Resource Mapping

GIS 2007 Assignment 4

2007-03-28T16:25:00.000+02:00

COMPARISON BETWEEN THE WEB MAP SERVICE SANBI BIODIVERISTY GIS*, PRINTED MAPS AND MAPTRIX (ELECTRONIC MAPS)

Maps are visualizations of knowledge of a certain space. They can either be used for orientation (geographical maps) or for illustrating local information [1].
Most printed maps are geographic maps and used for orientaion. They are widespread and part of everybody’s daily life. Maptrix was designed for schools to teach the general use of maps and the information extraction out of geographical maps. It is available in hard copy and as a computer program [3]. The SANBI Biodiversity GIS is a free online programme that provides access to biodiversity information of South Africa in order to be used for conservation and land use planning [4].

The maps are made for different purposes and presented through a different medium. So, they differ in layout, information provided and application.
Paper is the medium used for most geographic maps. Geographic maps are two-dimensional projections of landscape and infrastructure. They are available in different scales and for nearly every place on earth [2]. Because only a limited area can be shown, several maps are often collected in atlases. The use of scales at a certain ratio (e.g. 1: 25,000) allows the calculation of distances whereas information about longitude and latitude together with a reticule gives information about the position [1]. The advantage of paper maps is their independence of any technical equipment.
The electronic version of Maptrix works with the type of geographic maps described above but presented on a computer. There are 52 5’x 5’ map extractions of 1’x1’ boundary boxes of certain places in South Africa available using a scale of 1:50,000. The extractions were carefully chosen to fit one of the four topics, rural settlement, urban settlement, transport and landscape. The maps are visible in a window smaller than the whole map and a mouse is required to move to the place of interest on the map [3].
Today, seamless electronic maps with a limited zoom function are available. With a printout of these maps the advantages of conventional printed maps can be combined with the choice of the center and zoom.
The Web Map Service SANBI Biodiversity GIS is a freely online available map service for South Africa. Sixty-four maps that show different aspects of biodiversity can be loaded up. Among them are maps that illustrate protected areas, habitat information, ecosystem status and future plans for protection, sometimes specified on certain areas. Additional information can be added in the form of different layers such as the information provided from a conventional geographic map (“base layers”) and the information from all the other provided maps. Beside the different layers, users can also add personal information for example: landmarks, polygons, lines and names. Other advantages are the provided zoom function and the seamless projection. All these different possiblities of adding and removing information makes the SANBI Biodiversity GIS a customizable web map service that can be used to show all relevant information for someone’s purpose. A GIS is not only used to create customized images. Information extraction is another big issue, for example measurement of distances and calculation areas to mention only two of them. Because of the many different available functions, a tutorial for the program is offered on the homepage [4].

GIS programs can provide the most recent information because it can be easily updated in parts (e.g. different layers). Printed maps and electronic maps often do not contain the most recent information. Electronic maps can be updated from time to time whereas printed maps can’t be changed once printed and published.

The information in the form of different features in printed maps and electronic maps is all summarized in a legend. Information beyond the identity of the different features is only seldom available. A GIS like the SANBI Biodiversity GIS offers in addition metadata, downloads, information about the projects shown in the maps, and contact data for more biodiversity information for certain areas. This is necessary to understand and to use the illustrated data.

Maps are a two-dimensional projection of our three-dimensional world and therefore either an equal area, an equal distance or an equal angle illustration [1]. Distortion in one of these geometrical features can’t be avoided. Beside these general map limitations, each of the different types of maps has some specific limitations.
Printed maps and elctronic maps like Maptrix have a fixed zoom level and can contain more or less details than required or show a to big or rather small area. They are not seamless and the area of interest is often not central. Customizable functions such as the use of different layers or addition of data don’t exist. Although the calculation of distances and areas is possible it is often complicated and not more than a rough estimation.
Electronic maps and the GIS require a computer or similar technological equipment, which is not accessible everywhere and to everybody. Some of the electronic programs are in addition very expensive. The GIS programs especially are often difficult to use and the preparation of data is still very complex so they are not yet commonly used. The SANBI Biodiversity GIS is an exception in view of its free accessibility and the tutorial that makes its use easier.

The computer-based technologies will replace the printed maps more and more especially if the prices decrease in the next few years. Navigation is already dominated by electronic technologies such as the navigation systems in cars. Although there is a constant trend towards digitalization, printouts will never become obsolete. The required technology might not always be available and a peace of paper is often still lighter than the navigation systems produced at the moment.
The GIS programs are less important for personal use than for bigger organizations, e.g. industry, universities or politics. These services for data processing and visualizations will grow in the next few years. Today the most GIS are still specified on certain topics like the SANBI Biodiversity GIS. Some topic spanning services will perhaps soon be provided.

*Geographic Information System

References

[1] Internet source:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karte_%28Kartografie%29 Accessed on 18 March 07

[2] Internet source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map Accessed on 18 March 07

[3] Maptrix:
Electronic version

[4] SANBI Biodiversity GIS:
http://bgis.sanbi.org Accessed on 18 March 07

DIFFERENCES, ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF A GIS. DIGITAL MAP AND PRINTED MAPS

2007-03-25T10:44:00.000+02:00

Introduction

For the majority of us, maps represent a useful tool which we often use in daily life be it while navigating new hiking trails or when we are looking for a specific landmark, shopping centre or street name in an unfamiliar town or city. The common road atlas is now being replaced with more sophisticated and interactive digital forms which in some vehicles are now being built in as standard features. These systems use computer programmes and GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite technology to assist with voice prompts and are a form of GIS (Global Information System). GIS though still a relatively new technology is becoming more and more useful for a vast range of applications which include every day life, science and agricultural fields, and the military. In this assignment, I will touch on the essence of maps, digital maps, and GIS to provide a basic introduction to their uses, advantages and disadvantages.

Printed maps

Printed maps are used to portray the whole Earth’s surface or a part of it on a flat surface [1]. The term “map” actually refers to the mathematical meaning of transferring information from one form into another [2]. Maps can be presented as different projections which each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Maps generally show true distance, true direction, true area, and true shape, however no maps can represent all four at the same time [1]. A 1:50 000 scale map is restricted to the total area that can be portrayed, but the scale is true between the distance on the map and the distance on the ground [1].

Maps are still the main source of data for GIS systems [2]. The term “map” in mathematics explains the transfer of information from one source to another [2]. To produce a map, the requirements include the selection of various features which are to be included on the map, the characterisation of these features into groups such as “Roads” or “built-up areas,” the simplification of detailed outlines of areas including the coastline, the exaggeration of some features on the map that are often too small in reality to represent, and the use of symbols to classify the different classes of the chosen features for the map. To interpret most symbols and features, a representative key is usually supplied [2]. Without a good knowledge of the many symbols on a map, it is often difficult to find what you are looking for in a short space of time.

Other disadvantages of basic maps is that they are also often stylised, meaning that they are often portrayed in an unnatural way, and require some level of interpretation [2]. Maps are often out of date because they have to be printed and therefore the date of publication is the latest date of accuracy. They also show only a situation that is static and is a reflection of one section in time only. Some maps are very artistic which can make them more difficult to interpret, and area on a map can be rather difficult to determine accurately. It becomes increasingly difficult to use a map of the area if you are positioned on top of a high location within the map location as perspectives change and some objects are blocked from view by other objects. Maps cannot pan or give an oblique angle view on the map location [2]. Due to the cost of producing and making certain maps, the information that they contain is often a compromise with what can be afforded [2].

Printed maps have four general roles to play today. The first role is that of displaying data. Maps display information in a meaningful way, in other words, maps provide information that is directed for a specific use [2]. Maps also useful stores of data in the form of selected information about the map area. In a 1: 50 000 map, about 1000 place names are common. Interestingly the information stored on a common British topographical 1: 50 000 map equates to the requirement of 25 Million bytes of storage when converted to a digital format [2]. Maps show boundaries of areas and land uses that cannot be discerned from merely surveying the landscape [2], and most importantly, maps can be used to analyse. Transparent overlays (invented by Ian McHarg) are often used to test the relationship between two distributions of various objects or situations or resources, and hypotheses can therefore also be formulated and tested with the aid of maps [2].

One of the most useful advantages of having maps, and in this I mean printed maps of the same area over periods of time, i.e., maps that are out-dated, is that these maps can actually be useful in determining and storing information about changes in land use and zonation of properties [2]. Examples of this include the first large scale zonation of land in the United Kingdom in the 1930s by Sir Dudley Stamp, and again in the 1960s by Professor Alice Coleman that used maps to interpret the information [2].

Digital maps

Digital maps are similar in a lot of ways to the printed map in that they are constrained by the same disadvantages, though updating digital maps is generally a lot easier and a much quicker process. Maps that are accessed online are often up to date or updated regularly. One obvious disadvantage here is the need for technology, be it computers that are capable of downloading the map information, or the simple presence of a reliable Internet access point or even electricity. Digital maps are often not practical for this reason for many out door activities unless pre-loaded into portable devices, which can often be unreliable, or isolated rural settlements.

Digital maps became useful tools through the requirements of scientists who wished to produce quick maps to visualise digital modelling, or censuses. For these uses, the quality of digital maps was often not of major significance, and in 1967 the first ever modelling computer mapping package was released by Harvard University called SYMAP [2].

By creating digital maps, normal map production time and costs, including editorial costs are drastically reduced [2], however, before the development of faster and more efficient computers, the cost of hardware to produce digital maps was also high.

An interesting form of digital mapping includes the creation of Expert systems (which those of you who are doing the Conservation Biology course will be familiar with). In Expert systems, the computer chooses the correct techniques based on the data that has been provided, the map scale, and its purpose [2]. Digital maps are far more common today than printed maps and today [2]. Importantly, digital maps, because they are made up of digital data, can be used for a larger range of purposes than printed maps [2].

The primary advantage of digital maps is their comparative cost. They are cheap to produce and faster to produce. Digital maps can also be tailored to specific requirements of the user, which includes ease of perspective change or scale changes. The digital data within the maps can be used in applications of a GIS [2].

One large disadvantage is the difficulty in producing one complete digital world map or full-scale maps because of the costs involved and the mass of information that would need to be stored and accessed [2]. Another disadvantage is the initial requirement to invest in suitable computers that are not only capable of creating the digital maps, but also saving and storing the mass of data, therefore capital expenses can be high [2]. Through mass production and the loss of the traditional art of cartography that was seen in the creation of printed maps, quality of digital maps is often also inferior, and is often referred to as “cartojunk.” [2] Maps and digital maps are not searchable in the sense that you can type in key words in a search field to access the place or additional stored information on the search as is often the case with a GIS.

The digital maps produced by Lorraine Innes for MAPTRIX, an interactive educational tool, hi-lights the importance that digital maps can have as future components of school curricula, particularly Geography. MAPTRIX educates the user not only about the use of maps as discussed above, but also how they should be interpreted, which is often something most of us are not taught [3]. As part of the Resource mapping module, both the digital and printed MAPRTIX versions were introduced. Although problems were experienced with the speed at which the digital maps’ perspectives could be changed in order to view different locations, some errors were also encountered in the interpretation of particularly the secondary roads, and several spelling and grammatical errors were also encountered within the set question field, eg. “Road of trees” instead of “Row of trees” (Colchester Map, Eastern Cape, South Africa). I can only conclude that the data fed back to students or learners is only as accurate in digital format as what was originally programmed.

GIS

A GIS is a computer-based tool for mapping and analysing events and places on the Earth’s surface. A GIS integrates common data base operations, which include query as well as statistical analysis of the data, and the geographical analysis with better visualisation than is achievable with maps [4]. A GIS has the power to not only to create maps, but also integrate different information and visualise scenarios, present ideas, and provide solutions for complicated problems [4]. A GIS performs six tasks which include data input, data manipulation, data management, query and analysis, and finally visualisation.

GIS can be used for a vast range of tasks for nearly everything. In Industry and particularly in agriculture, GIS is used extensively for mapping of crop yield and crop rotation cycles, as well as projecting future soil loss on farms, be it from erosion, or poor use [5]. Since a GIS can be used to manage information from wherever it is located, GIS are becoming increasingly valuable in business management, allowing information to be obtained about where the customers are, what their preferences are (market research), spending patterns, and how to optimally exploit this information to maximise overall market share to minimise effective competition [5]. Cities and city planners cannot do without GIS to track maintenance, keep inventories and map locations, and model scenarios and distribution of services etc. [5]. GIS is used daily in the conservation of the environment. Species and resources can not only be mapped but can also be modelled, which allows for a preventative view on possibilities or scenarios, allowing greater resolution about a specific problem [5]. Managing forest is also more sustainable with the use of a GIS, and geologists can also use GIS to study geological features and model seismic activity [5].

GIS is primarily made up of hardware and software (the tools for the manipulation of the data and data management system), the data itself, which is the most important component of any GIS because without it, the GIS would not function, the people component who are responsible for running the GIS system since technology has limited intelligence, and the method by which the GIS functions according to a well organised plan which is often referred to in business as the operating practice [6].

GIS is made up usually of vector and raster structures for data input. Raster is also referred to as grid information, while vector provides a basic visual representation from which no mathematical or statistical analysis can be easily deduced. There are advantages and disadvantages to both methods, and GIS that integrate both structures of data input generally have a better range of data manipulation [7].

Advantages of vector data include the representation of data at its original resolution and form without losing its uniqueness, otherwise referred to a generalisation of objects (as explained in printed maps above) [7]. The graphic representation of the data is more detailed and often more pleasing to the eye, and data obtained from printed maps required no additional conversion since printed maps are in vector form anyway [7].

Disadvantages of vector data include analysis of data, which can only be done if the data is converted into a topological structure [7]. Topology is the study of geometric properties and spatial relationships, which remain unaffected by smooth changes in shape or the size of objects. It is also difficult to process large maps using vector data because of the sheer size of the information that needs to be stores, and elevation data is not well represented in vector form [7].

Advantages of raster data include the implication of geographic location by its position in the cell matrix, in other words, an objects location at the top right hand corner no longer requires the storing of its actual geographic co-ordinates [7]. The analysis of data is also relatively quick and is also therefore suitable for mathematical modelling as well as quantitative analysis [7].

Disadvantages of raster data include the relative loss of resolution where the resolution is actually determined by the cell size selected [7]. Linear features are rather difficult to represent, and associated large amounts of attribute data can be slow to process [7]. Some data integrity or data corruption can also occur as a result of data conversion from vector to raster forms, which will be expressed in the end product, and unfortunately raster structures often produce lower quality imagery that does not conform to many of the needs of cartography [7].

General advantages of a GIS over a map or digital map include the ability to pan to observe different perspectives on objects at oblique angles, with the ability to access additional information about a location or site, take measurements at any relative scale without the restriction of the printed map scale, and the searchability of the entire GIS. GIS are also relatively easy to integrate into various aspects of our modern lives in many forms to assist with a variety of functions, where maps generally have a limited use. The ability of GIS to be integrated and connected to other computer operated system such as GPS and credit card transaction and cell-phone operations, not only has a huge potential for expansion, but may also provide future problems regarding the accessability of daily information about our personal lives. This may lead to problems relating to the violation of privacy.

In conclusion, although it is easy to compare maps to a GIS and source information about their advantages and disadvantages, GIS is certainly the fastest growing form with the most applications, without which many of our daily functions that we take for granted would not be possible.

David Vaughan
Senior aquarist, Quarantine
Two Oceans Aquarium
Cape Town, South Africa
+27 21 418 38 23
dvaughan@aquarium.co.za

References

[1] Kansas GIS: http://www.kansasgis.org/catalog/projections.html Accessed on 20 March 07, 16:58.

[2] Internet source: http://www.geog.ubc.ca/courses/klink/gis.notes/ncgia/u02.html#SEC2.2.2 Accessed on 19 March 07, 13:15.

[3] Innes L. (date not given). Evaluating learning material for map reading. Pdf Internet source: Accessed 19 March 07, 13:19.

[4] Internet source: http://centrin.net.id/~agul/gis_what.html Accessed on 19 March 07, 13:52.

[5] Internet source: http://centrin.net.id/~agul/gis_apl.html Accessed on 19 March 07, 14:00.

[6] Internet source: http://centrin.net.id/~agul/gis_comp.html Accessed on 19 March 07, 14:15.

[7] SANBI: http://bgis.sanbi.org/GIS-primer/page_19.htm Accessed on 19 March 07, 15:16.

Assignment 2

2007-03-22T14:30:00.000+02:00

1. Image

Projection: Azimuthal Equal Area
Centre: Random
0°E
-30°N
Direction: 0

Distance: shows distances in spherical projection
Area: shows areas in spherical projection
Shape: spherical
Direction: north view, the center is Greenwich mean time(0°E) and -30°N

2. Image

Projection: Longitude Latitude
Centre: North pole
0°E
90°N
Direction: 90

Distance: shown distorted, only in reference to longitudes and latitudes
Area: shown distorted, only in reference to longitudes and latitudes
Shape: flat, longitudes and latitudes in a flat projection
Direction: centre is the north pole, with Asia above, North America below and Africa on the right side

3. Image

Projection: Azimuthal Distance
Centre: South pole
0°E
-90°N
Direction: 0

Distance: shown distorted
Area: shown distorted
Shape: spherical, areas get bigger from the centre to the periphery
Direction: South pole in the centre

4. Image

Projection: Heart Equal Area
Centre: Standard
0°E
0°N
Direction: 0

Distance: in spherical projection
Area: in spherical projection
Shape: like a heart
Direction: Africa in the centre with the North pole above and the South pole below

5. Image

Projection: Azimuthal Stereographic
Centre: Standard
-165°E
1°N
Direction: -47

Distance: shoes distances through lines
Area: shows areas not distrorted or in a projection but just flat
Shape: flat, shows equator and the central longitude as a straight line, shows not the whole globe
Direction: Pacific in the centre, with North America on the right side, Australia to the left side and Asia above

6. Image

Projection: Cylindrical Equal Area
Centre: Random
-126°E
1°N
Direction: 114

Distance: shown through lines
Area: shown in cylindrical projection
Shape: cylindrical
Direction: Pacific in the centre with North America on the left side, South America above and the South pole on the left side

7. Image

Projection: Azimuthal Orthographic
Centre: Standard
0°E
0°N
Direction: 90

Distance: distances shown through lines
Area: areas shown in spherical projection
Shape: spherical projection of both sides of the “sphere”, connected in the centre
Direction: South pole in the centre, Africa on the left side

8. Image

Projection: Bonne
Centre: North pole
0°E
90°N
Direction: 0

Distance: shown through lines
Area: distorted through the projection
Shape: shows the whole globe in a spherical projection with the normally covered parts to the side and above
Direction: North pole in the centre with Asisa on the right side and North America to the left side

9. Image

Projection: Mollweide
Centre: South pole
0°E
-90°N
Direction: 0

Distance: shown through lines
Area: in projection
Shape: spherical with the normally covered parts to the side
Direction: South pole in the centre, Asia on the right side and South America on the right side a little bit above

10. Image

Projection: Sinusodial
Centre: North pole
0°E
90°N
Direction: 0

Distance: shown through lines
Area: shown in projection
Shape: shows the central lines that connect North and South pole as straight line and an edge between the halfs of the globe that are shaped like vaulted parables
Direction North pole in the centre, with Asia on the right side and North America to the left side

2007-03-22T09:14:00.000+02:00

GREAT WATERFALLS OF THE WORLD

2007-03-16T09:48:00.000+02:00

Introduction

Waterfall can be defined as vertical movements of water that occurs where a band of hard rocks crosses the path of the river. The movement of the water from the river is less able to erode the hard rocks, thus leave the hard rocks as steep in the river’s long profile. The steepness of the hard rocks plays an important role in the water movements, such that the steeper the hard rock , the faster the water movement and thus more energy associated with water.

The energy due to the running water leads to abrasion and erosion. This erosive factor causes the waterfall to become less steep until it eventually out with the natural flow of the river (http://www.geographyhigh.connectfree.co.uk/). It takes many years for a waterfall to become extinct.

Most waterfalls are valuable sources of hydropower, as moving water turns the turbines that produces electricity.
Source: www.geographyhigh.connectfree.co.uk/s3rivergeohighlandforms.html

The diagram illustrates the vertical movements of water as it falls from the hard rock, and making a pool at the base (plunge pool).

1. VICTORIA FALLS

Zimbabwe

The Victoria Falls are located on the Zambezi River, on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. They are roughly 1.7 km (1.7 mile) wide and 128 m (420 ft) high. Victoria Falls are considered a remarkable spectacle because of the peculiar narrow slot-like chasm into which the water falls. The falls are part of two national parks, Mosi-oa-Tunya NP in Zambia and Victoria falls national park in Zimbabwe; these are one of southern Africa main tourist attraction (http://en.wikipedia.org/).

The coordinates are –17°55'20.73"S 25°51'13.64"E[-17.9201217°25.852273°E]
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/victoria_falls

2. RUACANA FALLS

Namibia

Ruacana Falls are located on the border of Namibia and Angola; the falls are more or less controlled by a dam upstream. The Ruacana falls provide fresh water to the northern part of Namibia and the southern part of Angola. Also they are a valuable source of hydroelectric power and main attraction of tourist in Namibia.

The coordinates are–17°23'32.82"S 14°12'44.03"E[-17.388803°S14.2073383°E]

Source: http://www.onime.com/Africa/landscapes/waterfalls/ruacanafalls.html

3. NIAGARA FALLS

United State of America/Canada

Niagara Falls is a set of massive waterfalls located on the Niagara River in eastern America, on the border of the United State and Canada. The falls were formed after the receding of the glaciers of the most recent ice age, as water from the newly formed Great lakes carved a path through the Niagara escarpment enroute to the Atlantic Ocean, (http://en.wikipedia.org/). These falls are very wide and they are very valuable source of hydroelectric power for both Ontario and New York.

The coordinates are 43°04'39.86"N -79°04'32.52"W [43.07331°N
-79.0720867°W]

4. IGUAZU FALLS
Brazil/Argentina

These are water falls of the Iguazu River located on the border of Brazilian state of Parana (in the southern region) and the Argentine province of misiones. These waterfalls consist of about 270 falls along 2.7 kilometres (1.67 miles) of the Iguazu River. Some of the individual falls are up to 82 m (269 feet) in height, though the majority are about 64 metres (210 feet). The falls are shared by the Iguazu National Park (Argentina) and Iguazu National Park (Brazil) (http://en.wikipedia.org/).

The coordinates are –17°55'33.78"S 25°51'22.14"E [-17.922297°25.85369°E]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguazu_falls

5. ANGEL FALLS
Venezuela

The Angel Falls (indigenous name Kerepakupay Vena) is the world’s highest free-falling water falls at 979 m (3212 ft) with an uninterrupted drop of 807 m (2648 ft) lying in the Canaima National Park, Venezuela, and they are located in the river Churun, an affluent of the Carrao (http://en.wikipedia.org/). These falls were not known to the western world until an American aviator; James Crawford Angel visited the falls in 1935 on a flight while searching for a valuable ore bed (http://en.wikipedia.org).

The coordinates are 5°28'59.07"N -61°56'17.64"W [5.4765117°N
-61.9362733°W]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_falls

6. AUGRABIES FALLS

Republic of South Africa

Augrabies are water falls located about 120 km west of Upington in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa. The falls covers an area of 820 km and stretches along the Orange River. These falls are in a dry area, and they are about 60 metres high. When the river in which they are found is flooded, these falls produces tremendous waterfalls.

The coordinates are –28°35'21.82"S 20°20'00.42"E [-28.58697°S 20.333403°E]
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augrabies_falls

7. TUGELA FALLS

South Africa

Tugela Falls are the world's second highest waterfall. The total drop in five free-leaping falls is 3,110 feet (947 meters). They are located in the Drakensberg (Dragon's Mountains) in the Royal Natal National Park in KwaZulu-Natal Province, Republic of South Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/). These falls provide pure and safe drinking water to the people living in this provinnce.

The coordinates are–28°44'13.14"S 28°54'51.18"E[-28.7355233°S28.90853°E]

8. YOSEMITE FALLS

North America

Yosemite Falls is the highest measured waterfalls in North Amaerica. Located in Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Yosemite Falls is one of the major attraction in the park, especially in late spring when the water flow is at its peak (http://en.wikipedia.org/).Yosemite falls are regarded as one of the 6th highest falls in the world with a total of 2425 feet (739 m)distance from the top of the upper falls to the baseof the lower falls (http://en.wikipedia.org).

The coordinates are 37°45'23.03"N -119°35'52.38"W [37.7538383°N -119.5920633°W] Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/victoria_falls

9. WALLAMAN FALLS

Quensland Australia

Wallaman Falls is a waterfall located in the northeast tropics region of Queensland, Australia, approximately 50 km West of the township of Ingham, and Northwest of Townsville and Thuringowa (http://en.wikipedia.org/). The falls have two main drops, the second of which is commonly cited to be Australia's largest single drop, between 268 and 305 m in height

The coordinates are -18°34'47.16"S 145°48'00.71"E [-18.5745267°S 145.8001183°E]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/victoria_falls

10. MTARAZI FALLS

Eastern Zimbabwe

Mtarazi is a free leaping waterfall that leaps in the delicate tiers in the Eastern highlands of Zimbabwe. Mtarazi is the second tallest waterfall in the world.

The coordinates are –18°13'08.32"S 32°44'29.98"E [-18.2180533°S

32.73833°E]

NATIONAL PARKS OF AFRICA

2007-03-15T09:47:00.000+02:00

A] INTRODUCTION

NATIONAL PARK OF AFRICA

African countries have generally been aware of threat to their animals. Governments have established national parks and protect reserves in almost every country to conserve the tremendous animal wealth.

Park is designed to carry wild animals and at the same time attract tourist. For example people come as tourist for hunting, fishing, or for mountain hiking and this lead to the economy of each country to grow.
Park also acts as a home for wild animals,marine animals,insects and several species of rare plants.

1. BWINDI IMPENETRABLE NATIONAL PARK (UGANDA)

The park is located in South-Western Uganda at the junction of the plain and mountain forest.It covers 32 000 ha and is known for its exceptional biodiversity with more than 160 species of trees and 100 species of ferns.It has population of about 300 mountain Gorillas.It was initially gazetted as a forest reserve in 1932 and managed both as game and forest reserve from 1961.

The coordinates are -1°04'50.16"S 29°39'41.04"E [-1.0750267°S 29.65684°E]

2. CHOBE NATIONAL PARK (BOTSWANA)
It is the second largest national park in Botswana and it covers 10 556 square kilometers.The park is divided into 4 distinctly different ecosystem: The Serondela with its lush plains and dense forest in the Chobe river area in the extreme north-east,The Savuti marsh in the west and the Linyanti swamps in the North-west

The coordinates are -18°36'15.40"S 24°44'19.80"E [-18.60256675°S 24.736633°E]

3. ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK (NAMIBIA)

The park is situated In the northern Namibia.It was established in 1907 and is located 435 km North of Windhoek.The name “Etosha” means place of dry water.
It covers an area of 22 270 square kilometers.

It is one of Africa’s major wildlife sanctuaries.Etosha is the finest and most popular game reserve in Namibia.Its most famous characteristics is the fact that the area is dominated by a salt span.The salt pan desert is roughly 130 km long and as wide as 50km in places.It has a little rainfall and its hot and dry but attracts plenty of wildlife

The coordinates are -19°08'04.56"S 15°58'08.86"E

[-19.1340933°S 15.9681433°E]

4. KGALAGADI TRANSFRONTEIR PARK (BOTSWANA)

The Gemsbok Park is the continuation of the Kalahari Gemsbok Park in South Africa, from which is separated by the dry riverbed of the Nassob River.It was officially launched on May 12 2002 by South African President and Botswana president. It is located in Kgalagadi District and approximately 865km Southwest of Gaborone.
It covers an area of 9000 square kilometers of Kalahari Desert

The coordinates are -26°10'8.38"S 20°40'53.64"E [-26.16973°S 20.6756067°E]

5. KRUGER NATIONAL PARK (SOUTH AFRICA)

This is the largest game reserve in South Africa and is the world’s most famous game reserve.It was established in 1898 to protect the wildlife of South African lowveld.It covers 18 889 square kilometers.It is approximately 350 km from north to south and stretch from along the northeastern corner of South Africa dividing Limpopo province and Mozambique and overlapping into the south into Mpumalanga province in South Africa.It has 8 entrance gates and 26 camps.

The coordinates are -24°09'53.42"S 31°10'09.63"E

[-24.158903°S 31.1682717°E]

6. MOUNT KENYA NATIONAL PARK (KENYA)

The park is approximately 2095 square kilometers and is located 175 km from Nairobi. It was opened in December 1949.The park has biosphere that covers 715 square kilometers and includes the peaks consisting of all the ground above 32 00 meters.

The coordinates are -0°09'15.42"S 37°19'03.00"E [-0.15257°S 37.3171667°E]

7. NGORONGORO NATIONAL PARK (TANZANIA)

This is quite the most famous of all Africa’s conservation areas.It covers 830 square kilometers and 600 meter deep and is situated in the North-eastern Tanzania.It is home to a permanent population of more than 30 000 animals and it is also have the “big five”, the lion,leopard,elephant,buffalo and rhino.

The coordinates are -°09'08.61"S 35°32'30.48"E [-3.151435°S 35.5384133°E]

8. RWENZORI MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK (UGANDA)

The park covers 100 000 ha in Western Uganda and comprises the main part of the Rwenzori mountains chain,which includes Africa’s third highest peak, mountain Margherita.
It protects the eastern slopes and glacial peaks of the 120 km long Rwenzori Mountains.

The coordinates are 0°12'30.00"N 29°53'58.08"E [0.205°N 29.8930133°E]

9. SALONGA NATIONAL PARK (DRC)

The park was created in 1970.It is Africa’s largest tropical rainforest.It covers
36 000 square kilometers of lowland rain-forest and savanna-forest mosaic.it is situated at the heart of the central basin of the Congo River

The park is very isolated and accessible only by water. It is the habitat of many endemic endangered species such as the dwarf Chimpanzee and forest elephant.

The coordinates are -1°57'34.87"S 21°00'10.29"E [-1.9558117°S 21.001715°E]

10. TAI NATIONAL PARK (COTE d’IVOIRE)

It is the single-largest tract of undisturbed tropical rainforest in west Africa.It was established in 1972. It is a home of 230 birds species, 28 of which are endemic to the Guinean zone.The park contains some of the last rainforest in West Africa.
The coordinates are 5°14'55.83"N -7°25'16.61"W [5.2426383°N -7.419435°W]

SOCCER STADIUM IN THE WORLD

2007-03-15T09:38:00.000+02:00

TABLE OF CONTENT
A. INTRODUCTION
B. OLYMPIC STADIUM IN BERLIN
C. FNB STADIUM IN SOUTH AFRICA
D. BORG EI ARAB STADIUM IN ALEXANDRIA
E. NATIONAL SPORT STADIUM IN HARARE
F. ROYAL BAFOKENG STADIUM IN RUSTENBURG
G. STADE MOHAMED V IN MOROCO
H. NATIONAL STADIUM IN BOTSWANA
I. BEIJING WORKERS STADIUM IN CHINA
J. LUZHNIKI STADIUM IN MOSCOW
K. TIANHE STADIUM IN CHINA

SOCCER STADIUM IN THE WORLD

A. INTRODUCTION
Stadium can be defined as an enclose that provides a broad space for sport events and tiers of seats for a large number of spectators. The shape of stadiums has varied depending on use, some are rectangular with curved corners, other are U shaped. Stadium creates jobs for young people and football help young people to develop the positive skills.
The objectives for choosing this Topic of Soccer Stadium in the World are; because it breaks down barriers between police and young people. It reduces crime and anti- social behavior. It engages young people in a range of constructive activities. It increases the playing, coaching and officiating opportunities for young people. It creates routes into education, training and employment. It increases youth people interest in the professional game.
Before discussing the details of Stadiums in the world it is important to agree what is being meant by Stadium.

B. OLYMPIC STADIUM IN BERLIN

The Olympic Stadium is a sports stadium in Berlin. This Olympic Stadium is surrounded by the massive Olympischer Platz and was originally built for the 1936 Summer Olympics.

The coordinates are52°30’52.98’’N,13°14’21.69’’E{52.50883°N,13.236948°E}

C. FIRST NATIONAL BANK STADIUM IN SOUTH AFRICA

First National Bank Stadium was built in 1987 and is located in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is the central venue for the South African Football Association (SAFA). A football-specific stadium, the FNB Stadium seats 78,000 people in plastic bucket seats. A two-metre wide "moat" runs around the entire field to protect players from over eager spectators. The most of the largest football events in South Africa are played at the FNB.

The coordinates are-26°14’05.18’’S,27°58’57.01’’E{-26.234196°S,27.976168°E}

D. BORG EI ARAB STADIUM IN ALEXANDRIA

Borg EI Arab Stadium is a brand new stadium commissioned in 2006 in the Mediterranean Sea resort of Borg el Arab; 50 KM west of Alexandria, Egypt. It is the largest stadium in Egypt with a capacity of 80,000 and is an all-seater. It is located on the Cairo-Alexandria desert highway 10km from Borg El Arab Airport and 15km from the city centre. A running track runs around the pitch, and the ground has four large floodlights. Only one stand is covered by a roof.

The coordinates are31°09’03.47’’N,29°50’55.57’’E{31.150578N,29.842595°E}

E. NATIONAL SPORT STADIUM IN HARARE

National Sports Stadium is a multi-use Stadium and is located in Harare, Zimbabwe. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 60,000.

The coordinates are-17°49’16.99’’S,30°59’42.28’’E{-17.819498°S, 30.99038°E}

F. ROYAL BAFOKENG STADIUM IN RUSTENBURG

Royal Mafokeng stadium is located in Rustenburg, in the North West Province; the Royal Bafokeng Stadium was opened in 1999 and completely funded by the Royal Bafokeng community, an administrative entity presiding over the world's richest platinum mines. Access is simple as it is built on open land and so has extensive parking facilities. It is a 90 minute drive from Johannesburg to the stadium. The stadium is currently a multi-purpose venue which includes an athletics track. It is already very well-equipped and it will require only minor renovations to bring it up to FIFA standards. The capacity of the stadium will be increased to 40,000 with the construction of two additional rows of seating on the second level.

The coordinates are-25°39’44.92’’S,27°13’19.64’’E{-25.657486S,27.21994E}

G. STADE MOHAMED V IN MOROCO

Stade Mohammed V (Arabic) is located in Casablanca, Morocco. It is a national stadium. It has a capacity of 55,000. It was built in 1955, and most recently renovated in 1999. It is an all-seater, and has a running track.

The coordinates are33°34’58.13’’N,-7°38’47.72W{33.576355°N,-7.641286°W}

H. National Stadium, Botswana

Botswana National Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Gaborone, Botswana. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 22,500.The stadium is made up of a total of ten stands, three of which are covered. Three large stands on each end of the stadium make up the north and south ends. The west side of the stadium is made up of three covered stands, while the east end is made up of one giant uncoved stand.

The coordinates are-24°39’24.01’’S,25°55’58.65’’E{-24.654001°S,25.926441°E}

I. BEIJING WORKERS STADIUM IN CHINA

The Workers Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium and is located in Beijing, China. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium was built in 1959. It was last renovated in 2004 and now holds 66,161. It was the main venue for the 1990 Asian Games, where the opening and closing ceremonies were held. Some high attendance matches of Beijing Hyundai Football club are also held at the stadium.

The coordinates are39°55’46.39’’N,116°26’28.09’’E{39.924398°N,116.43801°E}

J. LUZHNIKI STADIUM IN MOSCOW

Luzhniki stadium is the Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex in Moscow, or briefly Luzhniki Stadium is the biggest sports stadium in Russia. Its total seating capacity is 84,745 seats, all covered. The stadium is a part of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex, previously called the Central Lenin Stadium.

The coordinates are55°42’56.32’’N,37°33’13.61’’E{55.709386°N,37.552268°E}

K. TIANHE STADIUM IN CHINA

Tianhe Stadium is a multi-use stadium and is located in Guangzhou, China. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 60,000. It was built in 1987, and hosted the final of the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup in 1991.

The coordinates are23°08’25.49’’N,113°19’11.10’’E{23.13758°N,113.318516°E}

FAMOUS BEACHES

2007-03-15T09:01:00.000+02:00

INTRODUCTION

Famous Beaches are cities or towns with many personalities. It is at once the self proclaimed “World’s Most Famous Beaches” and World Center of Racing” a Mecca for tattooed motorcyclists and pierced spring-breakers, and the home of a surprisingly good art museum. They are mostly built next to the sea and around the famous main street into Ocean walk Village, a redevelopment area of shops, entertainment, and resort facilities. Beaches are very quite area lots of activities do happen at the beaches like sports.

A. LONG BEACH,CALIFORNIA

Description

Long beach is a city located Southern Los Angeles Country, California, United State, on the Pacific Coast. It borders Orange country on its southeast edge. It is about 30 km south of downtown Los Angeles. Downtown long beach has been showcasing long beach as a first class city within California.

Long beach and its North-West location within the California,US. Scale bar = 30km. Co-ordinates: 33°46'01.29''N, -118°11'18.15''W (Decimal Degrees: 33.766881°N, -118.186358°W).

B. HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA

Description

It is a seaside city in Orange Country in Southern California in United States. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the west by Seal Beach on the north, by Costa Mesa on the south, by Westminster on the Northeast, and by Fountain Valley on the east. It is known for its long 14 km’s beach, mild climate and excellent surfing. It is most beautiful beach, relaxing and incredibly entertaining.

Huntington beach and its North-West location within the California,US. Scale bar= 14 km's. Co-odinates: 33° 39'37.24''N, -117° 59'53.71''W (Decimal degrees:33.656207°N, -117.992285° W)

C. BONDI BEACH-ARUBA,SYDNEY,AUSTRALIA

Description

One of the world oldest surf life beaches, famous and beautiful beach is the closest to Sydney, Australia. It is situated in the Eastern Suburbs, roughly 7 kilometers from the center of the city. While the Northern end has been rated a gentle 4, the southern side is rated as a 7 due to a famous rip current known as the ”Backpackers Express” (also known as the “Bondi Tram” or the ”Bronte Express”

Bondi beach and its South-East location within the Sdyney,Australia. Scale bar= 7-8 km's. Co-odinates: -33° 53'25.95''S, 151°16'29.48''E (Decimal degrees:-33.887658°S, 151.27158° E)

D.VENICE BEACH,CALIFORNIA

Description

It is a district in west of Los Angeles, California in United States. It is best known for its canals and also has a somewhat Bohemian residential area as well as a colorful boardwalk. Venice beach is today one of the most and electric areas of Southern California and it continues a tradition of progressive social change involving prominent Westsiders.

Venice beach and its North-West location within the California,US. Scale bar= 0.22 km's. Co-odinates: 27° 05'59.69''N, -82°27'36.45''W (Decimal degrees:27.093282°N, -82.456075° W)

E.VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA

Description

It is an independent city located in the South Hampton Roads area in the Commonwealth of Virginia, on the shores of the Chesapeake bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The city in the most popular in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the 42nd largest city in the United States. It is third largest beach in the United States after Long beach and the others.

Virgina beach and its North-West location within the California,US. Scale bar= 0.22 km's. Co-odinates: 36°51'09.90''N, -75°58'42.04''W (Decimal degrees:36.85165°N, -75.973673° W)

F. DAYTONA BEACH, CALIFORNIA

Description

The most world’s famous beach. Dayton is a city in Volusia country, Florida, United States. It is a year-round resort area, well known for its beaches located on the Halifax River lagoon, part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, and the Atlantic Ocean. In the past Daytona Beach catered to spring breakers, but in recent years many of the breakers have migrated to other sites.

Daytona beach and its North-West location within the California,US. Scale bar= 0.71 km's. Co-odinates: 29°12'40.64''N, -81°01'25.48''W (Decimal degrees:29.206773°N, -81.020913° W)

G. PEBBLE BEACH,MONTEREY

Description

It is a small private coastal unincorporated community in Monterey Country, California which is the best known as a golf resort. It is bordered by Carmel-by-the-sea to the south, Pacific Grove to the north, the cit of Monterey to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the West.“The Lone Cypress” is a famous landmark in Pebble Beach.

Pebble beach and its North-West location within the California,US. Scale bar= 0.13 km's. Co-odinates: 36°34'08.64''N, -121°56'56.72''W (Decimal degrees:36.568106°N, -121.942787° W)

H.MIAMI BEACH,FLORIDA

Description

It is a city in Miami-Dade Country, Florida in United States. The city was incorporated on March 26th, 1915. IN 1979 Miami Beach’s Art Deco Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. South beach is one of the top destinations in the United States.

Miami beach and its North-West location within the California,US. Scale bar= 0.13 km's. Co-odinates: 25°47'25.07''N, -80°07'49.07''W (Decimal degrees:25.787512°N, -80.124845° W)

I. PALM BEACH,FLORIDA

Description

It is a city (collectively classified as a town) located in Palm beach Country, Florida 65 miles North of Miami. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth. Flagler’s two resort hotels established the nucleus of Palm Beach.

Palm beach and its North-West location within the Florida,US. Scale bar= 0.25 km's. Co-odinates: 26°42'18.57''N, -80°02'08.97''W (Decimal degrees:26.703095°N, -80.034828° W)

J. OLD ORCHARD BEACH

Description

It is a town in York Country, Maime in United States. It is located on the inner side of Saco Bay on the Atlantic Ocean; the town is a popular summer beach destination with an amusement park Palace Play land (including a large seaside Ferris wheel). The seven mile long beach stretching away from the downtown is lined with many beach residential properties.

Old Orchard beach and its North-West location within the Maime,US. Scale bar= 0.13 km's. Co-odinates: 43°31'04.65''N, -70°22'39.34''W (Decimal degrees:43.517442°N, -70.373223° W)

INTRO TO ME AND WHAT I DO

2007-03-14T17:36:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone

I thought I would add a few things of interest regarding who I am and what I do. As most of you know, I work at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, but I have been working in public aquaria now for just about 10 years. I specialise in the quarantining of fishes which is why I am studying further in the field of parasitology. One of my other passions in anaesthetics and anaesthetic procedure. I have added a few images taken during the relocation of the old Sea World aquarium in Durban to the new aquarium at uShaka Marine World in April 2004 to give you an idea of some of the fun stuff I get up to! The relocation from Sea World to uShaka Marine World in Durban was one of my favourites. The relocation went extremely well. It was the first time that an entire aquarium's exhibit stock was relocated using the anaesthetic 2-Phenoxyethanol and the first time that this drug was used on Zambezi (Carcharhinus leucas) and Ragged tooth sharks (Carcharias taurus). The drug 2-Phenoxyethanol acts on the nervous system and affects the transmission of nerve impulses between the synapses. It is added to the water at specific dosages, which we worked out during the relocation based on individual species reaction (excitation) level using conservative dosage increments and time intervals for observation.

I recently sent off the paper "Vaughan D., Penning M., and Christison K. 2007. 2-Phenoxyethanol as anaesthetic in removing and relocating 102 species of fishes representing 27 families from Sea World to uShaka Marine World, South Africa," on the use of this drug for publication to the International Journal of Fish Biology, which is now under review. The species-specific information has aleady been used for the successful relocation of the world's largest single shipment of juvenile Golden trevallies (Golden kingfish) from Singapore to the USA by plane.

Here are some images:

Old Sea World aquarium main "Reef" exhibit (2004).

Ragged tooth shark being removed from the shark tank (2004).

Introduction of Zambezi shark to uShaka Sea World shark tank (2004).

Me getting ready for an underwater medical procedure (2005)

This is most definately one of the most enjoyable jobs that must exist. Aquatic health management is regarded in this country as a relatively new field, but given a few more years, I think that this field will grow into something that can be used to support the growing aquaculture industry.

I am interested to know what all of you fellow students are working towards regarding a career. What fields are you interested in and what are the reasons for your interest in them? Let me know, I look forward to hearing your future plans!

Cheers

David Vaughan
Senior aquarist, Quarantine
Two Oceans Aquarium
Cape Town, South Africa
+27 21 418 38 23
dvaughan@aquarium.co.za

2007-03-13T18:59:00.000+02:00

OASES OF THE WORLD

A. INTRODUCTION

B. DAKHLA OASIS, EGYPT

DAKHLA OASIS: IMAGE 1
DAKHLA OASIS: IMAGE 2
DAKHLA OASIS: IMAGE 3
DAKHLA OASIS: IMAGE 4

C. SIWA OASIS, EGYPT

SIWA OASIS: IMAGE 1
SIWA OASIS: IMAGE 2
SIWA OASIS: IMAGE 3
SIWA OASIS: IMAGE 4

D. GHARDAIA OASIS, ALGERIA

GHARDAIA OASIS: IMAGE 1
GHARDAIA OASIS: IMAGE 2
GHARDAIA OASIS: IMAGE 3
GHARDAIA OASIS: IMAGE 4

E. GUERRARA OASIS, ALGERIA

GUERRARA OASIS: IMAGE 1
GUERRARA OASIS: IMAGE 2
GUERRARA OASIS: IMAGE 3
GUERRARA OASIS: IMAGE 4

F. KUFRA OASIS, LYBIA

KUFRA OASIS: IMAGE 1
KUFRA OASIS: IMAGE 2
KUFRA OASIS: IMAGE 3
KUFRA OASIS: IMAGE 4

G. SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA, CHILE

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA: IMAGE 1
SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA: IMAGE 2
SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA: IMAGE 3
SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA: IMAGE 4

H. EN GEDI OASIS, ISRAEL

EN GEDI OASIS: IMAGE 1
EN GEDI OASIS: IMAGE 2
EN GEDI OASIS: IMAGE 3
EN GEDI OASIS: IMAGE 4

I. TURPAN OASIS, CHINA

TURPAN OASIS: IMAGE 1
TURPAN OASIS: IMAGE 2
TURPAN OASIS: IMAGE 3
TURPAN OASIS: IMAGE 4

J. YZAD OASIS, IRAN

YZAD OASIS: IMAGE 1
YZAD OASIS: IMAGE 2
YZAD OASIS: IMAGE 3
YZAD OASIS: IMAGE 4

K. TAYMA OASIS, SAUDI ARABIA

TAYMA OASIS: IMAGE 1
TAYMA OASIS: IMAGE 2
TAYMA OASIS: IMAGE 3
TAYMA OASIS: IMAGE 4

A. INTRODUCTION

Oasis is a Greek word and means “inhabited place”.

An oasis is an area covered with vegetation in the desert. Because of different water sources oases can be classified into the following groups:
- Groundwater oasis:
The water is brought to the surface with a pump or a well
- River water oasis:
A river supplies the oasis with water from rain-laden areas.
- Spring water oasis:
A spring water oasis is located at places where groundwater table reaches the earth’s surface. It is the most common type of oasis.
- Oasis with an artesian well:
The groundwater rises to the surface because of overpressure.
Oases were once very important for the caravan trade and agriculture but they lost their importance in times of modern transportation techniques. One of the most important products was once the date. But some of the North African oases had a structural change and could intensify their agriculture because of the use of deeper laying water resources.
One of the biggest problems of oases is still the salinisation. It occurs whenever water evaporates because the soluble salts remain in the soil. The salinisation in some oases is extended so far that agriculture is not possible anymore.

B. DAKHLA OASIS, EGYPT

Dakhla is one of the five western oases in the Libyan Desert in Egypt. The 14 villages are situated in a swale surrounded by rocks and are home to 70.000 people. The oasis has 30.000 ha cultivable land where basically date palms, citrus fruits and mulberrys are grown.

DAKHLA OASIS: IMAGE 1

NORTH EAST VIEW

This image shows an overview of the Dhakla Oasis facing north east.
Co-ordinates: 28°59'18.21"E, 25°30'45.48"N, width of image: 79,81km

DAKHLA OASIS: IMAGE 2

NORTH WEST VIEW

This image shows the water sources of the Dakhla Oasis facing north west.
Co-ordinates: 28°59'18.21"E, 25°30'45.48"N, width of image: 2,35km

DAKHLA OASIS: IMAGE 3

NORTH WEST

This image shows fields and irrigation system in the Dakhla Oasis facing north west.
Co-ordinates: 28°59'18.21"E, 25°30'45.48"N, width of image: 250m.

DAKHLA OASIS: IMAGE 4

NORTH VIEW

This image shows huge salinsation of fields in the Dakhla Oasis facing north.
Co-ordinates: 28°59'18.21"E, 25°30'45.48"N, width of image: 720m.

C. SIWA OASIS, EGYPT

Siwa is also one of the five western oases in the Libyan Desert in Egypt. This oasis is 80km long, 2- 20km wide and located 18m under the sea level. In several villages live about 23.000 people. Most of them are farmers that cultivate date palms and olive trees.

SIWA OASIS: IMAGE 1

NORTH VIEW

This image shows an overview of the Siwa Oasis facing north.
Co-ordinates: 25°32'3.60"E, 29°13'21.74"N, width of image:39,89km.

SIWA OASIS: IMAGE 2

NORTH VIEW

This image shows a village in the Siwa Oasis facing north.
Co-ordinates: 25°32'3.60"E, 29°13'21.74"N, width of image: 3,97km.

SIWA OASIS: IMAGE 3

NORTH VIEW

This image shows fields and the irrigation facing the north.
Co-ordinates: 25°32'3.60"E, 29°13'21.74"N, width of image: 270m.

SIWA OASIS: IMAGE 4

EAST VIEW

This image shows salinisation and huge water channels facing east.
Co-ordinates: 25°32'3.60"E, 29°13'21.74"N, width of image: 2,15km.

D. GHARDAIA OASIS, ALGERIA

Ghardaia (Algeria) is located in a valley called M`zab in the nothern part of the Sahara. The wadi Mzab supplies all oases in the valley with water after heavy rainfalls. In several smaller towns and villages live 82500 people. Most of them are farmers and cultivate date palms. Ghardaia has its own airport and exports not only dats but also petroleum and natural gas.

GHARDAIA OASIS: IMAGE 1

EAST VIEW

Overview of the Ghardaia Oasis in Algeria facing west.
Co-ordinates: 3°40'47.07"E, 32°29'19.07"N, width of image: 11,56km.

GHARDAIA OASIS: IMAGE 2

NORTH WEST VIEW

Village in the Ghardaia Oasis. View: north west.
Co-ordinates: 3°40'47.07"E, 32°29'19.07"N, width of image: 760m.

GHARDAIA OASIS: IMAGE 3

SOUTH EAST VIEW

This Image shows some fields in the Ghardaia Oasis facing east.
Co-ordinates: 3°40'47.07"E, 32°29'19.07"N, width of image: 500m

GHARDAIA OASIS: IMAGE 4

WEST VIEW

This image shows a riverbed in the Ghardaia Oasis facing west.
Co-ordinates: 3°40'47.07"E, 32°29'19.07"N, width of image: 2,65km

E. GUERRARA OASIS, ALGERIA

Guerrara is also an Oasis in the M`zab valley. (no more information available)

GUERRARA OASIS: IMAGE 1

NORTH VIEW

Overview of the Guerrara Oasis in Algeria facing north.
Co-ordinates: 4°40'7.51"E, 32°46'41.86"N, width of image:12,11km.

GUERRARA OASIS: IMAGE 2

WEST VIEW

This image shows the water sources of the Guerrara Oasis facing west.
Co-ordinates: 4°40'7.51"E, 32°46'41.86"N, width of image: 4,14km.

GUERRARA OASIS: IMAGE 3

NORTH VIEW

Big fields in the Guerrara Oasis facing north.
Co-ordinates: 4°40'7.51"E, 32°46'41.86"N, width of image: 3,59km

GUERRARA OASIS: IMAGE 4

EAST VIEW

in the Guerrara Oasis facing east.
Co-ordinates: 4°40'7.51"E, 32°46'41.86"N, width of image: 4,23km

F. KUFRA OASIS, LIBYA

The Kufra Oasis is located in the south east of Libya. In the 1970ies several big irrigation projects made intensive agriculrure possible. For the last 30 years the oasis was irrigated with fossile ground water. Today the ground water level is about 60m lowered. There are no data about how long the Kufra will be supplied with water. But scientist expect that this Oasis will dry out in only a few years

KUFRA OASIS: IMAGE 1

NORTH VIEW

Overview of the Kufra Oasis in Libya facing north.
Co-ordinates: 23°19'10.79"E, 24°8'49.35"N, width of image: 49,29km

KUFRA OASIS: IMAGE 2

SOUTH VIEW

This image shows the big round fields and a part of the irrigation system facing south.
Co-ordinates: 23°19'10.79"E, 24°8'49.35"N, width of image: 4,15km.

KUFRA OASIS: IMAGE 3

NORTH VIEW

This image shows big fields in the Kufra Oasis with irrigation system facing north.
Co-ordinates: 23°19'10.79"E, 24°8'49.35"N, width of image: 4,71km.

KUFRA OASIS: IMAGE 4

NORTH VIEW

Square fields in the Kufra Oasis facing north.
Co-ordinates: 23°19'10.79"E, 24°8'49.35"N, width of image: 4,63km.

G. SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA, CHILE

San Pedro de Atacama is a town in the Atacama Desert in Chile. It lies 2.443m high and has about 4900 mostly indigenous inhabitants. Because of its height the temperature can drop below zero degrees at night. The river Rio San Pedro supplies the town with water and drains away after it passed the town.

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA: IMAGE 1

NORTH VIEW

Overview of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile facing north.
Co-ordinates: 68°12'6.71"W, 22°55'5.98"S, width of image: 10,22km

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA: IMAGE 2

NORTH VIEW

This image shows a river that brings water to San Pedro de Atacama facing north.
Co-ordinates: 68°12'6.71"W, 22°55'5.98"S, width of image: 5,14km.

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA: IMAGE 3

WEST VIEW

Fiels and the river in San Pedro de Atacama facing west.
Co-ordinates: 68°12'6.71"W, 22°55'5.98"S, width of image: 500m.

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA: IMAGE 4

NORTH VIEW

This Image shows small fields in San Pedro de Atacama facing north.
Co-ordinates: 68°12'6.71"W, 22°55'5.98"S, width of image: 520m.

H. EN GEDI OASIS, ISRAEL

En Gedi is an Oasis in the northern part of the desert Negev closed zo the Dead Sea in Israel. The oasis is administrated by a Kibbuz today that cultivate dates but finance itself manly with tourism and mineral water production. Because the sea level loweres En Gedi is endangered by huge collapses of vugs.

EN GEDI OASIS: IMAGE 1

NORTH VIEW

This image shows an overview of the En Gedi Oasis in Israel facing north with the Mediterranean visible on the left side.
Co-ordinates: 35°23'30.99"E, 31°27'29.24"N, width of image: 72,65km.

EN GEDI OASIS: IMAGE 2

NORTH WEST VIEW

This image shows a smaller overview of the Dhakla Oasis facing north west.
Co-ordinates: 35°23'30.99"E, 31°27'29.24"N, width of image: 1,69km.

EN GEDI OASIS: IMAGE 3

SOUTH WEST VIEW

The village in the En Gedi Oasis facing south west.
Co-ordinates: 35°23'30.99"E, 31°27'29.24"N, width of image: 490km.

EN GEDI OASIS: IMAGE 4

NORTH WEST VIEW

This image shows some of the fields in the En Gedi Oasis facing north west.
Co-ordinates: 35°23'30.99"E, 31°27'29.24"N, width of image: 600m.

I. TURPAN OASIS, CHINA

The Oasis Turpan lies on the Silk Road in west China. It is located in the Turfan Depression which is up to 154,5m under the sea level. The osis is home to more than 250.000 people. Canals supply Turpan with melt water from the Tienschan Mountans. Agricultural products are grapes and melons.

TURPAN OASIS: IMAGE 1

NORTH VIEW

This image shows an overview of the Turpan Oasis in China facing north.
Co-ordinates: 89°6'3.08"E, 42°51'35.33"N, width of image: 112,37km

TURPAN OASIS: IMAGE 2

NORTH EAST VIEW

This image shows a village in the Turpan Oasis surrounded by fields facing north east. It also shows an incoming river.
Co-ordinates: 89°6'3.08"E, 42°51'35.33"N, width of image: 7,61km.

TURPAN OASIS: IMAGE 3

NORTH VIEW

This image shows fields between rocks in the Turpan Oasis facing north.
Co-ordinates: 89°6'3.08"E, 42°51'35.33"N, width of image: 4,34km.

TURPAN OASIS: IMAGE 4

NORTH VIEW

This image shows huge salinisation in the Turpan Oasis facing north.
Co-ordinates: 89°6'3.08"E, 42°51'35.33"N, width of image: 25,26km.

J. YZAD OASIS, IRAN

The Yzad Osis in Trand is one of the biggest Oases in the world with more that 500.000 inhabitants. Yzad is a cultivated osais since 3000 B.C. It is located 1203m above sea level and has therefore cold winters. The whole region is known for its textile products like silk and other industries.

YZAD OASIS: IMAGE 1

NORTH WEST VIEW

This image shows an overview of the Yzad Oasis in Iran facing north west.
Co-ordinates: 54°21'38.45"E, 31°53'47.80"N, width of image:61,38km.

YZAD OASIS: IMAGE 2

SOUTH EAST VIEW

This image shows some fields surrounded by salinisated areas in the Yzad Oasis facing south east.
Co-ordinates: 54°21'38.45"E, 31°53'47.80"N, width of image: 16,59km.

YZAD OASIS: IMAGE 3

WEST VIEW

This image shows a part of the irrigation system in the Yzad Oasis facing west.
Co-ordinates: 54°21'38.45"E, 31°53'47.80"N, width of image: 5,81km

YZAD OASIS: IMAGE 4

EAST VIEW

This image shows a village surrounded by fields in the Yzad Oasis facing east.
Co-ordinates: 54°21'38.45"E, 31°53'47.80"N, width of image: 6,71km.

K. TAYMA OASIS, SAUDI ARABIA

The Tayma Osis in Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest and oldest oases in the world. It is located 830m above the sea level in a depression where the ground water is closed to the earth`s surface. Artificial irrigation made a the cultivation of 80.000 date palms possible

TAYMA OASIS: IMAGE 1

NORTH EAST VIEW

This image shows an overview of the Tayma Oasis in Saudi Arabia facing north east.
Co-ordinates: 38°33'36.82"E, 27°37'37.95"N, width of image: 24,13km

TAYMA OASIS: IMAGE 2

NORTH VIEW

This image shows a village in the Tayma Oasis facing north.
Co-ordinates: 38°33'36.82"E, 27°37'37.95"N, width of image: 3,13km.

TAYMA OASIS: IMAGE 3

NORTH VIEW

This image shows huge round fields in the Tayma Oasis facing north.
Co-ordinates: 38°33'36.82"E, 27°37'37.95"N, width of image: 4,31km.

TAYMA OASIS: IMAGE 4

EAST VIEW

This image shows some fields that are surrounded by salinisated areas facing east.
Co-ordinates: 38°33'36.82"E, 27°37'37.95"N, width of image: 1,39km

FOGO VOLCANO, CAPE VERDE ISLANDS

2007-03-12T15:48:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone

Just thought I would share some stunning imagery of Fogo volcano off the North West African coast (Cape Verde Island chain) supplied by Google Earth. From the image, it is clear that this volcano has had a violent past, and in fact it is also possible to see an active section of the volcano on the Western side of its crater.

Fogo volcano, Google Earth image.

The co-ordinates are 14°54'39.35"N, 24°21'11.63"W (Decimal degrees: 14.906558°N, -24.351938°W).

Cheers

David Vaughan
Senior aquarist, Quarantine
Two Oceans Aquarium
Cape Town, South Africa
+27 21 418 38 23
dvaughan@aquarium.co.za

THABA NCHU 2926BB

2007-03-12T13:45:00.000+02:00

One degree boundary box for Thaba Nchu Map Reference 2926.

Quarter degree boundary box for Thaba Nchu Map Reference 2926BB

Maptrix extracted 5min x 5min boundary box of Thaba Nchu using the co-ordinates 29° 09'S and 26° 47'E for the top left co-ordinate.

INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC AQUARIUM IMAGES

2007-03-09T20:58:00.000+02:00

INTRODUCTION

Public aquaria are living museums offering a glimpse into an underwater world that we rarely get the opportunity to witness first hand. Public aquaria focus on education to encourage conservation, and the statement that is synonymous among public aquaria is “how can we conserve what we cannot see?” Without conservation and education, our impact on the limited natural resources of the oceans will continue through ignorance until its final collapse. By linking together the entertainment value of a “living museum” with the message of responsibility, we can foster and encourage awareness in all people visiting public aquaria from all over the world and identify specific sensitive local areas of concern which require conservation. Animals exhibited within public aquaria effectively become ambassadors of their watery domain.

Public aquaria often offer interactive programmes which benefit scholars who are keen to explore the biological sciences and often run learnerships and outreach applications which literally take the creatures of the sea to underprivileged communities and schools where it is hoped an early curiosity can be sparked. The Two Oceans Aquarium’s education department is the pioneer behind this approach in South Africa, which has since been implemented by the NPC education centre of the South African Association for Marine Biological Research at uShaka Marine World in Durban with great success.

Recent applications of resource awareness by many public aquaria has seen the implementation of special colour-coded flip cards which indicate the vulnerability of common restaurant-supplied seafoods. By creating awareness of the status of specific species which make up a large portion of our protein consumption, and integrating and reinforcing these ideas through aquarium presentations, it is hoped that the pressures of demand on heavily exploited organisms will shift to more sustainable ones in future through educating the public.

Ten internationally recognised public aquaria were selected for the GIS assignment to introduce and encourage possible visits to these landmark holiday destinations. Each public aquarium introduced, excluding the old Sea World aquarium which was replaced in 2004 by uShaka Marine World, includes the URL for their respective home pages, which provides insight into their individuality and conservation responsibilities and affiliations. An aerial photographic view from one angle of each public aquarium using Google Earth introduces their geographic locations. The following public aquaria were selected based on the criterion that they are all different from each other, yet bound together in the common cause of conservation:

Africa:

Two Oceans Aquarium, Cape Town, South Africa
uShaka Sea World, uShaka Matine World, Durban, South Africa
Sea World (historical location after its demolition in 2005) Durban, South Africa

America:

Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey Bay, California, USA
John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, USA

Australia:

Melbourne Aquarium, Melbourne, Australia
Sydney Aquarium, Sydney, Australia

Europe:

Berlin Aquarium, Berlin, Germany
Lisbon Aquarium, Lisbon, Portugal

Far East:

Underwater World Singapore, Sentosa Island, Singapore

TWO OCEANS AQUARIUM (http://www.aquarium.co.za)

VICTORIA & ALFRED WATERFRONT, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

DESCRIPTION

Two Oceans Aquarium opened in 1995 and was seen at that point to be the most modern aquarium in South Africa. The Two Oceans Aquarium is one of only two international public aquaria to exhibit a live kelp ecosystem. Only the kelp forest at Monterey Bay, California rivals the majesty of that of the Two Oceans Aquarium. The name is ultimately the theme of the Two Oceans Aquarium. The Southern African coastline boasts the Atlantic Ocean on its West coast and the Indian Ocean on its East coast. The diversity and spectacular of this unique feature of the coastline is reflected in the exhibition of a wide variety of weird and wonderful creatures, and is of course 100% proudly South African! Two Oceans Aquarium is involved in the conservation of sharks in South Africa.

Two Oceans Aquarium “bird’s eye view” and its North-South location within the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. Scale bar = 1km. Co-ordinates: 33°54’32.14”S, 18°25’07.31”E (Decimal Degrees: -33.90536°S, 18.41791°E).

SEA WORLD (SOUTH AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR MARINE BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH)

WEST STREET, MARINE PARADE, DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA

DESCRIPTION

Sea World was the oldest public aquarium in South Africa until its demolition in 2005. Sea World was a modest aquarium built for the purpose of supplying funding for scientific research at the Oceanographic Research Institute (O.R.I). Sea World was famous for its dolphinarium which housed Gambit the Bottlenose dolphin, the largest dolphin in captivity in the World. Sea World was the beginning of the success of public aquaria in South Africa and was relocated with all its animals to its new premises just 2km down the road to uShaka Marine World in 2004. The site where Sea World stood is still visible in the aerial photographs as well as the jetty which housed the intake water lines that fed the aquarium with seawater from the adjacent surf.

Old Sea World aquarium site, beachfront, Marine Parade, Durban. This West facing view shows its location next to the old water park. Scale bar = 0.74km. Co-ordinates: 29°51’21.68”S, 31°02’19.28”E (Decimal Degrees: -29.85361°S, 31.06546°E).

USHAKA MARINE WORLD (SOUTH AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR MARINE BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH) http://www.seaworld.org.za

POINT PRECINCT, DURBAN

DESCRIPTION

uShaka Sea World opened in April 2004 after the relocation and quarantine of all the existing animals from the old Sea World Aquarium. uShaka is the fourth largest aquarium in the world, the largest in Africa and the Southern hemisphere and is home to over 8000 specimens of fishes and invertebrates. uShaka Marine World is a combination of water theme park, aquarium, dolphinarium and shopping village. ushaka Sea World is currently the only aquarium in Africa that has encouraged natural breeding of its adult Loggerhead turtles in captivity and leads the field in elasmobranch immobilisation techniques.

uShaka Marine World South-South East view (Water park entrance from Bell Street). Scale bar = 0.65km. Co-ordinates: 29°52’09.40”S, 31°02’42.34”E (Decimal Degrees: -29.86823°S, 31.10389°E).

MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM (http://www.mbayaq.org)

MONTEREY BAY, CALIFORNIA, USA

DESCRIPTION

Monterey Bay was the first public aquarium ever to house a Great White shark in captivity in 2006. Monterey boasts an impressive conservation history with the local population of Sea otters and is also well known for its deep-sea research. Monterey Bay Aquarium was the first aquarium to train Sunfish (Mola mola) and is home to the largest live Kelp forest ecosystem in the world. Monterey Bay Aquarium runs the Sea Watch programme which is aimed at educating the public about the correct seafood choices. Monterey is a partner of Stanford University and have also undertaken research into the lives of tuna through the development of tracking and tagging techniques.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Western view. Scale bar = 0.3km. Co-ordinates: 36°37’06.57”N, 121°54’06.09”W (Decimal Degrees: 36.61779°N, -121.90101°W).

JOHN G. SHEDD AQUARIUM (http://www.sheddaquarium.org)

CHICAGO, USA

DESCRIPTION

John G. Shedd aquarium in Chicago attempts a view of all the world’s major oceans to give the visitor the experience of a one-stop world tour in one aquarium. If you want to see Beluga whales, and indeed a new born calf this year (expected in a few months), then this is the place to visit! Shedd aquarium is dedicated to the Beluga whale captive breeding programme. In 1988 John G. Shedd Aquarium became a partner in Project Seahorse, an international network that includes over 75 institutions actively participating in sea horse conservation around the world.

John G. Shedd Aquarium South-South East view close-up pan showing three-dimensional building structure. Scale bar = 0.38km. Co-ordinates: 41°52’02.65”N, 87°36’50.47”W (Decimal Degrees: 41.86710°N, -87.60841°W).

MELBOURNE AQUARIUM (http://www.melbourneaquarium.com.au)

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

DESCRIPTION

The aquarium in Melbourne is larger than the aquarium in Sydney, but Sydney aquarium often collects animals for exhibition directly from the Sydney harbour. The Melbourne Aquarium is well known for its hands-on approach to education and offers special teacher training courses as well as courses for students from primary school level to early University level. “Creepy Creature,” the newly themed exhibit area, displays Bird-eating spiders, Coconut crabs, Giant spider crabs, leeches and scorpions! For a more calming experience, the Melbourne Aquarium also offers “Yoga Aqua,” a Yoga course presented in front of the aquarium’s larger exhibits.

Melbourne Aquarium North “pan” view from the river. Scale bar = 0.15km. Co-ordinates: 37°49’15.91”S, 144°57’28.62”E (Decimal Degrees: -37.81931°S, 144.95477°E).

SYDNEY AQUARIUM (http://www.sydneyaquarium.com.au)

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

DESCRIPTION

Sydney aquarium is situated in Sydney harbour and is well known for its display of corals and locally collected fishes from the harbour, including the blue-ringed octopus. Sydney is also heavily involved in the conservation of the native Pygmy perch and is involved in re-stocking programmes which sees their re-introduction back into their natural habitat of coastal streams in Australia and Tasmania. Sydney has also recently begun a Penguin breeding programme and released its first chicks into the harbour in December 2006. Sydney aquarium is a must see if your travel plans allow for a visit to Sydney!

Sydney Aquarium North “pan” view close-up. Note the roads passed the aquarium building for easy accessibility. Co-ordinates: 33°52’09.25”S, 151°12’07.46”E (Decimal Degrees: -33.86820°S, 151.20124°E).

BERLIN AQUARIUM (http://www.aquarium-berlin.de)

BERLIN, GERMANY

DESCRIPTION

The Berlin aquarium is well known for its coral displays and jellyfish husbandry and is the largest of three public aquaria in Berlin and includes a zoological garden. Home to 9000 animals representing 800 species, the Berlin aquarium offers an interesting view on biodiversity. The aquarium extension is relatively new and constantly changing. The zoological garden is already nearly 90 years old!

Berlin Aquarium North “pan” view showing the surrounding areas of the zoological gardens. Scale bar = 0.25km. Co-ordinates: 52°30’22.29”N, 13°20’28.90”E (Decimal Degrees: 52.50371°N, 13.33814°E).

LISBON AQUARIUM (http://www.oceanario.pt/indexFlashInicial.asp)

LISBON, PORTUGAL

DESCRIPTION

The aquarium at Lisbon houses a South African fish display and Ragged tooth sharks which were collected by the team at the Two Oceans Aquarium. Lisbon’s aquarium opened in 2006.

Lisbon Aquarium South Western “pan” view close-up. Scale bar = 0.20km. Co-ordinates: 38°45’48.66”N, 9°05’37.78”W (Decimal Degrees: 38.75811°N, -9.08962°W).

UNDERWATER WORLD SINGAPORE (http://www.underwaterworld.com.sg)

SENTOSA ISLAND, SINGAPORE

DESCRIPTION

Underwater World Singapore is situated on Sentosa Island in Singapore and is actively involved in several captive breeding programmes of various animals and is also involved in several local environmental projects around Singapore. UWS is involved in the conservation of the Pink dolphin, Hawk’s bill turtles, Dugongs and corals. Gracie, the Dugong mascot was rescued as a calf by the staff of UWS in 1998 off Pulau Ubin Island after her mother drowned in fishing nets, and now serves as an ambassador for conservation. UWS opened in 1991 and is one of the top 10 destinations for visiting tourists to Singapore.

Underwater World, Singapore. East-South East “pan” view to show its position on Sentosa Island. Scale bar =0.39km. Co-ordinates: 1°15’26.97”N, 103°48’36.24”E (Decimal Degrees: 1.25449°N, 103.80604°E).

I hope you have enjoyed the introduction to International public aquaria. For those UWC students who are also keen to visit the Two Oceans Aquarium in the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town, please leave a request in the comments section and I will see what I can do regarding some limited complimentary tickets. I can probably get access for a maximum of eight students, so I will provide for the first eight UWC student comments on this post. First come first served!

Cheers

David Vaughan
Senior aquarist, Quarantine
Two Oceans Aquarium
Cape Town, South Africa
+27 21 418 38 23
dvaughan@aquarium.co.za

ABOUT COORDINATES AND CONVERTING THEM

2007-03-09T13:06:00.000+02:00

Hi Guys

There are three ways of expressing coordinates

Degrees Minutes and Seconds

This is the "Conventional" system e.g. 33 degree 15 minutes 20 seconds South or in an abbreviated form 33^o 15' 20" S

Degrees are expressed using the ^o , minutes using ' and seconds using "

The four directions North, South, East and West are used. So since we are living in the Southern Hemisphere and East of Greenwich we will use South and East. If you were living in Japan you would use North and East. A person living in San Francisco in the USA would use North and West, whereas a South Ameican would use South and West.

Degrees with decimal minutes (default setting in GPS units)

This is the system that most Global Positioning Systems (GPS) units use as their default. It is actually best to change the settings to Decimal Degrees - see later sections of this posting. In this configuration the degrees are expressed as a decimal so there are no seconds.

33 degrees 15.3333 minutes South or in an abbreviated form 33^o 15.3333'S.

I find this system rather awkward to work with so it is best to avoid using it.

Decimal Degrees

All GIS applications use decimal degrees when using unprojected data expresed in Latitudes and Longitudes. In this configuration both minutes and seconds are put into a decimal.

33.255555 degrees South or -33.255555^o in an abbreviated form.

You will need to work to six decimal points to get good accuracy. Furthermore, you will need to assign a positive value to East and North hemispheres and negative values to East and South hemispheres respectively. Since we live in the East and South hemispheres our longitudes will get positive values and our latitutudes get negative values.

How do I convert between these three congigurations?

In the first example I will convert Degrees Minutes and Second into Decimal Degrees using the value 33_o 15' 20" S.

Leave Degrees as is

Convert Minutes to decimals so it will be (15/60)= 0.250000

Convert Seconds to Minutes and then convert these minutes to decimals so it will be(20/3600)= 0.005555 (working to six places)

Add the converted minutes and the converted seconds to the degrees

30 + 0.250000 + 0.005555 = 30.2555555

Next I will convert Degrees and Decimal minutes into Decimal Degrees using the value 33_o 15.33333'S.

Convert the minutes into decimals so it will be (15.33333'S/60)= 0.2555555

Add the converted minutes to the degrees

30 + 0.2555555 = -30.2555555 (it gets a negative since it is in the Southern Hemisphere)

How would I convert decimal degrees back to Degrees, Minutes and Seconds?

Lets take our value -30.2555555

The whole units of degrees will remain the same (i.e. in -30.255555° latitude, start with 30°).

Multiply the decimal by 60 (i.e. 0.255555 * 60 = 15.33333).

The whole number becomes the minutes (15').

Take the remaining decimal and multiply by 60. (i.e. .3333 * 60 = 20).

Leave Degrees as is

The decimal minute needs to convertered firs to decimal minutes by multiplying by 0.6(0.2555555*0.6)= 0.1533333, the first two represent the minute. You take the last four digits .003333*.6

In Google Maps we find a location

FNB Stadium Johannesburg

BARBERTON 2531CC

2007-03-08T17:12:00.000+02:00

One degree boundary box for Barbeton Map Reference 2531.

Quater degree boundary box for Barberton Map Reference 2531CC.

Matrix extracted 5min X 5min boundary box of Barberton using the co-ordinates 25°53`S and 31°04`E for the top left co-ordinates.

VOLKSRUST 2729BD

2007-03-08T16:03:00.000+02:00

One degree boundary box for Volksrust Map Reference 2729.

Quater degree boundary box for Volksrust Map Reference 2729BD

Matrix extracted 5min X 5min boundary box of Volksrust using the co-ordinates 27°25`S and 29°50`E for the top left co-ordinates.

THABA NCHU 2926BB

2007-03-08T15:48:00.000+02:00

One degree boundary box for Thaba Nchu Map Reference 2926.

Quarter degree boundary box for Thaba Nchu Map Reference 2926BB

Maptrix extracted 5min x 5min boundary box of Thaba Nchu using the co-ordinates 26° 55'S and 29° 05'E for the top left co-ordinate.

BIODIVERSITY CARTOGRAMS

2007-03-07T00:14:00.000+02:00

Hi

As your final exercise for the Resource Mapping course I have been experimenting with the prepartion of cartograms^[1]. The data used is biodiversity related and includes degree of threat and rarity from the IUCN Red Data list of threatened species, with the link to the site here.

Unfortunately, I did not have the latest data prepared as GIS layers, this is what you will be doing as an exercise, so this is the data extracted for 2000.

Continents of the World

The cartograms have scaled each country's size to the value of the variable (e.g. number of threatened fish species). Further the maps are thematically shaded with red indicating the highest value of threatened or endangered status going through orange, yellow, light green to dark green which represents the lowest values.

Number of plant extinctions

Percentage of threatened plants in the flora

Number of rare plant species

Total number of plant species

Number of threatened invertebrate species

Number of threatened fish species

Number of threatened amphibian species

Number of threatened reptile species

Number of threatened bird species

Number of threatened mammal species

As you can see South Africa is a Biodiverse region that has high risks of extinction, especially for plant species.

Reference
[1]Gastner, MT and Newman, MEJ 2004. Diffusion-based method for producing density-equalizing maps. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 7499-7504.

COLCHESTER 3325 DB, DAVID VAUGHAN

2007-03-06T13:17:00.000+02:00

EXTRACTS FROM COLCHESTER (MAP) 3325 DB

ONE DEGREE BLOCK

Co-ordinates: 25,-34,26,-33

HALF DEGREE BLOCK

Co-ordinates: 25.5,-34,26,-33.5

QUARTER DEGREE BLOCK

Co-ordinates: 25.75,-33.75,26,-33.5

EXACT DECIMAL DEGREES FROM MAP

Co-ordinates: 25.766,-33.750,25.85,-33.666

POSTINGS WITH BROKEN CODE

2007-03-06T08:43:00.000+02:00

Hi Everyone,

A large number of POSTINGS appear to be repetative and also to contain broken code which also breaks Blogger's code for the navigation of the site (on the right hand side this gets pushed down to the bottom of the page). If your posting appears to be faulty or repeats itself, I will move these postings into "draft" (so they will NOT be viewable) to keep the Blog working. Please view your postings and check that they are not causing a problem. The usual issue is a URL that is longer than the width of the posting window! The way to get around this problem is to create a "Link" and use some text to point to the link.

The text you use could be...

Link to the original article
Go to the URL
Link to the URL
Available from this URL

Alternatively you can simply put some descriptive text in and then create a link called "here" which is my preferred way.

VERY IMPORTANT - The CSE style guide prescribes that the full URL is provided when referencing, but this can cause the above problems on our Blog site. It would be best to create a Link with the text "Available from this URL".

To illustrate I have prepared below a posting and how it might be prepared and referenced so the links do not break the code.

THE WORLD AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT

In the News & Opinion section of the Sunday Times (South Africa) dated March 04 2007 there is an article entitled "The World as you've never seen it". David Vaughan brought this article into the lab yesterday and it deals with representation of how different countries of the world are perfoming with respect to Wealth, HIV Prevalence, War Deaths and Violent Deaths. The Information is presented as a Cartogram and was produced at the University of Sheffield on their website www.worldmapper.org. The Cartograms are defined as a map in which actual area of a feature (basically a territory) is substituted for a value. Consequently Cartograms are a thematic map in which territories are re-scaled according to data that applies to the territory. Where a territory has a high incidence of say Wealth, its real geographical area will be substituted for the amount of wealth and its area re-drawn. This makes geographical data easy to comprehend. Cartograms are sometimes referred to as an isodemographic map or a value-by-area map ^[1]. The production of the Worldmapper's cartograms is based on complex algoriths that shrinks and swells various territories using a technique recently published called "Diffusion-based method for producing density-equalizing maps"^[2].

In the Sunday Times' article Africa is not doing very well in wealth, but is exceptionally prominent in HIV prevalence, war and violent deaths. Not a very encouraging outlook. I then visited one of the authors of the above technique's personal page where some well prepared cartograms illustrated the following data for each country of the World

Population

Gross domestic product

Child mortality

People living with HIV/AIDS

Total spending on health care

Energy Consumption (including oil)

Greenhous gas emissions

You can find more information on the University of Sheffield's World Mapper which can be found here.

The abstract for the orininal article entitled "Diffusion-based method for producing density-equalizing maps" by Michael T. Gastner and M. E. J. Newman can be found here.

You can find more information on various types of Cartograms here.

Reference

[1] Wikipedia contributors. Cartogram [Internet]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia; 2007 Mar 2, 12:56 UTC [cited 2007 Mar 6]. Available from this URL.

[2] Gastner, MT and Newman, MEJ 2004. Diffusion-based method for producing density-equalizing maps. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 7499-7504.

Finally I will change the settings so only the last five articles are posted on the opening Blog page, access to the other postings will be via a link in the Table of Contents on the left hand side.

Please comment if you find anything unclear about this posting.

CAPE TOWN 3318CD

2007-03-05T18:54:00.000+02:00

One degree boundary box for Cape Town Map Reference 3318.

Quarter degree boundary box for Cape Town Map Reference 3318CD.

Maptrix extracted 5min x 5min boundary box for Cape Town using the co-ordinates 33⁰53'30"S and 18⁰23'30"E for the top left co-ordinate.

DE AAR 3024 CA

2007-03-05T16:55:00.000+02:00

DE AAR 3024 CA

One degree boundary box for De Aar Map Reference 3024

Quater degree boundary box for De Aar Map Reference 3024 CA

Maptrix extracted 5min x 5min boundary box for De Aar using the co-ordinates 30⁰35'S and 24⁰00'E for the top left co-ordinate.

OLD SEAWORLD AQUARIUM SITE, DURBAN

2007-03-05T13:44:00.000+02:00

OLD SEA WORLD AQUARIUM SITE (POST DEMOLITION)

Old Sea World Aquarium site

Location of Old Sea World Aquarium, Durban beachfront

USHAKA MARINE WORLD, DURBAN

ushaka marine world Durban site

Location of uShaka Marine World, Durban beachfront

MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUUM, CALIFORNIA

Monterey Bay Aquarium, California

Location of Monterey Bay Aquarium, California, USA

PUBLIC AQUARIA OF THE WORLD

2007-03-05T12:03:00.000+02:00

TWO OCEANS AQUARIUM, SOUTH AFRICA

Two Oceans Aquarium

Location of Two Oceans Aquarium, Table Bay Harbour, Cape Town

2007-03-05T11:56:00.001+02:00

OASES OF THE WORLD

A. INTRODUCTION

B. DAKHLA OASIS, EGYPT
C. SIWA OASIS, EGYPT
D. GHARDAIA OASIS, ALGERIA
E. GUERRARA OASIS, ALGERIA
F. KUFRA OASIS, LYBIA
G. SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA, CHILE
H. EN GEDI OASIS, ISRAEL
I. TURPAN OASIS, CHINA
J. YZAD OASIS, IRAN
K. TAYMA OASIS, SAUDI ARABIA

A. INTRODUCTION

Oasis is a Greek word and means “inhabited place”.

An oasis is an area covered with vegetation in the desert. Because of different water sources oases can be classified into the following groups:
- Groundwater oasis:
The water is brought to the surface with a pump or a well
- River water oasis:
A river supplies the oasis with water from rain-laden areas.
- Spring water oasis:
A spring water oasis is located at places where groundwater table reaches the earth’s surface. It is the most common type of oasis.
- Oasis with an artesian well:
The groundwater rises to the surface because of overpressure.
Oases were once very important for the caravan trade and agriculture but they lost their importance in times of modern transportation techniques. One of the most important products was once the date. But some of the North African oases had a structural change and could intensify their agriculture because of the use of deeper laying water resources.
One of the biggest problems of oases is still the salinisation. It occurs whenever water evaporates because the soluble salts remain in the soil. The salinisation in some oases is extended so far that agriculture is not possible anymore.

A. DAKHLA OASIS, EGYPT

Dakhla is one of the five western oases in the Libyan Desert in Egypt. The 14 villages are situated in a swale surrounded by rocks and are home to 70.000 people. The oasis has 30.000 ha cultivable land where basically date palms, citrus fruits and mulberrys are grown

Dakhla Oasis, Egypt, co-ordinates: 28°59'18.21"E, 25°30'45.48"N

B.SIWA OASIS, EGYPT

Siwa is also one of the five western oases in the Libyan Desert in Egypt. This oasis is 80km long, 2- 20km wide and located 18m under the sea level. In several villages live about 23.000 people. Most of them are farmers that cultivate date palms and olive trees.

Siwa Oasis, Egypt, co-ordinates: 25°32'3.60"E, 29°13'21.74"N

C. GHARDAIA OASIS, ALGERIA

Ghardaia (Algeria) is located in a valley called M`zab in the nothern part of the Sahara. The wadi Mzab supplies all oases in the valley with water after heavy rainfalls. In several smaller towns and villages live 82.500 peolple. Most of them are farmers and cultivate date palms. Ghardaia has its own airport and exports not only dats but also petroleum and natural gas.

Ghardaia Oasis, Algeria, co-ordinates: 3°40'47.07"E, 32°29'19.07"N

D. GUERRARA OASIS, ALGERIA

Guerrara is also an Oasis in the M`zab valley. (no more information available)

Guerrara Oasis, Algeria, co-ordinates: 4°40'7.51"E, 32°46'41.86"N

E. KUFRA OASIS, LYBIA

The Kufra Oasis is located in the south east of Libya. In the 1970ies several big irrigation projects made intensive agriculrure possible. For the last 30 years the oasis was irrigated with fossile ground water. Today the ground water level is about 60m lowered. There are no data about how long the Kufra will be supplied with water. But scientist expect that this Oasis will dry out in only a few years.

Kufra Oasis, Lybia, co-ordinates: 23°19'10.79"E, 24°8'49.35"N

F. SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA, CHILE

San Pedro de Atacama is a town in the Atacama desert in Chile. It lies 2.443m high and has about 4900 mostly indigenous inhabitants. Because of its hight the temperature can drop below zero degrees at night. The river Rio San Pedro supplies the town with water and drains away after it passed the town.

San Pedro de Atacama, co-ordinates: 68°12'6.71"W, 22°55'5.98"S

G. EN GEDI OASIS, ISRAEL

En Gedi is an Oasis in the northern part of the desert Negev closed zo the Dead Sea in Israel. The oasis is administrated by a Kibbuz today that cultivate dates but finance itself manly with tourism and mineral water production. Because the sea level loweres En Gedi is endangered by huge collapses of vugs.

En Gedi Oasis, Israel, co-ordinates: 35°23'30.99"E, 31°27'29.24"N

H. TURPAN OASIS, CHINA

The Oasis Turpan lies on the Silk Road in west China. It is located in the Turfan Depression which is up to 154,5m under the sea level. The osis is home to more than 250.000 people. Canals supply Turpan with melt water from the Tienschan Mountans. Agricultural products are grapes and melons.

Turpan Oasis, China, co-ordinates: 89°6'3.08"E, 42°51'35.33"N

I. YAZD OASIS, IRAN

The Yzad Osis in Trand is one of the biggest Oases in the world with more that 500.000 inhabitants. Yzad is a cultivated osais since 3000 B.C. It is located 1203m above sea level and has therefore cold winters. The whole region is known for its textile products like silk and other industries.

Yazd Oasis, Iran, co-ordinates: 54°21'38.45"E, 31°53'47.80"N

J. TAYMA OASIS, SAUDI ARABIA

The Tayma Osis in Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest and oldest oases in the world. It is located 830m above the sea level in a depression where the ground water is closed to the earth`s surface. Artificial irrigation made a the cultivation of 80.000 date palms possible

Tayma Oasis, Saudi Arabia, co-ordinates: 38°33'36.82"E, 27°37'37.95"N

ASSIGNMENT 2: INSTRUCTIONS

2007-03-01T22:03:00.000+02:00

Please go through the Chapter 1 "Maps, Map Projections and Reading Maps", this will prepare you for this coming Monday's Lecture.

Introduction

One of the biggest problems in geography is the issue of representing something that is spherical onto a flat piece of paper or computer screen. Not matter what you do - you will introduce distortions, either in the shape that objects are rendered, their distance to each other, their area or direction. For navigation purposes you will need to have accurate distance and direction rather than accurate representation of shape or area. In order to overcome this problem we have projections, which are essentially mathematical formula to contain distortions and to select which type of accuracy is needed. You will be using a simple Java Applet which interactively changes the projection of the World. To help guide you, each continent has been rendered in a different colour and we have squares in alternating shades of Grey. My examing the squares and noting their distortion in shape and their alignment to each other you can deduce what parameters are getting distorted with the various projections.

Objective

Examine how different projections distort the representation of the Earth's surface.

Skills

Gain an understanding of how projections work.

Know which projection system is most suitable to which application.

Outcome

Spatial awareness of the errors implicit in every map printed on or on your computer screen.

Instructions

Using the Java Applet located at

http://planet.uwc.ac.za/nisl/GIS/Projections/index.htm

Prepare 10 projections and describe what variables you used (Projection, Map centre, East angle, North Angle and Direction). In addition describe how the projection has been distorted with respect to distance, area, shape and direction. Use the Squares to see how these parameters have been distorted. Please provided some references to guide your interpretation of the project and its implicit errors.

In order to make images of the project, you will need to use Windows Print Screen button (its marked on your keyboard in the top right area). This willcopy the entire screen into your Window Clipboard. Now open your graphic program, e.g. Windows Paint and simply paste your Clipboard image (keystrokes CTRL V)into the program. You will now need to clip the area of interest which should only be your World Map and the selected options for projection above. The select marquee in Window Paint will allow you to draw a box of the intended new image, cutting out the rest of the screen capture. Once the area is select you can copy this (CTRL C) and the insert the cropped image into your report with a comprehensive caption below the screen capture.

Print a hard copy and hand in directly to Richard Knight PLUS UPLOAD the document via ftp to the following directory

http://planet.uwc.ac.za/nisl/GIS/Assignments_collect/2007

Document name: Initial_Surname_GIS_2007_assignment_2

DAKHLA OASIS, EGYPT (ANNEGRET BITZER)

2007-03-01T18:01:00.000+02:00

Dakhla Oasis, Egypt

Caption goes here

ASSIGNMENT 1: INSTRUCTIONS

2007-03-01T17:41:00.001+02:00

Introduction

It has been more than a couple of years now, since Google launched its Google Maps Web Map Service and the downloadable Google Earth application. With this Google also launched the ability to build your own APIs - Application Program Interfaces. An API is a set of routines provided in libraries that extends the programs functionality.

Objective

Use Google Earth to navigate high resolution spatial imagery in both two and three dimensions.

Skills

Capture Google images.

Make and store place marks (so you can recall the geographical position).

Save Google positional data as *KMZ files.

Convert spatial data that is in Degrees, Minutes and Seconds into Decimal Degrees.

Embed HTML code into your posting to extract another map service called OGC so that you can put interactive Maps onto the Blog.

Develop basic HTML skills.

Outcome

Spatial awareness and the ability to use and present spatial information using modern technology.

Instructions

For this exercise you will be using Goggle Earth (you can get the free version from this link) http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html

Identify and describe 10 linked global locations. For each location capture four images at different viewing angles, perspective or locations within the area. The theme of you "World Tour" could be stopover points while undertaking the "Amazing Race", or Formula 1 GP circuits. It need not be biological, but should be interestig and have a near-global coverage.

Prepare a report briefly paying attention to the following:

Desription of your overall theme for the Global tour (500 words).

A brief introduction (description with references, or your observations)for each of the 10 spots you have visited following a heading typed in CAPITALS which also gives place and country. This is followed by the four images captured from Google Earth and saved as a *.jpg file. For EACH image provide a heading in NORMAL TEXT and a caption beneath each image. In the caption you should specify the place, the direction you are looking at it, the width (metres or kilometres) and the co-ordinates in decimal degrees. It is important that the location is provided in Decimal Degrees since this is one way that somebody can re-visit your site. Typing in Decimal Degrees in the Google Earth Search will bring up the scene.

Your report should be in Word format. Using the prepared template downloadable you will have some pre-set styles, which I will show you how to apply in class.

Your report should have the following structure

Introduction to your Google World Tour Theme (Heading in CAPS)

Geographical Spot 1 (Heading in CAPS)
Introduction with some references.

Place Name (Bolded)
Image
Caption (including place, viewing angle, and co-ordinates in Decimal Degrees)

Geographical Spot 2 (Heading in CAPS)
Introduction with some references.

Place Name (Bolded)
Image
Caption
Brief Description and any references

Continue until you have done 10 Geographical Spots.

Submitting your Assignment

Your completed Word document should be named as follows

Initial_Surname_GIS_2007_assignment_1

You will then upload the file via ftp to the following directory

http://planet.uwc.ac.za/nisl/GIS/Assignments_collect/2007

Submitting a posting on the Web

In order to share some of what you have learnt you will put Images of the general area of each of your 10 sites up on this courseware Blog. To do this you will need to define your Boundary Box co-ordinates e.g. the following instruction BBox= -10,35,5,45 will define the bottom left corner with 10⁰W, 35⁰N and the top right corner 5⁰E, 45⁰N. You will need to copy the code from my posting on OGC Map Services.

http://bcb710.blogspot.com/2007/02/web-map-service.htm

You will need to remove any spaces in the URLs for the code to work (I had to put a space in some urls to force a wrap around to fit in the main blog window).
You can change which part of the world you are viewing by changing the parameters in the Boundary Box ~ BBox=-80,-90,80,90.
The above parameters will produce a map from the South Pole to the North Pole and from 80⁰E to 80⁰W.
Remember a negative Latitude occurs in the southern hemisphere, and a negative Longitude occurs west of Greenwich. Using a width of 440 will fill Blogger's main frame.
It would be best to copy and paste this code into Notepad to ensure that no formatting has been copied and then examine each URL to remove spaces and finally you can modify your map size and Boundary Box parameters to suit your site and intended map view.
I used Microsoft Frontpage to test that my co-ordinates are correct and then I simply inserted these co-ordinates into the working code on the Blog page - which has to be done at all three places.

You can copy the rest of the text from your assignment, e.g. the introduction to make your posting more interesting.

Good Luck

Using OGC Web Map Services in your BLOG

2007-02-27T13:23:00.000+02:00

What is an OGC Map Service?
When you start your course you are going to hear a lot about GIS Standards and Interoperability and the word OGC will crop up. Almost all of the major web-map development has in some way addressed OGC. An OGC architecture is firmly rooted in virtually all of the Open or Freely available GIS applications plus some propriety applications.

OGC defined

“The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.® (OGC) is a non-profit, international,voluntary consensus standards organization that is leading the development of standards for geospatial and location based services.”

The OGC is a consortium of 338 companies, government agencies and universities which in a participatory way are defining a set of development standards to spatially-enable the Internet and wireless environments for providing location-based services. It therefore represents an “Open” system to promote spatial technology in all walks of life. Of utmost importance was interoperability which in simple terms means a common platform for displaying and sharing spatial information. Also important was ease of deployment , with the OGC literature describing “plug and play” implementation of geo-processing applications.

OpenGIS® is a Registered Trademark of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc (OGC) and is the brand name associated with the specifications and documents produced by OGC.

What are OpenGIS Specifications?

Firstly these are freely (at no cost) available technical documents that describe interfaces and coding standards. Spatial programmers will use this documentation to develop (from the basic architecture through to the interface) their geo-spatial products and services. The specifications within this documentation are the main OGC product and are based on the contributions of its various members. There is a set of specifications for implementation that accompanies the abstract specifications. These are aimed at more technical users and articulate the interfaces between various software components. Varieties of schemas (xsd, xslt, etc) are approved for support in developing various spatial software applications. In contrast to the very technical implementation specifications the abstract specifications provide a conceptual foundation based on OGC specifications. In addition to these specifications there are discussion documents that are produced by the various Working Groups within the OGC, but these are not necessarily used for endorsement or implementation. If you want to go into this subject area in more detail I suggest you view their site, which is where I got this information. http://www.opengeospatial.org/

The influence of OGC on the spatial technology industry

Almost all of the major software developers have taken note of OGC, while some simply make their products OGC compliant, others have taken the initiative further. We have used an OGC Web Map Services from the Demis software provider (http://www.demis.nl/) in developing the interactive maps for the Global Invasive Species Programme (http://www.gisp.org/). One of the advantages was a really well packaged global base map that came with the application.

To view our OGC Web Map Service, you will need Shockwave to be installed. If correctly installed, you will see part of the world with Africa in a central and prominent place.

You can also put an OGC Interactive map in your application or BLOG. You simply need to insert the following code and this will extract the Web Map Service (WMS) from our OGC server.

You will need to remove any spaces in the URLs for the code to work (I had to put a space in some urls to force a wrap around to fit in the main blog window).
You can change which part of the world you are viewing by changing the parameters in the Boundary Box ~ BBox=-80,-90,80,90.
The above parameters will produce a map from the North Pole to the South Pole and from 80⁰E to 80⁰W.
Remember a negative Latitude occurs in the southern hemisphere, and a negative Longitude occurs west of Greenwich. Using a width of 440 will fill Blogger's main frame.
It would be best to copy and paste this code into Notepad to ensure that no formatting has been copied and then examine each URL to remove spaces and finally you can modify your map size and Boundary Box parameters to suit your site and intended map view.

Here is a map showing just Spain using the Boundary Box parameters of -10,35,5,45.

Feel free to pull some maps from our OGC web map services. Explore the floating Map Menu - if you click on the (i) button and then double click on a country it will take you to information on invasive species for that country. You can turn on and off layers of information, maximize your map to the entire world, as well as pan and zoom. Enjoy the freedom of OGC web-maps.

MAPTRIX ASSIGNMENT

2006-07-19T14:09:00.000+02:00

Dr Rich Please help

Could you please help us with the Maptrix assignment, because Chapter "Maps, Map Projections and Reading Maps" are not opening or cannot be found. This is frustrating me so much as i do not know what to do now. Please help

LOREN WESSO

2006-07-17T16:09:00.000+02:00

Hi my name is Lorén Wesso and my favourite past time is to gym and to play cricket. I am an honours student at the university of the western cape and i have recently joined the GIS course. I am looking forward to learning more about this field.

GIS - CLASS OF 2006

2006-07-17T16:00:00.000+02:00

Hi all. My name is Chad Weber. I'm 22 years old ,and I'm from Mitchells Plain in the Western Cape. I enjoy socializng with friends and meeting new people. I really enjoy playing cricket as i'm naturally a competitive individual. I'm a bit of a gamer as well, so you'd find me,more often than not, sitting in front of my computer catching up with some games.

PRETORIA GROUP - IDRISI EXAM NOTIFICATION

2006-07-09T19:39:00.000+02:00

Hi Everyone

Ramsley has confirmed on the 25th of June that IDRISI was installed on your PCs.

You have been asked to Print out Section 4 of the IDRISI Manual (see http://bcb710.blogspot.com/2006/06/pretoria-group-idrisi.htm dated 8th June) I trust that you have gone through the tutorial on this as this counts 50% of your Resource Mapping course and the exam is not much fun (see Karen's take on it) but VERY IMPORTANT. The Exam is 5 days long and we will need to make a start on Moday week (17 July and must be handed in by 21 July).

In Addition by the end of this week I am expecting at the very least that your assignments 1 and 2 of the Resource Mapping are completed and submitted to me knight.rich@gmail.com you have had more than a month to work on this plus going through the IDRISI tutorial.

Please confirmed that you have read and understood this POSTING.

Cheers and Good Luck with your preparation for the BIG EXAM.

Rich

Image Credit

http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-themes-exams.htm

THE WORST EXAMS OF MY LIFE...

2006-07-04T13:14:00.000+02:00

I hope I never have to repeat the past six days... Have you ever heard of an "exam", where you actually still need to search through the help index of that particular computer program, because the exam paper asks you to "explore" some new technique you have never done before never mind ever heard of before??? And that after staring at a computer screen for hours on end!!! Okay, maybe I'm a bit harsh, but really, I do not think I have sworn so much in ten years as I have in the past week.

My problem is I cannot deal with something that is not in some way orderly... I have learned a lot about IDRISI I have to admit, but I protest against the way I had to gain this knowledge! An exam... for goodness sake, I think there are better ways. (here are some dictionary entries on "exam": to test someone's knowledge or skill in a particular subject OR a set of questions or exercises evaluating skill or knowledge)

Can it be called an exam if one actually still needs to gain that knowledge through browsing through the help section or surf the net... and that is not because you did not try and prepare for this exam! We actually had to work through a tutorial in our own time as preparation for this so called exam... with no prior knowledge of what the hell remote sensing is in the first place. For me to understand what I am doing I need a lot more background information than what I gained from doing the tutorial...

Anyway, I have vented my anger and will move on.

Karen Marais
BCB Hons NISL student
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville

E-mail 2657211@uwc.ac.za

Web http://brit-journal.com/karen2006bcbnisl/

ADDRESSING STUDENT PLAGIARISM

2006-06-25T12:23:00.000+02:00

All Email originating from UWC is covered by disclaimer http://www.uwc.ac.za/portal/uwc2006/content/mail_disclaimer/index.htm

Hi

I received this email from our Director of ICS Prof. Derek Keats on the 06/20/06 07:50AM so I thought you should all review the article referred to.

Please note that I plagiarized this word for word....thought it might be of interest....

"Sally Brown, pro vice chancellor for assessment, learning, and teaching at Leeds Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom, believes that the age of technology has not only made cheating easy but has also engendered a sense among today's students that there is nothing wrong with copying and pasting someone else's work into your own. Many students today, she said, simply do not understand what plagiarism is and why it is wrong. Of the several approaches Brown suggested for fixing the problem, the one she thinks the best is designing coursework around plagiarism. By giving assignments that require personal knowledge or that compel students to provide regular accounts of their studies, an instructor can largely avoid the issue of plagiarism, according to Brown. Other strategies include education, punishments, and changing the culture among students so that cheaters are looked down on by everyone."

BBC, 18 June 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/5093286.stm

Derek Keats

I will be putting links up on the finalized documents from the Science Faculty for your attention.

Cheers

Rich

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za

Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za

Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za

IDRISI TUTORIAL

2006-06-08T17:39:00.000+02:00

Hi guys

Just to let you know, that if you get to page 178 in the IDRISI tutorial, ignore the "run FISHER" exercise (q). This edition is older than the notes and hasn't got that function.

Cheers,

Karen Marais
BCB Hons NISL student
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville

E-mail 2657211@uwc.ac.za

Web http://brit-journal.com/karen2006bcbnisl/

CAPE TOWN: CLEARING UP THE MAPTRIX ISSUE

2006-06-08T11:08:00.000+02:00

Hi eveyone

I wish to clarrify the Maptrix - this is an exercise intended to help with map reading skills, especially reading 1:50 000 topo-sheet at schools. You were asked to use this so you had access sections to 1:50 000 sheets and to formally assess and refine your Map Reading skills. The PAPER based Maptrix you should be familiar with and you were asked to evaluate the electronic version.

Your report for assignment 3 is based on two parts

Part A, to develop an evaluation of the electronic version of Maptrix (based on your knowldedge of using both paper and electronic systems). On the planet.uwc.ac.za/nisl/gis website there is an evaluation system for the paper-based Maptrix. Following on this evaluation which would you recommend most for teaching and widespread use at school, and are there any changes you consider necessary to the electronic version.

Part B of ASSIGNMENT 3 actually assumes that you have started with ASSIGNMENT 4 and have used our SANBI BGIS Web Map Services and been through the on-line GIS tutorial - this is a GIS. Once you have done this you need to write it up in about 1000 words contrasting the use of Maps and GIS (the electronic version of Maptrix should still be considered a Map rather than a GIS.... why?).

I hope this clears up any confussion(s).

Cheers

Rich

CAPE TOWN GROUP: IDRISI PROGRESS

2006-06-08T10:42:00.000+02:00

Hi Everyone,

I think I did not make it sufficiently clear, you need to work on Idrisi (Tutorial Part 4) in your own time. Z29 Lab is available and you will need to invest at least twenty hours before attempting the exam learning how to use it (the recommended time states about 6 hours). The Exam is 100% based on this and is set for three days at the end of the course and counts 50% of all your marks in Resource Mapping. During this time most students have expected to spend at least ten hours per day. I am afraid this is not trivial (but is also not difficult since it is part of the USA K12 Geogrpahy syllabus).

At the risk of repeating myself, you are expected to work in Z29 during your own time to complete the IDRISI tutorial, unfortunately the licensing prevents me from issuing the software to you- it can only be used in the Lab. You can obtain your own personal copies valid while you are a registered student at greatly reduced cost. I will find out more and post on this site.

Cheers

Rich

PRETORIA GROUP IDRISI

2006-06-08T10:20:00.000+02:00

Hi Everyone in Pretoria

Can you please confirm that IDRISI is installed on your PCs in Pretoria- I installed it for last year's learners, just go to start (bottom left) programs and from the list IDRISI32 should be available and please check that it launches.

The IDRISI tutorial is available from the following link

http://planet.uwc.ac.za/NISL/GIS/IDRISI/Idrisi32%20Tutorial/Documents/tutorial.pdf

You will only be doing Tutorial Part 4 section. It is important that you print out these pages of the manual - otherwise it cannot be done (pages 162 to 189)

You will need to make a start on this next week.

Please confirm by the end of today that Idrisi is installed and that you will print out pages 162 to 189 of the IDRISI tutorial.

Cheers

Rich

PLAGIARISM PREVENTION, GRADING AND PEER-REVIEW: THE WAY FORWARD

2006-06-07T02:04:00.000+02:00

All Email originating from UWC is covered by disclaimer http://www.uwc.ac.za/portal/uwc2006/content/mail_disclaimer/index.htm

Hi Everyone

I am finalizing the contract with Turnitin so that future assignments for me (viz the NISL-EI2 courses) will require submitting to this electronic scanning service. This is not actually to scare you, rather to help you with your writing skills and get away from a dependency for lifting text from the Internet, printed text and even previous student assignments submitted (your assignments are entered into an electronic database that is used for future scanning). It works in the following way...

There will be a link on each course Blog page to Turnitin for submitting of the assignments.
You will be issued Turnitin accounts (usernames and logins) for the NISL-EI courses.
I will setup the assignment details for your submission.
In the beginning you will be required to create your student profile that will include your ClassID and Password, which I will provide you via email. You will then need to fill in your email address, provide your personal Turnitin password (a minimum of 6 letters and numbers but no special characters and at least one character must be a number), you will then be presented with a secrete password retrieval question and answer and finally to complete your profile you will provide your names (first and last name) and your Country.
The creation of your student profile is completed when you accept the user profile agreement form.
You will then get logged in and will navigate to the correct BCB course and assignment.
You will upload your assignment and you will see that it has been uploaded (you can check that it is the right document via the on screen system) and once confirmed you will get a digital receipt and a confirmation email message that the assignment was submitted and time stamped.
Late assignments will not be accepted via the electronic system.
If you are confused do not worry online training videos will be provided just prior to initiation of this process.

I have elected to go for an electronic marking as well, so your assignment will be analysed first for Plagiarism and if too high will be returned to you with a full report of where there is plagiarism and close paraphrasing. I do not know how strictly this system will apply the rules but certainly just changing a word or two in place will not fool the system and it is based on a very comprehensive database. I will then use my discretion as to whether you get zero marks or a chance to re-submit. Unfortunately the cost of the scanning service is rather expensive and we pay for both an annual subscription and a per document cost, so chances to re-submit will be restricted (each assignment will cost me about R10 to process). An electronic grading will be done and you will be sent back your marked-up scripts with the grade electronically. This system will work much better than the old way of emailing them to my gmail account which I can only access after hours. Finally some assignments will also be peer marked by yourselves using the Turnitin Peer Review system.

Hopefully this will level the playing field and be fair to everyone and was a decision not taken lightly. Until I know when our payments have been made and the Turnitin accounts been set up please hold back from submitting any assignments such as the Biodiversity due at the end of this week. The first assignment that you will be submitting will be your cumulative Biodiversity reports (all of your answers combined into one report to save scanning costs and processing time). Since you have had extensive feedback on these assignments previously it will give us the perfect opportunity to know precisely how the implementation of the system will work.

Can you please confirm that you have read and understood this posting by attaching a comment and your name. This is also an opportunity to air any issues that you have or to finally clear up any misunderstandings, I promise to respond to all of your concerns if expressed.

Good Luck

Rich

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za

Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za

VINCENT'S IDRISI PALETTE

2006-06-06T10:37:00.000+02:00

COLOUR 1

R=128

G=64

B=0

HEX# 804000

COLOUR 2

R=185

G=92

B=0

HEX# B95C00

COLOUR 3

R=249

G=124

B=0

HEX# F97C00

COLOUR 4
R=255

G=148

B=40

HEX# FF9428

COLOUR 5

R=218

G=169

B=103

HEX# DAA967

COLOUR 6

R=184

G=197

B=29

HEX# B8C51D

COLOUR 7

R=176

G=176

B=0

HEX# B0B000

COLOUR 8

R=221

G=221

B=0

HEX# DDDD00

COLOUR 9
R=130

G=171

B=129

HEX# 82AB81

COLOUR 10

R=157

G=196

B=134

HEX# 9DC486

COLOUR 11

R=157

G=231

B=20

HEX# 9DE714

COLOUR 12

R=74

G=186

B=20

HEX# 4ABA14

COLOUR 13

R=2

G=185

B=48

HEX# 02B911

COLOUR 14

R=89

G=198

B=17

HEX# 59C611

COLOUR 15

R=1

G=158

B=40

HEX# 019E28

COLOUR 16

R=0

G=106

B=0

HEX# 006A00

REFERENCES:

Hexadecimal to RGB conversion [Internet]. 2001-2006 Translatum.gr. ; 2006 Jun 6, 06:17 UTC [cited 2006 Jun 6]. Available from: http://www.translatum.gr/converter/hexadecimal.htm

VINCENT MUCHAI WAIRIMU

Biodiversity and Conservation Biology

University of the Western Cape

Private Bag X17 Bellville
TEL: +27825103190

Email: 2648463@uwc.ac.za

Website:http://www.muchai.iblog.co.za

GOOGLE EARTH-PRETORIA LEARNERS

2006-06-01T09:40:00.000+02:00

Hi Everyone

You will notice that the first assignment is GOOGLE EARTH.

Please download and Install Google Earth (Free Version) from http://earth.google.com/
Learn how to navigate Google Earth - make sure you use both 2-D and 3-D views
Use this link http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php?Number=175202 and then click on the "Open this Placemark (15877 downloads)" under cyclonic - this will load several Crop Circle sites in the UK for you to examine, and they are complete with added photographs.
Now identify 10 spots in the world and make each a Placemark
For each of these 10 Placemarks, use File and Save As... to make a *.Kmz file
Each of the 10 *.Kmz files you make must include your Initial and Surname and placename e.g. r_knight_cropcircle_1.kmz
Each of the 10 spots (Placemarks) must be linked in some sort of theme. Please include the *.kzm file name so that I can make the link.
At each Placemark capture at least FOUR images (some using the 3-D tool) use File and Save Image for each.

Your reports should have an Introduction and Reason/Objective for selection. Each of the Placemarks should have a description and any useful information (please reference in the usual way) and any additional images can be added. Under each Placemark you must have your four photographs complete with caption and a short description. These must be email to me mailto:knight.rich@gmail.com

Dr Richard KnightCo-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940

Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za

Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za/

PLAGIARISM DECLARATION

2006-05-25T14:41:00.000+02:00

Hi Folks

At a recent BCB departmental meeting (May 2006) it was agreed that all students will need to sign an undertaking that their assignments have not been plagiarised and are correctly referenced. At an earlier meeting in 2006 the department agreed to using the CSE/CBE style for all referencing in student assignments. It was also recommended that all electronic courses also carry such a declaration. To this end you will note that a plagiarism declaration has been added to the right hand side of the Weblog ensuring compliance and understanding of the issues of plagiarism and correct citation, quotation and referencing.

It is important that you understand these issues and to this end Gwen and Nick have put a lot of effort in helping your identify and not to commit plagiarism while undertaking the Biodiversity course. I trust that this message is now fairly comprehensively understood, nevertheless you may submit certain assignments to Nick who has agreed to check them as per the revised schedule put up by Gwen in an earlier posting on the Biodiversity Blog (See http://bcb705.blogspot.com/2006/05/correction-editing-times.html )

How to avoid plagiarism?

Make your own notes when revising material and keep a record of all the references you have consulted.
Organise your notes into a mind map of the assignment.
Use your notes and mind map to prepared the final assignment.
Get a classmate to look through your assignment before submitting, for both plagiarism and proper referencing.
For submitting on the Weblog and when preparing Power Point presentations, I would recommend using a number in brackets after the text. The number should be hyperlinked to the article if it is available electronically available. The numbers must be organized in ascending order and placed within square brackets [1].
Do a few checks of phrases of five words or more using a Google Search
Finally quickly read through your more important references to check that you subconsciously have not slipped in a near verbatim phrase.

Some important references to Plagiarism on the NISL Weblogs that you have participated in

PLAGIARISM: OFFICIAL RULING AND DEFINITION - SENATE UWC

http://bcb703.blogspot.com/2006/04/plagiarism-official-ruling-and.html

DEFINING PLAGIARISM

http://bcb703.blogspot.com/2006/03/defining-plagiarism.html

STANDARDISED PENALTIES FOR THE SCIENCE FACULTY

http://bcb703.blogspot.com/2006/03/standardised-penalties-for-science.html

THE HUNT IS ON FOR PLAGIARISM

http://bcb705.blogspot.com/2006/05/hunt-is-on-for-plagiarism.html

BIODIVERSITY TAUGHT THROUGH THE WEBLOG

http://bcb705.blogspot.com/2006/04/biodiversity-taught-through-weblog.html

EXTENSIONS, TESTS AND PLAGIARISM

http://bcb705.blogspot.com/2006/05/extensions-tests-and-plagiarism.html

Plagiarism and Referencing: Hopefully the last word

http://bcb705.blogspot.com/2006/05/plagiarism-and-referencing-hopefully.html

Cheers

Rich, Gwen and Nick

Team: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Test

2006-05-23T15:06:00.000+02:00

Test