Hills and Dales December 22, 2010
Posted by rnelson in cartography, gis, graphic visualization.add a comment
Google maps offer a number of interesting ways to extract and show geographic data. Among the most fascinating and useful for residents of our vertically challenged city are elevation transects. An elevation transect is a graph that shows how the land rises and falls between two (or more points). I have posted a set of examples to illustrate. The examples include transects between the centre of town (3rd and Victoria) and TRU, the airport and the heights of Aberdeen (neighbourhood), the route to Sun Peaks, a profile of Mount Paul, and routes to Vancouver and Calgary. Run your cursor (mouse) across the transect to locate hills and dales on the map.
You can adjust transect by mode of transportation (foot, bike, car, or direct)—although it only make sense to do so with a couple of the set examples I have created. You can also modify of the examples or create your own by dragging the start and end points to new locations, or by clicking on the map to create new ones. You can use up to 10 points to define the path of a transect. You can also toggle the view between road, satellite, hybrid, and terrain as usual. Unfortunately, this version does not offer any control over the transect’s y axis nor any ability to compare transect profiles. Have fun.
TRU Geography Scholarships — 2010 December 14, 2010
Posted by rnelson in Announcements.add a comment
TRU Geography Scholarships
were awarded to the following students this year.
- 4th Year: Pearce W. Sanders & Andrew G. Pillar
- 3rd Year: Samantha J. Smith
- 2nd Year: Margaret G. Massier
- Open Scholarship: Kyle Nadler, Double Degree Program
- Geography Faculty Award: Jennifer Martin
Congratulations to all.
The Department of Geography would like to thank all who have donated to the funds. Special mention goes to the Neave family, whose generous endowment has helped students meet their educational goals for over a decade. Roland Neave, the son of Hugh Neave, after whom the awards are named, holds degrees in geography and is the author of the Exploring Wells Gray Park.
Roland is also the founder of Wells Gray Tours, a Kamloops-based company that is now one of the largest tour operators in the province. Jim and Mary Miller, long-standing and now retired TRU faculty, initiated the Geography Faculty Award.
The meltdown economy … a geography of foreclosure! December 12, 2010
Posted by rnelson in Announcements.add a comment
It is well known that the United States’ economy is not in good shape. Official unemployment rates are hitting 10% while estimates of the real rate are in the high teens (this u-6 rate includes those who have given up looking for work). There is also wide agreement that the Great Recession, as it is now known, is directly linked to the meltdown of housing and mortgage markets.
Now, through the marriage of real estate databases and maps, anyone can inspect the geography of foreclosure firsthand. To do so, browse to google maps, select “Real Estate” under the more button on the map, and then the “Foreclosure” option that appears in the left margin. Zoom around: Florida, California, Arizona were the worst hit. Detroit, home, or once home to the the mighty automobile industry, is also remarkably pocked with red dots. You should also try Seattle and Bellingham and other places closer to home — not a pretty sight.
A lively discussion has developed around the information. A good place to start is Barry Ritzholtz’s blog. Several have questioned the timeliness of the data and the market status of the listings. It is should also be pointed out that google maps do not show foreclosure data for Canadian cities. If you zoom to foreclosures in Seattle, and then head north of the 49th, it may appear that the Canadian market is also experiencing the plague. Take a second however to refresh the view by 1) opening a new window (or tab) 2) go to google maps, 3) zoom to a Canadian city and 4) turn on real estate listings. Foreclosures may appear on google’s Canadian radar, but right now the information behemoth only appears to show real estate listings according to the number of bathrooms and bedrooms.
ESRI Scholarships December 8, 2010
Posted by rnelson in Gävle, Sweden, gis, scholarship.add a comment
For the second year in a row, ESRI Canada has awarded a scholarship to a TRU Geography student. Kyle Nadler was the recipient last year. This year Steven Lee was selected for the award. Both students are enrolled in our Double Degree program. Steven, along with 3 other students, is in Gävle this year, all following in the footsteps Kyle and 16 other TRU students have layed down since 2006. The scholarship consists of a cash prize, licenses to ESRI software, complimentary training materials and conference registration.
ESRI appears to be appreciate the character of the our program, identifying its “strong, multidisciplinary focus on GIS” as a critical strength. Our techniques courses connect with all facets of the program: physical, environmental, urban and economic. This orientation fits our long-term efforts to blend skills, theory, and case studies. And to provide students with opportunities to share their knowledge and abilities with community partners.
ESRI also works closely with the University of Gävle, our partner institution in Sweden. In fact the headquarter for ESRI Sweden are located on the technique park adjacent to the university. Makes sense. Gävle is the leading centre for geographic information systems in Sweden.
The highlights of Gävle December 6, 2010
Posted by rnelson in Gävle, Sweden, double degree.add a comment
I’ve put together a simple google map to pin point places of interest and utility in Gävle, the city in which our double degree partner institution is located. The list of places includes sporting venues, recreation facilities, parks, libraries, pubs, cafés, music halls, art galleries and museums, theatres, and places to shop and recreate (is shopping a recreational activity — certainly many finding it stimulating and re-freshing and in that sense re-creative). I’ve also threw in a few day-trip destinations in Gävle’s immediate hinterland.
The purpose of the map is to fire the imagination of future exchange students. Students who have already been to, or are presently residing in Gävle, can add sites (or correct any errors) by emailing me directly.
I would like to embed to embed the map within this page. However, the TRU configuration of Word Press does not permit iframes. Use the satellite and map buttons and the photo / video / wiki options to further enrich the scene.
Enough already … it’s winter December 1, 2010
Posted by rnelson in weather.Tags: graphs, seasons, temperature, weather, winter
2 comments
I know, I know. I am getting hung-up on this topic. But bear with me: the weather is after all the number one topic at Tim Horton’s, and the difference between climate and weather is one of the first things geography students learn. Furthermore, last week’s deep freeze produced a fresh round of “it’s so cold and there’s still three weeks to the official start of winter.” My favourite was chattered by a half-frozen reporter (who shall go nameless) slipping and sliding along the Lower Mainland’s longest curling rink (otherwise known at the Trans-Canada highway). Ice, snow, biting wind, record lows, and cars in the ditch, around trees, and on the backs of tow trucks … and still, “and it’s still only fall”. No, for once and for all time—seasons do not change with a day on the calendar. When they start and when they stop depends on the weather. If its really cold, and its been cold for some time, and the calendar says November or October or whatever, then consider the phrase “winter has come early”. I’ll buy that. But not “just wait until winter really arrives” with the attendant implication that the really cold weather will hit once winter is ‘officially’ here. Keith Heidorn, a PhD holding climatologist/meteorologist whose The BC Weather Book has received positive reviews from Environment Canada’s Senior Climatologist David Phillips, makes the same point:
The atmosphere … simply does not follow human, or heavenly, pronouncements … The media have taken these astronomical moments to signal the ‘official’ starts for the four weather seasons as if some Arthurian decree has bee issued from Camelot … in December 2002, reporters from bother Canada and the United States moaned that major snowstorms had audaciously struck prior to the official first winter day as if they were a bad call by a referee. (p. 23)
Heidorn provides a lively discussion of seasons and weather, noting that the solstices and equinoxes were once considered the mid-points of the seasons. The name for the summer solstice — mid-summer — is a case in point.
So is it winter? and if so when did it begin? The answer depends on how we define the season. My vote this year goes to November 18. That is the first day the mean daily temperature dropped below 0 Celcius and stayed there for several days in a row. The drop off was quite remarkable and set or almost touched record lows in many areas of the province. The graph below shows Kamloops temperature pattern in the context of long term average and record high and lows. The daily high and low for November 2010 are shown by the solid black bars; the dark grey shows the average highs and lows; and the light grey the record highs and lows. It is quite clear that the week from the 18th to the 25th was considerably colder than normal.
I’ve also taken a look at the November trends over the last decade. 2003 was a consistently cool November, but 2006 and 2010 were the years with the coldest days. 2009 was remarkably mild. You can also examine the seasonal patterns on this graph of mean daily temperatures since January 1, 2000. Zoom in on the graph by drag-selecting an area. Zoom out using the link near the top-right. Summers are show in pink and winters in grey. I used modified Scandinavian criteria to define the seasonal start-end dates. Spring is when temperatures rise above 0 Celcius and stay there for 9 days in a row; summer, above 12 Celcius for 9 days; fall below 12; winter, below 0. As you can see there is considerable variation in the seasons over the decade, as one would expect, especially for the summer and winter.
The Bock Lives November 26, 2010
Posted by rnelson in Sweden, double degree.Tags: Christmas, double degree, Gävle, Jul, Sweden
add a comment
The city of Gävle is known for more than being the home of TRU geography’s exchange and double degree partner institution. It is also the home of the Gävlebocken. The 13 metre high, 3.6 tonne Christmas straw goat (assembled on a metal frame) is one of the city’s best known icons. The bock, a traditional symbol of the season, was first assembled in 1966 as part of a marketing campaign by the local business community. Over the years, the bock has attracted more attention for the attempts — many of which were successful — to burn or otherwise vandalize the structure. Last year, the goat went up inflames on December 23rd shortly after a digital assault knocked out the Bock’s security cameras.
In 2005, the goat succumbed to flaming arrows shot by archers dressed as a Jultomte (Santa Claus) and gingerbread man. The Gävlebocken stands in front in a square in front of the city library near the centre of town. The square is also home to a second bock built annually by members of the Natural Science club at one of the local high schools. This group holds the record for the world’s largest Yule Goat.
You can watch the bock on webcams from the end of November until the end of December. The best times to put check out the “action” on November 28th, 2010 at 3 pm Swedish time (6 am PST that is) when this year’s goat is inaugurated with fire works and song. This year the new lead singer from Ace of Base, one of Sweden’s biggest exports in the 1990s, is featured. Otherwise, check out the bock’s status anytime you tire of the annual Christmas fire place broadcast, saved in perpetuity on YouTube in case you missed any of the action. It is not known if the hand that feeds the fire and the pyros in Gävle are on and the same. You may also be interested to know the bock has its own blog (in both Swedish and English since the goat is bilingual) and twitter accounts. If the bock survives local (and tourist) pyromaniacs, the bock is disassembled in early January.
Graphing in the Ether November 18, 2010
Posted by rnelson in graphic visualization.Tags: cartography, flash, graphs, maps
add a comment
Geography is a visual discipline—maps after all are one of our most important and definitely most characteristic tools. Maps are what we are known for.
Desktop computers have dramatically after the craft of creating maps, graphs and other visual tools. In the last decade, the internet has also reshaped the way in which maps are delivered and constructed. It is common now to see live election results streamed to the internet, allowing citizens to see polling results ebb and flow across space. The New York Times is one of the leaders. It posted a series of fascinating maps and graphs for the US mid-term election polls and results. Viewers could check the current (and historical) composition of “the house”, prognostications, and the tallies and possibilities as they were reported. Other fascinating examples on their site includes a carto-graphical depiction of who, why and where people get “stopped, questioned, and frisked,” one of the NY police’s tactics for reducing crime; and an interactive graph of the Great Recession’s unemployment rates by race, sex, age, education. Check out the NY Times’ media links for more of not only informative but quality examples of visual communication.
Until fairly recent, the construction of graphics like those on the NY Times required significant programming skills. HTML was just a small part of a Flash, php, xml, javascript, perl, and ruby on rails tower of babel one might need to master. However, companies and organizations are now offering tool kits that make the job much more straight-forward. One example of a site produced using a commercial web-mapping software is found on BC Stats population and demography page. Using the InstantAtlas interface, the page allows users to map a select set of demographic times series. The interface allows users to not only select and filter sets of data, but to adjust the choropleth symbols and classification strategies used to display it. A great teaching tool.
If you what to try your hand at creating a flash based graph, FusionGraphs has made an earlier version of their software available for free. Follow the tutorial and then modify to show your own data. Here’s a test graph I created to test it out.
Another option is an open source package (free to use and modify) called Open Flash Chart. It also has tutorials. The default output is not as glossy—as my simple example illustrates—and there are some other layout bugs that need fixing (join the team); however, that may be a good thing. One of the drawbacks of many of the commercial packages is an emphasis on eye candy options: rainbows of colour, shadowed confusions, clutters of text, and a Hallowe’en of 3D scariness.
Omnipresent Google has is also in on the act. It offers html based graphs, including a handy wizard tool for constructing them. Check out an example using Google’s older code, and an interactive example using new coding. Both use the same data as the previous examples. Google’s interface may be the way to go if you have limited coding experience. For those with more background, you may want to check out Highcharts. They offer a suite of code (a library) that produces high quality graphs using default values. My last rendition of the migration graph was built using their column graph code (html5 and javascript). This organization provides the best documentation of the lot.
Tala svenska November 4, 2010
Posted by rnelson in Sweden, double degree.Tags: double degree, Gävle, geomatics, Sweden
add a comment
We hope you are aware that TRU geography has a special arrangement with the University of Gävle in Sweden. Geography major students can earn a BSc in Geomatics with an extra year of study at our partner institution. We have had a couple of students complete their year abroad already and several who are there right now. To help future “double degree” or “double diploma” students make the most of this opportunity, geography has begun to offer a very basic, fun, totally voluntary, and untested (and uncredited) introduction to the Swedish language and culture. Students do not need to know Swedish to enroll or complete the double degree. All courses in Gävle are taught in English. However, a little knowledge of the Swedish language can come in handy when shopping, travelling, hanging out, or deciphering the instructions for the washing machine.
If you are interested in learning a little Swedish, please feel free to drop by — we meet in the “Blue room” in the CAC (close to the student coffee shop) between 12:30 and 1:30 on Mondays. If you want to learn or practise Swedish, but are not a geography student, or aren’t planning on the double degree, drop by anyway. Vi ska gärna träffa dig.
Its definitely fall October 25, 2010
Posted by rnelson in Announcements.Tags: fall, weather
add a comment
Reflecting on my September posting, I recently hurried over to Environment Canada to see if all the reds and golds and frosty mornings heralded the climatic arrival of fall, or at least the definition that our colleagues in Scandinavia use. As mentioned fall is said to arrive in Finland and Sweden when the average daily temperature falls below 10 degrees Celsius for 7 days in a row. Now one can debate whether 10 is an appropriate number for Kamloops or British Columbia, but in the absence of ready historical data, let’s see what the figure says about this and a few other years. According to the records posted online, fall arrived this year on October 15th, but just barely. On the eighth day of the “fall trend,” the mean rose above 10, only to fall again. In 2009, October 1st was the critical date, October 8th in 2008, October 25th in 2007 and October 16th in 2006. If 10 is a justifiable, round number demarkation of the seasons, then it appears those who prefer the fall equinox may be jumping the gun in this neck of the woods. In Gävle, just over 60°N and home of our double degree partner, the average transition point is around September 23.