Alfredo Covaleda,
Bogota, Colombia
Stephen Guerin,
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
James A. Trostle,
Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
A future question for the SAT or GRE exams: “What is the relationship between Tom DeLay and redistricting?” Obviously that one is going to have many, many possible correct answers. But redistricting is a difficult and complex topic. This recent paper, though, might provide a good jumping off point for reporters working on the topic. “Public Choice Principles of Redistricting” BY: JOHN G. MATSUSAKA USC Marshall School of Business USC School of Law THOMAS W. GILLIGAN University of Southern California Marshall School of Business Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection: http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=775186 Paper ID: USC Law and Economics Research Paper No. 05-18; USC CLEO Research Paper No. C05-8 Date: July 2005 Contact: JOHN G. MATSUSAKA Email: Mailto:matsusak@usc.edu Postal: USC Marshall School of Business Dept. of Finance & Business Economics Los Angeles, CA 90089 UNITED STATES Phone: 213-740-6495 Fax: 213-740-6650 Co-Auth: THOMAS W. GILLIGAN Email: Mailto:TGILLIGAN@MARSHALL.USC.EDU Postal: University of Southern California Marshall School of Business Los Angeles, CA 90089 UNITED STATES ABSTRACT: This paper uses fundamental principles of public choice, mainly the median voter theorem, to develop a simple theory of redistricting. The focus is on how closely policy outcomes correspond to majority rule. The main results are: (1) Potential policy bias in favor of nonmajority groups is structurally linked to the number of legislative seats and the population, and the structure of most states puts them very close to the theoretically maximum bias. (2) Random districting, which might seem like the essence of neutrality, does not eliminate policy bias on average. (3) Traditional principles of compact, contiguous districts that respect existing political boundaries, stressed in the Supreme Court's Shaw v. Reno decision, minimize the chance of nonmajoritarian outcomes.”
This in from the Houston Chronicle via GIS Development online mag: “FEMA's official flood maps called obsolete
“As part of its management of the National Flood Insurance Program, FEMA maintains more than 90,000 maps to show areas where flood insurance is advisable and where construction would be risky. However, new developments in flood zones have generally rendered the maps inaccurate and obsolete. Faulty maps have a major impact on people and property owners. Local communities rely on these maps to help them limit construction within flood zones and to determine who can buy federal flood insurance.
“The inspector general's report raises serious questions about federal funding for the modernization effort, a $1.5 billion, six-year project that is intended to post accurate and easily updated digital maps on the Internet by 2010. The program already is behind schedule, and many state governments said that federal funding is far short of what they need to provide correct mapping information.
Source : http://www.chron.com
Maurice Tamman, of the Herald Tribune, Sarasota, Fl, posts to the NICAR (National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting) listserv:
“In recent months we’ve been experimenting with Google Maps APIs to bring dynamic maps to our coverage. (Last month we used it to illustrate how Florida property tax system creates crazy inequities: www.heraldtribune.com/saveourhomes/)
“Late last week, we slammed together a hurricane damage entry and reporting system for the six Southwest Florida counties, from the Keys to Manatee County. Users can zoom to a neighborhood and either view reported damage or report damage. (www.heraldtribune.com/damages/)
“I’m not sure how much use it’ll get because the storm stayed so south of us. Still, I think it illustrates the flexibility of the Google system over more expensive GIS server solutions, especially for smaller papers.”
Good job in seeking to employ a creative application of existing tools.
NASA's hurricane site has posted some novel maps and graphics of Wilma, including some 3-D and animated illustrations of the “hot towers.” “The arrival of Hurricane Wilma on October 15, 2005, tied the record for most named storms in a single Atlantic hurricane season. Within just days Wilma went from tropical storm to Category 5 hurricane status and broke the record for lowest pressure ever recorded inside a hurricane. New satellite observations show towering thunderclouds, sometimes called hot towers, that signaled the onset of intensification in this remarkable storm.“
GIS software discount for IRE members Return to IRE Training
Members of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc., qualify for discounts on geographic information system (GIS) software from ESRI, the publisher of ArcView. ESRI is offering ArcView GIS single use licenses at no charge to IRE members who agree to attend a GIS training event conducted by IRE and NICAR or ESRI. Purchasers must sign a three-year maintenance agreement with ESRI at a cost of $ 400 a year, with the first year's fee waived. ArcView, the GIS program most widely used by journalists, lists for $1,500. During the maintenance agreement period, purchasers will receive software upgrades and technical support.
IRE members must attend a qualifying training session within one year of entering the agreement with ESRI, which is based in Redlands Calif., and has been a regular exhibitor at the annual IRE and CAR conferences. Qualifying sessions are IRE and NICAR's Mapping Data for News Stories mini-boot camp, offered two times a year with the next scheduled for Jan. 6-8, 2006; an online ESRI Virtual Campus course, and ESRI classroom training.
For more information about IRE and NICAR training visit IRE Training . For more information about ESRI training see www.esri.com/training_events.html. IRE members can also purchase discounted extension programs, which expand the analytical capabilities of ArcView. The single-license cost for Spatial Analyst, 3D Analyst and Geostatistical Analyst is $1,500 each. That is a 40 percent discount off the list price of $2,500 each. To obtain an order form, please contact John Green, membership services coordinator for IRE, at jgreen@ire.org or 573-882-2772.
Here at the IAJ, there is growing curiosity about vlogs, blog sites that carry video. And, of course, we're always interested in maps. We recently ran across “Vlogmap.org,” a cool mash-up that integrates vlog sites with Google's mapping tools. Worth a visit, we think, and some consideration about how journalism organizations might apply the technology. “What is Vlogmap.org? VlogMap.org is an online resource which shows where participating vloggers are located around the world, along with links to key information about their video blogs. Anyone can submit info to VlogMap.org to be listed on the map, as long as you run a video blog. Why Vlogmap.org? VlogMap.org is intended to be a fun and interesting way to learn about and explore the vlogging community and its online offerings. How does it work? VlogMap visitors can click on any red pin to get links to the web address, the RSS feed, and the contact information for that location. Additionally, a user of VlogMap is able to zero in, and examine areas of vlogger concentration, such as New York City, Los Angeles, and London. Anyone can submit info to VlogMap.org to be listed on the map.”
One of the real challenges for journalists wanting/needing to do GIS is getting the software and map files. Often the major roadblock is the newsroom budget. We recently learned of a project that uses the file-sharing capabilities of Bittorrent (the peer-to-peer file sharing program) to make maps available at our favorite price — free. Check out GeoTorrent.org
What types of data are shared? All different types of geospatial data is shared here. For example Air and satellite photo's, as well as attribute data. What formats is the data in? Imagery is in either ECW or JPEG 2000 format. Both formats allow high levels of compression. For example 1 terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) of raw data can be compressed to just 50 GB. JPEG 2000 also provides a lossless compression algorithm, allowing for pixel-for-pixel fidelity with the original dataset. Attribute (vector) data can be distributed in any common data format e.g. shape, tab files or native data formats. ” The files are often large, like the 5.5gb “North America Landsat Mosaic,” but there appears to be a growing number of non-US data.
This looks to be a tool with potential. Click here for the opening press release.
Technology Review's senior editor Wade Rousch delivers a fine overview of Google Earth in the magazine's October issue. The piece would be especially good as an introcuction to the tool/concept for someone who is relatively new to online mapping. See “Killer Maps.”
From the Librarians' Index to the Internet….
GISc Resources for Hurricane Katrina
http://ucgis.org/Katrina/ http://lii.org?recs=027428 Subjects: * Geographic information systems * Emergency management * Hurricane Katrina, 2005
