Sci/Tech 101

GIS and what's this I hear about Geocaching?

As part of my talk this summer, I'll also be talking GIS.  What is GIS, you may ask?  Well, check out this handy-dandy explanation from Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIS.  Go ahead.  I'll wait here.

Done reading?  Good!  Now that that's cleared up, let's continue.  Remote sensing, which I talked about last time, is only part of GIS.  You notice there are a lot of pieces and parts that make up the world of Geographical Information Systems.  As part of GIS, we've seen the proliferation of GPS or Global Positioning Systems, in recent years.  Many of us have them in our cars, for example.  I don't, to be honest, I still prefer allowing Mapquest to lose me in new and fascinating ways, and I'd rather not have a machine voice lecture me about exceeding the speed limit, but I digress.

One activity that GIS systems have made possible is a pursuit known as Geocaching.  This is an interesting activity that a colleague of mine avidly pursues.  Essentially, Geocachers use GPS systems to play "hide and seek."  They look for small objects, pill bottles and the like, hidden in various locations, using provided clues from those Geocachers who have hidden the items.  These items often contain small, cheap trinkets that are traded among those finding the site.  The Geocachers are expected to not place the caches in dangerous locations, nor to trespass on private property.  The caches are expected to be maintained for the next searcher, as well.  To find out more about Geocaching, check out http://Geocaching.com.-JEM

Remote Sensing-via USGS

This summer, Sci-Eng 101's session at the SLA Annual Conference will be dedicated to National Security Resources and GIS/Remote sensing.  In anticipation of that session, I'm going to start talking about the topic of Remote Sensing in this blog entry.  I'd appreciate any shout-outs from the readers of their favorite Remote Sensing/GIS resources, that would be appropriate for the 101 audience (remember:  Mary Frances and I endeavor to keep it simple and basic).

When one things of this topic, the first place that jumps to mind is the United States Geological Survey (an arm of the Department of the Interior).  If you proceed to the USGS's website (www.usgs.gov, natch), you will find a plethora of resources available for your use.  On the right hand side of the page, you'll find links to topics of interest.  One of these is Remote Sensing.

Clicking on this topic, brings up a handy definition of the topic (The process of detecting and monitoring the physical characteristics of an area by measuring its reflected and emitted radiation at a distance from the targeted area. Remote sensing is used in this thesaurus to refer to methods that are solely or primarily deployed through air or space. Included in this concept are studies of biological populations using remote imaging techniques. Related methods which are used most frequently on the ground (e.g. photography), whether underwater, from airplanes or satellites, are not included in the term "remote sensing."), and also provides numerous links to subtopics, related topics and over 70 relevant sites.  You can even refine this list of resources by state (alas, Kentucky is NOT represented).  The links include very brief explanations to what you will look at if you were to click on the link.

One such link, which seems appropriate giving the location for the SLA Leadership Summit, is to the Hurrican and Extreme Storm Impact Studies Coastal and Nearshore Mapping with Scanning Airborne Laser (Lidar) (http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/lidar/), though there are several that are worth perusing.

Again, a site filled with information pertinent to the topic of Remote Sensing and GIS.  What are your favoriite and easy-to-use sites?-JEM