Tablet Wars: The OS Battle

Ever since the iPad burst onto the scene, tablets have been the darlings of consumers and educators alike, with hundreds of millions of units sold. But is the US market indicative of the Worldwide trend in mobile platform adoption?

This past week on the NPR/KQED MindShift education blog, Frank Catalano examines the trends in the global market and finds that while Apple has a majority of the market share in tablet adoption by both consumers and educators in the US, it is Google’s Android that is leading the way with multiple sub-$150 devices being created in several countries and large scale adoption on a national level. Read Frank’s post here: “Which device will win the tablet battle?”

The question for publishers and content developers then becomes how to create content and curriculum as platform-agnostic as possible in order to capitalize on the adoption of as many of these devices as possible worldwide. At the moment, there are no easy answers, especially when publishers have to reach schools that are on the front lines in adopting the newest technology as well as those that lag behind, having to make do with years-old hardware and software.

At Maps.com, we are creating content and applications both specific to iOS and Android operating systems as well as cross-platform applications – primarily with HTML5. For instance, in our Maps101 Web service, we have long had a collection of hundreds of outline maps and a Flash-based MapKit drawing tool for users to create and modify their own maps. This month we released a new tool called MapSketch that adds to all of our maps an HTML5-based drawing tool that is cross-platform compatible. MapSketch will also be made available to add the same drawing tools to third party sites and applications such as Interactive White Board Activities. Contact us to find out how.

congratulations mcgraw-hill on your codie award

Maps.com is celebrating with Educational Publisher McGraw-Hill after they scooped a CODiE award for “Best K-12 Course or Learning Management Solution”

“Networks: A social studies learning system” is a complete Social Studies resource incorporating print and digital solutions. The system is designed to bring abstract concepts to life through hands-on, interactive activities such as interactive maps and games, graphic organizers and engaging multimedia.

US History – Grades 6-8: McGraw-Hill Networks

The publisher included comprehensive teacher resources, worksheets, training videos, lesson plans and assessment tools.

Over 600 maps were produced for the project by Maps.com Cartographers, while the company’s programming team developed a presentation platform for the digital content that included  timeline animations, voice narration and editing tools for a truly interactive classroom experience.

“The success of this project was the result of a huge effort by the McGraw-Hill team and we congratulate them on this significant recognition.” Revealed Bennett Moe, who coordinated the digital and cartographic elements delivered by Maps.com. “We are proud to have played a key role in such a high profile and challenging project and delivered exactly what was required.”

The CODiE awards are annually presented by the Software and Information Industry Association – the principal trade association for the software and digital content industries. Initial reviews are carried out by tech-savvy educators, with a shortlist of 128 finalists reviewed by a panel of SIIA members.

Maps.com has more than 20 years of experience in the mapping industry and serves a variety of markets including education and news media. They have an in house development team producing  location based applications including online store locators and smart phone apps and ebooks. Maps.com is also home to the world’s biggest map and map related online retail store which receives almost 1 million visitors each month.

Related articles

• McGraw-Hill School Education’s Proven Digital Solutions Selected as Finalists for 2012 CODiE Awards (prnewswire.com)
• McGraw-Hill Networks press release - http://mheducation.com/releases/20120508.shtml

GPS – For the love of the rain forest.

People indigenous to some of the world’s most precious natural environments are helping to preserve their way of life using GPS mapping.

Communities native to the world’s second biggest rainforests in the Congo Basin, for example, rely on the ecosystem for 80-90% of their resources, through activities such as hunting and fishing that they have practised for years.

GPS training in the DRC: Rainforest Foundation.

Because they are semi-nomadic, meaning that they move around the rainforest rather than living in a single, fixed location, the extent to which they live and work there is often disputed. The rainforests are under constant threat from industries such as logging and farming (both legal and illegal), so already these people are used to seeing their world shrink around them. But even conservation itself can, ironically threaten their way of life, as frequently protections not only prevent the destruction of the forest but also their right to continue their own activities there.

Tribes are also enabled, using their GPS devices, to hold companies who have been granted specific rights to be held accountable when they exploit or violate restrictions that have been set upon their operations. For example more than 6000 Bantu and 1500 Pygmies are now involved in policing logging activity in the Bandundu and Equateur provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo through participatory mapping.

Organizations such as Rainforest Foundation UK have been training community members as ‘Master Mappers’ to create maps by initially sketching their homeland out and then using GPS devices to accurately locate the places on the map.

The aim is to create a territory map that can be presented to the Congolese Government when they meet on May 8^th to determine the future of the rain forest – with regard to parceling of the forest for industrial purposes. The government has already made 11 concessions to logging companies from several European nations.

The maps will be offered as hard proof that these communities exist and live throughout the rainforest, and offer their representatives a chance to play a part in negotiations about their homeland.

As reported on CNN, a similar project has existed for more than 10 years in the Cameroon, where tribes in the Boumba Bek collected honey, mangoes and medicinal plants prior to it receiving National Park status under the jurisdiction of the World Wildlife Fund.

The Baka people were able to provide similar GPS based evidence and restore their right to operate within the region.

GPS offers an opportunity to these indigenous peoples to talk in the technological language that those contesting their rights have traditionally used to defeat them, and provides a very portable, low impact way of preserving their way of life.

Villagers celebrate completion of a community map, this time in the Central African Republic.

This article was also published on our K-12 Education blog – The maps101 blog.

Related articles

• Tropical Rain Forests (socyberty.com)
• What happens to the wood that is cut down from the rainforests? (greenanswers.com)
• Digital defenders: Tribal people use GPS to protect their lands (energybulletin.net)
• Social Innovation: GPS Technology Empowering Indigenous People of the Congo Basin (emmageraln.com)
• Maps.com donates print maps to schools in Tanzania (maps.com blog)

Maps.com Teaches Cartography to Local Elementary School Students

By Eric Wilder, Cartographer, Maps.com.

It's Science Night

Last week marked an exciting time for Maps.com, as it was the culmination of the critically acclaimed Monte Vista Elementary School Science Night.

For many K-6 graders in Santa Barbara, Science Night is one of the most anticipated days of the year; Monte Vista Elementary School hosts dozens of local scientists from a wide variety of disciplines who enthusiastically share their profession with young minds of tomorrow. The evening gives students the opportunity to touch a human brain, hold a python, experience static electricity, and as of 2012, learn about MAPS!!!

As a past student of Monte Vista who vividly remembers the thrills of Science Night, I was ecstatic to see things come full circle and return 15 years later as a cartographer. Teamed up with my partner in crime, Maps 101Customer Account Specialist, Terry (also a proud Monte Vista graduate!), we prepared a presentation that we hoped would engage students and get them interested in maps.

Global Appeal

Despite the fact that the cartography exhibit was placed right next to the reptile exhibit – tough competition to say the least – it is safe to say that the kiddos were enthralled to learn about maps. Crowded around the big maps we brought with us, Monte Vista students were quickly able to spot their school’s location on a map, identify ways that the Santa Barbara area has changed in the past century using our Santa Barbara Antique Wall Map, find their California mission on our Maps 101 missions map, and discover the uses of imagery in mapmaking. You would be shocked to learn how many first, second, and third grade students have used Google Maps before!!

No, THIS is longitude, Mr.

Seeing that I once had a cartographer visit my classroom in fifth grade, we at Maps.com understand the value of introducing the science of cartography to our society’s next generation of geographers. After a very fun evening complete with prize giveaways and contests, it is without doubt that the future looks bright for the cartographers of tomorrow!

Related articles

• Cartography Can Be Fun (travelbetweenthepages.com)
• The best American wall map: David Imus’ “The Essential Geography of the United States of America” – Slate Magazine (slate.com)

I need a bigger stocking

A perennial favorite by Maps.com editors and staffers (and not just because we update the maps), The World Almanac 2012 has hit the shelves ready to take its place as one of the top gifts for this holiday season.

Think you can get all the information you need from the internet? Think again. Where else will you find curated, researched, accurate information all in one place. It sure as heck won’t be Wikipedia. And as was pointed out in an interview with World Alamanac editor Sarah Janssen on WITF’s Radio Smart Talk on Monday morning, Americans are fascinated by lists. The best this, the top that. And pushing 1000 pages, the World Almanac is chock full of lists.

The editor’s most surprising fact in the Almanac this year? Sales of mobile devices in the U.S. topped 80 million units this year. Not surprising you say? Consider that means that there was approximately one mobile device sold for every 4 persons in the country. Woof. That’s a lot of devices.

If you fear that Santa won’t be able to fit The Almanac into your stocking, Sarah points out that “you can just make that stocking a little bigger this year!”

Buy The Almanac wherever books are sold or at WorldAlmanac.com

U.S. Opens New Tehran Embassy, Well Sort Of

No, U.S. diplomats haven’t returned to Iran to face the mob that overran the British Embassy last week. No feet are required on the ground for this first-ever virtual embassy launched by the U.S. State Department as part of its friend-making campaign towards the Iranian people.

Under Secretary Wendy Sherman made the announcement today, saying that the U.S. wants “to communicate directly to the people of Iran. We want all Iranians, especially the very large population of young people inside Iran, to see that the United States has deep respect for the Iranian people and its civilization. We want to support a more direct and robust engagement between us and the people of Iran, as we have in other countries where we have physical embassies. The virtual embassy is a hub in Persian and English for information not only on U.S. policy towards Iran but also a place to get insight into American culture and society, find visa applications, learn about opportunities to study in the United States. Virtual Embassy Tehran is a launch pad for our interactive efforts, our blogs, our Persian Facebook and Twitter pages, and our YouTube channel.”

The relationship between the U.S. and Iran has been made more tense of late by the Iranian administrations continued attempts to develop nuclear material  and the recent crash of a CIA drone in Iranian territory. The Iranian government will likely attempt to block the site from networks within the country, as they have for many site they deem inappropriate or counter to their own message. At the time of the announcement, the site had been operating for several hours with no attacks or blockage. Should it happen, the U.S. will do whatever it can to reset access and is confident that they can keep it up and accessible.

This does not signal a change in the diplomatic relationship, or lack thereof, between the two countries, but a new tactic to reach directly to the Iranian people.

PROFILE

Geography
Area: 1.6 million sq. km. (636,295 sq. mi., slightly larger than Alaska).
Arable land: 9.78% of the country.
Cities: Capital–Tehran. Other cities–Isfahan, Tabriz, Mashhad, Shiraz, Yazd, Qom.
Terrain: Desert and mountains.
Climate: Semiarid; subtropical along the Caspian coast.

People
Nationality: Noun and adjective–Iranian(s).
Population (July 2010 est.): 76,923,300 million.
Population growth rate (July 2010): 0. 1.253%%.
Ethnic groups: Persians 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%.
Religions: Shi’a Muslim 89%; Sunni Muslim 9%; Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, and Baha’i 2%.
Languages: Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic languages (besides Turkish) 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2%.
Education: Literacy (total population age 15 and over who can read and write, 2003)–79% (male: 86%, female: 73%).
Health (2010 est.): Infant mortality rate– 43.45 deaths/1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth (2010)–total population: 69.77yrs.

Government
Type: Islamic republic.
Constitution: Ratified in December 1979, revised 1989.
Branches: Executive–Supreme Leader (head of state), President (head of government), Council of Ministers, Assembly of Experts, Expediency Council, Council of Guardians.Legislative–290-member Majles (National Assembly, or Islamic Consultative Assembly).Judicial–Supreme Judiciary.
Suffrage: Universal suffrage; 18 years of age.

 Sources: Maps.com, Maps101,  U.S. State Department

Map community watches Thailand closely.

Maps have many uses!

Bangkok Resident waits out the flooding: CNN

With much of the world’s weather attention focused on the flooding and destruction in Thailand, many in the ‘map community’ are not only concerned for the health & safety of the friends, family, and the Thai people, but also the fate of the annual International Map Trade Association’s Asia/Pacific (IMTA AP) conference, set to take place in Bangkok November 10th & 11th.

Many IMTA members, particularly those traveling from North America, are having trepidations about travelling to a country that may be in need of relief more than conventioneers. Although the conference organizers have been assured that the primary hotel, international airport, and convention center are all dry and in working order, news reports from around the world and inside Thailand paint a more dire picture. Certainly a portion of the Thai and Bangkok economy is based on visitors, and the map community is very sensitive to this, perhaps even more so than most.

The flooding and displacement of people certainly isn’t a laughing matter, but this photos shows a unique use of map.  For travelling delegates we recommend lamination!

See more images from CNN coverage here.

Related articles

• Floods reach Bangkok, Thailand (telegraph.co.uk)
• Bangkok Braces for More Flood Impact (online.wsj.com)
• Bangkok braced for month of flooding as big evacuation gets under way (guardian.co.uk)
• Bangkok braced for month of flooding as big evacuation gets under way – The Guardian (news.google.com)

Maps.com makes its Good Morning America debut!

Maps.com products featured this morning on Good Morning America. The Secret Steals and Deals segment featured ‘Favorite things’ as suggested by News Anchors from the show. After growing up in Los Angeles, and graduating from our local university UCSB, Josh Elliott selected Maps and Globes as some of his favorite things.

It was a great reminder to the viewing audience that as much as we rely on GPS, Bing Maps and Google for our directions, there really is no substitute for something that you can touch and feel, and use your own eyes for zooming in and out!

Thank you so much to Tory Johnson, who spends much of her time helping small businesses and individuals in the workplace, and who pulled it all together for us!

http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/index.php/kwidget/wid/0_4g51ca5k/uiconf_id/5590821

Related articles

• Good Morning America: Secret Deals and Steals (livingrichwithcoupons.com)

No Sudan movements from map-makers as the South celebrates.

Image via Wikipedia

The people of South Sudan celebrated this week as they became Africa’s 54th nation. But cartographers around the world are in no rush to redraw.

Both Google Maps and Bing Maps are still awaiting confirmed geo data for the new border, which has not yet been officially agreed. As confirmed by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, the exact location of the border will be determined along with military re-deployments and agreements on natural resources. A 12 mile buffer zone to reduce outbreaks of violence is expected to be part of the final agreement, with Ethiopian troops playing a key peace-keeping role. The conflict in the region is estimated to have cost over 1.5 million lives in decades of violence.

A number of ‘unofficial maps’ have been developed, including this one from London’s Guardian Newspaper, and South Sudan’s own Foreign Ministry has been issuing maps for use by its embassies and foreign diplomatic missions, however they are yet to finally agree the borders or receive official recognition from the United Nations. This should occur in a meeting Thursday, and will follow the EU, United States and Russia’s recognition of the state whose independence was finally declared last Saturday, July 10th.

Juba will be the new capital where many challenges such as extreme poverty will be faced. This is also where the nations wealth of oil reserves will be strategically  managed from.

Google reported that they were awaiting the most accurate data before they would update their Google Maps and Google Earth products with the new nation, until then they have been encouraging locals to produce their own maps in community mapping events.

South Sudan already has its own national soccer team which played its first match against a Kenyan club team on saturday, however currently the world governing body FIFA does not recognize the new nation and matches will remain, like the cartography,  ’unofficial’.

Republic of South Sudan, via the Mission of the Government of South Sudan.

Related articles

• South Sudan Is Born (newser.com)
• South Sudanese sing and map their way to independence (google-latlong.blogspot.com)
• South Sudan: A new nation rises (boston.com)
• South Sudan celebrates first day as independent nation (independent.co.uk)
• Next for South Sudan: Building an Economy (newser.com)

Samoa in nationwide time travel event

Image via Wikipedia

The government of Samoa, one of the islands of the South Pacific, has announced that it will move the international dateline in order to shift it to a time zone aligned with nearby New Zealand.

At the moment, the state formerly known as Western Samoa, is a day behind both Australia and New Zealand, but relies heavily on both countries for trade. 2 business days are lost each week because of the weekend. Short notice visits to either country are made difficult because of the visa requirements. It is almost impossible to get a visa processed quickly because of the weekend overlap.

The international dateline follows the line of 180 degrees latitude, however it deviates in several places in order to avoid dividing nations including Russia, across two different days. No international agreement exists for how the dateline should run, meaning that its path is at the discretion of nations and their territories affected. International waters use the nautical dateline which runs from pole to pole, but is superceded by local time in territorial waters.

Samoan Prime Minister Tuila’epa Sailele believes there will also be a tourist spin-off from the move, with visitors able to travel between time zones in Samoa and American Samoa in less than one hour – meaning that birthdays and anniversaries could be celebrated twice. On the other hand, the Samoan village of  Falealupo, traditionally regarded as the entrance to the spirit world, will no longer be renowned as the last village on earth to see the sun set each day.

Samoa previously had moved the dateline so that it could be closer to California time, under pressure from American traders back in 1892. That year saw 2 4th of Julys and no doubt the visitors celebrated twice!

Further north, the New Zealand territory of Kiribati was the last to change, in 1995. The country, a group of small islands, had recently gained independence (1979) and acquired 2 islands from the United States.  It became the only nation to be divided by the dateline (it still is on most maps). Government offices in different parts of the islands only worked 4 simultaneous days each week making administration of the islands slow and inefficient.  The compulsary broadcasting of Sunday Hymns, a single state broadcaster and two Sundays apparently proved too much for the population and they also shifted the dateline east, an event seemingly disregarded by most cartographers.

The change is expected to take place on 29th December 2011. That would be the first 29th December, not the second one, we believe.

Get maps for yesterday, today and tomorrow from Maps.com, now in our 20th year of exceeding expectations.

Related articles

• Samoa leaps dateline: how time zones work (telegraph.co.uk)
• Samoa goes back to the future as it slips across dateline to boost economy (telegraph.co.uk)
• Samoans set to do some time travelling. (adelaidegreenporridgecafe.blogspot.com)
• Samoa Is Going Time Traveling (newser.com)