Women in Spatial

At the recent SSSC (Survey and Spatial Science Conference) in Wellington, I attended a Women in Spatial breakfast.  Unfortunately most of the speakers (barring the guest speaker Cecila Wade - the major of Wellington) were men.  Does this mean that all the 'leading' voices for women aren't women?  Are we really so underdeveloped a sector within the Spatial Science arena?

Personally, I doubt this very much - but at the moment, I'm lacking evidence of women who are willing to put themselves forward and reach out to other women to encourage them to pursue Spatial Science careers.  Can it really be so simple as to say girls aren't encouraged to do sciences as suggested by one of the male speakers at the panel discussion at the end of the conference? I don't see this in my undergraduate classes where students are pretty evenly mixed.  However, when you get to postgrad the mix changes dramatically.  Food for thought.

If you're in Wellington or New Zealand and would like to get involved with the New Zealand branch of Women in Spatial - please check out their linkedin page.

Spatial Expo at the SSSC - 22 November 2011

I'm manning an MGIS stand at the SSSC conference in Wellington this week - please come along if you're interested in finding out more about the MGIS (Masters in GIS).

There's an open day spatial Expo on the 22nd November from 10am - 5pm.

Canterbury Software Summit

I'm down in Christchurch for the evening at the Canterbury software summit. Currently learning about Dell's changing marketing and business strategies. Some really interesting talks and have so far spoken to someone about the demand for GIS graduates. Sounds very positive for the MGIS masters students!

Thinking about Type

Manipulating spatial data and visual variables, such as colour and spacing, tend to take up most of my time when I make a map.  But increasingly I've been exploring typeface and using type to convey more information about the data or map that you are creating.  Traditional cartography uses italics to name natural features such as rivers while man made features are in normal font.

This video talks about the use of typeface to convey messages in logos and signage.  Presented from a design perspective, it should spark some cartographic ideas...

Installing ArcGIS on a Mac

Have a Mac and want to install ArcGIS? Some helpful folks have developed a how to guide - available at http://www.esricanada.com/k12_docs/BP_ArcGIS_on_Mac.pdf

The London Underground

I thoroughly enjoy giving my undergraduate cartography lectures and talking about the design of the London underground map is a highlight.  Students who have and haven't been to London and used the map have very different impressions of it.  (Mostly positive if they've used it - by the way!)

However, it looks like it might be up for a redesign...


The Independent have just run a story on a potential redesign and have mentioned a lot of the comments that are brought up in class by previous users of the map half a world away. 

Yes, it does cause you to have a rather warped view of the actual London landscape - and I've fallen for the two tubes and multiple stations rather than a five minute walk alternative because I wasn't quite sure where I was.  However, there's something particularly liberating in that lack of geographic context for a geographer!  And many areas in London are easily navigable.

So which is better?  The old 'diagram', straight line map or the new more topographically accurate one?

Colour and how you perceive it

Colour is always an interesting topic for those interested in the visual communication of information. Cartography in particular relies on colour (hue, chroma and lightness) to relay information to its audience.  A colleague of mine pointed me to this BBC programme on the perception of colour - how its affected by your moods, your use of descriptions, your language, etc.

Opening the GIST Space

Hello and welcome to what I hope becomes an engaging, inviting and exciting space for Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIST) discussions and a space to share interesting GIST research.

I am a lecturer in Geographic Information Science (GIS) at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

The aim of this space is to preview research at Victoria, highlight interesting developments and research elsewhere, and explore the underpinnings of doing GIS research.

VUW is currently developing a collaborative masters in GIS with the University of Canterbury, so this should be an exciting time!

I look forward to getting to know you all,

Mairead