Open-Source Geography

My participation in this year’s ESRI conference is over, but I must say I had a blast. It was overwhelming and interesting and re-ignited my passions for maps and other cartographic and geospatial technologies.

However, being someone who keeps track of conspiracy theories, I have to say that whoever chose “Eye in the Sky” by the Alan Parson Project for a theme for the Defense, Homeland Security and Intelligence Showcase runs counter to advocates of privacy in an era of ubiquitous computing and geospatial technologies. This is exactly what Alex Jones is taking about when discussing the concept of “hidden in plain sight” and provides him with a bit more mainstream credibility.

Though it may be a memorable song, the last time I heard it was when I saw Alan Parsons at Wolftrap in 2002. It is no coincidence that the song should be playing, especially considering that it is not difficult to decipher its meaning. The song itself is about 1984-esque themes of Government Control and spying on the public. Though I agree that intelligence gathering and defense related matters are as important as matters of social justice, environmental quality and urban planning, the choice of that song was in very poor taste.

Am I wrong here? Consider the chorus:

Chorus:
I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I dont need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind

Perhaps I am biased, but I believe Geography is a great major with excellent career opportunities.  If you do not know what to study in college, consider taking a Human Geography or Physical Geography course to get a taste for how interesting the science of Geography actually is.  Also, don’t think of Geography in terms of what you may have learned in grade school about where places are.  Geographers do ask “Where” but then they follow up with “WHY?”  This is why I say “science” in that, unlike psychology, it is a discipline recognized as a science by the National Science Foundation complete with rigorous and accepted methodologies.

So here are some reasons to consider Geography as a major:

1. It is intellectually challenging, but relatively intuitive which is another way of saying that it is an “easy” discipline

2. There are more jobs than qualified people. Check out the Geography Jobs Clearinghouse if you need specific examples (http://www.gjc.org)

3. Like statistics, Geography can be applied to every discipline. I can make the case that the social and hard sciences rely on some sort of spatial reasoning.

4. The job market continues to expand and like #2 above the number of jobs outpaces the number of qualified applicants

5. Considering #2 and #4, its a field that continues to grow despite recessionary economic conditions

6. Again, because it is underlooked but a growing field, graduate funding in the form of assistantships (i.e., tuition waivers and paid living expenses) is typically available upon acceptance. Though I don’t have the statistics to support this statement, I imagine that the rate of graduate funding in Geography is the highest amongst all disciplines. I was not a stellar undergraduate, but gained acceptance and funding in all 5 master’s level Geography programs I applied to. With my overall undergraduate 2.9 GPA (admittedly with a 3.8 in Geography) I don’t think the same can be said for psychology or the hard sciences.

7. Finally, and back to my point, since Geography is at least tangentially ubiquitous in every field of the academy, you can choose topics that uniquely interesting to you and still increase your odds for a successful career.

8.  Extremely Cool Technology!

To all those biogeographers googling and coming across this article, this is not a piece about a biogeographer. Although I appreciate the topic immensely, I have not delved into that body of literature. As such, I thought I would provide, in narrative form, my biography as a Geographer. It is long and boring, so read on only if interested in my history.

My primary weakness as an academic is my writing skills. I have no problem absorbing the information and have methodologies well thought out. But writing is a requirement. To get more practice, I am waiting until Fall 2009 to start a PhD program. At this point, attending George Mason University’s School of Public Policy is attractive and would allow me to keep my job with Arlington. However, I am actively lobbying for funding for a PhD in Geography.

My current research interests are varied and am excited to use this next year to narrow down a topic. Currently , I am interested in the Geography of Ubiquitous Computing and the policy apparati, energy, infrastructure requirements and general economics of the Industry. However, having studied medical geography, business geography, global cities, spatial segregation studies, the Pioneer Fringe, teaching community college and voting patterns, I anticipate a vivacious future in Geography and the Geographic Information Sciences.

That said, I would also like to share my academic experience as a Geographer. I started at James Madison University in 1992. It was not until 1994 when I was torn between studying ecology and archeology that both departments recommend Dr. Glen Gufaston’s Introduction to Aerial Photo Interpretation. So, I started my academic career wanting to be a photogrammetrist. Then, Dr. Stephen Wright got me interested in Digital Cartography. Both got me interested in the Geographic Information Sciences.

So, I have made a few mistakes in my life. Nothing has turned out bad financially, but I feel some tarnish on my reputation after leaving SUNY-Binghamton and the first year of graduate school they provided me. In this position, I served as a GIS Lab Assistant and data analyst on a GPS data collection project studying waterwells and location to contiminants as listed by the EPA. I also taught a Weather and Climate Lab.

I recieved my Master’s of Science in the Geographic and Cartographic Sciences program from George Mason University. While their, I participated in several interesting research positions under Dr. David Wong and worked as a GIS Lab Assistant under newly en-doctored Erwin Villiger.

Please consider the following highlights to the attached resume and academic transcripts:

• Master of Science in the Geographic and Cartographic Science from George Mason University

• Teaching Experience at the Community College Level

• Experience with non-academic technical training for Federal employees using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology

• Daily use of geographic concepts in my non-academic professional experience provides for real world examples

• Thorough working knowledge of demographic and socioeconomic data products

• Oliver MN, Matthews KA, Siadaty M, Hauck FR, Pickle LW. Geographic bias related to geocoding in epidemiologic studies. International Journal of Health Geographics. 2005;4:29.

• Acknowledged Cartographic Contribution in the Wand JN, Shotts KW, Sekhon JS, Mebane, WR Jr., Herron MC, Brady HE. The Butterfly Did It: The Aberrant Vote for Buchanan in Palm Beach County, Florida. The American Political Science Review, 2001;95:4.

EDUCATION

George Mason University, Geography and Earth Science Department, M.S., Geographic and Cartographic Science, December 1998

James Madison University, Center for Geographic Information Sciences, B.S. Geographic Information Science, May 1996

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Urban Research Planner, Planning Research and Analysis Team

Arlington County Government

01/2007 to present

• Content Management System Team Lead
  
• Database Development of Residential and Commercial Tracking system
• Ad hoc cartographic requests
• Develop original research for the Planning Information Reports Series
  

County Demographer

Prince William County Government - Woodbridge, VA: 12/2006 to 12/2007

• Perform spatial and statistical analysis of population trends in the County
• Develop forecasts of County housing and population growth
• Serve as spokesperson for Demographic activities

Assistant Professor - Adjunct Piedmont Virginia Community College - Charlottesville, VA: 08/2005 – 12/2006

• Delivered 18 credit hours of Cultural and World Geography lectures
• Developed lesson plans and evaluation criteria
• Engaged students in the subject matter and fostered a challenging and supportive learning environment

Learning Lab Director - Computers4Kids, Charlottesville, VA: 06/2006 – 12/2006

GIS Specialist University of Virginia - Health System, Charlottesville, VA: 10/2004 - 7/2006

• Provide research support for medical study entitled: Prostate Cancer in Blacks: The Role of Poverty and Diet
• Responsible for geographic & statistical analysis and cartographic output

Social Science Research Analyst US Dept of Commerce - Minority Business Development Agency, Washington, DC: 05/2000 - 10/2004

• Develop, train, and provide GIS support for MBDA staff and clients
• Provide statistical research for agency policy reports.
• Served as a liaison between information technology and federal staff

Survey Statistician US Bureau of Census, Suitland, MD: 02/1999 - 05/2000

• Compiled GIS database and prepared cartographic visualization of statistical data
• Assisted in development, design, and analysis of statistical surveys
• Performed a quality control functions for database errors

PUBLICATIONS

Oliver MN, Matthews KA, Siadaty M, Hauck FR, Pickle LW. Geographic bias related to geocoding in epidemiologic studies. International Journal of Health Geographics. 2005;4:29.

ACKNOWLEDGED CARTOGRAPHIC CONTRIBUTIONS

Wand JN, Shotts KW, Sekhon JS, Mebane, WR Jr., Herron MC, Brady HE. The Butterfly Did It: The Aberrant Vote for Buchanan in Palm Beach County, Florida. The American Political Science Review, 2001;95:4.

The Minority Telecommunications Development Program, National Telecommunications and Information Agency, The US Department of Commerce. December 2000. Changes, Challenges, and Charting New Courses: Minority Commercial Broadcast Ownership in the United States.

PROJECT WORK AND OTHER ACTIVITIES

Virginia Tech Urban Planning Department - Alexandria Campus: Fall 2003. I worked in preparing a matrix of Cities connected by Ambassadorial resources (Embassies) in support of the Globalization and World Cities project. (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/)

The Institute for Public Policy: Fall 1998, Worked on an environmental justice grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as primary Geographic Information Scientist to statistically model the relationship between the location of hazardous waste sites and population segments using spatial econometric methods.

University of Maryland/George Mason University: Summer/Fall 1998, Research Assistant for a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funded project at the University of Maryland, on the Potential of GIS for housing policy research using microdata for Section 8 subsidized housing.

The College of Arts and Sciences at George Mason University: Summer 1998, Development and presentation of a geographic information systems demonstration for the 1998 World Conference on Technology at George Mason University.

The National Consortium for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA): Summer 1998, assisted with the development of curriculum for the NCGIA’s Core Curriculum Development for the Geographical Information Sciences Project.

Below is a list of Geography term paper titles generated by students at Piedmont Virginia Community College. These selected titles were chosen because the students that prepared them approached the topic from a personal level while applying the geographic principles we learned in class. They acted like Geographers:

1. Internet Infrastructure: The Tangled Web We Weave - M. Murphy
2. The Geographic Variation of Tattooing Technology - C. Motley
3. Globalizing “Miller Time”: Industrial Location of the American Beer Industry - S. Oberhauser
4. The Geography of Golf: Conquering the World and the Environment - S. McKeown
5. The Changing Political Landscape of Post-Katrina New Orleans - K. Kiss
6. The Spatial Diffusion of Reggeaton - J.Cortez
7. A Nursing Shortage in The United States - P. Catlett
8. The Geography of the Hearing Impaired - C. Rosenberry
9. The Geography of Jazz -J. Pleasant
10. The Geography of Counter-Stike: A Global Phenomenon - M. Murphy
11. The Dances of North Africa and the Middle East - J. Jackson
12. Cancer Incidence Around the World - J. Stathos
13. The Geography of Beatlemania: The Atlantic Echo-Chamber - M. Schaeder
14. Disparity of Internet Access in Urban and Rural America - P. Thompson
15. Invaded Country: The Pre-September 11 Military Invasions of Afghanistan - T. Lacy
16. A Cultural Geography of the Diffusion of Opera - J. Slohada
17. The Geographic Signficance of High School Drop Out Rates - D. Bryant
18. The Ukrainian Diaspora: One Family’s Journey - F. Bakke
19. The Forum of Sao Paulo: a 2005 Assessment of Communism’s Resurgence in Latin America
20. Where is Margaritta-ville? The Geography of Jimmy Buffett songs

Even though I made Wednesdays “no-blogging days” so that I can get some rest, the SP Gass at Low Tech Times has an interesting article called There’s No Substitute for Looking At A Real Map.  Open Source Geography (dot org, FYI), soon to be moving to its own site, fully endorses this notion of looking at a Real Map.

I am interested in SP Gass’s view on the accuracy of the AAA TripTic.  SP Gass is talking about reference maps and how one’s on paper are much more usable.  Beyond portability of a paper map, paper allows one to come up with their own route.    SP Gass knows what he means when he is choosing a route.  But without expert knowledge or human behavior factored in as a determinant in the route choice algorithm, the computer can never approximate what means, his geographic semantics.  Dr. Martin Raubal at University of California-Santa Barbara teaches a course in Geographic Semantics.

Anyway, flexibility in route choice using online mapping software would greatly improve the service.  As a Geographic Information Scientist, by training, I would suggest to Google that they open their street network dataset to allow a local crowd to suggest alternate routes.  Another option would be to generate a sample of automobiles and collect GPS points along their chosen routes, rather than the predictive routes.

I am still imaging the algorithm and/or data-structure required to enable a sample link on a chosen route be chosen to improve the predictive path.  Especially considering that the data would need to be split into nodes and links.  Not to mention, the process of formatting.  Unless of course, you are generating an cloud-enabled database with a G-Phone Android Program in which these points are collected real-time.

Is this possible?  It seems like it should be considering bluetooth tracking and cell-phone tracking would be a great medium for updating Google Maps.

Also, check out Google’s Newest Feature:  GoogleWalking.  Its still in Beta, but there is a smattering of commentary around the web.

Google Walking Maps by Daily Wireless

Google Maps Walks the Long Way Around by Google Maps Mania.

And this list of 100 Google Earth Mashups isn’t particularly about GoogleWalking, but it is still useful information for improving the semantic web rich with digitized human knowledge.

So some GIS Specialist at Yale has figured out how to produce standardized areal units based on the geographic, latitude/longitude grid and how to produce it on a global scale.   It is GIS of a sort.  Definitely not an ESRI product, but could be converted.

The site is called G-CON, Geographically Based Economic Data.  Note the release of their data for you use and visualization.  Creating a grid in ArcGIS to thier specifications is a relatively simple process.  They also provide fully detailed documentation.

Cross posted at Open Source Geography.

The Open-Source Geography Content has outgrown iand splintered its niche from 30 Second Words Podcast Productions. Previously published content, see below, will remain on the site, but all new Geography material will be published on Open Source Geography. We are not affiliated with OpenSource GIS or OpenSource Matters, but we do come at education from an open-source mindset.

The idea is to develop a Joomla based content management system for managing student work and publishing thier assigned articles. This come with the idea that a student’s work should have value beyond the classroom. Thus, they should provide quality content both in structure and holistically. Even though student identities are fully cloaked, they are encouraged to interact and critique each other’s content. Stories submitted will be published openly. In a way, this is a method for developing a student written, and teacher editted, crowdsourced Geography textbook written.

As a pre-announcement, lookout for a partnership with 30 Second Words Podcast Productions to prepare a series of short podcasts about geography called 30 Second Geography. In the meantime, in case you missed them, the following are all stories tagged with Open Source Geography from 30 Second Words:

Building an Effective Student-Professor Relationship

Letter of Motivation to University of Zurich - Geographic Information Visualization and Analysis Group

Building a Globalized Geographic Information Infrastructure.

Obama Has A Crowd of Map-Makers

Geography, I Welcome You Back to My Life!

Critique of “Keyword: Evil - Google’s Addiction to Cheap Energy”

Ideas for Internet Infrastructure Analysis for Economic Geographers and Industrial Location Specialists

What is the state of Science Fiction in any of the UN’s G77 Nations

Open-Source Geography: Revolutionizing Learning by Crowdsourcing a Textbook

Donate Used Geography Texts for Open-Source Geography Project

Open Source Geography: Keyword Collection Method

8 Reasons to Blog Your Resume In Preparing for Graduate School

Where is Margarittaville? Parrothead Songs in Google Earth

Towards a Localized Content Aggregator

The Role of Geographic Information Systems as Instructional Technology

Letter of Motivation

The term geographic relevance is new, but is still a familiar concept. With my Master of Science in the Geographic and Cartographic Science and ten years of work experience, I can offer a wide range of real-world contexts in which mobile computing could be studied. I have worked in the geographies of disease, elections, census gathering, business and local urban planning. I can imagine geographic informational relevant applications for each of these and other more popular activities.

To reiterate my understanding of the funded PhD Research Assistant position at the University of Zurich, Department of Geography, Geographic Information Visualization and Analysis Group, the goal of this project is to:

1. Develop methodologies for evaluating the human response to geographic relevance in mobile contexts, starting with activity theory as the research framework.
2. Development of mobile geographic informational applications using Java and data source Mash-Ups
3. Prepare a dissertation

I am interested in this research project as I seek to specialize in the Geography of ubiquitous computing and the energy, infrastructure, policy and locational requirements. I have been looking for a PhD program in this area as they relate to Educational Technologies in Geography. This funded PhD opportunity would enable full development of my ideas, while in direct synergy with the requirements for this project.

My strength would be in the development of the models for human subjects. I was responsible for handling confidential patient data and accountable for adhering to the University Research Protocol Regarding Experimentation with Human Subjects at the University of Virginia. And I was introduced to Activity Theory in my University of Virginia Graduate-level Theories of Learning course. In regards to application development in java, I have a vested interest in strengthening my programming skills. In my spare time, I tinker with the Internet and my latest project is working with the Android programming environment. Android is an open-source java-based programming language on which the GooglePhone (G-Phone) is compiled.

The Low-Tech Times hopes that the volunteer army of GIS agents will not be using their hi-tech methods to help a political campaign target households with annoying uninvited campaign visits and unsolicited mailings. I believe web entrepreneur Jason Calacanis would consider efforts like those as counterproductive to the war on spam.

However, I must admit that technology is playing a larger role in presidential politics this year. For example, the McCain campaign just utilized a web spider to sting Obama: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/07/mccain-campaign.html

I sometimes forget that ESRI is not the only thought leader in the world of Geographic Information Systems. The curators over at Open Source GIS , Ubuntu Users and that whole linux-based crowd of innovators have a lot to say on the matter of Geographic Thought. And to all the subsidiary mapping companies that Google wisely acquired, thank you for Google Earth and all your map-based mashable services!

Here is the European Vision in a 6 minute YouTube video worthy of the World’s Fair 2012. It has value as an introduction to the GIS section and the Globalization section of my up-coming lecture series about Geography for Virginia International University.

This visionary piece describes an interconnected European Supranationalistic State that rests on a Geographic Data Infrastructure. Those Europeans and their traditions of turning pure science as a means for controlling space while economizing their energy needs.