Stitching images together – Google maps/Earth

Have you ever tried to create a large map from a number of separate images?  Some people take a number of screenshots of a zoomed in area (say Google maps), and then use a some sort of photo editing software to stitch each image together to make a single large image.

This will work of course, but why not use the free Microsoft Image Composite Editor?

What is Image Composite Editor?

Microsoft Image Composite Editor is an advanced panoramic image stitcher. Given a set of overlapping photographs of a scene shot from a single camera location, the application creates a high-resolution panorama that seamlessly combines the original images. The stitched panorama can be shared with friends and viewed in 3D by uploading it to the Photosynth web site. Or the panorama can be saved in a wide variety of image formats, from common formats like JPEG and TIFF to the multiresolution tiled format used by Silverlight’s Deep Zoom and by the HD View andHD View SL panorama viewers.

 New features in version 1.4.4

• Stitch directly from a video (only on Windows 7)
• Automatic lens vignette removal
• Improved blending engine
• Options dialogue to control memory usage and scratch disk locations

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NSW pairs spatial data with Google Earth

The New South Wales government has tied its spatial data with Google Earth to help better visualise the information and historic imagery.

The NSW Globe tool was launched over the weekend by the Minister for Finance and Services Andrew Constance.

“By combining spatial data with detailed satellite and aerial imagery, the tool is able to display property, local government, and electoral boundaries, as well as road and rail networks,” Constance said in a statement.

The spatial data includes information from global positioning systems and geographic information systems.

“NSW has combined spatial data about land surveys, titles, valuations, and aerial photography to facilitate the creation of tools for managing land use,” Constance said.

The minister said that the tool could find relevance in the real estate industry, since home buyers and agents would have more accurate information to draw upon. The information could be valuable for potential or existing home owners also, giving them a chance to view historical information, such as aerial photographs from the 1940s, as well as flood maps.

“By using a platform that is familiar and easy to use, NSW Globe will allow the public to view information about their property anywhere, at any time.”

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The Plant Mind Map

southwoodscenter.com has created a great Plant Mind Map for Permaculture Educators.

Plant Mind Map

SouthWoods Forest Gardens : Source

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Australian Natural Resources Data Library

Welcome to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES).

Search digital library here.

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Cartagen 0.5 – Mapping Tools

Cartagen (http://cartagen.org) is a vector-based, client-side framework for rendering maps in native HTML 5. Written in JavaScript, it uses the new Canvas element to load mapping data from various sources, including OpenStreetMap.

In short, Cartagen lets you make beautiful, customized maps with a simple stylesheet.

Maps are styled with Geographic Style Sheets (GSS), a cascading stylesheet specification for geospatial information – a decision which leverages literacy in CSS to make map styling more accessible. However, GSS is a scripting language as well, making Cartagen an ideal framework for mapping dynamic data. See About Gss and Gss Usage for more on GSS.

Mobile devices and networks have made possible distributed reporting of geographic and temporal data, from unfolding natural disasters to organizing protests in real time. Cartagen allows users to integrate real time data streams and display them in novel ways.

Cartagen 0.5 Demo from Jeffrey Warren on Vimeo.

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View your FreeMind mindmap online with Flash

I had a lot of interest around my article on FreeMind, the free mind mapping software.  See my original article here.  Since writing this post I have found a useful way of presenting the mind map on-line with Flash Browser.  This tool allows you to present your mind map on-line in a flash viewer.  It has all the useful functions you need to look at your mind map.  So using FreeMind and now Flash Browser, you could present your permaculture ideas on-line in a mind map.

Flash Browser

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Plant Hardiness Zone Maps

Zone map

“There are a few plant hardiness zone maps available on the web, mostly for Western nations. The quality and detail varies but most follow the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s guidelines for zone classification. Be sure to check the map you are refering to for details.

Australia: A fairly generalized map of the country is available. Keep in mind that Australia uses a different rating system then the USDA; a comparison chart is available.

Canada: Both 1967 and 2000 versions are available in interactive web mapping format. The 2000 map is also available as a pdf. Seeing as this is the Canadian cartographic Association’s weblog, I may be biased in saying that this is the best plant hardiness zone map available anywhere on the web but I doubt if I would be wrong.

Europe: Two plant hardiness maps of the continent are available at PlantIdeas (1and 2). Another is available at GardenForum. None are particularly detailed.

New Zealand: A generalized map is available through Liddle Wonder. Unforntunately there is no map text that can be used for reference.

United States: The U.S. map covers all of Canada and Mexico as well and is zoomable to a region level. The detail is not great. Sunset Garden has a different plant hardiness map that takes into account the amount of rainfall, summer and winter temperatures and other environmental factors. As a results, their classification system is very different from the USDA’s (Sunset Garden link by way of Rich – thanks).”

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PlantMaps.com :
Plant Maps and Mapping – Specializing In Hardiness Zone Maps, Gardening Maps, Botany Maps, Climate Maps and Horticultural Maps

Interactive USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map for the Continental United States.

Plant Adaptable Range Maps

Plant Native Range Maps

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A new way to view our world

Using Google Earth (Free program) you can see a new way to view our world by adding ‘layers’ to Google Earth.

Instructions of use

• You need to have Google Earth installed on your machine first.
• Then go to the link of interest below by clicking on the heading
  (eg. Global Tree Cover Map)
• Then click on the icon.
• Save the file onto your computer.
• Then open the file you just saved.
• Now under “My Places” (normally on the left hand side) expand the folder by ticking on the folder name.

Global tree cover

Global Tree Cover Map

Overlay showing the percentage of tree cover for North America, Europe, Oceania and Africa at a scale of 1 km.

Global forest changes

Global Forest Changes

Large collection of overlays with focus on changes to forest cover throughout the world within the last several years. Overlays include:

• Changes to Tree Cover by Year
• Total Tree Cover by Year
• Global Satellite Overlays for 2001-2005

Anthropogenic Biomes

Anthropogenic Biomes

Global map of anthropogenic biomes, which describe globally-significant ecological patterns within the terrestrial biosphere caused by sustained direct human interaction with ecosystems, including agriculture, urbanization, forestry and other land uses. Zoom out if it doesn’t show up right away.

World Oil Consumption

World Oil Consumption

Per-capita oil consumption for countries of the world based on data from the 2007 CIA World Factbook.  The data is formatted to show a ranking of about 170 countries.

There are two versions of the data.  One version is flat and shows the actual ranking on the country itself.  The second version shows a 3D outline of each country that represents their relative ranking.

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What would Sydney look like if the sea rose 7m?

Sea rise

See what your area would look like on a map if the sea did rise 7 meters because of global warming?

Source

Rising Sea level simulator using Google Earth

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Calculate your roof’s solar potential

We are a solar array modeling service and community determined to help consumers evaluate solar for their home or business and to create greater awareness for solar overall.

Calculate your roof’s solar potential.

RoofRay

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