Scientific Data: A proposed FAIR approach for disseminating geospatial information system maps. “We present a draft Minimum Information About Geospatial Information System (MIAGIS) standard for facilitating public deposition of geospatial information system (GIS) datasets that follows the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) principles.”
Yale University: Yale to launch new Center for Geospatial Solutions. “Yale will create a new Center for Geospatial Solutions (YCGS) to enhance the university’s research, training, and engagement infrastructure in the rapidly evolving areas of geospatial science, data, and analysis, university leaders have announced.”
Oregon Metro Government: Nearly 200 GIS layers of Metro’s RLIS now open data. “Metro is eliminating the annual subscription for the Regional Land Information System, greater Portland’s comprehensive geospatial data resource.”
PR Newswire: Near Space Labs Launches Imagery Grant Program to Unlock Free Access to its Ultra-High Resolution Imagery for Nonprofits, Researchers and Universities (PRESS RELEASE). “Near Space Labs, the cutting-edge geospatial data and Earth imagery company, today announced the launch of its Community Resilience & Innovation Earth Imagery Grant program that will make its 10 cm ultra-high resolution imagery available for free to nonprofits, researchers, and universities, among others.”
StateTech Magazine: GIS in State and Local Government: How Geographic Information Systems Aid Agencies. “A recent report from the National States Geographic Information Council revealed that states are making progress on developing their geospatial data capabilities, even though the creation of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure to share geospatial data between states is still out of reach.”
UC Santa Barbara: Taming Satellite Data. “More than 700 imaging satellites orbit the Earth, and every day they beam vast amounts of information to databases on the ground. There’s just one problem: While the geospatial data could help researchers and policymakers address critical challenges, only those with considerable wealth and expertise can access it. Now, a team of scientists, including UC Santa Barbara’s Tamma Carleton… has devised a machine learning system to tap the problem-solving potential of satellite imaging.”
New York Times: ‘X’ Marks the Spot: Officials Map a Route Out of the Pandemic. “Governments and organizations around the world are using geospatial data and digital mapping tools to guide their vaccination campaigns.”
University of Hawaii: UH Hilo geographers’ digital project speeds response to public access queries. “Geographers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo recently completed a pilot project with the County of Hawaiʻi Department of Planning to help modernize the county’s public access program. Shoreline public access locations and associated permitting documents were digitized in a pilot geospatial database by UH Hilo geographical data experts and UH Hilo department of geography and environmental science students and recent graduates.”
Wiley Online Library: A critical review of emerging technologies for tackling COVID‐19 pandemic. ” As the pandemic continues to spread, current measures rely on prevention, surveillance, and containment. In light of this, emerging technologies for tackling COVID‐19 become inevitable. Emerging technologies including geospatial technology, artificial intelligence (AI), big data, telemedicine, blockchain, 5G technology, smart applications, Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), robotics, and additive manufacturing are substantially important for COVID‐19 detecting, monitoring, diagnosing, screening, surveillance, mapping, tracking, and creating awareness.”
Group on Earth Observations (GEO): The Manual of Digital Earth: An open access publication to advance the creation of a Digital Earth. “‘Digital Earth’ is a global initiative to create a comprehensive virtual representation of our planet. As digital technologies advance, this vision is quickly becoming a reality. The International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE) has just published a new open source book to help advance the creation of Digital Earth.”
Bing Blogs: Microsoft Releases 12 million Canadian building footprints as Open Data. “Bing continues to invest and innovate in the space of computer vision and geospatial intelligence. Following our release of US buildings footprints last year, we’ve been looking for new markets to apply our techniques, and opportunities to continue our commitment to the open data community. As a result, the Bing Maps Team collaborated with Statistics Canada to deliver these 12 million building footprints, released as Open Data!”
Stanford Libraries Blog: FOSS4GNA2018: The free & open source software for geospatial conference, St. Louis, MO.. “I’ve just returned from a week in St. Louis, for FOSS4GNA, the Free & Open Source Software for Geospatial conference, where the predominant topics this year were increasing integration of R and RStudio into the geospatial toolkit, big geospatial data management and analysis, and the management and analysis of an increasing array of high-resolution and high-cadence satellite imagery sources. A number of the presentations and workshops were worth passing along to Stanford ‘geo’ users, and are noted, below.”
It’s not often I read an article relevant to ResearchBuzz that makes me want to punch a wall. Congratulations, History@Work, you did it! (It’s not them, it’s the topic that they brought to my attention.) The title of this bloodboiling item is S.103 threatens digital history initiatives around race. “The power of GIS to illuminate systemic oppression and institutional racism have also attracted the attention of Congress. But not in a way welcome to scholars. On January 11, 2017, Senators Mike Lee (Utah) and Marco Rubio (Florida) introduced S.103–115th Congress, the ‘Local Zoning Decisions Protection Act of 2017.’ The language is blunt: ‘no Federal funds may be used to design, build, maintain, utilize, or provide access to a Federal database of geospatial information on community racial disparities or disparities in access to affordable housing.’ A similar bill was also proposed in the House of Representatives.”
The CAMEL Lab at the University of Chicago has launched a new online data repository. “The Center for Ancient Middle Eastern Landscapes (CAMEL Lab) at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago would like to announce that a substantial subset of its digital holdings of maps and geospatial data are now available for online public search and download…. CAMEL’s database includes over 20,000 unique objects of spatial data that relate to the archaeology, anthropology, and history of the Middle East, almost 9000 of which are now publicly available. “
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