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Note: links (over 500) are not maintained and may not work.
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30 December, 2007 to 6 January, 2008
The US Census Bureau
The US Census Bureau is the archive of all the
data from hundreds of years of census-taking. To begin with, the top page
offers a US and World Population Clock -- refresh the page and watch the
data change. Then dig in to the site -- search by zip code, by town, by
state, or by the whole US, using all kinds of variables. You can see
historical data, and also read projections up to 2050. There's also a
special Section for
Teachers with teaching materials, reference brochures and reports, and
a special web site called "State Facts for Students".
6 to 13 January, 2008
The Perry-Castaneda
Library at Univ of Texas
The great map library. This is the place to go
for that map you can't find elsewhere -- cities, countries, regions,
modern and historical. An amazing resource, well organized and easy to
use, and with links to other map archives as well.
13 to 20 January, 2008
Growth of a Nation
This brilliant 10-minute presentation illustrates
the growth of the United States from the original 13 colonies to the 50
states of today. Make sure sound is on; you can play, pause, rewind.
If you roll your mouse over states you can see their names, or click on
individual states for more details. Click Rivers for their names. You
can also play with the timeline by dragging the pointer to look at
different periods more closely, or to expand the timeline decade by
decade. An expanded version is for sale for classroom use.
20 to 27 January, 2008
Who Has The Oil
From the archives of The Atlantic Monthly, this
simple cartogram that helps viewers contemplate and come to grips with the
world's oil reserves, and in which hands they are found.
27 January to 3 February, 2008
EWebGlobe
Software professional Naveen Gabrani has started a
nice geography website with information about different aspects of the
world; it is definitely a work in progress, as only 10 countries are
featured in the "countries" section, but there is a lot of other useful
information, and an expectation of more to come.
3 to 10 February, 2008
Bible/Map Interface
A really interesting google maps mashup; select a
version of the Bible (ESV or King James), then select a book and a
chapter, and after a few moments, you get a map of the locations mentioned
in that chapter. They suggest you begin by selecting Joshua 12, which has
dozens of locations, just to see the power of this tool. You don't have
to know anything about the Bible; it's a great tool for learning about the
geography of the Eastern Mediterranean.
10 to 17 February, 2008
The Truth About
Google Earth
A funny little video about Google Earth from
Francois Grandjacques; a Parisian discovers one unexpected truth about
Google Earth. Posted in taistoidonc.com/blog
17 to 24 February, 2008
Our Dumb World
The Onion's new Atlas, "Our Dumb World", contains
distorted stories and exaggerations about countries of the world; some of
the distortions are funny because of the grains of truth they contain. The
Atlas has now been posted on The Onion website, using a google mashup, and
so you can explore the world through The Onion's eyes.
24 February to 2 March, 2008
Debunking Myths about
the "third world"
In this lecture (it will take you 20 minutes to
watch it on youtube, but you'll be glad you did), Hans Roslong, professor
at Karolinsks Institute of Stockholm, gives an AMAZING presentation about
how the world has changed in the last 40 years.
2 to 9 March, 2008
The Night Sky In
The World
This Italian site tracks satellite monitoring of
the artificial brightness of the night sky -- and therefore the visibility
of the stars -- around the world. Though definitely Eurocentric, you can
get to US maps as well. Also very powerful are the images of Earth Lights
at night around the world, because of what these images tell the viewer
about populations, about population density, and -- perhaps less
intuitively -- about those places where people live with no lights, or
minimal lights, at night.
9 to 16 March, 2008
FedEx Geography
Ad
I'm not sure this is as funny as it's supposed to
be, since it seems to say "it's ok to be geographically ignorant, because
FedEx isn't", but at the same time, it says a lot about the present state
of geography knowledge among adults. And it is pretty funny.
16 to 23 March, 2008
Lufthansa Virtual Pilot Game
The object of this game, found on the Lufthansa
corporate site, is to land the jet in the specified city in Europe. In
the first round, you are shown a name, and you have 8 seconds to click on
the map, which has country borders and dots for cities. In the second
round, no cities are shown, just national borders, and you have only 6
seconds. In the final round, only the European land mass is shown, and
you have only 5 seconds. The first round is fun; the other two require
speed, good mousing skills, and excellent geographic knowledge.
23 to 30 March, 2008
Bugaboo Daytrips
Bugaboo is a company that manufactures high-tech
modern strollers for parents with young children; this site, which they
sponsor, has interesting day trips in a variety of cities. Click on the
city, read the details of one or more day trips around the city. Right
now there are 19 cities, with up to 6 trips in each one. I examined the
trips in the cities I know, and they look like interesting,
well-thought-out trips.
30 March to 6 April, 2008
Gigapan
A powerful and dramatic method for viewing scenes
in incredible detail, with unbelievably high-resolution photos. From
their website: "GigaPan is the newest development of the Global Connection
Project, which aims to help us meet our neighbors across the globe, and
learn about our planet itself. GigaPan will help bring distant communities
and peoples together through images that have so much detail that they
are, themselves, the objects of exploration, discovery and wonder. We
believe that enabling people to explore, experience, and share each
other's worlds can be a transforming experience. Our mission is to make
all aspects of the GigaPan experience accessible and affordable to the
broadest possible community."
6 to 13 April, 2008
U.S.
Atlas of Renewable Resources
The National Renewable Energy Lab is developing
this dandy little web application that can give you distribution of wind,
biomass, solar, and geothermal resources across the U.S., searchable by
lat/long or by zip code.
13 to 20 April, 2008
Interactive World Map
A fun, interactive Physical Map of the World; the
map uses Zoomify to allow users to scan, zoom in, examine details more
closely, etc. The same creator, Tom Patterson of the U.S. National Park
Service, has created a similar map of
the conterminous U.S. states
20 to 27 April, 2008
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Interactive Atlas
A student project at the University of Wisconsin;
this interactive map/atlas gives users an introduction to the ANWR, and
then offers the opportunity to explore several categories, including
Wildlife, landcover, people, and geography. Fascinating, perhaps best
suited to younger explorers, since one of the options is to click on a
"sound" symbol and hear the sound of different ANWR animals. This site was
the 2007 winner of the North American Cartographic Information Society
competition.
27 April to 4 May, 2008
The World Freedom Atlas
A project from course work at the University of
Wisconsin, the World Freedom Atlas uses over 300 variables concerned with
human rights, democracy, and good governance, and presents them in what
they call a geovisualization tool. It covers a 16-year range, starting in
1990.
4 to 11 May, 2008
Shaded Relief
This site is designed for practicing
cartographers,
but there is a lot of material here for teachers, students, and any other
interested visitors. The theoretical underpinning is that the
presentation of topography can be clear, intuitive, and even attractive.
Also see www.reliefshading.com.
11 to 18 May, 2008
New Jersey State Atlas
John J. Reiser is an employee of the State of New
Jersey, and decided that he wanted to play with Google Maps and Mapserver
and see whether he could make the public data accessible and easy to use
online. The result is powerful and fascinating.
*****
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Please Contact Us
Mapping
the World by Heart
P. O. Box 253
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel: 617-868-8575
Fax: 617-868-6023
For more information,
please
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