Adding Geospatial Data to Research
Created by Matt Pasiewicz (EDUCAUSE) on April 19, 2005
I could be dreaming this up, but if not, perhaps one of you can point me to a little more information. It seems like I had read somewhere that someone had received a grant to begin looking at various types of research and adding geospatial data to it. I know of a database or two that profiles characters in fiction books, their location, the setting, etc. And I know that many LC records include information about time period, setting, etc. It would be really cool to see this represented visually on a map. I can imagine something similar being valuable for browsing all kinds of materials. Google/Yahoo maps meets visual reference tool. I can imagine a slide control that displays research across areas by date, the ability to zoom in on concentrated areas. Who knows what we might serendipitously discover if we were presented with a contextually relevant GUI like that. Does it already exist out there?
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I see that TimeMap is going to be available in an Open Source License (GNU GPL/LGPL) later in 2005. Very cool. I love the flash-based animations from the TimeMap site. Add some narration and find a way to integrate wiki content and google scholar and someone will have quite a project ... and by taking the open source route may help bring all sorts of innovations to the project.
A talk from Bill Buxton earlier this addressed the need for easy ways to do these kinds of resources.
http://128.100.195.4/archives/2004_dec9/?media=real&archiveID=110
I can wait to see how these types of projects develop two-to-five years from now.
http://www.metacarta.com/