31 January 2021

Night Walk in Marseilles

Our wanderlust is unsated during this pandemic. Travel videos seem to be getting more viewing than normal. But technology can let us go even deeper. 

YouTube has leveraged their Street View technology to create an atmospheric virtual walking tour of the Cours Julien neighborhood in Marseilles. Instead of regular Street View, the tour makes the neighborhood feel a little more authentic by using nighttime imagery and providing narration by a couple urban storytellers. Check out Google's Promenade Nocturne. Talk a virtual walk, watch some videos, and just wish you could walk even more.




29 January 2021

Friday Night Music

I don't know why there aren't more rock songs about trees. This isn't a good way to learn ecology, its just a song. And it doesn't end well for the trees. But it is a song about trees and that is better than listing our some planning boards to watch.

 

"But the oaks can't help their feelings

If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade"

28 January 2021

Esri Map Gallery

 Looking for a little map inspiration? The Esri Map Gallery has many different maps for various purposes. Some are heavy on methodology and process, like this Access Impact Mapping poster from the Trust for Public Lands. Others are historic or complex. It is all great just for exploring and enjoying some beautiful maps.


24 January 2021

Threats to GPS

 The Sunday NY Times has a guest column by Kate Murphy that explains why we need to update, strengthen and supplement our GPS network. She mentions attacks and interference. And, since we land planes with GPS, you should care. But she didn't mention the FCC as a potential threat, as they are handing over some of those public airwaves to private interests.

As a guest column, she also didn't have space to talk about supplements to GNSS, like RTK networks.

21 January 2021

New book by Simon Winchester

 My current stack of books threatens to kill me if it topples, but I want to add one more to the stack. Simon Winchester has a new book out that is distracting me. His previous books includes The Map that Changed the World and Krakatoa. That alone would be enough. But PlaNetizen's review of his new book, Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World, has me ready to skip a few in the stack to get to this.  

Don't get me wrong, the review doesn't seem exactly like an endorsement. But the book sounds like it tried to help readers get to a new place, intellectually, in thinking about how we make decisions about land. The reviewer, Josh Stephens, offers this:

For urban planners working on local issues, with local people, Winchester implicitly begs for a reconsideration of the relationship between land and influence. Even if we agree that a homeowner's property is his castle, is the homeowner necessarily entitled to weigh in on, much less decide on, what happens on adjacent properties? And, of course, Winchester reminds us that even a home that is deeded and duly paid for was, initially, stolen from people who had essentially no concept of land ownership (and not enough firepower to defend their land).
Our world is changing. And, while this anglo-centric book might not present the final word on the matter, it sounds like a well-researched, well-written exploration of alternative ways to think about the land under our feet, under our homes, and under the communities that we are planning and designing for.


But (sigh) why did I need to read about this just as the new semester starts?

15 January 2021

Wish list item

This is an installment in my list of simple things I want to do when we can do things again

 

Walk to the Zimmerli and see The Good Shepherd by Henry Tanner, "the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim."