Fundrace: Tracking Who Gives How Much to Whom

Made available on the HUFFINGTON POST, a web site that lets you know what your neighbors gave to the candidates using a Google Map interface. I saw that someone in Poughkeepsie gave a big chunk of change to Mitt Romney in 2007 and then gave a comparable sum to Hillary Clinton in 2008. I wonder whom SHE will vote for in November?

Fundrace says: "Want to know if a celebrity is playing both sides of the fence?" Above shows Barbara Streisand, well-known Democrat and rich entertainer, with a symbol indicating she is half elephant and half donkey. Don't know why. Also note that she gave money in 2004 to my local Democratic Representative John Hall, also an entertainer, not as wealthy, but whom lives far far away from Babs who is in California. Seems that Barbara Streisand helped the Democrats take over the House!

Interactive Map of Area Hit By Tornado in Iowa

There's a very well done interactive map available through the DesMoines Register that follows on the May 25, 2008 tornado that tore through Parkensburg, IA. The map above shows tax parcels and level of damage by color code, locations of photographs and videos. There are some eery videos shot on bank surveillance cameras that show the tornado tearing the roof off of a house and blasting windows open on the bank. There is also cell phone video footage.

And when you click on a tax parcel for many of the areas, you can get a before photo and an after shot (circled in red). The before picture often looks like a photograph suitable for a real estate agent's sales catalogue. This site is a prime example of the power of maps and publicly-produced, spatially-related images and other content. If only a mashup like this was available for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. If it was, I didn't hear about it.

Thanks, Sean Connin of NITLE.

LiDAR Imagery of Ireland's Seas

The Marine Institute and Geological Survey of Ireland makes available LiDAR survey results as part of the Irish National Seabed Survey. Data have been collected since 2006. The image above is from their Google Earth collection. Get the above KMZ of Mulroy Bay here as a small taste of the detail available with these bathymetric data.

From Very Spatial.

Google Earth for Ethnobotanists Workshop

I heard that the Annual Meeting for the Society for Economic Botany had a Google Earth workshop recently. The workshop was led by Dr. Kim Bridges of the Univ.of Hawaii and included "demonstrations and exercises start(ing) with the basic features of Google Earth and extend(ing) to a variety of tasks that are helpful to ethnobotanists." To find out more go to the meeting web page and scroll down to POST-MEETING EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS and then Google Earth for Ethnobotanists.

Here are Prof. Bridges' materials for the workshop. He includes how to use Google Earth in ethnobotany, making KMLs, using photos, using GPS points, lists of web resources, and many others useful examples.

Sanborn LiDAR Seminar Series in Albany, NY

Sanborn (the fire maps folks) is presenting a free LiDAR seminar on August 14, 2008 at the Albany Marriott - 189 Wolf Rd., Albany, NY 12205. The free seminar will run from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and includes a continental breakfast. The seminar will feature a brief introduction into the basics of LiDAR, its latest technology developments, and a comprehensive overview on application trends. Sanborn will also be hosting a live software demo for customizable 3D and cross section viewing.

To register for the free seminar, please click here http://www.sanborn.com/LIDARSeminar2008/index.asp. For further information, contact Sanborn at 866-SANBORN.

New York Environmental Data and Mapping Gateway

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has long had an interactive web mapping site filled with environmental data. It looks like the NYSDEC is starting to put some of their data into KML format. Check out the NYSDEC's virtual globe data web site; they'll probably add to this list. From the email announcement: "We're particularly excited about broadening access to our geographic data through the use of file formats compatible with virtual globe software including Google Earth."