The man

Science in mapping and mapping in science

          Wanna get from the Minneapolis to the Big Apple? There’s a map for that. How about finding your way to class on the first day on campus at your new university? There’s probably a map for that. If you’ve had a question that dabbled in space or time or just wanted to see a cool version of your country, there may be a map for that too.

          Maps keep their information neatly packaged in symbols, colors and rely on the viewer to unpack the meaning. Now it seems like anyone can make a map and most anyone can but it takes technique to make a compelling one. There are horrid maps churned out by media outlets effectively skewing the truth. We love the chic ones, on full-color glossy National Geographic pages and still turn back to the amateur monochromatic ones on the pages of our old pal Wikipedia. But what makes those really good maps so good? The answer is "lies."

          Maps tell lies? Of course they do.

          We won't go as far as the BuzzFeed Motion picture staff when they posted Maps that Prove That You Don't Really Know Earth, but keep in mind that all maps do abstract reality. 

          Dr. Robert Roth mentions that concept on the first day of every Introduction to Cartography course he teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The cartographic problematic, as he calls it, is that in the process of externalizing geographic knowledge into a single representation, abstractions are made and ultimately, information is lost. He proposes that the only way to get over that is to have more interactive maps. Those maps rely on the user to uncover the missing information and use the abstraction to its fullest extent to obtain valuable information.

          Maps tend to work because we tend to work. Roth says like language, maps are social constructs. Our ability to see is effectively innate. “Good maps take advantage of the eye-brain process.”

          What better way to communicate by using concepts that we already understand. Red tends to mean danger, bad or at risk while green tends to mean safe, good or healthy. Most of the faculty we use to interpret maps are reinforced in our everyday experience. Cartographers, map-makers put these associations to work.

          Maps are still authored; "Google maps didn't just appear," says Roth. People and their biases are integral in making maps effective. In the great age of data, cartographers are more important than ever. If people trained solely in geographic information systems (GIS) were our map makers, we might have maps too complex, too data heavy for efficient use. The people that made the incredible interactive Google Maps have an agenda. Dr. Roth cleverly points out "it's not objective, it's a purposefully designed map that helps you spend your money." While you are planning your commute, it is quite easy to spot restaurants, and boutiques. You've gotta admit, that's one clever disguise.

          Luckily every author doesn't tell a story to get you to buy the latest gadget or chic sweater. Some try to pass on information that you or the author thinks is valuable. Take the presidential election for example. In the end, all that people care about is the party in power. Think of the ways that the public symbolizes the opposing parties.

...

          The donkey and elephant are popular choices. I bet you haven't seen a map with pictures of the mascots covering the state that the party got. Too many lines would create illusions of new geographies when iterated for each of the fifty states in the USA so we default to red and blue. But why are those red and blue maps so obnoxious? Turn out that our eyes see different colors with differently. Cones in our eyes are packed tightly for reds giving great resolution while cones that detect blues are spread out. It's like looking left and right at the same time. There's some strain going on. Good cartographers will consider their audience and not use such harsh color combinations or will use different versions of the classic colors especially when their work would be shown on something that functions by emitting light.

Painful experience

Pleasant experience

          Scientists also have a part in the cartography business. Soil scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Alfred Hartemink Ph.D. wraps his job succinctly saying "different people want to know different things and what we need to do is make sure we provide that information. Sounds simple but it’s a bit complex."

          There are two kinds of spatial data, discrete and continuous. Discrete phenomena occur at specific points in space while continuous phenomena occur throughout the plane of space. Cows are discrete. Soils are continuous. In industries that revolve around precision and placing things in discrete locations, Hartemink says that there's another dimension that needs to be made available and thus is boldly stamped on his works. Every statement these maps make has a guarantee; "all the mapping we attach a level of accuracy, or if you like, uncertainty."

          So the lies are back! But this time, it's more like risk. Researchers and practitioners alike rely on data big-time to make decisions. We simultaneously know that's it's impossible to know some properties for certain. Scientists that map, note their degree of accuracy on their works so others know how much trust to put in the findings. We have a have a good deal of data, but we know somewhat less about how that data is spread out across space. "The probability [that we're correct] is largely dependent on how many samples you have or how much field work you did," says Hartemink. Knowing that, half of his time is spent in the field collecting data and ground-truthing or validating his claims. "We don't just do mapping, we do soil science."

          Dr. Hartemink advises those thinking of going into cartography to "work on the uncertainty, on the accuracy because most people doing mapping aren't addressing it." 

          Scientists know that there's a degree of accuracy in everything they do and the public doesn't take well to terms of uncertainty. People take it as a license not to trust science when the word uncertainty is uttered. The information broker is simply saying is that there may be more to the story than what you see in this representation or the other variables weren’t necessary to get the point across. Dr. Roth addresses the cartographic problematic in all of his works but for those static maps one may still ask things like...

"Why does it only show three cities?" and the reply could be "Well, that’s all that’s relevant to the statement." After all, he’s pretty sure you don’t want to see the other hundred he’s excluded so you could get the message.

Opposable thumbs

After that volleyball game on the 12th, My thumb was hurt and a bit swollen. During that time, I learned how important our opposable thumbs are to us and our lifestyle.

Things that were hard
Opening doors
- Doors with knobs
- Doors with push thingies
Opening jars and bottles
Fastening my tsuba on my shinai
Writing (because I'm a student (at the time I'm writing this post)
- Taking notes
- Drawing cross-sections of plants
Eating with chopsticks
Carrying shopping bags.
Chopping "vegetables" (do I need to go into a whole list of my cooking woes?)
cutting fruit (mainly oranges (because who cuts apples and pears?))
Opening microwave popcorn bags
Opening bananas


the list goes on...

Bringing Science to the Buzz

Dan Vergano makes a leap and subsequent splash.

[Shilvio] D. Linton

Student in LSC 212

          Dan Vergano has really moved up in life. From his days researching for PBS to a senior writer-editor with National Geographic Society. Now comes the next big step in his career with BuzzFeed. Whaa?

          Vergano says he hasn't really changed jobs he’s just changed his target audience to the generation obsessed with the internet. Citing the decline of the physical media, Vergano is just getting the cool science news to the generation that may never pick up a magazine.

          He still tells sensational science stories, but he wasn't in the business of looking for a nugget of science he wanted to impart tohis audience that day. It’s not hard to imagine; “every story in the modern world has science behind it.”

          It wasn’t clear as to why he left National Geographic (my science writing instructor’s dream job) and something I’m suspicious of. One thing is certain, Vergano deeply respects digital interfaces. They allow readers to effectively pass on things that would be newsworthy and adds another layer of trust. Who do you believe more? Advertisers sticking something in your face or your aunt Minnie who passes an article to you via social media?

For the record, I do trust my Aunt Minnie.

          Regardless of why he’s left the big daddy of science writing, Vergano hasn’t retired his journalistic ethics. He’s still practicing investigative reporting with a high degree of professionalism, whether it be exposing Exxon Mobil at the root of climate naysayers or checking out the plausibility of force fields on Humvees.

Vergano expertly closed the question answer section by mentioning he had BuzzFeed stickers.

This man is experienced.

The Power of the Phalange

         On Sunday, I hurt my thumb playing volleyball. It was a spectacular set that came my way. Just pure gold. I was in position 4, outside hitter. I am a pretty decent spiker (Better known as a killer (because you should be getting the point by putting the ball down (get it? (put it down..?)))))

Right there, the number 4 position.

          I got an AWESOME set from one of my teammates. He set it quickly to match my light jumping style. Feeling the spike as something that should have happened naturally, I swung at it with my right hand. (I am right handed (for the record)). The set wasn't intended for that hand; it was supposed to go to my left hand so I could hammer it down (and get the kill)! I spiked at the ball (technically, I wasn't spiking at the ball) at full force. My thumb was pushed all the way back. As soon as I horribly executed the play feeling my thumb, not in the right place, I grabbed it (while midair still if I may add that) and grimaced.

The point was valid. (cheap but valid) 

Planetwalk Day Five

Coming soon!

Planetwalk Day Four 2015

Steps: ~25,500 

          Today was significantly harder than the other days (in my opinion) perhaps it was because I wasn't pushed very hard and the sudden jump in intensity. We started in the back of Frosty’s (a local restaurant). The asphalt was cracked and broken bleached by the sun.
          We slid out of the sight of the city in an instant. I would have missed it if I were looking at the 18-wheelers mowing through the worn. It seemed like the highway took a break in the city. It was easy to think we would continue down the highway, but that would be dangerous. There was no indication that we were expert Planetwalkers. I saw many instances where the walkers weren't following conventions. We were to walk against the flow of traffic, facing the incoming traffic. That way we would be able to see cars coming and would not be victim to the Doppler Effect.

          There was a calm while walking. The roars of the semis died down and faded into the open space. The rows of corn silage became a regular sight again. There was a hum in the air though. It wasn't coming from the us passing by. There was an ethanol plant right nearby. Two massive piles of corn being processed. The fields around the facility were being surveyed by XXX He was using a machine from XXX the previous year, they put some tech underground and he wanted to find them. He was like a savvy treasure hunter using a metal detector on the beach.
          I planned on walking with Nichole, but she was involved in another conversation. I decided to change gears to cruise control (at my pace).

a shadow of my former self, cast on a broken road

          Walking past houses sprinkled on the path. I left little notes in their mailboxes. They were literally just little hello's telling the relaying a little message to the people that I didn't have a chance to talk to in person. There was one that wrote that saying “Hi. I’m just informing you that Planetwalkers passed by your house today.”  I would include John Francis’s name so they would have something to look up and find out more. This would possibly open up a conversation in the future where people would check out what we are and what we did and have a little memento of something that could be valuable in the future. The method was kinda similar to what John did all those years ago. He didn’t speak but to introduce himself, he would have a little card that explained his situation, the small biography that I would give to the people if I had been speaking to them in person. I wanted to have these be like magical tickets that would bring us all together to a tea table in a gazebo to talk about what life is all about. Imagine what that would be like, a conversation between people about where they live and their place in the living environment! 

mailbox located!

Walking ahead

the first seen the first conversationability to break the glass.set an example to how to actreinforce the feeling of discovery and "firstness"
 

          The path to number one can be arduous. There are always things that sidetrack the wanderer. The first was a pair of brothers that were working with a disk plow. It could have been the middle of a chisel plow, but I saw there were no hooks on it. I thought that they were outfitting their rigs. It was quite the opposite. The brothers were breaking down the old plow for recycling. They said the steel may fetch some fair price somewhere. I thanked them for recycling. Using that preceding sentence, I cleverly introduced my field of study. They were pleasantly surprised and welcoming after that. We got into a little conversation about the different practices one can have on a field the size of his. There as a continuous silage on the field. These cats were getting everything right.

We ended the conversation with a picture.

Breaking down the old plow. Much respect.