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The California Environmental Protection Agency has released a statewide list of census tracts most burdened by pollution. Many of the worst pollution pockets identified are in the San Joaquin Valley, Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire.

The screening tool, called CalEnviroScreen, was developed by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, a branch of Cal/EPA, to pinpoint the communities with the highest exposure and vulnerability to multiple environmental hazards, including polluted air and water, waste facilities and contaminated soil.  The rankings, however, are not based only on measures of environmental exposure. They also take into account socioeconomic characteristics and health data on residents to assess the overall vulnerability of communities. Those factors include poverty, education, unemployment, rates of asthma and low-birth-weight infants.

You can read more about it in this LA Times article.

epapolutionapp

As a side note, I find the CalEPA app a little slow in Internet Explorer.  Google Chrome was a little faster.  They are using ArcGIS Online technology for their mapping.  If you do a search for “calenviroscreen” on ArcGIS.com, you will see a listing of their maps and apps for versions 1.1 and 2.0.

ArcGIS 10.2.2 Now Available

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ArcGIS 10.2.2 is now available for download from the Esri Customer Care website.  ArcGIS 10.2.2 is a minor incremental release focused on software fixes and quality.  Issues that have been fixed are listed here.

Also, if you use an Oracle geodatabase, there is a required patch you need to install with your 10.2.2 software.

Install guides: Desktop and Server (Windows or Linux).

Indian Ocean Images on Google Maps

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An eagle eyed reader pointed this out to me today.  If you look on Google Maps in the Indian Ocean, you will notice a patchwork of what appears to be recent satellite photos.

 

Thanks goes to Tim Harvey for pointing this out.

This might be related to the search of flight MH370, however I could not find any articles about it.  If any of you know, please reply to this post and give us all the details.

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.

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