Thursday, July 31st, 2014
China plans to build more than 10,000 underground water monitoring wells nationwide within the coming three years to detect groundwater pollution in a timely manner, the country’s land watchdog said on Tuesday. Groundwater pollution has been severe in China with the quality of about 60 percent of the country’s groundwater tested last year judged only
Wednesday, July 30th, 2014
The Northwest is ablaze. Both Washington and Oregon are in official states of emergency as dozens of fires burn on forests and rangelands. Rainy weather in some areas has helped firefighters in the past few days, but according to the federal government’s InciWeb website, there are still 22 large fires burning almost a million acres
Tuesday, July 29th, 2014
Some 130 catastrophic events caused an estimated $54 billion in economic losses and $22 billion in insured losses in the first six months of the year, according to Impact Forecasting. In each of these events, mapping has been important in understanding the timeline of the event, the damage caused and the geographical extent of human
Tuesday, July 29th, 2014
Harvests will have to expand in order to feed a growing world population over the next decades. To achieve the goal without expanding cultivated areas at the expense of the environment, agricultural economists largely agree that farmers will have to turn to intensive cultivation and more productive plants. But first, it’s a task for breeders
Monday, July 28th, 2014
For decades, Canadian space specialists have debated whether the country needs its own fleet of rockets so it can launch satellites without being beholden to other nations. As relations with Russia, one of the world’s top providers of such launchers, further deteriorates over Ukraine crisis, some are reviving that call. The Canadian government decided in
Monday, July 28th, 2014
Google is currently planning to map Ellis Island, as well as Liberty Island, in a move which sees Google mapping areas which previously did not have detailed mapping. According to reports, Google plans to get a full 360-degree rotational view of Ellis and Liberty Islands as well as a 3D map of the area. Using
Monday, July 28th, 2014
The Urban Observatory – a joint project started one year ago by TED founder Richard Saul Wurman and big data visualization pioneer Esri offers analysis and sisde-by-side maps. The site already includes information from nearly 60 cities that are the usual suspects that have made serious investments in sustainable urban development such as New York,
Sunday, July 27th, 2014
Where are the sunniest places in Minnesota? A team of seven graduate students at the University of Minnesota has found the answer, down to the square meter. The result is an innovative Web-based “solar suitability” tool designed to help renewable energy companies choose suitable sites for solar panels. The award-winning application also has potential uses
Sunday, July 27th, 2014
The U.S. Geological Survey plans this summer and next to map the outer limits of the continental shelf, and also study underwater landslides that would help predict where and when tsunamis might occur. But environmentalists say it could cause the same type of marine life damage they fought unsuccessfully to prevent this month off the
Friday, July 25th, 2014
On June 5th a retired Russian ICBM (a 217 ton RS-20/SS-18) launched a record 37 satellites at once (actually at 30 second intervals) after the third stage achieved the intended 630 kilometer high orbit. The RS-20 has a max satellite payload of nearly three tons. That means the average satellite weighed about 60 kg (132
