Drone Laws

I have a feeling resolutions like this might be more ubiquitous in the near future. 

"The Charlottesville City Council on Monday night rebuffed an attempt to totally ban unmanned aircraft in the city’s airspace, and instead passed a resolution that pledges that the city will not use information obtained by drones in court."

MSNBC: Virginia city becomes first to pass anti-drone resolution

I hope to get a fixed wing drone off the ground by years end.  If all goes well, I hope to document the process here.  I plan on using the Arduino-compatible ArduPlane module and a Bixler 2 powered glider. I think the biggest hurdle will be automating the picture taking process.  I am also mulling a quad or hexacopter, though.  I just think fixed wing would be good for mapping swathes of a given area.

Fantastic(al) cartography! (Fantasy Maps)

This index of maps from fantasy books and settings seems to have a distinct lack of my favorite fantasy world.  Here...let me contribute to: A Fantasy Reader: Index of Maps

Oh Discworld...so often forgotten. 

 And therein, the great city of Ankh-Morpork. 

How close are we to mapping extra-solar planets?

"Astronomers could one day create rough maps of far-away planets using information taken from starlight reflection, determining the balance of oceans, lands and overhanging clouds."

The process isn't exact.  They liken it to trying to figure out what's on a muted TV in another room based on the reflection of the light on the opposite wall.

Below is a test image of Earth from NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft.  With the information from the spacecraft, they were able to discern three distinct surface types - land, ocean and cloud.

So we're not going to have a topo map of Gliese 581 c anytime soon, but we might be able to find out a little more about it.

Read the whole article:  Live Science: Mapping Distant Planet Surfaces

The Chicago Gun Trail

The New York times recently ran a map showing where 50,000 guns recovered in violent crime riddled Chicago came from.

"The Chicago Police Department traced the origins of about 50,000 guns that it recovered between 2001 and March 2012. More than half of those guns came from outside the state."

I think it's interesting to note that the states where most of the guns came from are directly bordering it, with the exception of Mississippi.  There is a blurb about the MS connection below the map.  I would really like to see more about this relationship.

NY Times: Where 50,000 Guns Recovered in Chicago Came From 

Australia is so hot, meterologists have to get creative

Australia has gotten so hot recently that meteorologists have had to add colors to their heat maps.  Previously, temperature gradations were capped at 50c (122f), but they've had to increase the cap to 54c (130f).

Australia's "dome of heat" has become so intense that the temperatures are rising off the charts – literally.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/temperatures-off-the-charts-as-australia-turns-deep-purple-20130108-2ce33.html