Written by: admin
This week in Russia, researchers from IFAW (the International Fund for Animal Welfare) and veterinarians from the Moscow Zoo returned five orphaned bear cubs to the wild. This is not unusual as Zoos all over the world take in orphaned or injured animals, nursing them back to health. This goes for oceanic animals too; most often the animals are tagged in hopes that if they re-surface in nature we can see their progress in their own surroundings.
One of the strange occurances here is that one of these bears will be monitored using a satellite collar, a scientific step forward in evaluating post-release behavior and survival of animals released back into the wild. These bear cubs orphaned by the cruel winter in Russia, will now be watched via satellite as he and siblings move locations trailing them back to ther native area. The collar is programmed to record information about the animal’s location every 90 minutes and to automatically drop-off after a period of 18 months. This will allow the bear to grow to it’s normal state without any restrictive devices attached to it stumping its growth.
I’m sure there are many parents who would be interested in trying this out on their kin in hopes that those mysterious Friday nights out late can be tracked where they roam. For now, these devices will be used to protect, learn and adapt to how we nuture bears and other animals back to health in hopes that they can return to their natural habitat. Read this article and much more interesting news on Earth Times.
What a concept, the Earth’s news. If only poiliticians, news media agencies and other parties could put aside their own self-absorbed personal agendas to produce something more Earthly. Everything we read today is so saturated in slanderous warped thoughts and ideas, that the good of the whole and the thought of one world is practically a farse.
Written by: admin
Google Earth, the now commonly known mapping service that allows users to move through 3D satellite images of cities worldwide, offers a close-up view of U.N. refugee camps and aid projects in Chad, Iraq and Colombia. These images are spreading awareness of the types of activities that go on when one is residing in a refugee camp.
The bottom line of these three-dimensional satellite images is that we have a crisis to deal with. Refugees are displaced and removed from their homes, thus leaving a serious issue of providing proper housing and adequate food for the people in the camps. I really feel in war torn societies and countries facing civil unrest, it is vital to ensure refugees are evacuated and cared for properly.
Read more about the crisis on the Reuters news website. To download a version of Google Earth, simply enter your address into the Search at the top of this page. You can download free Satellite maps and Google Earth. Now that everyone has free access to view these refugee camps, we should spread the word.
Written by: admin
We all know Santa lives in the North Pole, but now we can see his polar opposite (pardon the pun) as NASA introduces LIMA. The new Landsat Image Mosaic Of Antarctica can be viewed at lima.usgs.gov so everyone can enjoy a shot at the Earth’s bottom.
Working together on this joint effort, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), created LIMA from more than 1,000 Landsat ETM+ scenes. And let me tell you this place looks icy. Could be a fun ride for snow mobiles or cross country skiers, but I would bundle up if I were you. As you cannot tell from this Earth Satellite Map or even Google Maps, it is cold down there!
Antarctica, or the South Pole, reaches temperatures on the Polar Plateau ranging from -115°F to +6°F; the mean temperature is -56°F. Winter wind-chills can plummet to -148°F. Besides this frigid cold, Antarctica only has precipitation averages of less than 1″ annually. So you won’t need an umbrella! Arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton proclaimed in 1909 “A blinding, shrieking blizzard all day, with the temperature ranging from -60 to -70°F.”
Anywho, on the website you can View LIMA, Download Mosaics and Lansat Scenes, Order USGS Maps, Posters, and Wall Art, Download LIMA Posters, Maps, Browse the Digital Library, Use Interactive Atlas of Antarctic Research, and even locate GIS Resources. As they find out more check out their Newsroom.
Written by: admin
Recently in my conquest for a respectable golf course at a low price, I found a very useful website. Using Google Earth, gogolfing.org is a real view directory of golf courses in the US.
In addition to the golf course contact information, you can see at a satellite map level by zoom in what the course looks like and how the course design and layout is. Trees, sand traps, whether the lakes have water in them, and even if the parking lot is full or not.
I have found this very useful as many courses have a digitalized or Photoshop version of the golf course. Many times these do not give you a proper representation of the way the course looks in real life.
With Google Maps using gogolfing.org you can actually see what you will be playing via fly by. Incredibly cool! Fore!
Written by: Christine_Bush
Product Review: “The 21 Steps” by Charles Cumming (Penguin Digital)
by Christine Bush for EarthSatelliteMaps.com
Date: 2008-08-24
Source: http://wetellstories.co.uk/stories/week1/
KML, the XML-based language used by Google Earth, allows the geospatial data service to be extended in surprising ways. One example of its extensibility can be found in an interesting promotion in progress now by Penguin Digital, the electronic branch of Penguin Press. Penguin Digital has invited contemporary writers to re-imagine some of Penguin’s classic publications into not only new tales but new media. The first of these is an homage to John Buchan’s 1915 “shocker”, “The 39 Steps” (Buchan, John. The Thirty-Nine Steps. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1915.) The new version is called “The 21 Steps” and is retold by Charles Cummings and delivered online at a web site (that embeds Google Earth) by alternate reality gaming shop Six To Start.
When I first opened the page and realized what I was seeing, I admit to being pretty excited. Realizing that this was a “first” (at least for me, and spend I good amount of time looking for this kind of stuff), I allowed myself to sit back and just enjoy the experience with an uncritical approach and my expectations were met, and in some cases, exceeded. The story itself is adventurous without being to complex. This gives the user mental space to explore the Google Earth context into which the text of story has been placed. And it is a visually compelling context with good resolution (if not a bit strongly shadowed) orthophotography of London in the first few chapters and of Scotland later in the yarn.
I’m not a fast reader and I made it through the whole tale at a casual pace in the course of a weekend. I experienced no glitches in delivery and only had to refresh to get the imagery to tile correctly once or twice. I used a modestly robust wireless connection to a DSL router in my home office to connect. It would be nice if you could more easily hop around among chapters. The programming of the story is solid and makes good use of many of KML’s more sophisticated capabilities, like the ability to show progress through space over time. I would enjoy more non-map graphic elements being included in the story, such as pictures of the main characters and significant items — not to say those that were included are not appreciated.
So, we can now begin to place our books into a geospatial context. What are the questions and issues that this presents us? Here are a few, in no particular order:
- Are there certain kinds of books or stories that will most benefit from being delivered in a geospatial context?
- How can we better exploit the data and information made available to the author by geospatial placement?
- Is it necessary, or even desirable, to have every piece of the story tied to a specific place?
- Is this a slippery slope away from the summit of pure literature into the valley of visual entertainment?
Some of these questions evoke straight forward answers, others are more elusive. Read the book.
