Transit planning and GIS

 My research for a  term project last year lead me to a lot of new and interesting sites related to transit.  I'd like to highlight one of them.  I would like to look at Jarret Walker's blog  (http://www.humantransit.org/).  Mr. Walker has years of experience working on public transportation and has even written a book on it.  His blog has a ton of general information related to mass transit as well as specific parts dedicated to individual cities.  So far I have only had time to read the Portland Oregon part of his blog.  It has a lot of information and I can only assume his other sections are just as detailed.  I like his blog because it isn't just one or two paragraphs per subject.  He really dives into the material.   I'm sure his blog will be a huge resource for me when it comes to public transit.   

python programming, and more

This term I took a python programing class.  I had done a little programming a few years ago but didn't remember a lot.   Taking this class remind  me  how useful program can be for running automated tasks.  If you have never heard of  python and you do a lot of geoprocessioning  I recommend checking it out.  Here's  link to my programming class webpage http://gisgeek.pdx.edu/wordpress/gis-programming-python/.  There are lots of good links so you can start exploring python.  Python is a very simple programming language and is easy to get started with. 

Taking this class also made me realize how much we are dependent on programing.  Every webpage relies on programing.  The interactive pages require a lot of programing.  Today I read an interesting article on wired.  ( http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/03/facebook-hack/) Some engineers from Facebook have created a new programing language called 'Hack".  A lot of people think this will be the language of the future.  The cool part is that it is open source and has been tested on one of the biggest  platforms there is, Facebook itself.  I haven't had a lot of time to look into it further, but I'm interested to learn more and see how it works. 

A great way to display statistics of San Fransisco crimes

 

 

map designed by Doug McCune

I came across this map on strange maps http://bigthink.com/blogs/strange-maps.  These infographics were created using 2009 crime stats for San Fransisco. It can get so boring looking "heat" maps of crime or boring old graphs.  Doug's approach brings a new look to crime data.  It does a really good job at showing where the hot spots are for crime.  I In general I think 3-d images do a great job at capturing people's attention.  If your interested in finding more unique maps I recommend checking out Strange Maps      

Cool new site

Curiosity of Hand Maps.org http://www.handmaps.org/recent.php?ID=347

 I've been trying to find some good books on cartography (I know the internet is full of useful information, but there is just something about a physical book).  As I was searching for book I came across this site site http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/01/07/must-read-map-books/.  which eventually lead me to Hand Maps http://www.handmaps.org/index.php .  This site has user submitted maps that are hand drawn.  With the so much cartography and map making done using a computer its really refreshing to see some hand drawn maps.  Some are simple sketches of family trips while others are very detailed.  This site has given me some inspiration and I'm thinking of taking the time to make a hand made map. Maybe it'll will be good enough to appear on Hand Maps. 

Google map tutorials

When Google Earth first came out I was in high school.  I though it was so amazing being able to look at anyplace on earth and mark places I’ve been.  Over the last decade they’ve kept adding new features to it.  Beyond Google Earth Google has revolutionized the way we look at and use maps.   In the past I’ve mainly used Google Maps to look up location, but there is so much more you can do.  For example you can create custom maps, look up traffic conditions among other things.  Below is a link to Google maps tutorials.  http://www.google.com/earth/outreach/tutorials/all.html Some of the videos are very useful.  I hope to use some of these new techniques and post  some examples of my work. 

Earlier this fall I learned about an amazing company called Mapbox.  Mapbox is an exciting company that has created an online platform that allows users to build custom maps.  They're really on the cutting edge of bringing meaningful maps to everyone.  Be sure to checkout their website https://www.mapbox.com/ I also wanted to post a link to a radio show, which the CEO of Mapbox discusses the future of interactive and custom maps.  http://thekojonnamdishow.org/audio-player?nid=24504

For Christmas one of my presents was a book called The Best American Infographics 2013.  This book is compilation of infogrpahics that appeared in a variety of sources  in 2013.  Here's a link with more information about the book http://garethcook.net/best-american-infographics/  Inforgraphics are a visual representation of data.  Basic examples include graphs, charts and maps.  This book is full of all sorts of graphics, but the ones I find the most interesting are the maps.  If I could I'd share every map from this book, but for now I'll settle with a few of the ones that caught my attention.

                                 States of Equal Population    

                                                             Neil Freeman

http://fakeisthenewreal.org/

This map comes from Neil Freeman, an artist and urban designer in New York City.  He has a lot of interesting maps on his website (don't be surprised if more of his work shows up on a later post).  I have often thought about what it wold be like to form new state boundaries and what criteria would be used for new boarders.  Freeman criteria is very simple each state should have an equal population.  I'm also intrigued by some of the names he uses.  If you want more details of how he created this map feel free to visit his site.