Comments for Derek Watkins

Comment on U.S. post offices … now with clickability! by Sheraz

Sheraz — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:08:01 +0000

It says that access is forbidden to the map, is there something wrong? I think it’s an awesome example of mapping using Processing.js, would love to share it with others!

Comment on U.S. post offices … now with clickability! by Michael O'Neill

Michael O'Neill — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 03:19:49 +0000

Curved line is probably the Platte River, major migratory route and location of the transcontinental railroad.

Comment on Posted: Visualizing US expansion through post offices. by Dani Arribas-Bel

Dani Arribas-Bel — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 09:09:51 +0000

Hi Derek,

Congratulations on this project, it’s super cool!

I’ve tried to access the csv file but I get a permission error, is there a way to obtain it somehow? Also, could you clarify if the date issue you mention with discontinuation dates has been fixed? I’m thinking of using the database for a paper where it’d be really useful and I have to make sure the information is correct.

Thank you very much in advance and congratulations again.

Comment on Inundated with place names by Katherine Henderson

Katherine Henderson — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 18:10:04 +0000

Thanks for this gorgeous map at the intersection of culture, language and environment. Just shared with my readers.

Comment on Who decides the ugliness of a place? by JFrazier

JFrazier — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:25:35 +0000

Thanks! I figured out the extras option a couple of days ago, before that I had been trying some weird two step process using flickr.photos.geo.getLocation after first retrieving a list of photos. This way is working way better. I take the xml output, convert it into an attribute table and load it up into QGIS.

Comment on Who decides the ugliness of a place? by dwtkns

dwtkns — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:25:14 +0000

The flickr.photos.search method should be what you need. Using has_geo=1 and tags=tag1,tag2,tag3 and extras=geo should return lat/long data for the tags you search for. You'll likely have to make multiple calls to retrieve several pages of results, unless you are making a very specific search. You could trim these down by using bbox= to define a bounding box for your search. The API Explorer can be a great tool for perfecting a request (or for making small data searches without hassle).

Comment on Who decides the ugliness of a place? by JFrazier

JFrazier — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:22:38 +0000

Any hints on the flickr api calls necessary to return the lat/long for a given tag? I’m in an ornithology class and am interested in seeing if massive amounts of flickr data can give any sort of insight into bird migrations or at least birders.

Comment on A squinty-eyed look at population densities by Glenn

Glenn — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:06:25 +0000

Very cool and nicely done….Because of the scale it gives the impression that the Americas dont have any areas with more than 400 people/km2. Maybe you could economize on the display by somehow reducing the ocean area …. I was just comparing it to a map we did of Central America – http://gisweb.ciat.cgiar.org/population/map.htm

It would be interesting to have these as regional maps to see the greater detail.

Comment on Posted: Visualizing US expansion through post offices. by david

david — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:59:19 +0000

Interesting seeing the barriers and pathways that impact the post office/settlements. You can follow progression upstream on the Missouri and Platte Rs, as well as the barrier created by the Rockies, with the Front Range and Wasatch offices established first well before interior mountain offices. Great job!

Comment on A squinty-eyed look at population densities by Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:55:25 +0000

Hey, I really like the map, and the clever use of spritesheets, I had never heard of that. I hope you don’t mind I copied your scripts and played around with it to display the data sets I work with, see an example here: file:///E:/temp/spritesheet/lprm.htm
Let me know if I need to do a better job of crediting…