New Geo MOOC: From GPS and Google Maps to Spatial Computing
Not a whole lot of detail on the class, but the course description seems pretty good. It could be a good course for people looking to get a basic understanding of the spatial sciences. Maybe you are looking to get into GIS, but are not quite sure. Maybe you are in an industry that utilizes GIS heavily and want to get a foot in the door so that you can bring in new skills to your position. I think that is where the immediate benefit of MOOCs will be. That people from around the world can take a short course and have immediate gains in their productivity. Television started with that vision. The idea was that the best teachers with the best lesson plans could teach all children and there would not be the disparity that we see. Can the internet pick it up? I think so and MOOCs are the first step.
Global Forest Watch Maps Now Available on ArcGIS Online
As always, I am a sucker for public data. Outside of extremely sensitive information I think more countries should and will start programs to get information like this out to the public. Then innovative students, professors, hobbyists can utilize datasets they would normally never have and solve some problems.
Linking U.S. and Canadian Border Waters
I posted a link way back to a YouTube video that discusses the issues with the US-Canadian border. The thing about the world is that sometimes it is really small and sometimes it is really big. When it comes to mapping a single straight line that goes for thousands of miles there will always be a few hiccups. There will be a surge in the next few years to use GIS to solve land disputes. Plenty of countries have them and coming to an agreement is a difficult proposition.
2,300-year-old village discovered in Israel
This article did not actually include any discussion of GIS. I am not quite sure why it came through in the email that it did, but it is cool when villages get excavated like this. If the money existed for it, I think that this would be a great project to have 3D imagery produced. It is far enough out that people will probably not have the means to travel to it. It is a salvage project in advance of a gas pipeline so the destruction of the area will be heavy. I know that the archaeologists are doing a great job mapping the village, but I am sure that if they have had to make a few compromises to maintain the budget. But it sure would be awesome to have the imagery so that people from all over the world can take a stroll through the village remains as well as a reconstruction of it. Might put life into perspective.