It's Friday. We're here, you're here, and we're rounding up all these literary goodies for you from this week. Sit back, relax, and spend the end of your week getting your geoeducation.
(We have a quick announcement as well, stay tuned!)
We hound the prevalence and importance of data a lot over here on our #WeekliiiRoundUp and #DailyBrainCandiii posts. One subject regarding data we have not yet ventured into is the companies and conglomerations behind it. This article approaches this subject, speaking to how antitrust agreements should be changed as companies and data both evolve – rather than solely relying on companies to break out into their separate entities, like Google’s alphabet soup (sorry, just Alphabet). Why is this important to what we do or what you do?
Not only are these companies paving the way for how we interact with one another, they are also pioneering new ways to do their business.
These lessons may not be applied to every situation, but it is reflective of the changes the Oil and Gas industry has gone through over the years to ensure influence is evenly distributed.
For those looking to spruce up their ArcGIS Pro experience, this solution for Firefly Cartography may just be what you need. The tutorials and resources offered here allow you to crank your visualization up to the next level, shining bright spatially. Whether you are well-versed in the land of ArcGIS Pro or still haven’t managed to cut your teeth on it, this seems like an interesting way to dive head first in sharpening those cartographic skills in Esri’s newest platform.
Although the average geographer may not get much out of this post, this is right of the alley for those #DataViz and cartography enthusiasts out there. This article introduces the concept of visual deconstructions to break down symbology into reproducible and manageable styling rules. Ever produce a complicated map with amazing symbols, and then forget how you styled these by the next time you open the map? Yeah, me neither. Thankfully, creating rules like this allow you to keep a record of your methodology both for Future You and those who come after you.
Do you have a scents of adventure? Have a nose for fun? This article talks about an out-there mapping project – Smellmap – by urban smellscape researcher Kate McLean who is charting the world one sniff at a time. Aside from not being aware this was actually a “thing” (who knew?), this idea is fun from an educator’s standpoint as well. If you are interested in getting your younger students into the mapping world, what better way to start than a little smelly research.
Ever stopped to wonder what the reasons are behind certain aspects of design, or even why these particular instances appear so frequently in the first place? This article about Manuel Lima’s new book, The Book of Circles, explores what it is about the circle and why we constantly see it applied to data visualizations – both spatial and data-centric. Reasons include everything from their comparison to the wheel and its usefulness on to our own psychology from birth to old age.
Our #MapOfTheDay this week comes to us via Atlas Obscura and the Wellcome Library. Published in 1851, The Theory of the Seasons provides us with insights into the rotational properties of the Earth around the sun as well as how they relate to the Zodiac.
Side B - On to Austin!
Did you catch our latest news from this week? We're excited to announce we will be exhibiting at the Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC) next month in Austin, TX. Make sure you drop by!
#DailyBrainCandiii and #WeekliiiRoundUp are inspired by brain candiii, a division of Integrated Informatics that develops Geographic Information System (GIS) training for Energy and Natural Resources professionals.