Day: October 25, 2010

Third Annual T3G Institute for GIS Educators: Teachers Teaching Teachers GIS

/ Matt Artz

Program Helps Instructors Refine Teaching Techniques and Expand Capabilities

Esri has opened the application period for its third annual Teachers Teaching Teachers GIS (T3G) Institute, to be held at Esri headquarters in Redlands, California, from June 12 to 17, 2011.

Digital maps and globes have become commonplace. The challenge for educators is to guide their students beyond a simple view of the world and into analysis, which is crucial for jobs related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). T3G provides intense training to teachers who want to help other educators use geographic information system (GIS) technology in their classes.

“We’re looking for 30 strong candidates for the program this year,” says Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri K–12 Schools solution manager. “Our T3G Institute helps experienced GIS educators turbocharge their skills so that they can help teachers new to GIS. Those teachers can then present their students with better integrated knowledge, powerful career skills, and opportunities for community engagement.”

In the weeklong institute, attendees experience the latest developments in GIS education and software. They expand their GIS skills in areas including spatial analysis, data management, and GIS project workflow. T3G participants exchange ideas with peers, learn teaching strategies from top trainers, and develop lasting professional relationships.

“What I liked about T3G was the variety of different instructional strategies,” reflects Robert Jones, a retired technology teacher from the Hannibal (New York) School District, who attended T3G 2010. “I learned that there are a lot of simple things you can do to hook people into GIS. I think that the technology has a real role in K–12 education—providing students a glimpse into new careers, examining real-world issues, and making better informed decisions about our world. Being at T3G has enhanced my ability to share that with others.”

T3G 2011 is sponsored in part by the National Geospatial Technology Center of Excellence (GeoTech Center), an organization that supports GIS learning initiatives among the higher education community. It is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Additional information, including the application, can be found on the Esri T3G Institute Web site at edcommunity.esri.com/t3g. Applications are due by November 30, 2010, and institute invitations will be sent by December 17.

[Source: Esri press release]

Call for Presentations: Special GIScience Research Track ESRI International Users Conference

/ Matt Artz

ESRI invites you to present a peer-reviewed paper presentation in a special joint GIScience Research Track for the 2011 ESRI International Users Conference and Educational Users Conference. Papers in this special tract must focus on cutting-edge research in GIScience. Full papers will be included in a special issue of Transactions in GIS to be distributed at the 2011 International Users and Education Users Conferences. Abstracts (500 words) must be submitted to Dr. John Wilson, University of Southern California, by 1st December, 2010.

The Transactions in GIS editorial team will review abstracts based on their GIScience content and select nine abstracts to become full papers. Notice of acceptance will occur by 8th December, 2010. Full papers (maximum 6,000 words plus figures, tables, and references in appropriate format for publication) must be submitted to Dr. Wilson for independent review by 1st February, 2011. Reviewed papers will be returned to authors by 1st March, 2011 and final manuscripts must be returned by 15th March, 2011, to be included in the special issue of Transactions in GIS.

For questions or guidelines on this special GIScience Research Track, please see: http://www.esri.com/GIScience or contact Michael Gould at mgould@esri.com.

Abstracts should be submitted via e-mail with a subject line “ESRI GIScience Abstract, Authors Last Name” no later than 1st December, 2010 to:

Dr. John Wilson, jpwilson@college.usc.edu.

[Source: GIS Education Community blog]

Analysing Spatio-temporal Autocorrelation with LISTA-Viz

/ Matt Artz

International Journal of Geographical Information Science, Volume 24 Issue 10 2010, Pages 1515 – 1526: Geospatial Visual Analytics: Focus on Time Special Issue of the ICA Commission on GeoVisualization

F. Hardisty; A. Klippel

“Many interesting analysis problems (e.g. disease surveillance) would become more tractable if their spatio-temporal structure was better understood. Specifically, it would be helpful to be able to identify autocorrelation in space and time simultaneously. Some of the most commonly used measures of spatial association are LISA statistics, such as the Local Moran’s I or the Getis-Ord Gi*; however, these have not been applied to the spatio-temporal case (including many time steps) because of computational limitations. We have implemented a spatio-temporal version of the Local Moran’s I and claimed two advances: first, we exploit the fact that there are a limited number of topological relationships present in the data to make Monte Carlo’s estimation of probability densities computationally practical, and thereby bypass the ‘curse of dimensionality’. We term this approach ‘spatial memoization’. Second, we developed a tool (LISTA-Viz) for interacting with the spatio-temporal structure uncovered by the statistics that contains a novel coordination strategy. The potential usefulness of the method and the associated tool are illustrated by an analysis of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, with the finding that there was a critical spatio-temporal ‘inflection point’ at which the pandemic changed its character in the United States.”

Reflections on the Science and Art of Using a GIS to locate a New National Children’s Hospital in Ireland

/ Matt Artz

Irish Geography, Volume 42, Issue 2 July 2009 , pages 245 – 252

Frank Houghton

“The paper by Murphy and Killen (2007) represents the latest in a growing body of Irish work exploring the use of GIS as spatial decision support systems to investigate future developments in hospital provision in Ireland (see also Teljeur et al. 2004, Kalogirou and Foley 2006). The uneven and relatively delayed development of Health GIS in Ireland to date has previously been noted (Houghton 2001a, 2001b, 2004a). Similar to the work of Teljeur and Kelly (2006), this latest piece by Murphy and Killen explores options for the location of the proposed new national paediatric hospital using a GIS. A focus on the issue of access to healthcare is crucial, because as Wennberg (1998, p. 2) notes ‘in health care, geography is destiny’.”