Here we are, folks, at the end of yet another week! For those friends in the United States, if you have been able to make it through without taking naps under your desk or resorting to coffee on an IV drip, I commend you. Daylight Savings Time can be a mighty foe. For those friends not in the United States, consider your clocks blessed. We are eternally jealous of your restful lack of springing forward.
To wind down for the week, I would like to share a collection of articles from this week's #DailyBrainCandiii posts as well as our favorite #MapOfTheDay. Without further ado, let's begin!
This week we - as in, every nerd on the planet - celebrated Pi Day. Whether you chose to indulge the day with solving extra-complicated math problems or feasting on your favorite dessert, the day itself is a fun way to squeeze an extra ounce of geekdom out of the hours. As our #DailyBrainCandiii on March 14th, we shared this article detailing the mathematical odyssey of the number behind the name. Even better? It also talks about calculating pi for yourself using the Monte Carlo Method. Think statistics, not Chevy.
Are you curious about the trends and directions of the geospatial industry, or even where your country stands in the mix? Geospatial Media has put together a Global Geospatial Industry Outlook detailing just that, as well as the Geospatial Readiness Index of select countries around the world. This article focuses more so on the latter, letting us in on those countries who are currently running the geospatial gamut as well as those who are beginning their involvement in the industry.
More of a feast for the eyes, this article illustrates the early developments of data visualizations. The author put together a comprehensive visualization, including cartoons of 75 key charts, in the style of John Ogilby’s 1675 Road Atlas. They walk through the process taken for its creation, inspiration, and pieces of the data viz history.
Have you ever stopped to consider what factors in this ever-evolving economic and environmental landscape could impact the Energy Industry…or better yet, how they could affect it? Although this article makes assumptions about the future of the Energy Industry that all might not agree with, the variety of challenges are interesting enough to consider.
Ready to get your map projection fix for the day? This article talks about the State Plan Coordinate System (SPCS) used here in the United States to pinpoint any location with a high-level of accuracy. As it turns out, the project was initially developed as a system to permanently record original land survey monuments. Now, it is one of most widely used projections for those wanting to showcase a high-level of accuracy for a smaller local area. With 124 zones, there is a little bit of projection love for everyone.
An interesting article for anyone who loves maps, this post talks of the history of data visualization through cartography as well as how it relates to visualization and its common practices. There are a wealth of cool maps to peruse, but I personally think the most endearing part of this piece is witnessing the excitement of the author. No matter how a map is designed or what it contains, readers always bring their own interpretation to the maps they see…typically, this interpretation is based on their own background. Reading about maps through the eyes of an author who is more mathematically minded is a nice approach, especially for someone who tends to get caught up in aesthetics.
We have shown off several neat maps this week, but this may be my favorite. Time zones are often not something we think about until we travel across the country (or across the pond) or are trying to schedule a time to chat with a friend or colleague in a different part of the world. This map helps to put this concept into perspective, manipulating nations so that they fit into their respective time zones…all in all, forming a strangely distorted “Bad Map Projection” of the world in which we live.
Extra, Extra, Read All About It
In addition to the above articles, we also have a couple iii-specific posts we encourage you to check out while you're here.
In this week's #MarcoMonday post, we talked about the perks of including Administrative Access in software products - especially as it pertains to the Integrated Marco Studio suite. Both the Integrated Marco Mystic and Integrated Marco Palette applications offer a range of tools and settings that are not exposed to the Average Joe, often for good reason.
After recovering from copious amounts of pie on Pi Day, we also highlighted another product in our #MeetTheProduct series, Integrated Offsite. A toolkit used for Overland Spill Modeling, this solution is applicable to both the petroleum industry as well as those industries who may be impacted in the event of a spill.
#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.