HSU Geospatial Club

Global Android Activations Animation

2011-02-28T23:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a cool video animation of Global Android Activations from Oct '08 - Jan '11.

ASPRS Student Volunteer

2011-01-14T09:31:00.000-08:00

Ride on the Geospatial Revolution

ASPRS seeks student volunteers for the upcoming 2011 annual conference in May.
There are two levels of volunteer opportunities for students attending the confernence.
Student Assistant – there are 18 available spots for this position. The minimum service requirement is 15 hours of volunteer time during the week of the conference.
Student Volunteer – there are 30 available spots for this position. The minimum service requirement is 8 hours of volunteer time during the week of the conference.

More information can be found here.

ASPRS Student Volunteer Opportunities

2010-10-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

Attention all student members of ASPRS!

If you have not already done so, plan now to attend this conference as a Student Volunteer and pay NO registration fee.

If you are a student at an accredited college/university and would like to attend this conference without paying the required conference registration fee, consider serving as a Student Volunteer.

The Conference Volunteer Coordinator is looking for Student Volunteers to help from Sunday, November 14 – Thursday, November 18, 2010. In exchange for the opportunity to attend the General and Technical Sessions, visit the Exhibit Hall, and enjoy the Exhibitor's Reception, Student Volunteers will be required to work at least 8 hours during the conference.

This is a great opportunity to learn more about the geospatial field, meet some of the top names in the industry, and explore job possibilities; you are encouraged to bring your resumé as a special area will be set aside for resumé postings. In addition, the ASPRS Student Advisory Council has organized a Special Session on The Hiring Process: Tips for Success and have organized informal evenings out for students during the conference.

If you are interested in attending as a volunteer, please visit the conference website for an application at http://www.asprs.org/orlando2010/volunteer.html.

Also, see the description of Volunteer Tasks at http://www.asprs.org/orlando2010/StudentAssistantandVolunteerGuidelines.pdf

All applications must be submitted by e-mail to the Conference Volunteer Coordinator, Rakesh Malhotra, at mailto:rmalhotr@uncfsu.edu. Please include ASPRS Volunteer Program in the Subject Line of all e-mail correspondence. Assignments will be made on a first come basis.

ASPRS Student Scholarships

2010-09-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

The Northern California region of ASPRS has posted information on their website about the new student scholarships for the 2010-11 academic year. You can read the announcement here, and download the application here. In order to be eligible for consideration, the applicant must be an active student member of ASPRS. A completed application and current transcript must be submitted for consideration no later than December 15, 2010.

Mapping Pakistan Floods

2010-08-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

From www.hydrology.nl

Late July 2010, heavy rain caused record flooding in Pakistan, especially along the Kabul River in the northwestern part of the country. The UN, governments and private organizations are joining forces to help. One of the means is to provide accurate and timely data about the situation on the ground. Maps, as supplied by many organisations, are very helpful for getting an overview of the problems, e.g. of the flood extension.

Pakistan_UNOSATThe main city of the area, Peshawar, is isolated by water. On the 31st of July, 800 deaths and thousands of affected people are reported by authorities. Material damage is also considerable and access to a lot of urban areas is impossible. The European Commission has allocated 30 millions euros to help people affected by this major disaster. In mid-August the state of emergency was reinforced in the southern province of Sindh due to the flood spreading in this region.

The United Nations, governments and private organizations are joining forces to help. One of the means is to provide accurate and timely data about the situation on the ground. Maps, as supplied by many organisations are very helpful for getting an overview of the problems, e.g. the flood extension.

Oil Spill History

2010-05-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

For those of you wondering about the latest news on the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill there is a great KML file that a reader posted on the Google Earth Blog. It geolocates many significant oil spills, organizing them by the largest 50, and including others that are noteworthy. It includes great descriptions of how much oil was spilled and how it happened. For the BP Deepwater spill it even has a clock estimating the oil spill real time.

There is also a great comparison tool developed by Paul Rademacher showing the oil spill to whatever town you choose. Incredibly I compared it to HSU town Arcata, CA. Not only did it cover the complete area for the town, it pretty much covers the entirety of Humboldt County!

GeoStat

2010-05-14T13:07:00.001-07:00

Geo-Stat is an interesting site creating visualizations of statistical information. It allows the user to choose data, and has the ability to create tables, graphics, and reports for the data. A user can also import their own data to use within the application.

CNN is spatial-clueless

2010-05-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

CNN reporters believe that the recent Times Square attempted attacks caused higher-ups to blur Google Earth imagery. Obviously they are missing fundamental knowledge of satellite imagery and the workings of Google maps.

CalGIS Day 1

2010-04-18T23:42:00.000-07:00

Huntington Beach, CA, oceanside at the Hyatt. A warm up of NOAA and open source technical sessions, $15 fruit bowls, and authentic Italian cuisine. The 13 hour drive down sort of taxed us, but Alex the bell boy gave us a great introduction to our next few days at the Hyatt. The next few days have a great lineup for all partakers to get their GIS on. Pictures to come soon.

Take 10 Challenge Map

2010-03-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Census is upon us. On average only 73% of households fill out their census forms every 10 years. The Take 10 Map shows how your state currently stacks up in census participation.

Geospatial Speaker Series

2010-03-25T12:53:00.001-07:00

The HSU Geospatial Club will be hosting it's semester speaker series on Monday, March 29th at 5pm. It will be in the usual location in room 135 of Science B on the HSU campus. Drinks and snacks will start at 5pm, and talks will start at 6pm.

We will have a total of three presenters for the event. Jerry von Dohlen from Humboldt County will be presenting on some recent projects. Brian Kang from the City of Arcata will be presenting his recent interactive Mapserver work.

Our headlining presenter is Joseph Toland, an HSU alumnus. Joseph now works for FEMA as the Geospatial Intelligence Unit Leader. He has been deployed to many locations dealing with emergency response situations and will present on his work for a couple recent events including Somalia and Haiti.

Ushahidi Haiti Project

2010-02-01T18:10:00.000-08:00

Cool things are happening in the field of online interactive mapping. Increasingly, geospatial technology is being tested in it's application within crisis situations. The ability to crowdsource multiple data inputs (sms text, web, email) is crucial for data validity. The Ushahidi Haiti project has an interactive mapping platform for earthquake related emergencies. The application allows users to submit an incident based on a certain category, or to query out certain incidents based in a certain region. The open source project is a free download for use and development. Check out the Ushahidi website.

24 Hour World Air Traffic

2009-12-31T16:29:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder where all those planes flying above are going? Watch this 24 time lapse of World air travel as the sun slowly makes it path from east to west.

World Air Traffic Over 24 Hours - Funny video clips are a click away

Where did all the jobs go

2009-12-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

This interesting map details job loss through the nation via an interactive map from Unemployment statistics from the Bureau of labor statistics.

HSU GIS Day

2009-12-02T17:01:00.001-08:00

Well GIS day was a sucess. Everyone had a great time, the presenters did an outstanding job, and a lot of friends were made. Pictures from the event are posted on the ASPRS Norther California Region's website. We should have them up on the clubs website soon as well. Thanks to all who came and especially to Whelan and Tom for making the night a success.

GIS HowTo

2009-12-02T09:37:00.000-08:00

A new GIS website just launched, featuring GIS video tutorials for a wide range of software programs and cartography tricks. This site is intended for both students at all levels and professionals. Check out the website here.

Club to host GIS day event

2009-10-19T14:05:00.000-07:00

The Humboldt State University Geospatial Club will be hosting a GIS day speaker series event on November 18, 2009. The club, an ASPRS student chapter, is excited to have Tom Patterson, a wildland fire specialist for ESRI, as our guest speaker. The event will be located on campus in Science B, 135 from 5-8pm. Snacks and refreshments will be provided by ASPRS. Hope to see everyone there.

Check out the event on the GIS day website.

Unofficial GIS SIG

2009-10-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

From the group, "This is a list for software developers, programmers, and architects, for discussion of general issues around the Python language (and variants), platforms, and geographic information systems." Python GIS SIG

This is an offshoot of the Python:Web SIG which can be found here.

GIS Tips and Tricks

2009-09-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

Aubrey Drescher, Geospatial Engineer runs this blog on GIS tips and tricks. Although it doesn't yet have a lot of content, what is there is well organized and thought out. Most of the tips and tricks have screen shots for those of us who are graphically advantaged. She has a great introduction for who are unsure of what exactly GIS is, and explains the more advanced material very well. Check it out.

Agg Data

2009-09-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

Check out AggData which has data for almost anything you can think of. Want to know where all the Family Dollar stores are located? They got it. How about Chuck E Cheese? Yup.

From the AggData website:

AggData is short for aggregate data, which means a set of data that is collected together in one place. On this site, the AggData will come in the form of a list of records, where each record has details about a specific object in the group. For example, a set of AggData to describe countries would be a list of every country in the world, perhaps with details such as capital city, land area, population, and so forth. The raw data might look like the following:

Afghanistan, Kabul, 647,500 sq km, 31,056,997
Albania, Tirana, 28,748 sq km, 3,581,655
Algeria, Algiers, 2,381,740 sq km, 32,930,091
...

and so on. While this information is already publicly available on the web, the advantage of AggData is that the data is collected into one file that is very raw and portable, which makes it easy to integrate into any application or website.

ESRI Shapefile viewer for Data.gov

2009-09-14T16:24:00.001-07:00

ESRI now has a slick viewer for shapefiles found on Data.gov. You can search for data, drag and drop the files, and they will be displayed on a pan and zoom map interface. It also has an identity tool that allows attribute information to be viewed for objects. The display has a slick transparency slider between street and imagery basemap options. Check it out.

Shapefile Viewer

California Wildfire Time-lapse

2009-09-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

Amazing time-lapse of the fires down south. Check them out.

California Roadkill Observation SystemCalifornia Roadkill Observation System

2009-09-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

Check out this site looking to document roadkill statistics in order to help understand and try to influence the factors that contribute to roadkill. Sign up for an account and help document your finding of roadkill. No more license plate alphabet games, let's look for roadkill! GPS may be required.

http://wildlifecrossing.ucdavis.edu/

2009 NAIP California Imagery Available!

2009-08-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

The Imagery for the Nation (IFTN) Record of Decision was approved by the FGDC Executive Committee and is now available on the website at http://www.fgdc.gov/iftn. The record of decision documents the basic configuration and approach for IFTN, and forms the basis for completion of the IFTN Phase 1 plan. The record of decision was also endorsed by the National Geospatial Advisory Committee yesterday (the endorsement will also be posted as soon as the final language is confirmed).

The 2009 NAIP flights for California have now concluded and 57 of 58 sid-compressed county mosaics (exception of Tuolumne County; look for it next week) are now available at the NRCS data gateway. Those counties larger than 4 gb in size are not downloadable through the gateway, but will shortly be available through CalAltas. The entire state of sid compressions is about 160 gb. The orthorectified and to some degree color-balanced geotiff quarterquads will be available in another 6-7 months.

http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/

Also available is the new 1-ft 2008 natural color orthoimagery for the SF bay area. Other higher resolution orthophotography (2007-8) will be available in the coming months for Sacramento urban, LA, Kern, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, and Solano counties.

Open OceanMap Released

2009-08-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

Of interest up here on the Redwood Coast for proposed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs):

From Geoconnexion:

Data collected from resource users like commercial and recreational fishermen is invaluable for informing fisheries management and marine habitat protection. Open OceanMap is a data collection tool used to effectively collect local expert knowledge in support of marine spatial planning. Using open source technologies, Ecotrust has developed Open OceanMap as a cross platform and transferable tool, published under the GNU General Public License.

New Semester = New Meeting Times

2009-08-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

Now that the semester is back in full swing we are starting to determine the best meeting time and place for the club meetings. For now it looks like we will be meeting at 4:30pm on Thursdays at Live from New York near the Plaza downtown Arcata. One of our main goals for the semester is the recruitment of fresh, motivated individuals looking to spend some time organizing club events. There should be a lot of fun activities on our plates this next year, so if you're interested in joining in meet us down for some pizza and refreshments.

Cartastrophe - Bad Maps Blog

2009-08-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

Check out this blog site dedicated to reviewing, critiquing, and generally giving advice about published maps and cartography.

Earth Topographic Map Released

2009-07-14T11:15:00.000-07:00

NASA has announced the release of the most complete topographic data of the earth to date. Over 99 percent of the earth’s surface was mapped using measurements obtained from NASA’s Terra spacecraft using the Japanese Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer instrument, aka Aster. Previously, the most comprehensive mapping of the earth’s topopgraphy was accomplished through the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission which produced data covering 80 percent of the earth’s surface. The new Aster data covers the earth from 83 degrees north latitude and 83 degrees south and produces new data for mostly desert and steep terrain areas not covered previously.

Congrats to Brian and Chantell

2009-04-08T17:25:00.001-07:00

Brian took first place with his Bathemtry poster and Chantell recieved an Honorable Mention for her Klamath HDD+ poster at CALGIS! Nice job guys.

Club Presenting Speakers 4/22

2009-04-07T21:52:00.000-07:00

The HSU Geospatial club and the ASPRS Northern California Region are excited to present speakers on April 22, 2009. David Lamphere from Green Diamond will be giving a talk entitled "Lidar Remote Sensing in Forest Management." Ron Ondrejka will be giving a remote sensing talk entitled "Evaluation of airborne remote sensing systems in support of law enforcement on Federal wilderness lands."

Please join us in SCI B 135. Light refreshments will be served starting at 5:30pm. Talks start at 6:30pm.

Club Presenting at Sustainability Conference in Chico

2008-09-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

Grassroots GIS: Application of Geographic Information Systems and Cartography for Sustainability in Northern Oregon

Humboldt State University Geospatial Club (HSU-GC), in collaboration with BARK (a forest advocacy group), present a geospatial analysis of the proposed Palomar Pipeline, a liquid natural gas (LNG) pipeline that would run from Astoria, Oregon, to a LNG connection in the eastern part of the state that provides natural gas to the California market. HSU-GC focused on potential impacts on wildlife and old growth forest in the Mt. Hood National Forest. BARK field crews are “ground-truthing” HSU-GCʼs findings with GPS location verification.

HSU-GC and BARK worked together to produce maps that would be accessible and meaningful to the public and other stakeholders. BARK's leadership deploys these maps at public rallies and stakeholder meetings to educate participants on the real impacts of the proposed pipeline; the GIS provides a powerful visual aid to decision-makers and citizens. The maps are presented as handouts and projections, and are also available in interactive formats on the Internet.

Conference Website:
http://www.csuchico.edu/sustainablefuture/events/2008conference/conference_info.shtml

GeoSpatial Club Presentation: Saturday, November 8th

ArcGIS 9.3 Service Pack 1

2008-09-07T21:12:00.000-07:00

This is an announcement for the upcoming ArcGIS 9.3 Service Pack 1, planned to available for download in November. It contains a list of the issues targeted for ArcGIS 9.3 SP1.

ASPRS Scholarships

2008-07-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

New deadline for ASPRS Scholarships is October 10, 2008. There are also new application guidelines. The ASPRS conference is in March this year, two months earlier than usual. Head to this link to view the guidelines and information about the conference and scholarship.

NEW FOR 2009

**The Abraham Anson Memorial Scholarship** is being offered for the
first time this year.  This $1,000 grant is presented** **as a memorial
to Abraham Anson. It's designed to encourage students who have an
exceptional interest in pursuing scientific research or education in
geospatial science or technology related to photogrammetry, remote
sensing, surveying and mapping to enter a professional field where they
can use the knowledge of their discipline to excel in their profession.

**The Francis H. Moffitt Memorial Scholarship** is now valued at $3,000,
an increase of $1,000 over the 2008 grant! This award is for study in
surveying or photogrammetry leading to a career in the geospatial
mapping profession.

...and please note, the **Leica GeoSystems Internship** is now the
**ERDAS Internship**

For questions contact:

*Jesse Winch
Scholarship Administrator*
ASPRS: The Imaging & Geospatial Information Society
5410 Grosvenor Lane, Suite 210
Bethesda MD  20814-2160
301-493-0290 ext. 101
301-493-0208 (fax)
jwinch(at)asprs.org

Club Project: Third Millennium Alliance

2008-06-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

The GeoSpatial Club is currently assiting the Third Millennium Alliance (3M Alliance), an international nonprofit in the process of preserving and expanding portions of the Jama-Coaque Rainforest in western Ecuador. 3M Alliance’s current 275 acre Jama-Coaque Reserve represents a crucial link in a dwindling conservation corridor connecting the Americas. 3MA is working to expand the reserve to the adjacent 400 acres of rainforest.

The GeoSpatial club is assisting with mapping of the reserve border, corridor assessment, tree species identification, trail placement including lookouts and points of interest. Analysis will also include threats to the reserve, including poaching and illegal timber harvesting. Mapping products generated from the project will assist 3MA with reserve management, promoting conservation of additional tracts of rainforest.

Check out the 3MA website for more information!
http://www.3malliance.org/

CCRP Symposium

2008-05-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

GeoSpatial club member Josef Eckert gave a presentation on Agricultural Workers Health Initiative (AWHI), as part of the California Center for Rural Policy (CCRP) today in the Green and Gold room at Humboldt State University. To learn more about AWHI check out the California Endowment website.

ASPRS Conference Photos

2008-05-03T12:08:00.001-07:00

El Presidante

Rainbow

Can you spot Aaron?

Breakfast!?

Jack of all trades.

Dr. Steinberg showing off his poster.

Joe during poster session.

Chris checking out the posters.
Convention center art.

Portland or Bust

2008-04-28T22:08:00.000-07:00

The group is headed up to Portland tomorrow for a week of technical mayhem. Should be fun. Hopefully we will have time between getting a bunch of swag, and presentations to post some photos. A few of us will be presenting posters from projects we've done. Mostly a lot of note taking and mingling amongst the best of the best in Remote Sensing and GIS. Maybe we will see you there!

HSU Alum to speak on Wed 4/16

2008-04-12T00:12:00.000-07:00

If you have available time come over to NR 203 from 1-2pm. Jen Pollom, an HSU Alum (M.S. 2006), will be giving a talk about GIS in the real world for the campus community. The talk is free and open to the community so come support alumni and the GeoSpatial club. Drinks and snacks will be provided.

Science Camp '08

2008-03-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

If you are sticking around for the summer, interested in GIS, and love kids we may have just what you're looking for. HSU is hosting a summer science camp, in collaboration with the USFS and the City of Arcata, in which one aspect will be working some basic GIS and GPS projects. The kids will be around 10 years of age and the camp will meet for three mondays in July:July 14, July 21, July 28.

There is a possibility that a stipend will be available for helping, otherwise it would be on a volunteer basis but a great opportunity. If interested please contact Dr. Steinberg @ sjs7001@humboldt.edu.

GIS in Health

2008-03-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

HealthMap is an interesting website mapping out global diseases in the last 30 days. A unique concept for the health industry and a huge endeavor at that. The sources are apparently quite comprehensive and of variable reliability and ranging from Google News to the World Health Organization. The website was established by Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology.

Python and GIS Resources

2008-03-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

Here are some good links for using python script in your GIS projects. If you dont know python, now is a good time to learn it.

http://gislounge.com/python-and-gis-resources/

GIS Certification

2008-02-21T22:58:00.000-08:00

The GIS Certification Institute's (GISCI) Grandfathering Provision Ends December 31, 2008. Read up on the latest GIS grandfathering provisions in the World of GIS certification. Do you qualify?

HSU Digital Spatial Data

2008-02-13T10:47:00.000-08:00

This is a shout out to our very own Spatial Library website. A useful start for finding GIS layers for projects, or just general information about GIS. An extensive list of links that any GISer should become familiar with.

WELCOME

2008-02-01T21:34:00.000-08:00

This is the page for the Humboldt State University GIS Club. Here you will find all the latest in activities of the members of the club. We will try and keep this blog updated as much as possible. Thanks for viewing.