These are the slides to accompany the second lecture from Lesson 3 of Maps and the Geospatial Revolution on Coursera. www.coursera.org/course/maps/

1. Maps and the Geospatial Revolution
Lesson 3 – Lecture 2
Anthony C. Robinson, Ph.D
Lead Faculty for Online Geospatial Education
JohnA. Dutton e-Education Institute
Assistant Director, GeoVISTA Center
Department of Geography
The Pennsylvania State University
This content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

2. Who Makes Spatial Data?
• These days, the answer is: everyone
• Traditionally, spatial data is created by
governments
– Mapping has often been driven by defense
concerns
– Organizations like the U.S. Census Bureau create a
huge amount of the spatial data we rely upon

3. Who Makes Spatial Data?
• National mapping efforts like the Census or UK Ordnance
Survey provide the basic boundaries and socio-economic
attributes that others can build upon
– EsriTapestry data that you used in Lab 1 is an example
• You are making spatial data all the time, even while taking this
class
– Your IP address location is logged by Coursera
– If you own a mobile phone, you probably agreed to terms that
allow the phone company to log your location all the time

4. Who Makes Spatial Data?
• It’s not all scary – volunteered geographic
information is a new (and good) thing
• OpenStreetMap aims to create a free and re-
usable basemap for the world using volunteer
efforts
• These volunteered contributions have been
hugely helpful in recent disasters, like the 2011
Haiti Earthquake

5. Who Makes Spatial Data?
Source:OpenStreetMap onVimeo

6. Describing Spatial Data
• Collecting points, lines, polygons and
rasters is important – but all of this stuff has
to be adequately described
• You’ll want to add attributes to spatial data
in order to make it actionable

7. Longitude Latitude Username Tweet Text Time
35.6895 139.692 localtimes Good Morning from Tokyo, it is 8:00 am (http://localtimes.info/Japan/Tokyo/) Wed Mar 9 16:00:04 -0500 2011
35.6216 139.741 lahiru 2.05 AM in #tokyo. http://twitpic.com/48i4gd Fri Mar 11 10:06:25 -0500 2011
35.625 139.722 GoodPeopleJapan More shakes, big in #Tokyo! Fri Mar 11 11:13:22 -0500 2011
35.6252 139.723 good_people Big after shake in #tokyo now Fri Mar 11 12:00:50 -0500 2011
35.674 139.754 zakiazigazi #quake alarms on mobile phones just went off around us on the train #japan #Jish Fri Mar 11 14:42:03 -0500 2011
35.6849 139.779 markmatsusaka Doors closed. Packed in tightly and finally on our way. #fb #backchannel #Tokyo Fri Mar 11 15:45:43 -0500 2011
35.413 139.599 colm_smyth Where houses stood this time yesterday, only foundations remain. #tsunami Fri Mar 11 18:41:32 -0500 2011
35.6888 139.786 tcsuliv Update: tlkd w/ police now. Volunteers not needed in Tokyo yet. Fri Mar 11 19:02:50 -0500 2011
35.6578 139.7 ninja_padrino At blood donation center in Shibuya...only seven people here now, no wait. Fri Mar 11 20:37:13 -0500 2011
35.4092 139.596 colm_smyth In times of stress & crisis, the amazing music/lyrics of @joshritter @TheFray Fri Mar 11 21:33:55 -0500 2011
35.6025 139.673 ucchi Thank u 4 helping us!! @RedCross: Txt REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Fri Mar 11 22:32:17 -0500 2011
34.6795 135.179 jlandkev Ok...apparently the thing about the Pokemon creator dying is a rumor #tsunami #Japan Fri Mar 11 22:53:06 -0500 2011
34.6791 135 jlandkev very true! I'll donate, but to a large NGO through their website! Fri Mar 11 22:58:27 -0500 2011
35.6387 139.704 ShootTokyo If you drive a car, gas up. 20 ltr limits just implemented. #japan Fri Mar 11 23:02:05 -0500 2011
35.6516 139.723 ShootTokyo National Market in Hiro is packed! #japan http://t.co/wfPFJRU Fri Mar 11 23:30:31 -0500 2011
35.5442 139.721 japanesewhisper Thank you God for taking care of my friends around the country. So far they are ok. Fri Mar 11 23:41:18 -0500 2011
33.65 135.9 camelive #Myohoji / #Wakayama / #livecam #webcam World Wide Live Cam.
http://bit.ly/iikzqM
Sat Mar 12 00:00:07 -0500 2011
35.4091 139.596 colm_smyth Looks like I chose the wrong day to give up sniffing glue. #Japan #airplane Sat Mar 12 00:06:50 -0500 2011
35.4093 139.596 colm_smyth Around 10% of Japanese households with no power. Sat Mar 12 00:16:19 -0500 2011

8. Describing Spatial Data
• Data about data is called metadata
• Metadata can help you make judgments about data
quality
• There’s always uncertainty associated with spatial data
(or any other data, for that matter)
• While maps always have some uncertainty, that doesn’t
mean they’re useless
– We deal with uncertain weather predictions, we believe the
stupid crap that people share on Facebook, etc…

9. Maps and the Geospatial Revolution www.coursera.org/course/maps
Twitter @MapRevolution
Online Geospatial Education @ Penn State www.pennstategis.com
This content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License