Geospatial Redux: Help Classify Tropical Cyclone Imagery, Street View Now on Mobile Phones, Hubway Data Visualization Challenge,

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The Cyclone Center is looking to crowdsourcing to help classify over thirty years worth of satellite imagery (represented by 300,000 satellite images).  By comparing the selected satellite with sample images, users are asked to answer questions about the type of storm they interpret on five different images.  Users are asked to select from six different options (eye, embedded storm, curved band, shear, and other) when presented with a section of a satellite image.  Each option provides five sample images to help guide the user in deciding which storm condition is present in the image.  After selecting a storm condition, the user is then asked to decide if that image represents a stronger or weaker storm than the next storm image.  After the user has classified six images, information about the date of the storm, duration, and location of the storm.  

The site stresses that there are no wrong or right answers.  Classifying each storm image is considered subjective and the site uses the Dvorak Technique (developed by Vernon Dvorak in the 19702 and 1980s) which looks at cloud patterns, where the center of the system is, the intensity of the cloud pattern, and the strength of the system compared to 24 hours previously.  The Cyclone Center is a cooperative project with the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites, NOAA’S National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), University of North Carolina at Asheville, and The Zooniverse. (via AnyGeo)

The workaround for those steadfast on using Google Maps on their iPhones was to create a shortcut for Google Maps on the device.  Even with that solution, one of the grumblings about losing Google Maps as the backend for Apple iOS’ Map App was the loss of street level data.  Now Google Maps has launched Street View for mobile browsers, restoring access to street level imagery.

Esri has a called for submission for participants to submit their map stories for next year’s Esri International User Conference which will be held from July 8-12, 2013.  The deadline for submitting presentation concepts is October 26, 2012.

GEOINT 2012 kicks off next week and runs from October 8 – 11, 2012.  For those that can’t make the event in Orlando, Florida, GEOINTv will host video from this year’s conference.  Hosted by United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF), the site also has archived videos from past GEOINT conferences.

Enjoy experimenting with data visualization>  The Hubway Data Visualization Challenge opened for submissions today.  This Boston area competition invites participant to create “Visualizations, animations, maps, info graphics that tell us something new or illustrate the awesomeness of more than half a million bike trips in one year.”  The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2012 and the winner will be announced on November 7, 2012.

Esri has a blog post about adding social media (YouTube, Twitter, and Flick) geotagged content to a map using its Social Media template for ArcGIS Online.

A couple of online essays about the bridge (or divide depending on your viewpoint) between cartography as an art versus a science: Brian Timoney’s GIS & Cartography: the Latest Best Opportunity to Bridge the Chasm, and Andy Woodruff’s The Aesthetician and the Cartographer.