ArcSchool Reader: K–12 Education
Welcome to ArcSchool Reader, a periodic e-newsletter from the ESRI Education team. Each issue provides a quick glimpse of software news; user stories; reminders; and hints about tools, data, and support covering the use of GIS in primary and secondary schools (K-12 education). In this Issue Software NewsWhat's New in ArcGIS 9.2? Under ArcGIS 9.2 Q&A you will find a list of frequently asked questions and the latest information on Internet Explorer 7 and ArcGIS 9.2. The Resources section includes a Literature link to a number of PDF white papers, brochures, and posters. A new and very handy document is the ArcGIS Desktop Tips and Shortcuts Guide [PDF-476 KB]. ArcWeb Services and the SVG Map Viewer ESRI continues to move forward on Web services—data, GIS functions, and tailored solutions. While Web data services can, for instance, be used in an ESRI desktop tool like ArcView 9.2, ESRI staff are also creating and assembling various GIS "widgets" and bringing compelling data into Web browser-based (Windows and Macintosh) focused products and demos such as Business Analyst Online and ArcWeb Explorer. Another interesting ArcWeb demo is the SVG Map Viewer. (Note: Using this demo requires the installation of a Web browser plug-in. SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics and is a development language owned by Adobe Systems Incorporated. To launch the ArcWeb SVG Map Viewer, the free downloadable Adobe SVG Viewer must first be installed.) With the ArcWeb SVG Map Viewer, you can change the map extent and layer visibility and choose map and projection styles. Click on the various widget tabs to add and use various functions. The projections widget is especially useful to quickly explore the differences and similarities in a suite of key projections. Also, setting the projection to Automatic displays the viewed geographic extent in a locally appropriate projection. A graticule and scale bar are available in the Settings tab. Zooming in to any of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia provides a richly detailed view of physical and political areas, landmarks, features, and points of interest down to the city block level. The Help tab provides a good synopsis of the sample application’s capacities. Data NewsCommunity Showcase Hunting Latitude-Longitude Data for Global Features? Have you found yourself hunting for location information for various human and physical geographic features around the world? Bug Tussle, Oklahoma? Mount Warning, New South Wales? Two geographic search engines to utilize are the USGS geographic names information system (GNIS) for U.S. and Antarctic features and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s GEOnet Names Server (GNS) for the rest of the world. Both provide quick and advanced searches returning latitude and longitude as well as some attribute data. (By the way, Bug Tussle is at lat. 35.0309302, long. -95.6899889, and Mount Warning is at lat. -28.4000000, long. 153.2666667.) Support NewsHoliday and New Year’s Reading: History Meets Geography It's impossible to delve into history without recognizing and exploring geographic connections. Likewise, the sweep and change of human and physical geography is temporal in nature. Several new and recent books add to the flavor of that discussion with stories and images that capture the essence of both. Historical Atlas of the United States, Derek Hayes Mapping the World: An Illustrated History of Cartography, Ralph Erhenberg Measuring America, Andro Linklater San Francisco in Maps: 1797–2006, Sally Woodbridge and David Rumsey New SAGUARO Project ArcGIS Packages An earth science project originally based at the University of Arizona has reissued a quartet of very successful curricular packages now using ArcGIS. Published by Brooks/Cole, the four packages are Exploring the Dynamic Earth: GIS Investigations for the Earth Sciences, ArcGIS Edition Exploring Water Resources: GIS Investigations for the Earth Sciences, ArcGIS Edition Exploring Tropical Cyclones: GIS Investigations for the Earth Sciences, ArcGIS Edition Exploring Ocean Environments: GIS Investigations for the Earth Sciences, ArcGIS Edition User NewsGeoTech 2007—Dallas, Texas 2007 ESRI Education User Conference Calendar: Key EventsTexas Computer Education Association EAST Conference GeoTech National Science Teachers Association ESRI Education User Conference ESRI International User Conference |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
