GeowebInfo » Geography

Measure Distance on Google Maps

Sriharsha Vankadara — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:11:00 +0000

distancefromto.net

Distancefromto is a simple and easy to use Google Maps application that measures distance between two locations on a map. Distance is measured on the fly in miles and kilometers by dynamically dragging markers to desired locations or typing in locations names for the from and to inputs. The application comes with an inbuilt geocoder, so do not limit yourself to places that are well known to the masses..

Learn Geography and Donate Rice

Sriharsha Vankadara — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:55:00 +0000

FreeRice

I am glad I stumbled upon this site today. The FreeRice site provides a great opportunity to learn geography and at the same time contribute to world hunger by donating 20 grains of rice for every right answer t0 the United Nations World Food Program.

There are two ways you could learn geography on this site – Identifying Countries on a Map and World Capitals. The site also allows you test and improve your knowledge of art, english, math, chemistry and foreign languages. You can choose a level to start off with or let the game adapt to your answers.

If you need to keep track of your donations, make sure you set the option in the options page.

Now go visit FreeRice.com, start learning and relish your contribution by watching the grains pile up..

US Military Presence Worldwide

Sriharsha Vankadara — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:38:00 +0000

From Matt’s Geography Blog:

The Mother Jones website has an interactive map depicting the presence of U.S. troops around the world for every half-decade since 1950 plus 2007.

Use the slider at the base of the map to see a timed animation of troop strength from 1950 through 2007. Zooming into a region and placing the map cursor on a country lists the number of troops and stationed sites. The site describes the source being Pentagon worldwide troop data.

KGeography – A Geography Learning Tool

Sriharsha Vankadara — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 22:28:00 +0000

KGeography, is an interesting geography learning application for the KDE desktop environment, although it works hassle free in GNOME as well. It is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2 and has a pretty informative website on upcoming developments and how you can contribute to the project by submitting maps.

There are several maps to choose from – countries, continents and the world.

KGeography comes with six different ways of learning Geography.
1. Browse Map – With this option, a click on the map identifies the country, or state (province) with its capital. In case, the feature clicked is a country, you are presented with its flag too.

2. Click Division on Map – Select the number of questions you would like to attempt, and identify the country or state that is asked for by clicking on the map. The results are displayed once you are done with answering all the questions.

3. Guess Division From Its Capital – Select the number of questions just like the one above, and this time you’ve got to select country / state of the four options provided, for capitals. The map interface does not show up for this section.

4. Guess Capital of Division – Similar to guessing divisions from capitals, but the other way round. Select the right capital from the options provided for the country being questioned upon.

5. Guess Division From Its Flag – A flag is presented, with four options. Select the country that the flag belongs to. This option is disabled when the map is that of a country as individual states (provinces do not have flags in most of the countries.

6. Guess Flag of Division – Identify the right flag out of four option with pictures of flags, for the country / state in question.

Installation: Fire up the terminal and issue the command
sudo apt-get install kgeography and you have an interactive geography learning tool

Summer Solstice – June 20, 2008

Sriharsha Vankadara — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:15:00 +0000

If you are wondering as to why there is a change of Google logo on its homepage today, its because today is the longest day of the year aka Summer Solstice, and the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

Today, the sun is directly overhead at noon at the Tropic of Cancer and on the day of Winter Solstice, around 22nd of December, the sun is overhead at noon at the Tropic of Capricorn, which marks the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

More on Solstices at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solstice

Countries that Lie on the Equator

Sriharsha Vankadara — Fri, 18 May 2007 13:51:00 +0000

The Equator is an imaginary line that divides the earth into Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Also known as the Great Circle, the Equator is at latitude 0 degree. Countries through which the Equator passes, experience quick sunrise and sunset and equal hours of day and night. Here’s a Google Maps Mashup of the countries that lie on the Equator.

Biggest Countries

Sriharsha Vankadara — Mon, 14 May 2007 14:02:00 +0000

The collapse of USSR in 1991, led to the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), but didn’t have any distinguishing effect on its geographical expanse. Russia still leads the list of largest countries in area. Here’s a Google Maps Mashup of the ten Largest Countries in the World by area.

Prime Meridian Countries

Sriharsha Vankadara — Thu, 10 May 2007 13:59:00 +0000

The Prime Meridian also known as the Greenwich Meridian, is the imaginary vertical line passing through the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London. It is the meridian at which the longitude is 0 degrees. The Prime Meridian along with the 180 degree longitude, known as the International Date Line divide the Earth into Eastern and Western Hemispheres. These two meridians encircle the earth like a longitudinal equator.

Here’s a Google Maps Mashup depicting the countries through which the Prime Meridian passes.

European Countries Smaller than Rhode Island

Sriharsha Vankadara — Wed, 09 May 2007 14:25:00 +0000

Here’s a Google Maps Mashup of the European Countries smaller in area than Rhode Island, which is the smallest state in United States.

World’s Smallest Countries

Sriharsha Vankadara — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 00:32:00 +0000

Here is a listing of the world’s smallest independent countries that are less than 200 square miles (518 square kilometers) in area.

Vatican City – 0.2 square miles
Monaco – 0.7 square miles
Nauru – 8.5 square miles
Tuvalu – 9 square miles
San Marino – 24 square miles
Liechtenstein – 62 square miles
Marshall Islands – 70 square miles
Saint Kitts and Nevis – 104 square miles
Seychelles – 107 square miles
Maldives – 115 square miles
Malta – 122 square miles
Grenada – 133 square miles
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – 150 square miles
Barbados – 166 square miles
Antigua and Barbuda – 171 square miles
Andorra – 180 square miles
Palau – 191 square miles

Please go to http://geography.about.com/cs/countries/a/smallcountries.htm?nl=1 for a comprehensive article on the same.