Branner Earth Sciences Library & Map Collections
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Google makes 40 years of Earth observations available to researchers with Google Earth Engine!
Last week I spent 3 days at Google for their annual Google Earth Engine Summit, learning about new features and applications of their Google Earth Engine technology. If you haven’t seen Google Earth Engine, I encourage you to go to https://earthengine.google.com and use the signup link to get an account. It’s absolutely free for non-commercial use and it’s capabilities are pretty mind-blowing.
Geospatial information and the 2018 Federal budget
President Trump released the proposed 2018 Federal budget, A New Foundation for American Greatness, on May 23, 2017. The budget request for the Department of Interior is $11.7 billion, 12 percent ($1.6 billion) below the Continuting Resolution baseline level. The proposed cuts to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) are 13% or $137.8 million below the 2017 Continuing Resolution baseline level.
Software and Data Carpentries: Building Campus Capacity
One thing Stanford Libraries knows about running Software Carpentry and Data Carpentry workshops on Stanford’s campus is that workshop demand is high. Case in point: when we invited post-docs for a Data Carpentry workshop on an upcoming weekend this June, we had 120 people interested in the 40 available seats.
That’s some serious demand.
Software and Data Carpentry are sister organizations focused on teaching computing best practices to scientists. The idea is to make research faster, more efficient, and more reproducible by teaching scientists the basics of version control (usually Git), task automation (using the shell), and modular programming (typically in Python, but sometimes R). The two-day, hands-on workshops are taught by volunteer instructors, but workshop hosts are responsible for other costs, like instructor travel and food.
California as an Island Hits the KZSU airwaves!
How is it that for hundreds of years California was depicted as an island on maps? The Stanford University Library's cartographic experts know...
SDR Deposit of the Week: Video tutorials for 4D visualization
Many researchers rely on open source software for data analysis, but lack of documentation on how to use the software can sometimes be an issue. In these situations, it's up to someone in the community to step up and create better resources to help people learn how to get the most out of these tools.
Stanford biology undergrad Nathan Cho found himself in just this situation recently while working on his honors thesis. Cho's project involved studying how stem cell development in plants affects the timing of the cell cycle, the process by which cells grow and divide. Analysis of his microscopy images required him to use open source software from the Max Plank Institute called MorphoGraphX.
Julie Sweetkind-Singer
Assistant Director of Geospatial and Cartographic Services
Head of the Branner Earth Sciences Library & Map Collections
(650) 725-1102
