GeoSpatial Blog
Reminder: all lab exercises are due this week--none will be accepted after Thanksgiving.
Contribution from Matt Randall: I'd like to share this website--see draganfly. It's a remote helicopter with a camera rig, similar to what we used on the class field trip.
Active student roster (ver. 2.0).Contribution from John Countryman: These photos were from a trip to Armenia with the National Guard unit that I am with. We had a stop off in England before we went to Armenia. The pics are from the flight between here and England, and they are of Greenland from between 36 and 38 thousand feet.

Canadian glossary on satellites.
The field trip to Ross Reservation was highly successful with nice fall weather and good autumn color. Fourteen students participated along with your intructor and GTA. In addition to working with GPS, we conducted kite aerial photograph from the western side of the reservation. Sample kite aerial photos are presented below.

Our field trip to Ross Reservation will take place on Saturday, Oct. 24th. Meet in the campus north parking lot--next to practice athletic fields--at 9 o'clock Saturday morning. Bring your lunch/beverage, notebook, etc. Wear appropriate clothing and footgear for walking through prairie fields and woodlands. We will spend the morning practicing map, compass, and GPS skills. In the afternoon, we will attempt small-format aerial photography. At this point Saturday's weather forecast is looking quite nice.
Note: All students in eastern Kansas are expected to participate in the field trip. More distant students must undertake a field experience of their own; contact your instructor for details.
Active student roster (ver. 1.0).
Note 1: your instructor will be away on an extended
field trip for ES 546 during the fall break.
I also found on the USGS a link to an article of geospatial analysis used to indicate landslide prone areas of the United States and Puerto Rico. These maps that were produced can be used for later applications. Go to landslides.
Contribution from Charles Boruch: Learn about ArcGIS. ERSI launched ArcGIS Online, a web-based repository where users can find and share geographic content.
Your instructor and his wife had an interesting time at the Tar Creek conference in Miami, Oklahoma last week. We had an opportunity to conduct blimp aerial photography at a passive treatment facility in neighboring Commerce. The series of ponds is designed to simulate wetlands with biological and chemical cleaning of contaminated water draining from old lead and zinc mines nearby. The treatment facility removes lead, zinc, cadnium, iron, and other heavy metals. Only a small amount of power is necessary to run aeration pumps; the power is provided by a solar panel and small wind turbine.
This week's bonus question: What sports figure is the most famous person to come from Commerce, Oklahoma? The first three students to answer with an explanation (source) will receive a bonus point for the next lab exercise.
Contribution from Philip Rogers: I recently returned from the ESRI Health GIS Conference, which took place in Nashville. It was a great experience. I have begun to record some additional thoughts that I have about geospatial data sharing, among other topics. Go to data sharing.
Note: Your instructor will be away from campus Sept. 22-24 attending a conference in Oklahoma--see Tar Creek. Kary Reznicek will supervise class sessions in the GSA lab.
Last week's bonus question: The latitude difference between Emporia, KS (38½°N) and the South Pole (90°S) = 128½° @ 111 km per degree = ~14,265 km. According to infoplease.com, the distance from Emporia to Penang, Malaysia is ~14,870 km, more than 600 km farther than the South Pole! Note: exact distance calculations depend on the geodetic datum and may vary slightly.
We have covered introductory map and cartography subjects, so now we're ready to move on to the subjects of aerial photography and satellite imagery. See remote sensing and GCraft remote sensing.
Bonus question: The farthest student your instructor has had previously was in Penang, Malaysia. This student earned both a GSA graduate certificate and M.S. degree from ESU via distance learning. This semester, one of our students (in this course) will be stationed at the South Pole, Antarctica. So the question is, which is farther away from Emporia, Kansas--Penang or the South Pole?
This question involves a so-called great circle route--the shortest route between any two points on the globe. As a clue, consider that the distance from Emporia to the South Pole is simply the difference in latitude degrees @ 111 km per degree. The first three students to answer with an explanation (source) will receive a bonus point for the next lab exercise.
Contribution from Matt Randall. Go to www.wolframalpha.com. There is a "Places and Geography" button at the bottom. I only found this site today, but I plugged "geomagnetism Emporia, KS" into the search bar (gold box at top) and it brought up some info; kind of neat.
This happens some years when high pressure is persistent in the Rocky Mountains. Warm air is directed northward along the Pacific coast from California to Alaska, and cool air flows southward in the Great Plains. While Kansas has enjoyed an unusually mild summer, California is baking and burning.
So, is this a short-term anomaly or a trend? Last year at about this time, also record low temperatures were set in Kansas. For example, a record low was reached at Atchison on Sept. 9. The new mark of 42°F shattered the old Atchison record of 49°F set in 1966. In fact, Kansas summer weather has been relatively cool and wet for the past several years--the last really hot summer was 2000, when many record high temperatures were set.
These climatic fluctuations track closely with sunspot cycles. The last peak in sunspots was 2000-01. The current sunspot minimum has been significantly longer than usual, by at least 2-3 years, which may explain these climatic variations. See sunspot predication. GIS is utilized to store, analyze, and model such climatic data across regions and globally.
Otherwise, during the on-campus lab session yesterday, Alan Peterson asked about magnetic declination. Most topographic maps of eastern Kansas indicate declination of ~6-8°E. But declination varies as the magnetic poles slowly drift. Current declination for eastern Kansas is ~4°E. For more info, see NGDC.
Our subject this week deals with how maps locate things on the Earth's surface--see georeferencing and GCraft projection. Tutorial 1-2 is due at this time, and we begin 1-3. On-campus students will have a map demonstration in the GSA lab.
Note: Two more items have been added to the geospatial resources list.
Bonus point: What is the origin of the name "Idrisi" of our GIS software? Available only for the first three distance-learning students who respond by Wednesday. Bonus point added to next lab score.
Our reading assignment this week is NCGIA unit 002. Idrisi Taiga tutorial 1-1 is due this week, and we move on to 1-2. Note: some on-campus students will work in the GSA lab on Tuesdays at 1 o'clock and others on Thursdays, due to the large number of students in the course.
Fall picnic: physical sciences fall picnic will take place on Thursday, Sept. 3rd in Hammond Park (just west of campus). All geospatial analysis students are invited to attend--pick up tickets for $3 each in PS office.
Reminder: all students must fill out, sign, and return the student agreement form either electronically or in paper format. On-campus students will do this at our first class meeting.
Disturbing news about Landsat 5, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary of collecting earth imagery. The venerable satellite lost power and spun out of control a few days ago. Stability and function seem to be restored, but imagery must be evaluated--see Landsat 5 status reports.
Note: all students must fill out, sign, and return the student agreement form either electronically or in paper format. On-campus students will do this at our first class meeting.
Your instructor had a productive summer, which involved kite and blimp aerial photography of wetland sites in Pennsylvania, Maine and Massachusetts--see latest additions at geospectra.net.
Distance-learning students should enroll for ES 351 ZA. They must have access to Idrisi Taiga software, which is the primary GIS utilized in this introductory course. Distance-learning students can obtain a "student starter" license for only $95, which is limited to one year usage.
Beginning in August, students should consult this blog frequently for course activities, notes, announcements, and reminders. All students are expected to make regular contributions to the blog as part of your course participation. Send blog text and images to your instructor.
Please contact the instructor with any comments or questions about the course.

Return to course syllabus or schedule.
EB/ES/GE 351 © J.S. Aber (2009).