ATS Blog

So, we are set up to geo-blog. In order to view entries that have geospatial data associated with them you will need to have a copy of Google Earth. Once you have Google Earth, you can see the ATS blog by:

• Firing up Google Earth.
• Clicking Add > Network Link from the top menu in GE
• Pasting in http://keillor.richmond.edu/blojsom/blog/ats/?flavor=kml2
• The ATS blog will be listed in "My Places"

Adam Burt helped make this Geo-blogging happen with some scripts he created for Ecto. Adam also uses a neat little icon on his blog that shows users that they can subscribe to his blog with Google Earth. Since he enjoys flying, he has many more entries with lat/long coordinates.

How are we going to use this Geo-blogging in education?

I would like to add Geo-blog entries to the CEH blog. The CEH blog is used by the Urban Crisis class. On this past Saturday we toured the city of Richmond to see the various sections and how urban issues are plaguing some of them. We brought with us 2000 census data to view the socioeconomics of each section of the city as well as the mixture of race and median values of homes. Two themes that seemed to resonate over and over again during the tour were race and class. I'll be taking the tour again this weekend with a GPS unit to mark the various locations of the city so that others can take the tour virtually [I brought it along this past weekend but couldn't get any satellite data from inside the bus ]. Each stop on the tour will be a section of the city and another blog entry with geospatial information. This will give us the ability to look at each section of the city and provide another tool to help determine the multiple issues that keep some sections from being able to escape urban blight and poverty.

Another potential use is in the disaster sciences. I have worked with a professor in the past on the Disaster Database Project. This project catalogs over a 1,500 disasters, locations, date, number of people killed, and response to those disasters. It is an effort to understand why and when disasters occur as well as the best ways to lessen the impact a disaster. The instructor in this project just created a Micronation called Perilo. This is a cyber community specifically designed with the purpose to study disaster science. I can see how geo-blogging could be used in this discipline.

Lastly, students in Journalism 311 are blogging about politics. [You can view their blogs: Montana, Tennessee, Ohio, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania] It would be interesting for students to add the meta information for lat and long on news stories affecting the races in the various states. For example, what is most likely to swing the voters: news items happening in the country or what is happening locally in their own state? Tagging entries with geo meta data may help us identify the factors affecting the outcomes elections.

So, this is going to be very interesting. Thanks so much, Adam!