beTech :: Evolve Already

On November 19th at 4pm in Harrison-Small Auditorium, noted map collector DAVID RUMSEY will present “Giving Maps a Second Life with Digital Technologies.”

Mr. Rumsey will show how technology has transformed his work as an historical map scholar and collector. Using imaging software, GIS, and popular applications like Google Earth and Second Life, Rumsey has given new life to old maps, both in their dissemination and in our ability to analyze and understand them in a variety of disciplines. He will demonstrate how he offers rare maps and innovative software tools on his free, public website:

http://www.davidrumsey.com/

Come early to the talk for a guided tour of the Seymour I. Schwartz collection of North American maps: “On the Map,” beginning at 3pm in the main gallery of the Harrison Institute / Small Special Collections Library:

http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/onthemap/

And stay late for a reception to follow Mr. Rumsey’s presentation!

This lecture is co-sponsored by CERSA (the new Center for Emerging Research, Scholarship, and Arts) and the Scholars’ Lab at the University of Virginia Library.

The Scholars’ Lab is also hosting a luncheon, open house, and other map-related events on November 19th, which is International GIS Day:

http://www.gisday.com/

It’s not too late to check out the New Horizons in Teaching & Research Conference taking place on Central Grounds right now. Though focused on teaching and research, this event has plenty to offer to Web-heads like yourself—the only problem may be in deciding which event to skip in order to see another.

Google recently launched a new feature for their Google Maps site that allows you to create your own personal maps and share them. One of the samples they developed to showcase the technology has some pretty interesting educational/historical/humanities content. It’s a map of oral histories collected along Route 66.

Click the orange markers to see photos, the blue markers have oral histories including videos of the interviewees answers.

You can create your own maps with whatever points you want, then choose whether to make the map public or private. According to the documentation, public maps will be “included in the search results on Google Maps and Earth”. I’m not real clear on exactly what that will look like. Anyone have any ideas how that might play out?

To learn more, go to http://maps.google.com/ and click the “My Maps” tab.

-Trey Mitchell