Michael Schmandt
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Thursday, October 1, 2009 - GIS Commons Launched
After five years of writing and development, GIS Commons: An Introductory Textbook to Geographic Information Systems is now available on-line. GIS Commons is not a typical GIS textbook; it is a free, open-source, e-text that helps students, agencies, and organizations understand GIS concepts, analyze spatial data, and communicate more effectively. Please visit the GIS Commons website at http://giscommons.org and let me know what you think. My thanks to Alex Ligeti for helping me bring this website to life.
Saturday, September 26, 2009 - An Award to Remember
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, I accepted the National Council for Geographic Education's (NCGE) 2009 Distinguished Teaching Award for Higher Education. I am thankful and grateful for this notable award.
Summer 2007 - Iceland (posted January 20, 2008)
Some of our Iceland images that my wife, Debra Sharkey, and I took in June and July, 2007. See below for our images of Greenland.
Sunday, November 11, 2007 - A Town Gown Connection
Robin Datel and I wrote this opinion piece for the Sacramento Bee. It was published on Nov. 11, 2007. The entire piece can be read at http://www.sacbee.com/325/story/482038.html.
Summer 2007 - Greenland (posted August 26, 2007)
Greenland! This summer, Debra and I went to Greenland and Iceland. Here are some of the photographs that we took in Greenland. All photographs were taken June 2007. Enjoy.
Thursday, August 09, 2007 - Buck Owens & Globalization
Imagine my surprise. On July 6, we were celebrating Debra's birthday at a small restaurant in the small town of Seydisfjordur, Iceland. When over her left shoulder I spotted this poster taped to the wall. I asked our waitress about it, and she told me it was an art exhibit and pointed to a man sitting at the next table who put on the exhibit.
I turned my chair slightly towards the young man, and said these words, "The Streets of Bakersfield?" He looked at me, paused a moment, and asked if I had heard of the Buck Owens song. I nodded positively, and asked if he was familiar with the Bakersfield Sound. For those of you unfamiliar, it is a twangy, honky-tonk version of country music that at times was a reaction to the smooth sounds of Patsy Cline, Ray Price and Jim Reeves that came out of Nashville in the 1960s. Bakersfield, California was called Nashville West. To my question, he gave me the same nod back. Of course he was familiar. He looked like a Buckaroo, a member of Owen's band. I asked why he gave the exhibit the name, and he said that the central photograph was a picture of Buck Owens and there would be music.
I then asked about the arrows drawn on the poster. He chuckled and said they were troop movements in the Battle of Gettysburg. Flustered, I went no further. I nodded, thanked him, and turned back toward Debra.
Thursday, July 12, 2007 - Sprawl with a nice name
This is another great cartoon from Rex Babin of the Sacramento Bee. This cartoon is published the day after the state's Democrats are relinquishing $1 billion, once earmarked for local transit, in negotiations to pass the state budget. The cartoon is timely because the money will be transferred to "other" projects, which might include new roads and highways to open up more land for development.
This cartoon also shows the tendency for developers to name many new subdivisions after agricultural themes like "vineyards", which denotes both environmental beauty and heritage. Environmental beauty (mountains, groves, forests, etc.), sanitized agricultural landscapes (vineyards and orchards), and heritage (tradition, historical themes, etc.) are all themes chosen for new developments.
Recently, city center developments are emphasizing their location. They emphasis their urbanness and even their address. R15 means that the development is at the corner of R St. and 15th St. These urban themes are also popping up in the region's more densely-populated transit zones.