GIS Sites

A New Year....

2009-01-04T18:40:00.000-08:00

If you are seeing this message than we have moved to our new site. Dave and Thomas want to thank everyone who has followed us to our new site at Dave and Thomas Daily Timekillers. It is there that we are gathering volunteers for our Hobo Army to combat boredom, slow work days, zombies, and listlessness. There you can get the latest pop culture news, movie trailers, television happenings, and funny videos. So head on over and we'll see you soon!

GIS Gives United States Postal Service a Crime-Fighting Edge

2008-11-08T22:04:00.000-08:00

Redlands, California—November 5, 2008—The United States Postal Service (USPS) Bank Service Act (BSA) Compliance Office is taking advantage of geographic information system (GIS) technology from ESRI to effectively detect suspicious activity, using sophisticated analysis and mapping to monitor millions of money order transactions across the United States. GIS maps show where suspicious activities may be occurring and link transactional data to reveal potential criminal patterns. Mapping and analysis also help USPS managers make sense of extensive transactional databases and millions of bits of data to ensure they comply with regulations. “There are a number of federal anti-money-laundering laws and regulations that directly impact the Postal Service as an issuer of money orders,” says Al Gillum, subject matter expert for the United States Postal Service BSA Compliance Office. “We have responsibilities to monitor transactions and identify potentially suspicious activity through postal money orders. We recognized GIS as a powerful tool to look at all our data. We can use it to bring data together, analyze it, and share it with others. We can then make decisions that are based on good intelligence.” ....more

GIS Pilot Template Updates

2008-07-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

I have begun updating, as you may have noticed, the template for GIS Pilot. The states are done up to Louisiana. The remaining states will be done over the next few days and by next Monday all will be new so be sure to update the bookmarks. Thanks for visiting!

Is water becoming ‘the new oil’?

2008-06-01T18:49:00.000-07:00

Public fountains are dry in Barcelona, Spain, a city so parched there’s a €9,000 ($13,000) fine if you’re caught watering your flowers. A tanker ship docked there this month carrying 5 million gallons of precious fresh water – and officials are scrambling to line up more such shipments to slake public thirst.

Barcelona is not alone. Cyprus will ferry water from Greece this summer. Australian cities are buying water from that nation’s farmers and building desalination plants. Thirsty China plans to divert Himalayan water. And 18 million southern Californians are bracing for their first water-rationing in years.

Water, Dow Chemical Chairman Andrew Liveris told the World Economic Forum in February, “is the oil of this century.” Developed nations have taken cheap, abundant fresh water largely for granted. Now global population growth, pollution, and climate change are shaping a new view of water as “blue gold.”

The World’s Fastest Growing Energy Source

2008-05-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

The World’s Fastest Growing Energy Source

Quietly, wind farms spread footprint in U.S

2008-05-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

At 265 feet tall, four gleaming white wind turbines tower over the tiny farm town of Rock Port, Missouri, like a landing of alien intruders.

But despite their imposing presence and the stark contrast with the rolling pastures and corn fields, the turbines have received a warm welcome here.

As Eric Chamberlain, who manages the wind farm for Wind Capital Group, eats lunch in a local restaurant, local people greet him with a "Hey Windy!" and many say they are happy to be using clean electricity.

"It doesn't pollute the environment, it provides tax revenue, creates jobs. I don't see a downside," said Chamberlain, who is something of a celebrity in this town of 1,400 people.

While growth in ethanol use as an alternative fuel has had a big impact on rural America, wind power has also been growing steadily for the past three years, with wind farms like this one springing up all over the windy expanse of the Great Plains and beyond.

While only 1 percent of U.S. electricity comes from wind, it is attracting so much support these days that many in the industry believe it is poised for a growth spurt. (...continue)

Fuel from Trash Will Power California Garbage Trucks

2008-05-08T14:49:00.000-07:00

300 garbage collection trucks in California will soon be fueled by the same trash that they haul. Landfill gas will be purified and liquefied, producing up to 13,000 gallons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) daily.

This facility at Waste Management’s Altamont Landfill in Livermore, California will begin operation in 2009. It comes with a price tag of $15.5 million, with grants providing $1.4 million.

Japans mysterious underwater Megaliths

2008-05-06T19:38:00.001-07:00

Japans mysterious underwater Megaliths

Airlines slow down flights to save on fuel

2008-05-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

Drivers have long known that slowing down on the highway means getting more miles to the gallon. Now airlines are trying it, too — adding a few minutes to flights to save millions on fuel.

Southwest Airlines started flying slower about two months ago, and projects it will save $42 million in fuel this year by extending each flight by one to three minutes.

Colossal Squid Revealed in First In-Depth Look

2008-05-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

A colossal squid floats in a tank at a museum in New Zealand on April 30, giving scientists their first close look at the rare and elusive sea creature.

The giant was caught by a fishing boat off the coast of Antarctica in February 20007. At 26 feet (8 meters) long, it is believed to be the largest squid ever captured.

Experts froze the animal, a female, soon after its capture to preserve it for study.

New Plastic Bags Biodegrade in Four Months

2008-04-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

On the heels of reporting about Canada's probable move to ban BPA plastics comes a story about researchers working at Missouri University of Science and Technology to develop hybrid plastics that would biodegrade in landfills within four months. As our editor Nicole Dyer pointed out in a comment to the BPA post, the larger and more important issue facing plastics is their propensity to stick around forever.

As we pointed out in our article about the waste gyre in the Pacific Ocean, plastics will eventually photodegrade into microscopic bits, but those polymer molecules will forever be inorganic toxins. The Missouri S&T scientists are working to change that by focusing their attention on a biodegradable polyester. (...more)

Food Riots and Waste

2008-04-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

An apple a day gets thrown away. In fact, 4.4 million apples get thrown away in the UK every day, the majority of which are still perfectly edible. This is according to information released this week by the UK government funded Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

Between the farm gate and my plate, half of the food produced is wasted. Enough from the UK alone to meet half the import needs of the entire African continent. A while back Japan gave a big food donation to Africa including $3 million of food to Burundi. We throw away 40 times more than that in a year. According to the University of Michigan (PDF), it takes 7 times more energy to get food to the average American stomach than it gives you. How much fossil fuels does it cost to get all the other stuff we’re used to eating? (...more)

Space Debris Illustrated: The Problem in Pictures

2008-04-11T17:43:00.000-07:00

Space junk, space debris, space waste — call it what you want, but just as junk and waste cause problems here on Earth, in space spent booster stages, nuts and bolts from ISS construction, various accidental discards such as spacesuit gloves and cameras, and fragments from exploded spacecraft could turn into a serious problem for the future of spaceflight if actions to mitigate the threat are not taken now.

Couple sues Google because their home is on Google Maps Street View

2008-04-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

A couple in Pennsylvania has decided to try to cash in on Google's wealth and sue the California-based company for putting images of the couples house online at Google Maps Street View. Since the images were taken from a public road I'm not sure they even have a case but it will be interesting to see how it develops.

A Pittsburgh couple has sued Google because photos of their house are now on Google Maps Street View. They allege that ever since the photos have appeared on Street View, the value of their property has plummeted. Property records indicate that the domicile was purchased for a cool $163,000, which, I’m pretty sure, wouldn’t buy a garbage can in any livable city in this country.

They want some $25,000 in damages from The Google. (source)

View from the 140th Floor of the Burj Dubai

2008-04-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

View from the 140th Floor of the Burj Dubai

Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole

2008-03-31T19:51:00.000-07:00

Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole

On board view of a Space Shuttle launch sequence

2008-03-29T18:29:00.001-07:00

On board view of a Space Shuttle launch sequence

Google Maps adds street view for 13 cities + 1 national park

2008-03-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

Google Maps has added 13 cities and 1 National Park to the already crowded layer of Street Views. Yosemite National Park in California gets the nod as the first 'non-city' element to be added to Street View. Nearby Nashville, Tennessee, was added but as you all know I'm still waiting on my Knoxville addition since I've seen them here twice in the last 3 months.

I'm hoping with the addition of National Parks to the mix we'll see the nearby Smoky Mountains added since it's the most visited park.

Google Maps Street View new cities:

Albuquerque, NM
Anchorage, AK
Austin, TX
Cleveland, OH
Fairbanks, AK
Little Rock, AR
Madison, WI
Nashville, TN
Rockford, IL
Richmond, VA
Spokane, WA
St. Petersburg, FL
Tampa, FL
and Yosemite National Park

Billionaire will dig tunnel linking Russia & US

2008-03-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has fuelled talk of a massive tunnel between Europe and America by forking out $160 MLN on the world’s largest drill. The 19-metre giant will be the first drill capable of boring a four-lane tunnel.

The project would link Russia’s far eastern Chutoka region, which Abramovich governs, with America’s Alaska.

The tunnel was first mooted by the Tsars and then in the 1990s, but both times it was dumped because of high costs.

Wilkins Ice Shelf

2008-03-25T17:21:00.000-07:00

The Wilkins ice shelf is about the size of Connecticut and breaking up. The ice is "hanging by a thread" from the Antarctic Peninsula because of global warming, the British Antarctic Survey said Tuesday.

Scientists say the size of the threatened shelf is about 5,571 square miles.

"We are in for a lot more events like this," said professor Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Scambos alerted the British Antarctic Survey after he noticed part of the Wilkins ice shelf disintegrating on February 28, when he was looking at NASA satellite images.

Late February marks the end of summer at the South Pole and is the time when such events are most likely, he said.

"The amazing thing was, we saw it within hours of it beginning, in between the morning and the afternoon pictures of that day," Scambos said of the large chunk that broke away on February 28.

The Wilkins ice shelf lost about 6 percent of its surface a decade ago, the British Antarctic Survey said in a statement on its Web site. (...more)

Abu Dhabi Begins Construction On "Green City"

2008-03-22T23:02:00.000-07:00

Abu Dhabi has started to build what it says is the world's first zero-carbon, zero-waste car-free city.

Masdar City will cost $22bn (£11.3bn), take eight years to build and be home to 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses.

The city will be mostly powered by solar energy and residents will move in travel pods running on magnetic tracks.

Abu Dhabi has one of the world's biggest per capita carbon footprints and sceptics fear Masdar may be just a fig leaf for the oil-rich Gulf emirate.

A53A Iceberg Splits Off

2008-03-16T23:18:00.000-07:00

Envisat captures the break up of the massive A53A iceberg located just east of the South Georgia Island (visible at image bottom) in the southern Atlantic Ocean.

A huge fissure was spotted running south to north through the berg on 1 March by C-CORE, the Canadian ice-tracking service, while studying satellite images collected from Envisat’s Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument using the Polar View monitoring programme.

The radar image indicated the berg was unstable and likely to split. Just days afterwards on 4 March, Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) sensor captured the break. Both bergs are estimated to measure around 30 km in length. As a reference, South Georgia Island is approximately 180-km long.

The break up of A53A, which calved off the Larsen Ice Shelf in late April 2005, occurred in relatively warm waters, making it highly likely that numerous smaller icebergs and ice islands will calve off the two icebergs. (...continue)

Google Maps

2008-03-16T23:13:00.001-07:00

Google Maps

Cotinine and Other Drugs Found in U.S. Drinking Water

2008-03-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

AP probe shows drugs coming through drinking water

(via) Traveling throughout the US? Forget worrying about where you'll find hormone and antibiotic-free milk. You've got a bigger problem if you drink water. Antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers, sex hormones - are now all available free in your drinking water. According to 5-month AP study, though the concentrations of these drugs seem to be miniscule, more than 41 million Americans are drinking questionable water.

The study uncovered pharmaceuticals in 24 major metropolitan areas from SoCal to Detroit, from New Jersey to Louisville. And the presence of so many prescription and over-the-counter medications have scientists wondering what the long term consequences to human health will be.

So, how is all this medication getting into the water supply?

You take a drug and it goes through your system like everything else you put in your mouth. Wastewater is treated before it's released into reservoirs and treated again at the drinking water treatment plants. Treatments may do a good job of cleaning the water, but they don't do so well at removing drug residue.

The AP national investigative team reviewed scientific reports, federal drinking water databases, visited study sites and treatment plants and interviewed officials, academics and scientists. Here are some areas where drugs were found in treated water:

Milwaukee, cotinine Philadelphia, 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts Southern California, anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety drugs in water that reaches 18.5 million people San Francisco, a sex hormone New Jersey, angina and mood-stabilizing drugs in the water supply of 850,000 people. Arizona, 3 medications (including an antibiotic)

Avalanche on Mars

2008-03-03T21:47:00.000-08:00

Avalanche on Mars!

Cameras orbiting Mars have taken thousands of images that have enabled scientists to put together pieces of Mars’ geologic history. However, most of them reveal landscapes that haven’t changed much in millions of years. Some images taken at different times of year do show seasonal changes from one image to the next; however, it is extremely rare to catch such a dramatic event like an avalanche in action.

Google Earth Showed Protesters Way To Conquer Parliament

2008-03-03T18:11:00.000-08:00

Demonstrators revealed yesterday that they had used Google Earth to plot their protest on the roof of the Houses of Parliament last week against the expansion of Heathrow.

The website, which allows users to zoom in on satellite photographs of Earth, “showed us all the walkways, steps and other details we needed to make our way across the roof from the door to the far side where the public could see us”, said Leo Murray, one of the five protesters.

The planning for the stunt began last autumn after the government published documents for a public consultation on a possible third runway at Heathrow.“What really enraged us was the government saying it supported the idea [of a third runway] even before the consultation began,” said Murray, 31, a postgraduate student in animation. “The consultation was also rigged to exclude almost any mention of climate change.”

Tamsin Omond, a 23-year-old with a first-class degree in English literature from Cambridge, described how they were able to map out the interior of the Palace of Westminster without raising suspicions. “We sent in a reconnaissance group who simply wandered around till they found the route to the roof ending in an open door. The fag butts around it showed it was being used by smokers,” she said.They managed to recruit a young Commons insider who, thanks to having a security pass, was able to carry the banners, handcuffs (bought from a Soho sex shop) and other equipment past the body scanners and X-ray machines that are supposed to protect the buildings. (...more)

Nation Of Andorra Not In Africa, Shocked U.S. State Dept. Reports

2008-03-02T12:15:00.000-08:00

Nation Of Andorra Not In Africa, Shocked U.S. State Dept. Reports

A Modern “Where’s Waldo” on a Google Maps

2008-03-01T22:58:00.000-08:00

Were you one of those kids that could sit in a corner with a giant “Where’s Waldo” book and pour over it for hours? Eventually you realized that Waldo was likely to appear in different areas on each page, and was always smiling (usually walking), and always wore that goofy outfit. And eventually the Waldo creators attempted to make the act of finding Waldo increasingly difficult by surrounding him with similarly clad geeks, and other tactics.

Nevertheless, the novelty wore off, and our kids are left with increasingly difficult video games that require years of logic and acts of deduction in order to achieve a winning status. But if you don’t mind still staring at a digital screen instead of paper, there’s a new geography game that’s a bit reminiscent of the Waldo books of yore. The new game is called placeSpotting, and it’s a Google Maps mashup.

Google Street View Maps Update

2008-02-28T07:51:00.000-08:00

The Google Street View Maps has updated with new cities this last month. I saw a few cities pop up in the middle of the month including Milwaukee, Wisconsin, while I did my weekly look for the Knoxville, Tennessee, layer of Google Street View Maps.

The Google Street View layer is starting to get crowded as they seem to add a handful each month. I found by mistake (after zooming out) that somewhere along the line they added Juneau, Alaska. Time to start looking for some moose.

Get ready to Google-ize your health records

2008-02-28T07:49:00.000-08:00

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt will detail the company's plans for Google-izing the health care industry at a health care trade show on Thursday morning, starting with a consumer destination site called Google Health.

Schmidt is scheduled to give the morning keynote speech at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2008 annual conference here and will outline Google's vision on tackling the next Internet frontier of medical data. The move, rumored for a few years, makes sense, given how much people use the Web to get health information and how much they spend on medicines and health care.

Google Map Builder: Good, but good enough?

2008-02-28T07:47:00.000-08:00

Being able to show people where things are on a map has become increasingly important as online mapping has improved. With the rise of services such as Google Maps and Microsoft Live Search Maps it has become relatively simple to send someone a map of a location and even directions on how to get there, which has increased the perceived value and has thereby increased the value of mapping and so on.

But setting up maps particularly complex ones for business use is still somewhat daunting. A new service has appeared that aims to simplify this task: Google Map Builder.

Guam Island Map

2008-02-22T23:51:00.000-08:00

Map of Guam (more Guam Maps)

(description via Wikipedia) Guam, officially the Territory of Guam, is an island in the Western Pacific Ocean and is an organized unincorporated territory of the United States. It is one of five U.S. territories with established civilian government.[1] The island's capital is Hagåtña (formerly Agana). Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands.

The Chamorros, Guam's indigenous inhabitants, first populated the island approximately 6,000 years ago. The island has a long history of European colonialism beginning in 1668 with the arrival of Spanish settlers including Padre San Vitores, a Spanish missionary. The island was captured from Spain by the United States during the Spanish American War in 1898. As the largest island in Micronesia and the only American-held island in the region before World War II, Guam was occupied by the Japanese between December 1941 and July 1944. Today, Guam's economy is mainly supported by tourism (primarily from Japan) and U.S. military bases.

Pick The Oscars, Win Justice League DVD

2008-02-21T14:20:00.001-08:00

A quick post to let you all know I'm giving away a copy of the new Justice League: The New Frontier DVD. We're having a contest on the Dave and Thomas site to pick the winners for this weekends Academy Awards. Pick from the list of Oscar Nominations and you could win.

Check out the details here and remember the deadline is Sunday, Feb. 24th.

Dubai's Mile-Long Super Bridge

2008-02-19T20:27:00.000-08:00

The construction crews in Dubai are getting set again to build a project like nothing else. The latest build centers around an enormous bridge that will connect parts of Dubai.

As if the Burg Dubai tower wasn't already taking the worldwide skyscraper race to new heights, this as-yet-unnamed span will be the world's largest arch bridge, with 2000 vehicles set to cross its 12 lanes—per hour, in each direction—when it's slated for completion in 2012.
At 670 ft. tall, Dubai's next super structure will stand higher than the George Washington Bridge (604 ft.) but fall short of San Francisco's existing Golden Gate Bridge (746 ft.). (source)

Timeline: US-Cuba relations

2008-02-19T01:19:00.000-08:00

Fidel Castro speaks

The US has long sought the end of President Fidel Castro's regime and has had an economic embargo in place against Cuba since 1960. BBC News tracks the rocky relationship between the two countries. (source)

1898: US declares war on Spain.

1898: US defeats Spain, which gives up all claims to Cuba and cedes it to the US.

1902: Cuba becomes independent with Tomas Estrada Palma as its president. But the Platt Amendment keeps the island under US protection and gives the US the right to intervene in Cuban affairs.

1906-09: Estrada resigns and the US occupies Cuba following a rebellion led by Jose Miguel Gomez.

1909: Jose Miguel Gomez becomes president following elections supervised by the US, but is soon tarred by corruption.

1912: US forces return to Cuba to help put down black protests against discrimination.

1933: Gerardo Machado overthrown in a coup led by Sergeant Fulgencio Batista

1934: The US abandons its right to intervene in Cuba's internal affairs, revises Cuba's sugar quota and changes tariffs to favour Cuba.

1953: Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful revolt against the Batista regime.

1956: Castro lands in eastern Cuba from Mexico and takes to the Sierra Maestra mountains where, aided by Ernesto "Che" Guevara, he wages a guerrilla war.

1958: The US withdraws military aid to Batista.

1959: Castro leads a 9,000-strong guerrilla army into Havana, forcing Batista to flee. Castro becomes prime minister

April 1959: Castro meets US Vice President Richard Nixon on an unofficial visit to Washington. Nixon afterwards wrote that the US had no choice but to try to "orient" the leftist leader in the "right direction".

1960: All US businesses in Cuba are nationalised without compensation; US breaks off diplomatic relations with Havana and imposes a trade embargo in response to Castro's reforms.

1961: US backs an abortive invasion by Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs; Castro proclaims Cuba a communist state and begins to ally it with the USSR.

1961: The CIA begins to make plans to assassinate Castro as part of Operation Mongoose. At least five plans to kill the Cuban leader were drawn up between 1961 and 1963.

1962: Cuban missile crisis ignites when, fearing a US invasion, Castro agrees to allow the USSR to deploy nuclear missiles on the island. The US released photos of Soviet nuclear missile silos in Cuba - triggering a crisis which took the two superpowers to the brink of nuclear war.

It was subsequently resolved when the USSR agreed to remove the missiles in return for the withdrawal of US nuclear missiles from Turkey.

1980: Around 125,000 Cubans, many of them released convicts, flee to the US, when Castro temporarily lifted restrictions.

1993: The US tightens its embargo on Cuba, which introduces some market reforms in order to stem the deterioration of its economy. These include the legalisation of the US dollar, the transformation of many state farms into semi-autonomous co-operatives, and the legalisation of limited individual private enterprise.

1994: Cuba signs an agreement with the US according to which the US agrees to admit 20,000 Cubans a year in return for Cuba halting the exodus of refugees.

1996: US trade embargo made permanent in response to Cuba's shooting down of two US aircraft operated by Miami-based Cuban exiles.

1998: The US eases restrictions on the sending of money to relatives by Cuban Americans.

November 1999: Cuban child Elian Gonzalez is picked up off the Florida coast after the boat in which his mother, stepfather and others had tried to escape to the US capsized. A huge campaign by Miami-based Cuban exiles begins with the aim of preventing Elian from rejoining his father in Cuba and of making him stay with relatives in Miami.

June 2000: Elian allowed to rejoin his father in Cuba after prolonged court battles.

October 2000: US House of Representatives approves the sale of food and medicines to Cuba.

November 2001: US exports food to Cuba for the first time in more than 40 years after a request from the Cuban Government to help it cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Michelle.

January 2002: Prisoners taken during US-led action in Afghanistan are flown into Guantanamo Bay for interrogation as al-Qaeda suspects.

May 2002: US Under Secretary of State John Bolton accuses Cuba of trying to develop biological weapons, adding the country to Washington's list of "axis of evil" countries.

May 2002: Former US President Jimmy Carter makes landmark goodwill visit which includes tour of scientific centres, in response to US allegations about biological weapons. Carter is first former or serving US president to visit Cuba since 1959 revolution.

September 2002: The Cuban Government is particularly exercised by the actions of James Cason, the head of the US Interest Section in Havana, who is increasingly active in support of the internal opposition.

October 2003: US President George Bush announces fresh measures designed to hasten the end of communist rule in Cuba, including tightening a travel embargo to the island, cracking down on illegal cash transfers, and a more robust information campaign aimed at Cuba. A new body, the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, is created.

October 2004: President Castro announces a ban on transactions in US dollars, and imposes 10% tax on dollar-peso conversions.

July 2005: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announces the creation of a new post to help "accelerate the demise" of the Castro regime in Cuba. Caleb McCarry, a veteran Republican Party activist, is appointed as the Cuba transition co-ordinator.

February 2006: A propaganda war breaks out in Havana as President Castro unveils a monument which blocks the view of illuminated messages - some of them about human rights - displayed on the US mission building.

July 2006: The US Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba recommends an $80m fund to support Cuba's opposition and the deployment of US aid once a transitional government is in place.

August 2006: US President George W Bush - in his first comments after President Castrol undergoes surgery and hands over power to his brother Raul - urges Cubans to work for democratic change.

December 2006: The largest delegation from the US Congress to visit Cuba since the 1959 revolution goes to Havana. Jeff Flake, a Republican congressman heading the 10-member bipartisan delegation, said he wanted to launch a "new era in US-Cuba relations", but the group is denied a meeting with Raul Castro.

July 2007: Cuba accuses the US of issuing far fewer visas to Cubans wanting to leave than allowed for under an agreement between the two nations. A deal reached in 1994 allows Washington to grant up to 20,000 entry visas a year for Cubans.

July 2007: Acting leader Raul Castro again indicates he may be open to a warming of relations with the US. He offers to engage in talks, but only after the 2008 US presidential election.

Cuba: Country Profile and Maps

2008-02-19T01:01:00.000-08:00

Map of Central America and Caribbean Islands. Cuba lies Northeast of Mexico and directly south of Florida.

Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, 144km (90 miles) from the shores of the United States. It was home to the Taino and Ciboney peoples before they were wiped out following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 and the ensuing Spanish Conquest.

The island became an important asset for Spain, which brought in African slaves to work the coffee and sugar plantations.

Map of Cuba

A series of strongmen held power in the years that followed independence in 1902, including two-time coup leader Fulgencio Batista.

Batista fled Cuba after an insurgency by nationalist rebels, including Fidel Castro, took Havana on 1 January 1959. Castro went on to become president in a single-party state.

Relations with the US have been openly antagonistic, with crises ranging from the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the 1962 Cuban missile crisis to the 2000 custody battle over five-year-old refugee Elian Gonzalez.

Guantanamo Bay Map

On February 19, 2008, Cuban President Fidel Castro announced he would retire from his post and not seek re-election. Cuba has survived more than 40 years of US sanctions intended to topple the government of Fidel Castro. It also defied predictions that it would not survive the collapse of its one-time supporter, the Soviet Union.

More Cuba Maps >

Angry Cuttlefish

2008-02-18T00:06:00.000-08:00

Shot at Disney Epcot Center. Cuttlefish are very visually-oriented sea creatures. I showed one his image in my camcorder's flip-out screen - and got him very upset.

Man's effect on world's oceans revealed

2008-02-15T10:13:00.000-08:00

Almost half of the world's oceans have been seriously affected by over-fishing, pollution and climate change, according to a major study of man's impact on marine life.

An international team of 19 scientists have published the first ever comprehensive map showing the combined impact of human activity on the planet's seas and oceans.t shows that more than 40 per cent of marine regions have been significantly altered, while just four per cent remains in a pristine state.

Previous studies have largely focused on the impacts of specific activities such as pesticide runoff or fishing, or have looked at damage in certain areas.

The North Sea is one of the most heavily affected regions, along with the South and East China Seas, the Caribbean, the east coast of North America, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. The least affected areas are near the poles. (....more)

Dubai - The Palm Islands Photos

2008-02-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

The Palm islands in Dubai

The Palm Islands are artificial islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on which major commercial and residential infrastructure will be constructed. The islands are the largest land reclamation projects in the world and will result in the world’s largest artificial islands.

The islands were commissioned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in order to increase Dubai's tourism. Each settlement will be in the shape of a palm tree, topped with a crescent, and will have a large number of residential, leisure and entertainment centers. The Palm Islands are located off the coast of The United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf and will add 520 km of beaches to the city of Dubai.

Mother Stunned To Find Daughter On Google

2008-02-09T23:11:00.000-08:00

A Garden City mom was surprised and outraged to find pictures of her children on a Google Map Search Internet page.

"I have rules when my daughters are on the Internet," said Toni Rizkallah of Garden City. "They don't give their address, their names, no personal information."

Rizkallah said she and her daughters discovered the pictures when the children decided to "Google their address." To the girls' surprise, and Rizkallah's dismay, the search turned up a virtual tour of their neighborhood, which includes a picture of the girls, in bathing suits, in their backyard swimming pool. (source)

Right Brain vs Left Brain

2008-02-09T23:09:00.000-08:00

To reduce the severity of his seizures, Joe had the bridge between his left and right cerebral hemisphers (the corpus callosum) severed. As a result, his left and right brains no longer communicate through that pathway. Here's what happens as a result.

Huge 6-Gilled Shark Found 1000m Underwater

2008-02-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

This six-gill shark (Hexanchus) was filmed during a submersible dive off the northeast coast of Molokai at a depth of 1000m (3280ft). The 2 red laser dots are 6 inches apart, resulting in a length of about 18 ft for the shark.

Great ecstatic live commentary by University of Hawaii Oceanography Professor Jeff Drazen!

RARE MASSIVE 6-GILL SHARK SIGHTING AT 3300 FT DEPTH!!

Map of Popularity of SIRIUS in Each State

2008-02-07T22:14:00.000-08:00

Map of Sirius Radio subscribers

A group has created a new interactive map showing the popularity of satellite radio company Sirius. Each state has a breakdown based on the sales of this particular company and they are not the actual figures set out by Sirius. However, it does show a nice cross section of the popularity of Sirius by the population of the U.S. (source)

Satellite Spotters Glimpse Secrets, and Tell Them

2008-02-05T19:02:00.000-08:00

When the government announced last month that a top-secret spy satellite would, in the next few months, come falling out of the sky, American officials said there was little risk to people because satellites fall out of orbit fairly frequently and much of the planet is covered by oceans.

But they said precious little about the satellite itself. Such information came instead from Ted Molczan, a hobbyist who tracks satellites from his apartment balcony in Toronto, and fellow satellite spotters around the world. They have grudgingly become accustomed to being seen as “propeller-headed geeks” who “poke their finger in the eye” of the government’s satellite spymasters, Mr. Molczan said, taking no offense. “I have a sense of humor,” he said.

In the case of the mysterious satellite that is about to plunge back to earth, Mr. Molczan had an early sense of which one it was, identifying it as USA-193, which gave out shortly after reaching space in December 2006. It is said to have been built by the Lockheed Martin Corporation and operated by the secretive National Reconnaissance Office. (...more)

The Recycling Myth

2008-02-05T18:53:00.000-08:00

So what do you do with your waste? Most homes have a number of trash bins for different kinds of trash: batteries in one; biodegradables in one; wood in one; colored glass in one, other glass in another; aluminum in one, other metals in another; newspapers in one, hard paper in another, and paper that doesn't fit these two categories in a third; and plastic of all sorts in another collection of bins. The materials generally have to be cleaned before thrown away — milk cartons with milk in them cannot be recycled just as metal cans cannot have too much of the paper labels left.

The people of Sweden are thus forced to clean their trash before carefully separating different kinds of materials. This is the future, they say, and it is supposedly good for the environment.

But it doesn't end with the extra work at home and the extra space in each and every kitchen occupied by a variety of trash bins. What do you do with the trash that isn't collected? The garbage collection service (which nowadays doesn't offer collection too often, usually biweekly or monthly, even though the rates mysteriously seem to be much higher than before) only accepts certain types of garbage, generally only biodegradable food leftovers. But do not worry; it is all taken care of. (...more)

Garmin: Napoleon Super Bowl XLII Ad

2008-02-04T20:03:00.000-08:00

Garmin returns to the Super Bowl Ads with another round of commercials advertising their popular GPS systems. They seem to have hit a hot streak last year and followed up this year with a nod to the ever short Napolean. Seems the little guy can't see over his steering wheel but thanks to a Garmin GPS he knows how to get to the battlefield.

Garmin Nuvi Super Bowl Commercial: Napolean Finds His Way w/ GPS Add to My Profile | More Videos

Super Bowl XLII Interactive Map

2008-02-02T21:52:00.000-08:00

The NFL has created an interactive map of the Super Bowl for fans and visitors. This years site is at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, featuring the new stadium with retractable roof and field.

The map features the events going on around the stadium as well as a close-up map of the stadium and field itself.

Sea captains' logbooks reveal secrets of New England's Overfishing

2008-02-02T19:26:00.000-08:00

Researcher Bill Leavenworth collects logs from the mid-1800s, which offer clues about yesterday's – and today's – cod stocks. In the yellowing pages of these surviving logbooks lie the secrets of the ocean fisheries' past – and perhaps lessons for its troubled present.

The books contain daily entries on the vessels' movements, the weather, unusual occurrences, and careful tallies of the number of fish caught by each man aboard. The numbers and words have yielded some bracing revelations about just how many cod there once were in New England and the Canadian Maritimes. (...more)

10 things we didn't know last week

2008-01-31T21:13:00.000-08:00

Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience.

For example: Using a mobile before bedtime can delay you getting to sleep.

More details

The Bible According to Google Earth

2008-01-29T12:06:00.000-08:00

The Crucifixion

(via Mental Floss) Here’s a cool idea realized: a Sydney, Australia-based art collective called The Glue Society has re-created scenes from the Bible as if captured by Google Earth’s ubiquitous satellites. Says Glue Society’s James Dive: “We like to disorientate audiences a little with all our work. And with this piece we felt technology now allows events which may or may not have happened to be visualized and made to appear dramatically real. As a method of representation satellite photography is so trusted, it has been interesting to mess with that trust.” Let’s see what they created!

The Garden of Eden

Noah and That Large Boat of His

Parting of the Red Sea

Through Panama Canal In 75 Seconds

2008-01-29T11:55:00.000-08:00

This amazing timelapse video shows a chemical tanker transiting the Panama Canal in 75 seconds. Through Panama Canal In 75 Seconds - For more funny movies, click here Through Panama Canal In 75 Seconds

Evolution In 5 Minutes

2008-01-29T11:06:00.000-08:00

This video shows you how animals evolved over the years.

US spy satellite out of control, could plummet to Earth

2008-01-27T02:48:00.000-08:00

A "large" US spy satellite has gone out of control and is expected to crash to Earth some time in late February or March, government sources say.

Officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the satellite had lost power and propulsion, and could contain hazardous materials.

The satellite contains the rocket fuel hydrazine, a government official told AP on condition of anonymity.

A colourless liquid with an ammonia-like odour, the fuel is a toxic chemical and can cause harm to anyone who comes in contact with it.

John Pike, director of the defense research group GlobalSecurity.org, said an uncontrolled re-entry could risk exposure of US secrets.

Spy satellites typically are disposed of through a controlled re-entry into the ocean so that no one else can access the spacecraft, he was quoted by AP as saying.

Satellite could plummet to Earth >

First U.S City To Be Lit With 100% LEDs: Ann Arbor

2008-01-27T02:46:00.000-08:00

Ann Arbor is on its way to being the first U.S. city to light up its downtown with 100% LED-based streetlights. The city expects to install more than 1,000 LED streetlights beginning next month. The city anticipates a 3.8-year payback on its initial investment.The LED lights typically burn five times longer than the bulbs they replace and require less than half the energy. (source)

Elephants Evolve Smaller Tusks Due to Poaching

2008-01-22T01:36:00.000-08:00

It appears that in at least one case, however, evolution is occurring at what seems like jet speed. In the last 150 years, the world’s elephant population has evolved much smaller tusks.

The average size of an African elephant’s tusks has gone down by half in the last century and a half. Indian elephants have undergone a similar tusk size reduction.

Experts believe the rapid evolution of the massive land mammals is due to poaching. Zoologists from Oxford University suggest that ivory poachers, who go for the largest males with the largest tusks, have caused the breeding behaviors of the animals to change rapidly in a short time.

The largest male African elephants have the largest tusks. These tusks are extremely important in elephant behavior, with the largest tusks usually resulting in more successful intimidation of smaller males or winning fights for female elephants. But when the largest animals are killed, it changes the breeding patterns of the animals. In short, without the largest males for competition, the smaller males with their smaller tusks will breed more successfully, and their offspring will have smaller tusks.

Elephants Evolve Smaller Tusks Due to Poaching >

Beautiful Blue Ice

2008-01-22T01:33:00.000-08:00

Annette and Jon were touring in Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile, Southern Patagonia when they found an amazing site. A Blue Ice glacier.Here's the story in their own words: "When viewing the terminal face of a glacier, typically you only see 10% of the glacier on the surface. Calving, a natural occurrence where the glacier loses ice from its' terminus, results in large free-floating chunks of ice. This particular ice had broken off from the glacier the evening before from underwater / lower portion of the glacier.

"Witnesses heard a cracking and a loud "boom," and then the ice surfaced. We understand ice this large breaks off from under the glacier approximately once a year and we were fortunate to be able to photograph it. The ice is a very deep blue as it is deprived of oxygen. Within 24 hours it will be white as the typical floating ice pieces."

Beautiful Deep Blue Ice >

Web-Based Mapping Tools Help Governments Transform GIS into New Services

2008-01-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

Not so long ago, only a select group of users could take advantage of GIS tools and applications. The general public barely knew what GIS was, let alone knew how to use it. Today, the Web allows GIS data to be distributed via ever-evolving avenues, from the practical - traditional GIS services made available online - to imaginative applications like Google Sky, a Web-based, 3-D map of the universe.

Citizens, businesses and governments are finding new ways to reap the benefits of this revolution in how location data is understood and depicted. Data once found exclusively in GIS circles is appearing in common, everyday tools.

Some people wonder if these emerging applications should be considered GIS at all. Has the combination of location data and the Internet created something altogether new? How can government use new mapping tools to not only enhance citizen service, but also improve internal efficiency? And how do traditional GIS applications match up against the new kids on the block? These are just a few of the questions that have arisen in what may well be the golden age of GIS. (...continue)

Kite-powered ship sets sail for greener future

2008-01-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

A cargo ship pulled by a giant, parachute-shaped kite will leave Germany on Tuesday on a voyage that could herald a new "green" age of commercial sailing on the high seas.

The owners of the MS Beluga, a 462ft cargo vessel, will try to prove that modern steel ships can harness wind power and reduce their reliance on diesel engines.

During the journey from Bremen to Venezuela, the crew will deploy a SkySail, a 160 square metre kite which will fly more than 600ft above the vessel, where winds are stronger and more consistent than at sea level.

Its inventor, Stephan Wrage, a 34-year-old German engineer, claims the kite will significantly reduce carbon emissions, cutting diesel consumption by up to 20 per cent and saving £800 a day in fuel costs. He believes an even bigger kite, up to 5,000 square metres, could result in fuel savings of up to 35 per cent. (...continue)

Newfoundland Frozen Waves

2008-01-20T12:56:00.000-08:00

This strange weather phenomenon happened in Newfoundland where the waves were actually frozen as they crashed on the beach. This strange weather phenomenon happened in Newfoundland where the waves were actually frozen as they crashed on the beach. Wouldn't want to go surfing that day.

Arctic Ice All Gone By 2012?

2008-01-10T21:16:00.000-08:00

An already relentless melting of the Arctic greatly accelerated this summer, a warning sign that some scientists worry could mean global warming has passed an ominous tipping point. One even speculated that summer sea ice would be gone in five years.

Greenland's ice sheet melted nearly 19 billion tons more than the previous high mark, and the volume of Arctic sea ice at summer's end was half what it was just four years earlier, according to new NASA satellite data obtained by The Associated Press.

This week, after reviewing his own new data, NASA climate scientist Jay Zwally said: "At this rate, the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012, much faster than previous predictions."

Ominous Arctic Melt Worries Experts >

6.4 quake strikes off the coast of Oregon

2008-01-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the central Oregon coast at 8:37 p.m. EST on Wednesday (0137 GMT Thursday), the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The temblor was located 151 miles (243 km) west-northwest of Barview, Oregon, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 km), the USGS said. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no current warning or advisory was in effect following the quake.

Lanny Boston, the fire chief in Bandon, Oregon, also 151 miles from the site of the quake off the Oregon coast, said he had not felt the quake and had received no reports of damage.

Chile's Llaima volcano erupts Jan 01/08

2008-01-04T10:39:00.000-08:00

(Raw video)January 01/08...The Llaima volcano in southern Chile erupted, sending up a huge plume of smoke and coating the surrounding wilderness park with ash, forcing the evacuation of dozens of tourists, emergency officials said.

There were no reports of damages or injuries.

The volcano is in the Araucania region in southern Chile, inside Conguillio National Park and about 82 km from the city of Temuco.

Local television images showed a column of dark smoke visible from many miles away.

Before the eruption, people in the towns closest to the volcano said they heard loud noises underground.

"We've ordered the evacuation of more than 100 tourists that were in the Conguillio reserve, where a lot of ash has fallen, Carmen Fernandez, director of Chile's National Emergency Office, told reporters.

The emergency office said the volcano began erupting at 18:20 pm and that lava was flowing down the eastern side of the mountain.

An official at the emergency office said it was still unclear whether the eruption would be brief or sustained.

The 3,125-meter Llaima volcano, one of Chile's most active, has frequent moderate eruptions.

Mapping Slavery in America

2008-01-01T20:57:00.000-08:00

Edwin Hergesheimer’s map of Southern slavery was printed in September of 1861 and sold to raise money for sick and wounded Union soldiers. It identified the percentage of the population enslaved in each county, and the total number of slaves—four million, up from 700,000 in 1790—was a figure that could not have gone unnoticed by Americans living through such violent upheaval. By using this relatively new “choropleth” technique of shading, Hergesheimer showed Americans their country through the lens of slavery.

The “slave map” was of particular interest to President Abraham Lincoln, as illustrated in a painting by Francis Bichnell Carpenter, First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln. The artist spent six months living at the White House in order to complete this work, and in that time repeatedly observed Lincoln studying the map.

To master the detail on the map for his painting, Carpenter surreptitiously borrowed it; and when the president visited the artist in his White House studio a few days later he remarked, “You have appropriated my map, have you? I have been looking all around for it.” According to Carpenter, Lincoln was once again instantly absorbed by the map and used it to trace the recent progress of Union troops through Virginia.

It gave Lincoln happy news, for the areas conquered by the Union just that week were densely populated with slaves. Thus Hergesheimer’s map appears in the corner of Carpenter’s painting, a detail as meticulously chosen as the artist’s arrangement of Lincoln’s cabinet: those sympathetic to emancipation appear on the president’s right, while the more conservative members are placed at his left.

The map also appealed to Carpenter for its elegant organization of information. By just a glance, one could see the proportion of blacks to whites in the Southern states, which made it impossible to deny that slavery was at the heart of the rebellion. (source)

Super Hi-Res Satellite Image Of The Palm Island

2007-12-29T19:37:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a nice, hi-res satellite image of The Palm islands as they were being constructed. Click on the picture above to view the exquisite detail of the photo. You can see the individual ships as they spray sand to build up the islands. The man-made islands of Dubai are starting to fill out. Some of the projects are even having people move in already. It will still be years before all the projects will be complete but the one that started it all, The Palm, is near completion. The Palm revitalized this small nation in the Middle East as the government has put billions (if not trillions) of $'s into building up the area. If you would like to catch up on all the construction in Dubai check out the links below. To give you an idea, about 1/4 of all construction cranes are located in Dubai right now.

Google Maps Terrain Layer

2007-12-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

I was playing around with the post below about the black bar in Alaska when I noticed that Google Maps has added their terrain layer. This terrain layer is highly detailed and a rather pleasant addition to the already superior Google Maps. If you zoom out far enough on Yahoo! Maps you'll see a small attempt by them to incorporate a terrain layer. However, once you zoom in it shifts out of that style.

I Wonder What's Hiding Here...

2007-12-29T19:07:00.000-08:00

Google Maps has an odd black bar on the Alaska/Canada border that has caught my attention. Is it just not mapped? Censured? Electricians tape?

Google Maps Street View Expands Again

2007-12-11T15:04:00.000-08:00

Fabulous Detroit!

Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Fort Worth, Boston, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Providence have their cities added to the Google Maps Street View. It's only a matter of time before Knoxville, TN, gets added as I found out I wasn't the only one that saw the mapper here. (see:Google Maps Street View Hits Knoxville, Pictures of Chevy Cobalt) All I can say is that they could've left Detroit to the last of the updates. That's one of the ugliest cities in North America.

Google Maps Street View >

NHL Goes Green

2007-12-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

(via NHL.com) Everybody seems to be going green these days and the NHL Players' Association is asking its members to jump on the bandwagon.

The David Suzuki Foundation and the union announced plans Friday for a partnership that asks players to become more eco-friendly, both at home through their personal choices and in their professional lives through the NHLPA Carbon Neutral Challenge.

The latter initiative involves players purchasing clean-air credits to compensate for the extra carbon produced by their extensive travels - a concept known as carbon offsets. All the money they raise will help fund three clean-air projects around the world through Montreal-based not-for-profit Planetair.

Over 350 players - including everyone on the Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars - have already signed up to contribute $290 annually and hundreds more are expected to join in the coming weeks. The amount is based on a clean-air credit cost of $29 per ton and research that says each NHL player contributes 10 tons of carbon emissions per season.

While the dollar-amount may be small, the world-renowned Suzuki believes the impact of having hockey players involved is immeasurable.

"Environmentalists would kill to get this type of attention," he joked as he pointed to a line of cameras. "Let's face it, an old crusty guy like me, an environmentalist, who the hell is going to listen to me? But these guys connect directly with our youth and it's all about the future."

Canadian Olympic skier Thomas Grandi, who along with wife Sara Renner, an Olympic silver medallist in cross-country skiing, hooked up with Suzuki back in December 2006.

Grandi calculated how much extra carbon he produces while traveling with the Canadian ski team and bought $535 worth of clean air credits to make up for it. He also donated half his prize winnings that season to Suzuki's foundation.

They also urged fellow winter athletes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their daily living, getting the entire Canadian ski team on board.

"There it was obvious because they know meets are being canceled now in Europe because of a lack of snow. They can see the impact," said Suzuki. "The hockey players are a natural it seems to me, but we have to talk about branching out to the other sports."

Andrew Ference, then of the Calgary Flames, started by getting seven of his Flames teammates to sign up.

"If amateur athletes can do it, than we better," he said. "It really is a small amount to contribute but it's the power that message contributes, getting the idea in these players heads about doing the right thing."

Social consciousness comes naturally to Ference, who is also an athlete ambassador for Right to Play, an international charitable organization that uses sport to improve the lives of children and communities affected by war, poverty and disease.

Gas-guzzling SUVs are a common vehicle of choice for professional athletes, hockey players included. Awareness about the issues related to global warming and of the alternatives that are out there are key in the fight.

For instance, Ference got ribbed by his Calgary teammates for driving a hybrid last season, but a handful of players ended up following his lead. Same goes for the Bruins, who had fun with him for riding a bike to the rink until captain Zdeno Chara and others joined in.

"It's introducing guys to things they might not have known about," said Ference. "In Calgary for example, it was call the power companies and switch to wind and guys were like, 'Oh, you can do that?' Six or seven guys picked up the phone and switched to wind. People in general want to do the right thing, as long as someone can show them the way, they're all for it.

"Hockey players aren't different than anybody else."

Their contributions to the carbon challenge will go towards a bio-mass outfit in India, a micro-hydro system in Indonesia and a wind-farm in Madagascar.

Google Maps Street View Hits Knoxville, Pictures of Chevy Cobalt

2007-11-28T14:05:00.000-08:00

Before the Thanksgiving weekend I was running around Knoxville, TN, doing some shopping when I ran into the familiar Google Chevy Cobalt. The Cobalt fleet was commissioned by Google to run around the country and map out parts of the U.S. for the popular Google Maps Street View.

The Google Maps Street View car looks like it was fixed up by one of our Shadetree mechanics here in the South. A wooden mount sits in the passenger seat that hold the monitor for the driver. The cameras are mounted on a metal rig on the roof held down by straps. The wires run through the window and into the back seat of the car, which is folded down, and then into the trunk where the data is stored.

The straps on top hold the camera rig down. You can make out the monitor in the passenger seat. The straps hold down the rigging with the GPS unit mounted on the rear of the structure. The cables from the roof run into the back seat which is folded down and into the trunk. The rear GPS system on the "high-tech" mounting rig. Another view of the cables running into the trunk. The Dell Monitor strapped to a cut fence post. Seriously, it's strapped to a 4x4 chunk of wood. The Google Maps Street View Chevy Cobalt from rear.

Google Earth Heading Towards Extinction?

2007-11-28T13:30:00.000-08:00

Google has announced two new features for Google Maps that mimic features in Google Earth, begging the question: is Google Earth on borrowed time?

The first new feature is the additional of terrain in Google Maps. The terrain fly over feature has long been available in Google Earth, but now you can fly over a map and see the contours of the land, all without the need to download Google Earth.

The second new feature mimics the community contribution feature of Google Earth. "Our Maps" brings wiki-style collaboration to Google Maps, with users able to annotate places and share those notes with friends or the greater public.

Google Earth Heading Towards Extinction? >

Beijing's Environmental Challenge

2007-11-23T14:35:00.000-08:00

With the 2008 Olympics coming up in Beijing, there's a lot of talk about air quality and traffic in the capital of China. One thousand new cars go on the road in Beijing every day, joining the three to four million cars that are already jamming the streets and threatening public health. Breath the air in Beijing and you're breathing the world's highest levels of lung-damaging nitrous oxide, according to a recent study. As well las a lot of particulates.

So China is facing a big challenge: how to move people without choking them.

Beijing's Environmental Challenge >

Giant Sea Scorpion Fossil Found

2007-11-21T09:06:00.000-08:00

A giant fossilized claw discovered in Germany belonged to an ancient sea scorpion that was much bigger than the average man, an international team of geologists and archaeologists reported Tuesday.

The 46-centimetre-long claw was discovered by report co-author Markus Poschmann, from Germany, in a quarry near Pruem, a city about 200 kilometres east of Frankfurt.

The researchers said the scorpion lived between 460 and 255 million years ago and would have been among the top predators in its environment, feeding on early vertebrates and smaller arthropods. The report said the creature likely only lived in the water because with the construction of its body, "it is hardly imaginable how such a huge arthropod could effectively walk on land."

Giant Sea Scorpion Fossil Found >

Black Friday Sale - Magellan Maestro 4000 GPS

2007-11-21T08:52:00.000-08:00

GPS fans looking for a new toy for the holidays can hopefully grab the Magellan Maestro 4000 which is expected to drop $100 on Black Friday sales, the after Thanksgiving sale. Also reported to have huge price drops will be the Mio C220 and the Magellan Maestro 3100.

Magellan Maestro 4000 GPS Drops $100 On Black Friday >

Tropical Cyclone Sidr in Google Earth, Hits Bangladesh Hard

2007-11-16T11:11:00.000-08:00

Tropical Cyclone Sidr slammed into the Ganges Delta with winds of 250 kilometers (155 miles) per hour, causing devastation in Bangladesh before weakening over northern India.

At least 1,100 people in Bangladesh were killed from Tropical Cyclone Sidr, the Associated Press said today, citing the United News of Bangladesh. At least 1,000 fishermen were missing, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said today in an e-mailed statement. Some 3.2 million people fled to the country's highlands or went to shelters, the UN agency said.

You can see a high resolution satellite photo in Google Earth showing Tropical Storm Sidr two days ago (before it made landfall). The photo came from the NASA MODIS Terra satellite.

Downpours and staggering winds also spawned a water surge 4 feet high that swept through low-lying areas and some offshore islands, leaving them under water, according to Nahid Sultana, an official at a cyclone control room in the capital, Dhaka.

What is a Cyclone?

Cyclones are large revolving tropical storms caused by winds blowing around a central area of low atmospheric pressure. In the southern hemisphere these tropical storms are called cyclones and rotate in a clockwise direction, while in the northern hemisphere cyclones are called hurricanes or typhoons and rotate in an anti-clockwise direction.

Cyclones develop over warm waters in the tropical regions of the oceans where areas of very low pressure are created by air being heated by the sun. This causes the air to rise very rapidly and becomes saturated with moisture that condenses into large thunderclouds.

Bangladesh Braces For Cyclone Sidr

2007-11-15T11:59:00.000-08:00

Cyclone Sidr Tracking Map Toward Bangladesh

With a very severe cyclonic storm likely to cross the West Bengal-Bangladesh coast near the Sagar Islands by Friday, people living in coastal areas of West Bengal were alerted by the administration on Wednesday.

State Home Secretary P. R .Roy said the cyclone which lay centred north of Andaman Islands changed direction towards coastal areas of the state and Bangladesh.

The highest alert has been raised over the imminent arrival of Cyclone Sidr, expected to hit at high tide late this evening on the west coast of Bangladesh. There is a possibility that Cyclone Sidr will hit as a category four or three, with devastating results.

Authorities have deployed more than 40,000 personnel, including police, troops, coastguards and health workers on the shoreline to warn and evacuate the people. An estimated 10 million people live in the areas, with major concerns that the storm shelters in the area are sufficient for only half a million.

Sounds From Saturn

2007-11-15T11:29:00.000-08:00

NASA has online some great recorded noises from Saturn. NASA recently published several audio recordings collected during the Cassini-Huygens space probe's exploration of the Saturnian system.

The eerie whistling, epic whooshing and warbling echoes collected by the probe's instruments sound as though they could have been lifted directly from '50s sci-fi classics like Plan 9 From Outer Space or Forbidden Planet.

Here’s a rundown of a few of the spooky recordings, all available for your listening pleasure on the NASA site:

* A 2005 flyby of Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, captured the sound of powerful ion cyclotron waves (organized fluctuations in the magnetic field), providing data about what ions were present in the atmosphere.
* Radar echoes picked up as the probe descended onto Titan increase in pitch and intensity as the satellite neared the Saturnian moon, hinting at the nature and composition of its surface.
* Sound samples recorded by Huygen's microphones during that descent were pieced together in a lab to create an audio reproduction of what a traveler would have heard while hurtling through Titan’s atmosphere.

CARMA: Reveals Emissions Of More Than 50000 Power Plants

2007-11-15T11:20:00.000-08:00

The Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA) database offers the first global inventory of emissions from more than 50,000 power stations on the planet. Its data is compiled by the Confronting Climate Change Initiative at the Center for Global Development (CGDev), an independent and non-partisan think tank located in Washington, DC. CARMA offers a perfect starting point for conducting comparative studies on local, regional and global emissions generated from the power sector.

CARMA's interactive maps and database includes more than 50,000 power plants of different sizes, 4,000 power companies, and nearly 200,000 geographic regions in every country on Earth. Users can view carbon emissions data for the year 2000, the present, and future plans. And all of CARMA’s data is updated quarterly to reflect changes in plant ownership and planned construction. The maps and database show each power facility in a region and gives the plant its own page that reveals the its location, ownership, power production, and CO2 emissions. Users can select individual plants from interactive maps or lists, search for specific plants, or filter and sort the data in multiple ways. The data also show which type of fuel or primary energy input the power facility utilizes to generate electricity.

CARMA: website reveals emissions from more than 50000 power plants ...>

GIS PIlot - GIS Links

2007-11-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

GIS Pilot has over 2,000 free GIS links from around the world. This virtual library includes state and city GIS sites as well as links to county assessors and tax maps.

Hopefully, you find all the GIS-related links that you need. However, if you know of one that needs to be added to the list you can add a comment here or use the "Contact" page on GIS Pilot.

GIS Pilot - GIS Links >

Map of Chile

2007-11-14T11:30:00.000-08:00

Approximately 16 1/2 Million people reside in Chile, where a major earthquake struck today. Chile stretches over 4,300 km (2,700 mi) along the southwestern coast of South America, a distance roughly the same as that from San Francisco to New York. At the same time, its width never exceeds 240 km (150 mi), making the country more than eighteen times longer than its widest point. The Map of Chile shows the unusual shape of the country as it hugs the Pacific coast.

The Pacific forms the country's entire western border, with Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage at the country's southernmost tip. The Andes Mountains separate Chile from the rest of South America. Chile claims 1,250,000 km² of territory in Antarctica.

Also part of Chile are two notable Pacific possessions-the Juan Fernandez Islands and the famous Easter Island, both of which are administered as national parks. The Juan Fernandez islands are located about 670 km off the Chilean coast, while Easter Island is situated 3700 km distant.

Chile Geography and People >
Chile Wikipedia >

7.7 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks Chile

2007-11-14T11:13:00.000-08:00

A major earthquake struck northern Chile on Wednesday, toppling power lines, closing roads and sending terrified residents into the streets. Authorities reported some injuries but no deaths from the quake, which was felt in the capital as well as neighboring Peru and Bolivia.

The earthquake, which struck Chile at 12:40 p.m. local time (10:40 a.m. EST), measured magnitude 7.7 and was centered 780 miles north of Santiago, or 25 miles east-southeast of Tocopilla, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The USGS said it occurred about 37.3 miles underground — relatively deep — which diminishes the destructive capability of quakes,

Geography Awareness Week (Nov. 11th-17th)

2007-11-13T02:51:00.000-08:00

My Wonderful World, a National Geographic-led campaign for geographic literacy, and Google are working together to provide an interactive educational experience about our world. We are proud to celebrate Geography Awareness Week (Nov. 11th-17th), an initiative by National Geographic that promotes the importance of geography.

Each year, Geography Awareness Week has a different focus area. For 2007, the theme is "Asia: Continent of Contrasts." So whether you're a teacher, student, or armchair geographer, it's a great way to polish up your skills and learn all about Asia's fascinating cultures, natural wonders, animals and more.

Geography Awareness Week >

San Francisco Oil Spill Maps

2007-11-12T23:43:00.000-08:00

San Francisco Bay Oil Spill November 7, 2007. The Chinese-flagged Cosco Busan strikes the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, gashing the 65,000-ton ship's hull and spilling a estimated 58,000 gallons of fuel oil into the Bay.

San Francisco Bay Oil Spill November 7, 2007 >

Aftermath of the oil spill. See the areas affected by the 58,000 gallons of fuel that spilled into the bay after a container ship rammed the Bay Bridge.

Aftermath of the oil spill >

PacWind Turbines For The Home

2007-11-12T23:32:00.000-08:00

Celebrities are getting on board with PacWind Turbines to turn their homes into green powered mansions. Jay Leno helped bring PacWind into the spotlight by powering his garage with their turbines.

PacWind Turbines are small, silent, and you can easily install them on your house or garage. PacWind has created revolutionary products that bring the infinite resource of wind energy into all the urban regions of our world, along with all of the rural and remote regions as well.

PacWind Turbines Website >

Low Impact Living

2007-11-11T19:44:00.000-08:00

As societies and corporations start to lean toward a more green output, it's crucial to have a source of information to make the right decisions. Low Impact Living can help you find the right environmental information to meet your individual needs.

Do you already know the green products you’re looking for? (shower heads, drip irrigation, composters)

Do you already know what room or area of your home you want to improve?

Do you want to learn more about green alternatives? (e.g., solar, wind, hybrids, etc.)

Answers like these can be found at Low Impact Living.

Black Sea Oil Tanker Sinks, Spills 1,000's Gallons Of Fuel

2007-11-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

Another big shipping accident has left 560,000 of fuel leaking into the Black Sea. This follows last weeks spill in San Francisco, when a tanker collided with the Bay Bridge and spilled out its fuel. 2,000 tons of fuel oil had spilled from the tanker which broke apart in a huge storm in the Black Sea. A spill of more than 700 tons is considered large, but the biggest ones run into the tens or even hundreds of thousands.

San Francisco’s Bay Bridge Oil Spill

2007-11-09T17:21:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago a ship hit the Bay Bridge just outside of San Francisco and ruptured its hull. I was not aware at the time it but it leaked out 58,000 gallons of oil into the bay which has led Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a state of emergency in the area to get it cleaned up.

San Francisco is one of my favorite places and I'll always remember it for all the sea birds, seals, sea lions, otters, and various creatures that make the situation that much more horrible to comprehend.

Although the San Francisco’s Bay Bridge Oil Spill remains largely inside the bay, tidal action and winds have spread the spill outside the Golden Gate and up the Marin County coastline, as far as Muir Beach.

Wildlife authorities said the number of birds caught in the sticky spill continues to climb, with 73 taken in for treatment and 19 found dead. Those numbers, authorities say, are likely to grow into the hundreds over the coming days. Scores of wildlife experts and volunteers are combing the shorelines for oil-blackened birds.

NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration is providing trajectory predictions to the Unified Command, which is led by the U.S. Coast Guard and includes NOAA, along with the U.S. Department of Interior and the State of California's Fish and Game Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response.

There are several methods the oil spill response teams can use to clean up, it all depends on the type of oil, the weather and the habitat.

Today, they're using skimmers, a device that removes oil from the water's surface. The fuel that spilled into the San Francisco bay today is a nasty oil that breaks down slowly.

Crews also use these flexible floating booms to keep the oil from spreading into certain areas.

More than 200 workers and officials were cleaning up the fuel that leaked after the Cosco Busan container ship hit a base of the Bay Bridge near Treasure Island. The Coast Guard expected the clean-up force to double on Saturday.

Company uses satellite imagery to judge crops

2007-11-09T17:17:00.000-08:00

A Chicago-based information company, Lanworth, Inc., is using twice-daily satellite images to look at crops.

With their technology and methodology, company officials hope Lanworth becomes a common name for pre-USDA forecasts.

Lanworth estimates the 2007 U.S. corn yield at 13.11 billion bushels and soybeans at 2.58 billion bushels. Their data was released five days before USDA released the official Oct. 12 report.

USDA's Oct. 12 numbers were 13.3 billion bushels for corn and 2.60 billion bushels for soybeans.

USDA's numbers were lower than some market analysts expected. (...continue article)

Remote sensing expert receives national award for teaching

2007-11-09T17:14:00.000-08:00

Daniel Civco, a professor in the Department of Natural Resources Management and Engineering, has received a National Award for Excellence in College and University Teaching in the Food and Agricultural Sciences.

It is the highest honor an educator in the field of agriculture and natural resources can receive.

Civco, an expert on geomatics who specializes in remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), was presented with the award on Nov. 11, during a meeting of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) in New York City. (...continue article)

What is C19A?

2007-11-02T14:40:00.000-07:00

C19A is now the largest iceberg in the world.

Icebergs like C19A are named I believe in part to their coordinates on a map.

With an approximate size of 2,264 square miles in size, C19A became the largest iceberg in the world after the previous largest iceberg, B15 broke into two different pieces. The B15 weighed in at around 4,400 square miles in size. As the B15 iceberg continues to break up, the C19A takes the title of largest 'berg until it starts to cracks.

A giant crack across the B15 iceberg broke it off into two pieces in the last month.

5.6 quake in San Jose rattles Bay Area

2007-10-31T00:18:00.000-07:00

(10-30) 21:09 PDT San Jose -- An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 and an epicenter in the South Bay shook the Bay Area at 8:04 p.m. tonight, rolling and jolting buildings so powerfully that it prompted some people to duck for shelter.

No reports of injuries or major damage were called in to police or fire agencies. The San Jose Earthquake is just another bad incident for the citizens of California who have been battling wildfires for the last few weeks.

FEMA Press Conference A Joke

2007-10-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

(from Washington Post) FEMA has truly learned the lessons of Katrina. Even its handling of the media has improved dramatically. For example, as the California wildfires raged Tuesday, Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy administrator, had a 1 p.m. news briefing.

For the FEMA Press Conference, reporters were given only 15 minutes' notice of the briefing, making it unlikely many could show up at FEMA's Southwest D.C. offices.

They were given an 800 number to call in, though it was a "listen only" line, the notice said -- no questions. Parts of the briefing were carried live on Fox News (see the Fox News video of the news conference carried on the Think Progress Web site), MSNBC and other outlets.

Johnson stood behind a lectern and began with an overview before saying he would take a few questions. The first questions were about the "commodities" being shipped to Southern California and how officials are dealing with people who refuse to evacuate. He responded eloquently.

More: FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA>

Southern California fire map and San Diego County fire map

2007-10-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

Quick updates for the updated California and San Diego County fire maps on Google Maps. Yesterday, I just had the San Diego County map up. Now the Southern California area has an updated map as well.

SunEdison Recieves U.S. Department Of Energy's 2007 Green Power Leadership Award

2007-10-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

SunEdison, North America's first and largest solar energy services provider, yesterday received a 2007 Green Power Leadership award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for its prominent role in advancing more widespread adoption of renewable energy used in power markets. This U.S. DOE annual award recognizes leading national green power participants for their commitment and contribution to helping advance the development of the nation's green power market.

More 2007 Green Power Leadership Award>

SunEdison Solar Energy>

Southern California Wildfires Burn Out of Control: New NASA Satellite Images Show Fires' Rapid Growth

2007-10-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

NASA satellites continue to capture remarkable new images of the wildfires raging in Southern California. At least 14 massive fires are reported to have scorched about 425 square miles from north of Los Angeles to southeast of San Diego.

These latest images, captured by NASA satellites on the afternoon of October 22, show the thick, billowing smoke coming off the numerous large fires and spreading over the Pacific Ocean. Fire activity is outlined in red.

Dry, drought-stricken vegetation and Santa Ana winds, which can reach hurricane speeds, have contributed to the devastating effect of these blazes. The National Interagency Fire Center reports that the Santa Ana winds are expected to continue through Wednesday.

According to news reports, almost 700 homes have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate.

Today, President Bush issued an emergency declaration for seven California counties, ordering federal disaster relief to the area.

Powerful Santa Ana winds have fueled more than 10 large wildfires throughout Southern California, stretching from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

This pair of images, depicting the area around Los Angeles on October 21, 2007, shows just how quickly the fires grew.

The left image, captured by NASA’s Terra satellite at 11:35 a.m. local time, shows several fires giving off small plumes of smoke. Just over 3 hours later, at 2:50 p.m. when NASA’s Aqua satellite passed overhead, large amounts of smoke were pouring from blazes northwest of Los Angeles. Actively burning fires are outlined in red.

In the right image plumes of smoke can be seen blowing off the coast, indicating the intensity of the winds and the presence of additional fires farther south.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, these blazes have burned over 84,000 acres since they began over the weekend. Thousands of residents have been evacuated from their homes and a state of emergency has been issued for 7 California counties.

More>

Google Maps Mashup: San Diego County Fires

2007-10-23T00:07:00.000-07:00

The California wildfires are burning out of control with up to 250,000 citizens from San Diego County facing evacuations (See California Wildfires- San Diego Evacuation Areas). Major wildfires are burning throughout

San Diego County and the county is using Reverse 911 (What is Reverse 911) to help contact people and organize evacuations (See Reverse 911 : San Diego Fires and Mobile Messaging) . This map will update as information comes in. Key map points indicate San Diego evacuation points, closed roads, and actual fire/hazard areas.

San Diego County Fires Map>

Reverse 911 : San Diego Fires and Mobile Messaging

2007-10-23T00:03:00.000-07:00

The disastrous fires burning in San Diego have initiated a service used by the city and county government to inform and update residents. Mandatory evacuation orders have been communicated via reverse 911 on both landline phones and mobile phones. The messages are prerecorded and as I’ve said, three messages have been received on my phone. The first was an evacuation order.

The next message was a notice that San Diego schools are closed until further notice along with the instruction to keep children inside and restrict their activity levels (smoke and ash is so thick in the air that keeping it out of your house is impossible during large fires). The third message was information on evacuation centers that were still open as several are already full.

More>

GIS Mapping To Trace Jumbos

2007-10-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

BHUBANESWAR: After its role in managing natural resources, disaster management and more recently of malaria in the State, geo-information system (GIS) applications have come as a great help in another key area of wildlife management, i.e. reducing man-animal conflicts.

As per a study by Chandaka Dampara Sanctuary authorities, the movement pattern of specific elephants, its flagship species, can now be known through proper GIS mapping over the years with the help of annual and seasonal data interpretation so that the elephant depredation can be predicted and managed properly with the help of the villagers of the periphery areas.

Though it is still at a preliminary stage, the month-wise flow of elephant movements out of the sanctuary in co-ordination with different parametres like cropping pattern and water availability inside the sanctuary and their co-relations can be found out from the GIS study, says DFO Akshaya Kumar Pattnaik.

Explaining one such parameter like the least disturbing time of the sanctuary, ie. rainy season and the most disturbed period, ie. winter or post-harvesting season, according to elephant point of view, he says that the disturbances created by biotic pressure (human beings) after the harvesting season causes another major concern.

Inhabitants of the periphery villages go to forest for firewood collection, non-timber forest products and use the area for grazing their cattle and these activities after January are incorporated in the GIS mapping process.

Continue Article>

World Worst Polluted Places 2007

2007-10-17T20:02:00.000-07:00

It’s definitely not one of the ‘Top Ten’ lists you’re likely to be campaigning for. The Blacksmith Institute, an NGO that works to solve pollution problems in the developing world, has released its second annual list of the World’s Most Polluted Places. This year’s list includes two sites each in China, India and Russia, and one site in Azerbaijan, Peru, Zambia and Ukraine. This threat is affecting more than 12 million people, according to the research done by Blacksmith with Green Cross in Switzerland. Those 12 million people mentioned are well open to respiratory diseases such as asthma, as well as birth defects and premature death.

Many of the sites’ pollution comes from mining of heavy metals like lead and chromium; all of the sites pose serious threats to human health and the environment.

View the List>

Stephen Colbert decides to run for President

2007-10-17T19:59:00.000-07:00

A little clip to lighten your day. Stephen Colbert decides to run for President in his home state of South Carolina.

Maps of War

2007-10-16T01:38:00.000-07:00

A 90-second flash animation about religion. More exact, the geography of faith and its wars accross history.

More>