GIS3015 - Module 12 - Google Earth

Population Density Of South Florida

Downtown Miami Viewed From Google Earth

NeoCartography!  and our final Module!  This week's lecture and lab focused on VGI, PPGIS, and NeoCartography.  Volunteer Geographic Information (VGI) is here to stay.   How we use it and verify it were the main points of the lecture and participation discussion.   I am a fan as I believe more input is better even if it means devoting time, effort, and resources to verifying the input.  Public Participation GIS is just that, the public contributing as neo-cartographers.   Sometimes, "a picture is worth a thousand words" and until people see an issue they don't even think about it.   PPGIS  can also enable the public to feel and be useful and provide input into decisions that directly affect them.

The lab's focus was learning about and navigating in Google Earth.   Using the South Florida Population Dot Density map from Module 10 we created a map in Google Earth.   I am definitely a novice Google Earth user but this lab provided me the basic tools to begin to navigate through South Florida.  I had to recreate a simpler version of my dot density map in ArcMap first.  Next, we created tour of designated destinations in South Florida.   Navigating is one thing and creating a "tour" with my limited navigation skills is another. Using the 3D viewing keyboard and mouse shortcuts helped tremendously. https://support.google.com/earth/answer/148115?hl=en

This final module was interesting in that I continue to realize the variety of ways Cartography is used in our world today.   Google Earth is a powerful application that aids either the expert or novice cartographer in creating an output to communicate with a variety of audiences.  Technology is changing our world so rapidly just in my lifetime; the ability to see and show other parts of our world is fascinating.