Jul 30 2015

GeoGuessr – Let’s explore the world!

GeoGuessr is a geography game which takes you on a journey around the world and challenges your ability to recognize your surroundings.

Source: geoguessr.com

When I was a child I used to wonder if woke up somewhere far from home, would I be able to know where I was just by looking at the places around me (I was a geo-geek from way back when). GeoGuessr is the closest thing to finding yourself lost in the world and needing to figure out where you are without being wisked away. GeoGuessr will display 5 locations in GoogleMaps “StreetView” and you have to guess where the images are located. You can pan and zoom in the StreetView to explore the landscape and find more context clues as to where that location is. It is a fantastic exploration exercise.

Tags: landscape, place, trivia.

Jul 22 2015

The ArcGIS Book

“Explore ten ‘big ideas’ that encapsulate the technological and social trends that have pushed geographic information systems (GIS) onto the Internet in a significant way. See how to apply these ideas to your own world. Open your eyes to what is now possible with Web GIS, and put the technology and deep data resources in your hands via the Quickstarts and Learn ArcGIS lessons that are included in each chapter.”

Source: learn.arcgis.com

I haven’t fully previewed this online textbook yet but I am VERY optimistic about this one from the ESRI library. You can also download the textbook as a PDF here. There are several other online textbooks that would interest geography teachers

Tags: GIS, ESRI, mapping, cartography, geospatial, edtech, geography education, unit 1 GeoPrinciples, textbook.

Jul 11 2015

Coastal Geography Field Trips

“The study of geography is not concerned with memorizing the names of states, capitals and continents, said RIC Adjunct Professor of Geography Jennifer Bonin. It is a field of science dedicated to the study of everything on the earth and in the earth – the lands, features, inhabitants and geological phenomena. ‘Geography is the history of the planet,’ she said.

For five summers, Bonin has taught a course on coastal geography, providing students with the history of Rhode Island’s coastal regions. Her first class is held at Napatree Point in Westerly, the western-most part of Rhode Island. Located at the end of a mile-and-a-half-long stretch of beach, not even the locals tend to venture out that far.

Source: www.ric.edu

Jul 3 2015

Pawtucket’s McCoy Stadium endangered for no good reason

If you’re searching for the real reason why the new owners of the Pawtucket Red Sox padded the announcement of their acquisition earlier this year with the accompanying news that they would move the team from its longtime home at McCoy Stadium, pay a visit to the Dusza-Almeida Post 2339.

Source: www.boston.com

These articles from the Boston Globe and the NY Times are great explorations of the economic geography of baseball and the place-based traditions that are rooted in having a team to call your own (even if the news is painful to many long-time residents. There is a lot of anger in Pawtucket at the news that the team is planning to leave McCoy stadium. This isn’t just a devastating financial blow to the Pawtucket community; for decades, Pawtucket could hang there hat on being home to the PawSox and that communal identity was one of the defining distinctions between Pawtucket and Central Falls. Now it’ll be just another struggling town. How will this impact Pawtucket and Providence neighborhoods?