On the day of the Google Earth 5.0 rollout, it's good to feature a prize with the theme of satellite remote sensing, aerial photography, geographic information systems (GIS), and Global Positioning System (GPS):Thacher Scholar Award - SpaceHack
2009 Thacher Scholar Awards - Entries Received by April 6, 2009 - Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) - The contest features prizes for both students grades 9-12 and teachers.
Geospatial technologies and data have numerous uses in science research, ranging from climate prediction to archaeology. They can be used to improve our understanding of the Earth system, including interactions among the atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere and hydrosphere. They can also be used to improve the quality of our lives by supporting weather prediction, natural hazards monitoring, agriculture, land-use planning, coastal management, transportation, public health and emergency response.
Here are some other activities from the IGES:
IGES 2008 Calendar Art Contest for grades 2-4, sponsored by Lockheed Martin - This (or that) year's contest (in 2008 for the 2009 Calendar) had the theme "Trees: Making a World of Difference". I've included a picture called "Moving" from one of the winners.
Powering the Planet - The Futures Channel features a preview of a movie "Powering the Planet" about Space Solar Power. The IGES links to it because their President Nancy Colleton is in the previous. John Mankins, and members of the NSSO SPS group are also featured.
Since I mentioned the Google Earth 5.0 release, here's news from the Google Earth Blog:
Google Earth 5.0 Now Released - Watch Video
Google Earth 5 Released - 3D Ocean and More! - The new ocean features alone are quite impressive.
Google Earth 5 - The New Google Mars - On a space blog I don't think I need to say much about this, since it speaks for itself. My only question is, when do we get a "Google Venus"?
Google Earth 5 - Historical Imagery - I think this is quite important for studying changes over time. This will add value to space remote sensing operations that work over years or decades.
Google Earth 5 - Record Tour Mode Features
