29 January 2024

Finding lost cities with LiDAR

There has been a flurry of news recently about the successes of using LiDAR to uncover lost ancient cities without the destructive clearing that was required in the past.

The BBC announces, The discovery of the Americas' long-lost 'Rome'.

The New Scientist details the findings calling it A mysterious civilisation built a network of cities and roads in the Amazon between 3000 and 1500 years ago, and then disappeared.

And for the science community, the prestigious journal showcased a richly illustrated peer-reviewed LiDAR paper on its cover about Two Thousand Years of Garden Urbanism in the Upper Amazon.

26 January 2024

A Single Small Map Is Enough For A Lifetime

Noema has published a wonderful essay espousing the benefits of exploring the seemingly-mundane local landscapes around you. Take a few minutes to read Alastair Humphreys' A Single Small Map is Enough for a Lifetime. But then get out and see something. (and you might want to load Seek on your phone before your go)

23 January 2024

Sample Topo Maps

Next week we will be talking about ways to access the free USGS topographic quads for NJ online.

Think how much the use of these has changed aver the years even though the maps themselves have changed so little. For those that are new to the maps, I am sharing some different scenes from around New Jersey that may be of interest. Just click on each and they'll expand.










A special thanks goes out to Mike Siegel and the Rutgers Cartography Lab.  This is a great resource for students and for pros.  A national resource is the Libre Map Project, but it is a bit harder for first time users.

18 January 2024

Declining bird species

Many bird species are in decline. The Washington post article is beautifully illustrated. It isn't good news, but it is worth reading as the details help is understand it better. 

The article includes a tool that lets you map out the increase or decrease of a species. If you need good news, look up the map for Bald Eagles. But many common species are shown in decline.