I’ve been an ESRI ArcGIS user since the days of Arc/INFO Ver. 5.0. Having used “command line GIS” since 1991 the rise of open source GIS solutions intrigues me. Trying new products and new software and learning new terminology and getting familiar with many different data formats are valuable jobs skills for me. However, being…
The unfortunate position of blogging in situ circumstances is having to constantly prognosticate the down-stream consequences of words and assertions. If my words appear to deliberately obfuscate some details, you are observant. As the saying goes, names have been changed to protect the willfully ignorant. That is the saying, right? Upon my return to my…
My last day, Wednesday, arrives like a bottom-hitting roller coaster. The momentum builds as the days climb towards the apex of Tuesday night. Wednesday arrives as a crashing descent, slipping into the smooth arc of Wednesday evening. Once, I relished the late Thursday social dinner with me and 16,500 of my peers, either in Embarcadero Park…
The United States has long been exemplary of our societies support for innovation and entrepreneurship. Individuals from George Washington Carver, Otis Boyken, Thomas Edison, to Ellen Ochoa and Steve Jobs, the environment of creation has helped establish the United States as having the best climate for developing new technology and for entrepreneurship. Now upon us,…
Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of reddit, states in his new book, Without Their Permission: The 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed, an idea “is worthless.” I agree, sort of, but in my book review I amend his statement. To me, an idea is worthless if the idea is never executed. So, let’s see if someone…
I spend a considerable amount of class time each semester advocating “geography is a holistic discipline, infused in all things and in almost every action or choice made, and not merely by people but by all organisms. Geography is inescapable.” The problem with my perspective is many other disciplines could be argued to have the…
NPR ran a story this morning concerning policy changes within federal law enforcement agencies pertaining to racial profiling. These new policies stipulate no federal law enforcement agency may use race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation in order to justify suspicion or open a case. http://www.npr.org/v2/?i=369276296&m=369276297&t=audio One of the comments caught my attention this morning. The statement…
Mapping can be applied to many different fields, disciplines, and interests. I teach a course in mapping once a year. I ask my students to define “mapping.” Students will offer several variations which I can summarize thus: “Showing on a piece of paper the location of things on the Earth’s surface.” For those that don’t…
Is GIS splitting? And if it is, should we care? Early in November 2014 I ran across a tweet asking “Is GIS Splitting?” Several thoughts collided in my brain when I saw this question, even more added to the crashing of light-bulbs in my head when I read the post. I had literally just left…
The award ceremony validated over three decades of dedicated effort to serve and train students in the geospatial sciences. My institution was awarded one of the most, if not the most prestigious and coveted, awards in our discipline. The ESRI Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) award is presented to less than 1/10th of 1% of…
Constant Geography 
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