CENTER FOR GEOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS NEWSLETTER
August 2008
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HIGHLIGHTS
- IDRISI Software Available
- HSPH Helpdesk back in the Microlab
- New Layers in Harvard Geospatial Library
- HMDC Lab Adds GIS Literature
- 2008 ESRI International Users Conference Report
- 35 Years of LandSat Satellite Imagery Available in 2008
- Olympics Showcase 3D Geospatial Models
- TerraViva Global Datasets
- Cellphone Tracking Human Movement Patterns
- Ten Simple Time Savers for ArcGIS 9.3
- A Model for Shared Mapping
- Free Topographic Map Downloads
- Michigan Map on a Cow
- More…
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CGA NEWS
IDRISI Software Available
CGA has purchased IDRISI Andes 15 (GIS and image processing software), and the Land Change Modeler extension for ArcGIS, available for any Harvard use. For more information on the products: http://www.clarklabs.org/.
If interested in using these products, please contact us.
HSPH Helpdesk back in the Microlab
The Monday afternoon HSPH help desk location will be moved back into its permanent home in the microlab, lower level of the Kresge building (677 Huntington Ave., Boston). The lab location was temporarily moved due to construction over the summer. Help Desk on 8/25/2008 and beyond will be back in the lower level microlab.
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HARVARD GIS COMMUNITY NEWS
New Layers in Harvard Geospatial Library
The Harvard Geospatial Library has recently added the following datasets to it’s online repository: Africover is a collection of land cover data derived from LANDSAT images and base data sets for the countries of Burundi, Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. IndiaMap includes socio-demographic and economic Census data for 2001 at the State, District, Sub-District, and Town levels for India. VillageMap includes socio-demographic and economic Census data for 2001 at the Village level. PollMap includes parliamentary constituency boundaries and data relating to the past four national elections [1986-2004]. HistoricMap shows decadal change in district boundaries of India since 1951. Socio-demographic data is included for 1951, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001. This data is available for Harvard ID holders at HGL’s website:
http://peters.hul.harvard.edu:8080/HGL/jsp/HGL.jsp
HMDC Lab Adds GIS Literature
The Harvard MIT Data Center computer lab at 1737 Cambridge St. has recently added GIS manuals, tutorials and reference books to their collection. The books range in topic from “Geocoding in ArcGIS” to “Thinking Spatially Using GIS: Our World GIS Education”. Visit the lab or contact support@help.hmdc.harvard for more details. A published list of all GIS book holdings is in the works.
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CONFERENCES
2008 ESRI International Users Conference Report
The ESRI International Users Conference was held August 4 – 8 this year, in San Diego, CA. This is the largest yearly gathering of GIS practitioners, and features papers and posters highlighting how GIS is used in over 100 industries.
View CGA’s Conference Report about the ESRI 2008 UC.
See CGA’s contribution to the conference Map Gallery:
Poster left half
Poster right half
Podcasts of conference content will be available in the near future.
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NEWS ON GIS RESEARCH AND SERVICES
35 Years of Landsat Satellite Imagery Available in 2008
Later this year the U.S. Department of the Interior will make available all 35 years worth of LandSat satellite imagery free for any use. An article and podcast interview with Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne:
http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=2831&trv=1
A webmap showing a sample of various LandSat images:
http://landsat.usgs.gov/gallery.php
Olympics Showcase 3D Geospatial Models
http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=2847&trv=1
TerraViva Global Datasets
A global data repository that aims to encourage data exploration and analysis:
http://geoserver.isciences.com:8080/geonetwork/srv/en/main.home
Cellphone Tracking Human Movement Patterns
A six-month study tracked the movements of human travel patterns using cell-phone data from cell-phone users in an undisclosed country.
http://www.geoplace.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=8F161EEEB3F947659F77EBDB4BE86377
Ten Simple Time Savers for ArcGIS 9.3
Reverse geocoding on the fly, convert graphics to features, and more quick time savers for ArcGIS 9.3:
http://blogs.esri.com/Info/blogs/ucblog/archive/2008/08/04/top-10-countdown-to-simple-things-to-improve-usability-in-arcgis-9-3.aspx
A Model for Shared Mapping
An article on how the geospatial data model is changing from one comprised of individual customers owning custom-collected and proprietary datasets to a hosted geospatial platform providing rich datasets via Web services:
http://www.geoplace.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=7AA5701B698440BBAC1B988FCC1ADA3E
Free Topographic Map Downloads
Five topo map websites for the outdoor enthusiasts:
- Forest Service Clearinghouse:
http://svinetfc4.fs.fed.us/rastergateway/index.htm
USGS 7.5’ Quads for National Forest and National Parks (some still missing), in TIF format. - USGS Store:
http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/maplocator/%28layout=6_1_61_48&uiarea=2&ctype=areaDetails&carea=%24ROOT%29/.do
Free download of scanned USGS 7.5’ Quads, in pdf format. - ACME Mapper:
http://mapper.acme.com/
Online topo map viewer - GPS Visualizer:
http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/
Online topo map and GPS track viewer - For the State of California:
http://casil.ucdavis.edu/casil/maps/drg/
Michigan Map on a Cow
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080801/NEWS04/80801077&imw=Y
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Editor of this issue: Jeff Blossom
The CGA Newsletter is published monthly. View previously published issues.
For the latest information, please visit our website http://gis.harvard.edu
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