Education

Just before Christmas the Lower Hudson News published a map of gun permit holders in two New York counties. The map included names and addresses of permit holders and was published in response to the shootings in Newtown, CT the week before. Most local readers and even those who viewed the map from afar have criticized the paper for its actions. Did the paper make the right decision?

Author Simon Garfield loves maps. His home in London is full of them — that's where they're stocked, hanging on walls and piled on shelves. So when Garfield was looking for a new topic to write about, not surprisingly, maps won out. His new book is called On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Works.

Our editors step up to the plate to evaluate last year's predictions and offer new ones for the geospatial marketplace in 2013.

Are there any innovations in maps or mapping applications on the near horizon that are going to substantially change consumers’ lives? Maybe.

From ancient Babylonia to the Renaissance, mapmakers have been driven by politics, religion, emotion, and math. In his new book, A History of the World in Twelve Maps, professor Jerry Brotton examines the construction of a dozen world maps throughout history and argues that world maps are no more objective today than they were thousands of years ago.

Federal projects and their funding often bring significant revenue to private geospatial companies. In the current economy, that's likely to change. Are companies that lose out on this funding prepared to

Last week a discussion of Spatial Information Technology (SpatialIT) came to a bit of a head. The conversation, led by OpenGeo’s Paul Ramsey, may have unearthed a truth many would rather not hear: “... as we know, GIS courses are just the bait in the trap, to suck naïve students into a career where 90% of the activity is actually in data creation (digitization monkey!) and publication (map monkey!), not in analysis.” Is that right?

StackMap is a tool to literally map the stacks of libraries. It offers patrons maps and directions to books of interest and makes the lives of those who manage those stacks easier. Is StackMap, now just a few years old, a long-term winner or is it another mapping solution that is here today and gone tomorrow?

The Directions Magazine 2012 Readers Survey provides insights into how the GIS community keeps up with technology and each other. Our editors share the data and try to tease out the subtle messages within them.

Last week Senator Charles Schumer of New York requested an investigation and began pondering legislation to help prevent trucks from causing accidents related to use of GPS and satellite navigation tools. What’s the real issue? Can legislation help?