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07 September 2010

50 Best Blogs for Geography Geeks

Geography appeals to a wide audience due to the fact that it both influences and is influenced by a staggering number of subjects. History, politics, earth sciences, anthropology, archaeology, social sciences, technology and myriad other disciplines all contribute to geography as a cohesive whole. Unsurprisingly, the internet overflows with blogs that analyze the topic and its close relationship with every other discipline imaginable. Readers pining to learn everything they can have plenty of free, wonderfully diverse resources available to quell their thirst for information. Peruse everything they have to offer – and don’t forget to check out the contributions of other blogs who sadly did not end up on this list, likely due to a slower update schedule. Just because they didn’t end up here doesn’t mean that they don’t have anything valuable to offer!


"Online Engineering Degree is an nonprofit online resource created to explain to students their options and some of the advantages and disadvantages of getting an online engineering degree. It was our opinion that existing sites which attempted to explain to students the reality of obtaining your engineering degree online were typically for-profit and thus biased and less trustworthy.

This website is owned and maintained by Edgar Diaz and Samantha Rhodes, engineering professionals who both obtained their engineering degrees online. While we both have day jobs, we each make significant time for this website and for answering student emails each week, so if you have any comments or questions, please see http://www.onlineengineeringdegree.org"

Full List of the Best 50 Blogs:

1 National Geographic Blog Central

Explore the world through one of the essential resources on the subject of all things geographic – from cartography to culture, everything gets covered by National Geographic.

2 Matt’s Geography Blog

About.com’s Geography Portal, hosted by Matt Rosenberg, writes about a nice, broad range of relevant topics suitable for general audiences.

3 Newgeography.com

Geography extends beyond the cartographic, as this fantastic must-bookmark illustrates with its excellent writings on the people who make up the places.

4 The Urbanophile

Fans of geography interested in the specifics of cities will love crawling through Aaron M. Renn’s musings on urban areas throughout the world.

5 The Rural Blog

On the other side of the geographic coin lay The Rural Blog, where readers can trace the trends and ideas that shape those particular corners of the United States.

6 Cultural Geography Blog

Watch as people, cities and movements ebb and flow throughout the world with this very cool, very informative blog.

7 Geographic Travels

From the straight-laced to the esoteric, Geographic Travels has plenty of great maps and images to illustrate the true diversity of the discipline.

8 Making Maps: DIY Cartography

Geography buffs who enjoy drawing up their own maps of natural landmarks, cultural phenomena and more will love learning the latest ideas and strategies. A year went by without updates, but they seem to be back into the groove of things.

9 Free Geography Tools

Independent mappers in search of a few gratis technologies to indulge their passion need to bookmark Free Geography Tools and follow the latest and greatest developments.

10 Google Earth

Even those without an overwhelming geekiness towards geography still love tooling around with Google Earth…and those that do probably enjoy following what’s going down with the application.

11 Ogle Earth

Stefan Geens analyzes how “Google Earth and other neogeographical tools” come to impact the perceptions of professionals, amateurs and hobbyists alike.

12 All Points Blog

The official blog of Directions Media, All Points Blog posts about geography as it relates to politics, economics and other subjects.

13 Mapperz

Follow Mapperz for news and reviews of online mapping and GIS programs, discovering the best ones to suit certain needs.

14 Slashgeo

This community and accompanying blog serves as an excellent online forum for geography geeks to band together and discuss their love of geospatial technology – and more!

15 The Map Room

Jonathan Crowe writes about all the ins and outs of maps and mapping technologies in a manner that general audiences can understand.

16 Digital Urban

Digital Urban wants its followers to learn everything they can about the development of cities – their architecture, culture, politics, economics and (obviously) geography.

17 Strange Maps

Cartography lovers interested in perusing the weird and wonderful corners of their hobby (or profession!) need to drop by Strange Maps for some educational fun.

18 Geography blog from Networlddirectory

Most of the content available through Net World Directory’s Geography blog tends to emphasize the environmental facets of the discipline.

19 Google LatLong

The developers behind both Google Maps and Google Earth band together to offer an excellent resource for geography aficionados who enjoy reading about their hobby with a generous shot of technology.

20 Edible Geography

This absolutely amazing blog discusses geography through a foodie’s filter, facilitating talks about how the 2 fields have come to greatly impact one another.

21 World Geography Blog

Read World Geography Blog for global news and views about the immensely intimate relationship between people and places.

22 Bing Maps Blog

Fans of what Bing Maps has to offer may want to keep up with what the developers have been doing to make it the best application it can possible be.

23 Maponics Blog

The GIS service Maponics blogs about its latest endeavors and what they can provide the geography community.

24 AnyGeo

Anything and everything of interest to geospatial technology fanatics can be found right here at this incredibly popular and informative blog.

25 My Wonderful World Blog

National Geographic and other related institutions and publications band together to promote relevant educational initiatives in order to narrow the gulfs between different peoples.

26 Virtual Earth/Live Maps

Dive into the most fascinating corners of current geospatial technologies with one of the most in-depth online resources on the topic.

27 VerySpatial

Between the blog, videos and podcast, VerySpatial has plenty to please fans of all things geography – though mainly emphasizing the latest news and views regarding geospatial technology.

28 Students Without Borders

World University Service of Canada hopes to bring together students from all over the planet as a means of broadening horizons and strengthening understanding between vastly different cultures.

29 James Fee GIS Blog

WeoGeo’s James Fee keeps his readers updated on the diverse news and views from across the rapidly growing GIS industry.

30 Interchange

Planetizen’s Interchange blog caters to geography geeks curious about urban development and the various issues that come with it.

31 Google Maps Mania

These ardent fans of Google Maps hope to share their love of pushing the application to its fullest potential with fellow geography and geospatial technology buffs.

32 Terrain.org Blog

Ruminations on landscapes both natural and constructed comprise the content of Terrain.org and its associated blog.

33 Computing, GIS and Archaeology in the UK

Archaeology and GIS technologies collide in one incredibly interesting resource that focuses mainly on goings-on in the United Kingdom.

34 Google Sightseeing

Google Sightseeing is not affiliated with the eponymous corporation, but it does showcase a love of their applications by using it to take viewers on digital tours around the world.

35 knowwhere

Steven Feldman loves himself some geography, keeping an excellent blog that concentrates on how GIS technologies have forever changed the way people perceive the world around them.

36 Asia Ruminations

China-based Fulbright fellow Daniel Michaeli may not update as often as other bloggers on this list, but his blog remains a must-read for anyone fascinated by Asian geopolitics.

37 Spotlight on Geopolitics

In both English and Italian, Florian Pantazi writes about the geopolitical climate of the European Union.

38 Planet Geospatial

A rotating band of contributors aggregate the best of the best geospatial postings from around the internet.

39 GeoData Policy

Stop by GeoData Policy for detailed news on geospatial technology, geopolitics and social issues and impacts.

40 European Geostrategy

Geography geeks who enjoy studying European geopolitics and defense strategies may find this blog an incredibly engaging resource.

41 Adam Estrada

Geospatial professional Adam Estrada uses his blog to share everything he learns about the industry while going about his day-to-day doings.

42 Geofooding

Geography’s impact on food and foodie culture is undeniable (as is the reverse!), and anyone who enjoys both will find this blog a wonderful treat. Be sure to check out the recipes, too!

43 Geographicus

The rich history of geography and cartography comes alive through amazing imagery and detailed writings – anyone wanting to trace the origins of today’s geospatial technologies should stop by the excellent Geographicus immediately.

44 Atlas Obscura

Explore the wacky world continent by continent in search of esoteric, obscure people, places and things that make Earth what it is today.

45 RealClimate

Climate – and all the scientific and political factors surrounding it – has everything to do with geography.

46 geoMusings

Bill Dollins dishes on geography, with particular attention paid to the latest developments and opinions regarding GIS technologies.

47 Discovery News

The Discovery Channel posts up the latest news on the natural world blog-style, covering myriad topics of interest to geography fanatics of all ages and skill levels – including earth sciences, history, anthropology, paleontology and much more.

48 Climate Progress

For geography fans interested in learning more about anything and everything about climate – particularly politics and science – Climate Progress makes for an essential read.

49 Dot Earth

The New York Times’ official blog regarding the environment and natural resources greatly appeals to those who enjoy studying their geography through a green lens.

50 Global Voices

Source:

http://www.onlineengineeringdegree.org/50-best-blogs-for-geography-geeks

Many thanks to Samantha Rhodes from Online Engineering Degree.

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30 August 2010

Embed MapQuest - New

Embed MapQuest - New
You can now add MapQuest maps to your blog or website.



How to do this:
Enter the location into New.MapQuest.com
Click the “Send To” button, then the “Your Website” tab
Copy and paste the code to your site.

"The MapQuest specific HTML code is written for you and all you need to do is add that text to your HTML source on your web page. This is useful for businesses, bloggers, or even hobbyists building your own website. Imagine making it easier for your customers to see where you are, and with a click or two, they can get directions directly to your location. This allows you to add maps instead of just links! This works for single locations, as well as routes. More advanced features for Embedded maps will be coming soon as we continue our fast, iterative feature releases."

Also includes the ability to pick your language, search and re-arrange saved locations within your ‘My Maps’ collections and more in-line help. We have also updated the ‘Send to’ feature to now support Garmin GPS devices and added the Embedded Maps option.


Source:

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22 February 2010

RAC Map Widget

RAC Map Widget

"This handy widget to put on your site. This widget will not only provide a map of your address, but also allow visitors to your site to fully plan their route to you, using our Routeplanner technology."




Web Route Travel Planner is available via http://www.rac.co.uk/route-planner/

The widget can be set to any width you want, meaning it will fit perfectly on your site.

Uses Bing Maps

http://www.rac.co.uk/widgets/routeplanner/

Can see the AA (Automobile Association) creating one soon. (currently only via http://widgets.yahoo.com/widget/aa-route-planner via http://www.theaa.com/travel/travel-widgets.html)

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18 May 2009

+30 Top Mapping Blogs (Mapperz=7th?)

+30 Top Mapping Blogs">+30 Top Mapping Blogs (Mapperz=7th?)

Another debatable chart to comment on:

(All these blogs should be number 1.)

According to
http://www.whatsyourplace.de

"Selling the world parcel-wise on Google Maps and being an officially featured project on Google code, we closely follow new developments in the rapidly expanding market of Maps Mashups and the use of digital maps in general. Fortunately, there is a number of great blogs focussing on mapping issues. We would like to share our list of what we consider the top blogs on maps. The top ranking is in accordance with the number of google reader feed subscribers (shown in brackets) at the point of writing this post."

  1. StrangeMaps (13.576) - taking a humerous approach to map depictions - recommended: WW II - if maps could fight
  2. Google LatLong (5.350) - official blog edited by the Google Maps and Google Earth team - recommended: Whale Spotting on Google Earth
  3. Google Earth Blog (3631) - unofficial blog on everything Google Earth - recommended : 3 D Buildings Layer Update
  4. Ogle Earth (3448) - on how Google Earth and related products affect geopolitics - recommended: Exploring Shanghai’s recent geographic history
  5. Google Maps Mania (2915) - mostly edited by GMaps developer Keir Clarke focussing on maps mashups - recommended: Big Art Project on Google Maps
  6. The Map Room (2678) - map blog targeting wider audience - recommended: Is GPS accuracy at risk?
  7. *Mapperz (2131 >2,145 now) - introduces new digital maps - recommended: Africa in Open Street Map, lots of miles * (Still debatable on this - Mapperz)
  8. Spatially Adjusted (2067) - fairly technical GIS blog by professional James Fee - recommended: Licensing issues on the Geoweb
  9. Google Geo Developers (1924) - official blog - recommended: Solution to too many markers problem
  10. AllPointsBlog (1.290) - professional and high-frequency source on location technology. Recommended: Did Navteq really launch a rival to Google Maps?

  11. Free Geography Tools (951) - recommended: Google Maps Route Creation with NetKvik
  12. Virtual Earth (837) - An Evangelist’s Blog - recommended: MSN City Guides Relaunches
  13. GISLounge (656) - GIS information portal - recommended: Finding Bin Laden
  14. Very Spatial (565) - recommended: Digital Cities Concept
  15. Thematic Mapping (379) - focus on maps and economic/political development issues - recommended: Using KML at Thematic Mapping
  16. Programmable Web (34) -tremendous resource and catalogue of API-based mashups - recommended: WhatsYourPlace
  17. The Map Scroll (284) - nontechnological maps-blog - recommended: Taliban Influence in Pakistan
  18. Digital Earth (262) - personal blog focussing mostly on new developments in Microsoft’s and Google’s digital maps products - recommended Google Earth Imagery Update May
  19. Paul Ramsey’s GeoTips (259) - Founding Member of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation - recommended: Web Mapping Architecture at OpenGEO
  20. GeoThought (211) - blog on location technology by industry expert Peter Betty - recommended: The GeoSpatial Technology Revolution (Keynote)
  21. The Electoral Map (207) - focussing on the “intersection between politics and geography” - recommended: 2008 in political geography
  22. ManDown (176) - technical perspective on GIS, ESRI in particular - recommended: arcGIS Mobile 9.4 - Whats next?
  23. CartoTalk (122) - more a forum than a blog, but great place to follow qualified geo-discussions
  24. WebMapper (211) - focussing on the latest trends in location based services - recommended: UK Crime Maps scrutinized
  25. Spatiallaw (102) - low-frequency blog focussing on intersection of legal issues and spatial technologies - recommended: Why Spatial Law?
  26. What is Special About Geospatial (67) - Geo-student blogging about the geoweb - recommended: introduction of Pixelcase, where Photography meets Geoinformation
  27. Google Maps Gone Wild (60) - Examples about things one can do with Google Maps - recommended: recursive queries in Google Maps
  28. Mibazaar (57) - introduces practical Google Maps Mashups - Swine Flu Tweets on Google Maps
  29. atlas(t) (52) - recommended: Shoe Map
  30. WhatsYourPlace (19) - Google Maps Mashup Selling the World - recommended: Obamas Road to Presidency
  31. Geo2Web (16) - GIS technology blog - recommended: Mapping the Death Penalty
  32. Maps and Earth (4) - recommended: Find Custom Maps
source:
http://www.whatsyourplace.de/blog/?p=607#more-607

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