Category Archives: GPS

iPhone geo-data

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I have been playing around with data available from the iPhone (and also separately visualizing Map data).

I came across a project, iPhoneTracker which was done to show iPhone users the kind of data that the iPhone collects about a users travel and whereabouts. I downloaded the app and ran it. Looks like about a complete history since I activated the phone… The interesting thing for me was that this app did not collect the data from my phone directly but rather from my computer.

iPhone location history from my iPhone

Types of Linguistic Maps: The Mapping of linguistic Features and Researcher Interactivity

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A couple of years ago I had a chance meeting with a cartographer in North Dakota. It was interesting because he asked us (a group of linguists) What is a language or linguistic map? So, I grabbed a few examples and put them into a brief for him. This past January at the LSA meeting in Portland, Oregon, I had several interesting conversations with the folks at the LL-Map Project under Linguists’ List. It occurred to me that such a presentation of various kinds of language maps might be useful to a larger audience. So this will be a bit unpolished but should show a wide selection of language and linguistic based maps, and in the last section I will also talk a bit about interactive maps. Continue reading →

Some current challenges in using GIS Information in the SIL International Corporate Knowledge System

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Preface

This paper is motivated by an experience in collecting, analyzing, and then redeploying (sharing while making relevant to other corporate SIL functions) corporate intellectual assets. These assets are relevant to both products SIL products and services and corporate processes. This paper attempts to document some of the current challenges presented to the SIL staff person as well as present some items for consideration in overcoming these challenges.
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Language Documentation and the Datum

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The importance of knowing about the Datum [1]Wikipedia contributors. Datum (geodesy). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 3 April 2011, 00:28 UTC. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datum_(geodesy)&oldid=422063702. [Accessed … Continue reading recently came to my attention as I was working with GIS data on a Language Documentation project. We were collecting GPS coordinates with a handheld GPS unit and comparing these coordinates with data supplied by the national cartographic office. End goal was to compare data samples collected with conclusions proposed by the national cartographic office.

So, what am I talking about?

GIS data is used in a Geographical Information System. Basically, you can think of maps and what you might want to show with a map: rivers, towns, roads, language features, dialect markers, etc. Well, maps are shapes superimposed with a grid. And coordinates are a way of naming where on a particular grid a given point is located.

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References

References
↑1 Wikipedia contributors. Datum (geodesy). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 3 April 2011, 00:28 UTC. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datum_(geodesy)&oldid=422063702. [Accessed 5 May 2011] [Link]

Review of Garmin eTrex Venture HC for Language Documentation

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In a recent (2010-2011) Language Documentation Project we decided to also collect GIS data (GPS Coordinates), about our consultants (place of origin and place of current dwelling), about our recording locations and for Geo-tagging Photos. We used a Garmin eTrex Venture HC to collect the data and then we compared this data with GIS information from Google maps and the National GIS information service. This write up and evaluation of the Garmin eTrex Venture HC is based on this experience.
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