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2013 -
2012 - 2011 - 2010 - 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1999 - 1998 - 1997 - 1996
Note: links (over 500) are not maintained and may not work.
4 to 11 January, 2015
Astrobiology: Life In The
Universe
OK, this isn't global geography, but it is fascinating. This is
the NASA site pulling together all the searches for evidence of life elsewhere in the
universe. In the section "About Astrobiology", they say "NASA’s Astrobiology Program
addresses three fundamental questions: How does life begin and evolve? Is there life
beyond Earth and, if so, how can we detect it? What is the future of life on Earth and
in the universe?" Definitely worth visiting and browsing.
11 to 18 January, 2015
Name these countries using only
satellite photos
This is a collection of satellite photos of the Earth, and with
each one you are given two choices to identify the location. Some are pretty obvious,
some are very challenging. It's also a game -- you start out with three lives, and each
error removes one life, but for each level you complete, you gain a new life. If you
play it again and again, you'll keep doing better, because the pictures are the same
each time you play, but it's still a fun and interesting challeng.
18 to 25 January, 2015
Index Mundi
This site calls itself "home of the internet's most complete
country profiles. I can't disagree. There is an amazing amount of data here, from US
quick facts to World fact explorers, to World Bank indicators, to trade statistics.
Whatever you need, there's probably a link to it here.
25 January to 1 February, 2015
Turbulence
Forecast
Planning to fly somewhere? Curious about the potential for a
turbulent ride? Check out this site; using forecasts from the National Weather Service
as well as current pilot reports, they publish maps of "Potential Turbulence Areas".
You can select from a variety of options -- US only, Canada, Atlantic East or Westbound,
South America, Africa, Australia, Asia/Pacific, Hawai'i, Japan, and two different Polar
Routes. You can also look at changes and developments over the past 24 hours. And you
can receive forecasts by email. A great site for pilots, and for curious passengers.
1 to 8 February, 2015
Picture Book
Theology Blog
This ambitious blogger features a new picture book every day for
a year; on Jan 8, she was on day 264. Every day, she reviews a new book, describes the
contents and the age level, and ways to use the book -- in classrooms as well as in
spiritual settings. A remarkable effort, and it's great fun to read the descriptions
and view the covers. Even if you're not at all interested in the spiritual side of this,
the books are well worth reviewing, and reading.
8 to 15 February, 2015
Periodic Table &
Countries Where Elements Were Discovered
Smithsonian Magazine constantly amazes. This is both a map and
a table of the elements -- it's laid out according to the modern Periodic Table, but
each element is shown with the flag of the nation where it was discovered. There's lots
of other information here, about the search for the elements. Great fun. You may be
surprised to see that the largest number of elements were discovered in the UK, followed
by Sweden and Germany, then the US and France.
15 to 22 February, 2015
Amazing Maps
An archive of the regular twitter posts at @Amazing_Maps. The author
is dedicated to providing a feed of amazing maps, a steady diet of mind-boggling maps to
make you think, to make you gasp.
22 February to 1 March, 2015
The Beauty of Maps
A 17-part BBC series of short videos about maps and mapmaking
and the power of maps; this link is for the YouTube colection of all 17 videos. They
are each 3 or 4 minutes, some less. It covers early maps and atlases, and modern map
makers. Fascinating.
1 to 8 March, 2015
40 Maps That Explain the Roman Empire
This site walks you through the history of the Roman Empire,
from its earliest origins to it widest expanse, and all the way to the end. Great maps,
that answer all those questions you've always wondered -- where were the Numidians in
all of this, what about the Illyrians, and so on. Seriously, though, a site that is
well worth exploring; there is a tremendous amount of information, including some
corrections at the end.
8 to 15 March, 2015
Most Common Job in Every State
1978-2014
The NPR Money Blog, Planet Money, calls itself "The Economy
Explained". This site is a great source of data and enlightenment. On this page, they
display a map of the US states, and show the most common job in each state from 1978 to
2014. Watch the Farmers disappear, and marvel at the incredible rise of Truck Driving
as a common job. You can also review information by state -- for example, the most
common job in Alaska went from Secretary in 1978 to Primary School Teacher in 2014.
15 to 22 March, 2015
How much snowfall becomes a "snow
day"?
A map of the US showing how much snow it usually takes to cancel
schools. Schools in the north and in the mountains, used to lots of snow, require more
snow to cancel; schools in the south, less. Nothing more to say. Interesting look at
the US and the impact of weather on life.
22 to 29 March, 2015
Understanding Fundamentals of Geography
An Australian page, built of links to information about the
funamentals of geography; sections, with links, include General Resources, Physical
Geography, Biogeography and Ecology, Meteorology and Climatology, Geology and
Geomorphology, and a section of related links. Very valuable resource for teachers of
geography, and for anyone interested in exploring the vast field.
29 March to 5 April, 2015
Very Bad Maps
That Explain Nothing
An amazing collection of "map fails", maps that presumably were
intended to demonstrate or teach something, but which absolutely do not. These includes
maps with unbelievable errors, maps with countries missing (France totally missing on a
map of Europe), maps of countries and continents mislabeled (all of South America
labeled "Mexico" for example.) The last few maps are from different cable news outlets,
with atrocious errors of place and location.
5 to 12 April, 2015
Easter Island -- U. of Hawai'i
Easter Island -- National Geographic
Rapa Nui, the preferred name for Easter Island in the
Southeastern Pacific, is generally considered to be the point on Earth farthest from any
other point. Here are two different well-researched web pages about the island and its
people and its statues and its history.
12 to 19 April, 2015
Killer Digital Libraries and Archives
From the Open Education Database, an amazing collection of
State-Oriented Digital libraries. It's a very long page, listing the states
alphabetically, and listing libraries under each one, so best to use your browser's
search box to find libraries for the state you're interested in (unless it's Alabama...)
There are also links to other websites that will point you to further state information.
(Note: some states, such as Rhode Island, are missing here; for those states, and for
further searching, use the incredibly detailed "multi-state resources" list at the end
of the page.
19 to 26 April, 2015
25 Maps that explain English
A group of people have assembled this remarkable collection of
25 maps that show where English started, how it moved around the world, how it evolved
into all the differently accented languages spoken today. Wonderful fun. And see links
at the bottom of the page for other "maps that explain..."
26 April to 3 May, 2015
Maps in American Culture
The Digital Public Library of America is a platform, for which
developers create apps that use the library's 9 million items in many different ways.
This is one of the current exhibitions: From Colonialism to Tourism: Maps in American
Culture. This exhibit explores many aspects of the cultural and historic impact of maps
and mapping in America, from migration to the automobile and tourism (remember
automobile road maps you could pick up for free at any service station?). While at this
site, click the Exhibitions tab at the top of the page to see the other current
exhibitions.
3 to 10 May, 2015
Boston Children's Museum Collections
One of the few children's museums that maintains a collection,
the Boston Children's Museum has an amazing cache of materials of interest to children,
and to adults. The collections available here include Americana, the Ancient World,
Tourist Art, Victorian Era Toys and Games, and much more. Fascinating.
10 to 17 May, 2015
US and World Population
Clocks
A service of the US Census Bureau, these two clocks keep a
continuing count of the populations of the US and of the World. While the US has a net
gain of one person every 15 seconds, or 4 per minute, the world population changes at an
alarming rate -- around 140 per minute; the numbers fly by. Of course nobody knows the
precise population of the world or the US, but the numbers here are based on official
estimates and projections, and are consistent with the most recent census counts in
those countries that actually do a census. This is a very useful tool.
17 to 24 May, 2015
International Data Base
Another service of the US Census Bureau, this page gives you
easily customizable access to the Census Bureau's international data. First, select the
type of report you're interested in, from Demographic Overview to Mortality to
Population by specific groups; then select years, and a method for aggregating the data;
then select countries or region. Sometimes the data isn't available, but most often,
you get data presented to you in the manner you selected. Very powerful. Be sure to
read the release notes, the methodology page, and the glossary.
24 to 31 May, 2015
The Scale of the Universe
An interactive "scale of the universe" that will amaze you with
its simple and phenomenal presentation of very complex ideas. Zoom in and out through
various images, from 10 to the 28th power all the way down to 10 to the -35th power,
click on an object to get more information. And keep in mind that Cary and Michael
Huang are twins from California, who created this at age 14.
31 May to 7 June, 2015
Mining Data to Fight Disease
A 5-minute video from PBS Newshour of April 24 about the work
being done to mine NASA Satellite Data that has been languishing for 40 years in a vault
in South Dakota. The work is being done by researchers at UCSF and at the Google Earth
Engine Headquarters in Silicon Valley, combining pictures from space with on-the-ground
information and linking it all through Google Maps for people on the ground to easily
accss the things they need to know.
7 to 14 June, 2015
World Happiness Report
This is the annual report from the UN Sustainable Development
Solutions Network, reporting on World Happiness. The report is downloadable here; after
downloading, be sure to Google the report and look at all the links, and especially be
sure to note the dueling opinions by the wise people who have written reviews.
14 to 21 June, 2015
Global Climate Change
This is NASA's "vital signs of the planet" website. It's very
easy to navigate, and it is crammed full of information. Right on the top page are data
on the Earth's increasing Carbon Dioxide load, increasing temperature, diminishing
Arctic ice, and more. The "Facts" section presents evidence, causes, effects, and a
page on the overall consensus of the scientific community. Worth visiting, and worth
bookmarking.
21 to 28 June, 2015
Rise and Fall of the Roman
Empire
From the office of Charles and Ray Eames, this film, 2 minutes
and 30 seconds in length, tells the story of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
It's clear, easily accessible to children as well as adults, and tells the story
accurately. It plays twice -- once with a narration explaining what you're seeing, then
once with just a musical accompaniment. You'll find the film a couple of clicks down
the page below the still picture and the explanation. Very beautiful
28 June to 5 July, 2015
Women in Cartography
The Osher Map Library at the University of Southern Maine has an
exhibit running from March to October, 2015, "celebrating 400 years of unsung
contributions to the Mapping World". Sections include Women in the Early Modern Map
Trades, Women and the Modern Mapping of Place, Women and Pedagogy, and Women, Cities,
and Spatial Analysis. Worth a visit to learn about remarkable women from 1613 to the
modern era.
5 to 12 July, 2015
Jet Propulsion Lab Graphics
A wonderful part of the JPL site is this infographics section.
Get all kinds of information, and graphics to help you understand the information.
Highlighted topics include facts about different planets and other objects, a section
they call "Earth's Neighborhood", "Waste in Space", and many, many other topics. Great
to visit often; there's so much here.
12 to 19 July, 2015
Is this the map that took
Columbus to the Americas?
A recent article in Smithsonian Magazine looks at new tools used
to scan a map from the 15th century -- The Martellus Map -- and the marginal notes on
one particular map which seem to have been made by Columbus and his son. Read about it
in this Washington Post article, and follow the links for further information.
19 to 26 July, 2015
Countyoffice.org
A database of county government offices in the United States.
Very easy to navigate, very intuitive, and tons of information. I've tested it on
several searches and haven't found any errors yet. And it's not just county offices --
for each county, there are listings of schools, colleges, hospitals, libraries, and
much more.
26 July to 2 August, 2015
Hubble Picture
Gallery
A collection of Hubble images; awesome is putting it mildly;
many have captions; some do not, but even so, these are just phenomenal representations
of Hubble's amazing ability to view our Universe. The Gallery picture album inclues one
tab for the entire collection, and then eight further tabs for particular categories,
such as starts, galaxies, nebulae. There is even a tab for selecting and downloading
wallpaper.
2 to 9 August, 2015
Resources for Genealogists
The US National Archives maintains this site; its aim is to help
anyone interested in genealogy, and particularly those doing work on their own
genealogy. The tabs and navigation are clear and intuitive, and the resources amazing.
Track down ancestors, find out who you are and where you came from; there are census
records, immigration records, land ownership records, and much more.
9 to 16 August, 2015
World Population
History
The Population Connection hosts this remarkable site; Explore
the growth of world population from 1 C.E. to 2050, either as a slowly moving video with
several threads and milestones, or by selecting a time and milestone of your choice.
Clicking on any of the milestones will give you details -- for example, the milestone
for 1935 takes you to a page on the discovery of Kwashiorkor, a condition of advanced
malnutrition due to insufficient intake of protein. Bookmark and Explore.
16 to 23 August, 2015
National
Geographic Atlas Explorer
Select a region; select either a Geopolitical or a Geophysical
map, and zoom in or out to investigate all the many facts and details of these maps.
One of the regions, Africa, also offers a "human footprint" map. A rich and engaging
site.
23 to 30 August, 2015
Unfinished
London, Part 3
This wonderful YouTube series on "Unfinished London" is worth
spending a lot of time with, learning all kinds of interesting things about London past
and present. This particular episode, Episode 3, Part 1, is about all the airports of
London -- most great cities have one big airport; London has 6. Examine why, and learn
about some that have disappeared, and some that don't actually count.
30 August to 6 September, 2015
Soviet Military Topographic
Maps
During the Cold War, a little-known effort by the Soviet
government led to an incredible compilation of very accurate and detailed maps of
Britain and the World. This is an imposing collection of those maps. The "History and
Descriptions" tab explains some of the history, and the "Resources and Links" tab leads
to a number of very useful archives and resources related to these and other Soviet maps.
6 to 13 September, 2015
Old Maps Online
Exactly as advertised: a gateway to historic and antique maps
archived in libraries around the world. You can "Find a place" to see a large number of
map references to a particular location, or you can "Browse the old maps" to see what's
there, and to have some fun. There's a tool many will find helpful -- "Get Involved" --
you can add a location to any of the scanned maps, and overlay it in 3D Google Earth, or
in Google Maps. A really compelling site.
13 to 20 September, 2015
Open Street Map
Called "OSM" by librarians and others who work in geography and
maps, this Open Street Map is built on open data, by a community of mappers contributing
all kinds of local knowledge; it's free to use for any purpose, but read the "About"
page for requirements for citation for other than personal use. To see how powerful
this tool is, select any city you know well, and search. Amazing detail, even on
little-known or not-recently-mapped places, such as Mogadishu.
20 to 27 September, 2015
America By The Numbers
This is a good place to begin your exploration of the PBS series
called "America By The Numbers", which aired a year ago. At this site, you can read
about each of the episodes, learn about the resources and research involved in creating
the series, and, if you wish, you can click through to the PBS site to watch any (or
all) of the episodes in full. Even the splash page has some great data -- such as
"2043: The year ethnic minorities will become the majority in the US, according to the
US Census Bureau".
27 September to 4 October, 2015
Geography terms explained
This is Bancrofts' Pictorial Chart of Geographical Definitions,
tweaked a bit by the folks at Vox. There's a friendly little explanation at the bottom
of the page of some of the more confusing terms. You can see the original on the David
Rumsey Map Collection site by
clicking here.
4 to 11 October, 2015
Forty Maps
That Explain Outer Space
Another posting from the folks at vox.com. This is called 40
maps that explain outer space -- and ok, they are not ALL maps, but they are all very
useful and intelligent and informative graphics. You can find our history of space
exploration, space junk, the sizes of different aspects of space, early NASA flights, a
map of spaceports all over the world, and much, much more. Worth a visit.
11 to 18 October, 2015
US Volcanoes and Current
Alerts
The USGS maintains this site, showing Elevated, Normal, and
Unassigned volcanic alerts at the present time in US territory. You can select what
level of alert to see, and you can change the base map, and zoom in and out -- zooming
in on an elevated alert can be very informative. For a more global view, without some
of the tools, go to The Smithsonian Weekly Volcanic Activity Report.
18 to 25 October, 2015
The State
of the World's Rivers
Subtitled "Mapping the Health of the World's Fifty Major River
Basins", this site allows the user to examine the diversity, water quality, and
fragmentation of the world's major rivers. It's eye-opening, and surprising. There are
also a nnumber of resources listed, and lots of information about the parent
organization, "International Rivers".
25 October to 1 November, 2015
London Transport
Museum
For those who love London, London Transport, British History,
poster art, and more, this site is rich and fascinating. It is the London Transport Museum
Poster Collection -- with over 5000 posters to look through and enjoy. I found it fun
to search by date, and see how the method behind the posters changed over time, but you
can also search by artist, by theme, or even by colour. This site is great fun, and
besides the posters, allows you to search among 22,000 photos, plus films and more.
1 to 8 November, 2015
American Revolutionary Era Maps
The Norman B Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library
is one of the great repositories of maps; in this particular collection, they've posted
maps and additional online resources related to the era 1750 to 1800. Lots of documents
here, and links are being added regularly. Also be sure to check Teacher Resouces.
8 to 15 November, 2015
GeoGuessr
A great Googlemaps mashup; you get a scene somewhere in the
world, and you can move about, look for clues, and try to figure out where you are.
When you are ready, select the map in the lower right and click where you think you are;
your score depends on how close you are to the actual place. Great fun, and now there's
a "challenge" mode, where you can play against an opponent.
15 to 22 November, 2015
The Slave Trade
From Slate, an amazing 2-minute animation of the Atlantic Slave
Trade; The caption says: "315 years, 20,528 voyages, millions of lives." Worth a visit,
especially to discover new facts -- such as how many places outside of North America
received slaves.
22 to 29 November, 2015
Metropolitan Areas
From the Brookings Institute, an extensive, thorough, and
profoundly important look at metropolitan areas; as they say, "as nations rapidly
urbanize, metropolitan areas are becoming hubs for innovation, productions, trade and
investment... (here) Brookings experts examine how metropolitan areas are engaging in
the world markets..." Select any of the key areas -- I suggest beginning with
"demographics".
29 November to 6 December, 2015
Mars Science Laboratory
From the Jet Propulsion Lab, an extensive site about the
exploration of Mars. There is tons of information here -- mission news, photos, video.
They offer special sections for educators and for children. Definitely worth a visit;
as they say on the site, "Follow Your Curiosity".
6 to 13 December, 2015
NASA's Mission to Pluto
From NASA and the Jet Propulsion Lab, everything you might want
to know about the New Horizons mission to Pluto, and the photos and other information
gathered during its flyby. Lots of breath-taking detail here; worth spending some time.
13 to 20 December, 2015
Old Maps Online
A project started as a colloboration between organizations in
Switzerland and the UK. You can "find a place" with one tab -- and it will find the
place in a variety of different maps; you'll get a modern Google map, and a side bar of
many maps from history of the same location. You can also just click "browse the old
maps" and see all there is to see. A wonderful resource.
20 to 27 December, 2015
The Galaxy Garden
Headed for Hawai'i? This is something to see. In their words,
on their website, "The Galaxy Garden is a 100-foot diameter outdoor scale model of the
Milky Way, mapped in living plants and flowers and based on current astrophysical data.
Artist Jon Lomberg conceived and designed the garden to encourage scientific education
about our place in the Universe. The Galaxy Garden is located at the Paleaku Peace
Gardens Sanctuary in Kona, Hawaii. Paleaku is a non-profit 9-acre botanical garden that
facilitates educational and cultural programs.
27 December, 2015 to 3 January, 2016
Exploratorium "Snacks:
Page
In case you don't know of it already, the Exploratorium is a San
Francisco science museum for children, with all kinds of activities and displays and
things to build and do. This "snacks" page takes you to collections of hands-on science
activities to do at home or in the classrom, explorations using "common, inexpensive,
readily available materials". Each "snack" has instructions, advice, and hints, and a
list of materials. Pretty much everything here is great fun.
2014 2013 -
2012 - 2011 - 2010 - 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1999 - 1998 - 1997 - 1996
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