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By BIXEL, July 24, 2009 4:01 am

Austin Community College, in you guessed it Austin, TX, has finally had their new GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Certificates and AAS programs approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordination Board. This is big news for me, as I first studied GIS under the professor that has worked so hard for so many years to get these plans approved. I attribute the success I have enjoyed in my career to her excellent and entertaining teaching style. I would like to wish, Mary E. Booth, O.D. Assistant Professor, Geography my deepest congratulations and best wishes in the future success of the programs. I look forward to taking some of these classes myself upon my return to Austin to further my knowledge of this exciting and ever changing career we call GIS.

Below, are the details of the plans described in full and were copied directly from her email announcing the programs approval.

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Late yesterday afternoon, we got the official word that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (hereafter referred to as “The Board”) finally approved ACC’s new GIS Level I certificate, GIS Level 2 certificate, and the Associate of Applied Science (AAS) in GIS. We will begin offering these new programs this fall semester. We also have an Associate of Arts (AA) degree in GIS that we have been offering for more than 3 years.

I apologize in advance for the extreme length of this email, but I have been working for TEN years to get these programs implemented, and I wanted to explain the new offerings as well as I can. It’s worth reading the whole email so that you understand the options and how the curricula were developed.

Here is a link to view the curricula for all 4 programs:  http://www3.austincc.edu/it/cms/www/awardplans/awarddept.php?year=2010&type=CC&group=TFSSG&nid=3864.

The AA degree is an academic degree and is designed to be the first 2 years of a 4-year degree Bachelor’s in Geography with a concentration in GIS. The AA contains the 42 hours of core curriculum courses (such as Math, English, History, etc) that is required for all Bachelor degrees in Texas. The AA requires only 2 GIS courses: Intro to GIS (GEOG 2470) and GIS II (GEOG 2471 – it was formerly called Advanced GIS).

The 2 new certificates and the AAS degree are workforce degrees. This means that most of the courses do NOT transfer to a 4-year degree. These new programs are designed to get you the GIS knowledge/skills you need to get entry level GIS jobs. They are practical course with an emphasis on teaching you the skills employers want and need. Generally, courses with a GEOG rubric will transfer to a 4-year degree (though that is up to the 4-year university), while courses with the GISC rubric will usually not transfer to a 4-year degree. All of the new course we will be introducing over the next 2 years will have the GISC rubric.

The programs were designed to be started in the Fall semester. The only courses that will be offered every semester are Intro to GIS (GEOG 2470) and GIS II (GEOG 2471). The other courses will either be offered in the Fall or the Spring semester. If a course is listed in the first (or third) semester in the curricula, it will be offered in the Fall and if it is listed in the second semester, it will be offered in the Spring. We will be adding all the new courses over the course of the next two years. So this fall, we are offering GISC 1491 (Special Topics in Cartography – Introduction to Cartography) and the CIS department is offering ITSW 1307 (Introduction to Database: MS Access). In Spring 2010, we will offer GISC 1401 (Cartography & Geography in GPS & GIS – a big long name for a GPS course), GISC 2401 (Data Acquisition and Analysis in GIS), and GISC 1421 (Introduction to Raster-based GIS which is a remote sensing course). In Fall 2010, we will add GISC 2411 (GIS Applications), GISC 2459 (Web-served GIS), GISC 2250 (Scripting for GIS), and GISC 2231 (Advanced Problems in GIS).

To see the course descriptions, go to  http://www3.austincc.edu/it/cms/www/catalog/coursedetails_fox.php?year=2010&deptcode=geog#GISC2280

 The Board requires all workforce programs to have a “Capstone Experience” during the last semester of a program. You must be in your last semester of a certificate or AAS to take this “Capstone Experience” course. Our new programs offer three options: 1) GISC 2280 Cooperative Education, 2) GISC 2164/2264 Field Experience or 3) GISC 1391 Special Topics in GIS – Capstone Course. A cooperative is designed for those who are already working in a full-time GIS job. The Field Experience is a GIS internship. It is designed for someone who is not working full-time so that they have time to do an internship. The Capstone course is designed for someone who is working full-time in a non-GIS job. That person would not be able to have the time to do an internship, so the capstone simulates a real-world project. The Cooperative meets one hour per week and the Capstone meets 3 hours per week. The internship meets periodically with the instructor of record. This fall, Bonnie Brown will be supervising all three capstone experiences. I know at least 2 people on this mailing list who are already enrolled in the cartography & database courses, and just need the capstone experience to finish up the Level I certificate. If that is the case for you, please contact Bonnie Brown to arrange to be enrolled in whichever capstone experience is appropriate for you.  You can find her contact information on the Fall class schedule on the Web.  Please also cc me or email me. As the only full-time GIS instructor right now, it is my responsibility to keep track of the capstone experiences for the Board and our accreditation organization (SACS), so I would really appreciate being kept in the loop although I am not actually the instructor of record.

A little bit about how these new curricula were created. Eighteen months ago, ACC formed a GIS workforce Advisory committee which consisted of 13 GIS experts (including the State GIS Coordinator) from the Central Texas region. About half the members were from the public sector and the other half from the private sector. Some of the entities represented were the USGS, City of Austin, Texas Dept of Health, CAPCOG, DIR, TPWD, PBS&J, URSCorp, GeoAnalytics, Impact Resources, Halff, Baker-Aicklin and Texas State University. We had several meetings over the course of several months during which  the committee agreed on the final curricula. The TX Higher Education Coordinating Board’s rules dictated that I could serve only as ex-officio members of the committee. I provided insight to the community college population and guidance to make sure that the curricula met other requirements including those of The Board and our accreditation organization (SACS). After long and sometimes heated debate, the GIS Workforce Advisory Committee designed the curricula for the new certificates and AAS. Given the rigorous nature of the process, we are confident that our programs will be giving you the skills and knowledge that local employers want. I didn’t design the programs and we didn’t just adopt programs from other states/regions. These curricula were uniquely designed for the job market in Central Texas.

I am off-contract (i.e., not getting paid) until the week of August 17^th (not that you would know if for all the work I have done while I am supposedly on vacation) and I will be heading to Maine this weekend. I will have very limited email access while I am there, so if you email me between July 25^th & August 17^th, you may not hear back for a week or more. I know it is bad timing as I am sure many of you have questions, but the Board took so long approving these, that it just worked out that way. I will try to answer emails as I can while on vacation.

I hope to see a bunch of you in our new classes in the next few years. PLEASE spread the word about our new courses/programs. I think our new programs will be extremely beneficial to both students and area employers.

Mary E. Booth, O.D., Assistant Professor, Geography,  Austin Community College

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By BIXEL, July 21, 2009 9:33 am

The Golden Arches

Thanks for playing along – Now go outside and do something fun!

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By BIXEL, July 19, 2009 11:30 pm

I just can’t get enough of this VS  commercial playing during this years Tour De France coverage. Watch it, enjoy it, be inspired by it and learn from it. Never back down, the underdog rules!

Thanks for playing along – now go outside and do something fun!

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By BIXEL, July 9, 2009 8:41 am

Trails are Good

If you have spent any time lately, in a forest preserve, city park, state park, national park… almost any outdoor recreation area funded by YOUR tax dollars, I am sure you have noticed a decline in its appearance and upkeep. Full park closures are more and more common and complete absence of maintenance to existing facilities is the norm. Well, there may be some positive light  at the end of the tunnel. I came across this press release today, announcing “Panel Urges Huge Increase in Outdoor Spending”. Read it, think about it, comment on it, contact your elected officials and voice your opinion. Speak up and speak loudly!

Thanks for playing along… now go outside and do something fun.

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By BIXEL, June 30, 2009 3:17 am

The '09 Tour de France

It’s Tour De France time again. 23 days, 21 stages beginning July 4th running to July 26th. The 2009 race will cover 3,500 kilometers, travel through 4 countries and some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. There will be 10 flat stages, 8 mountain stages, 2 individual time trials and returning this year, 1 team time trial. There are 3 mountain top finishes, most notably Stage 20, the day before Paris, that finishes atop the famed Mont Ventoux… and in the end, the 3 riders standing on the podium will be separated by mere minutes, if not seconds. This years tour promises to be on of the most exciting since 2003, watching is not an option - it’s mandatory for the true cycling fan.

For those who have never followed the Tour, here is a short lesson on what to watch for and expect: The race is broken down into day-long segments, called stages. Individual times to finish each stage are totaled to determine the overall winner for the race. The rider with the least elapsed time during the race wears a yellow jersey. The course changes every year but it has always finished in Paris. It’s possible for a rider to win the Tour without winning a stage, Greg Lemond comes to mind. There are 20 teams in this years race with 9 members to each team. A team consists of 1 leader (the boss) and the discipline specialist (sprinters, climbers adn time trialist) then there are the  domestiques (the workers). The leaders sole purpose of existence is to win the race, the specialist do what they do best and the domestiques sole purpose is to help the leader succeed in his mission. In addition to the Yellow Jersey or the Maillot jaune worn by the leader, there is a green jersey for the leader of the points classification, a polka-dot jersey worn by the most consistent climber and a white jersey worn by the best young rider in the Tour. Learn More Here For those with little ones that Like the Tour check out Mike and the Bike

And now for some Geo-Spatial info. The tour is a huge showcase for some really cool digital mapping applications. Plus, the TV broadcasts are like a rolling geography lesson. Watch it on VS, they will have 14 hours of coverage a day. You will see beautiful aerial coverage form helicopters and ground views taken from motorcycles at the cyclist level, you will see what they see. It is truly spectacular coverage that blows me away ever year.  Mapping: If you want to see the all 21 stages in Google Earth click here. (A special thanks to the Google Earth Blog for publicizing this.) Last year you could even follow the Tour live in Google Earth, right from your desktop. I’ll post a link to this when more information becomes available. You can also view route and profile maps of each stage on the official Tour website. (example below)

Stage 20 Profile Map

OH YEAH, LANCE IS BACK. After 7 consecutive wins (1999 to 2005) Lance is returning after 3 years of retirement to come and play with the big boys in the toughest bike race in the world. Lance has said that he left “unfinished business” on top of Mont Ventoux. Stemming from the 2000 Tour when he and Marco Pantani fought an epic battle on the climb and Lance gave the victory to Pantani. There is also the 2002 Tour when Richard Virenque bested the field to win on top of Ventoux. Even if Lance is not leading the ‘09 Tour on stage 20, I would watch for magical things to come out of his legs on the climb up “The Bald Mountain”. By taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing over it, he is superior.

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By BIXEL,

Life’s Journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting,  ‘Holy cow…What a Ride!’ So Live.Play.Enjoy…Get Outside!

One of the great things about Texas is that it offers a wide variety of outdoor activities that you can enjoy year round (although I can’t recommend tubing the Guadalupe in January). This section of Texas Outside is for all of you who love outdoor activities and sports including: hiking, biking, kayaking, climbing, disc golfing, horse back riding, surfing, scuba and snorkeling, windsurfing, tubing (can we call that a sport?), and more.  The intent of this section is to provide you with some great locations to enjoy all of the above, some links to information pertaining to each sport, a brief description and rating of trails, and more.

CHECK OUT THE SITE HERE

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By BIXEL, June 21, 2009 11:59 pm

Sasha ready to pounce

The pictures from our fun filled day of volunteering for Free Spirit Siberian Husky Rescue at the Harvard Milk Days have finally been posted. We walked some the of dogs that are available for adoption in the parade, along with a few other generous husky loving volunteers. The weather was less than perfect, it rained and it was cool otuside. However, there was a huge turn out and the rescue received a ton of attention, and the huskies were the stars of the show.

You can see all the pictures here: Harvard Milk Day Parade Pictures

Thanks for playing along – now go outside and do something fun

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By BIXEL, June 12, 2009 4:47 pm

Hey everybody, tomorrow, Saturday, June 13 is National Get Outdoors Day.

So, this seems like a perfect time to re post my favorite passage from Edward Abbey. I’ve said it before and now I am saying it again. “These are words to live by”

“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast… a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.”

From a speech to environmentalists in Missoula, Montana in 1978 and in Colorado, which was published in High Country News in the 1970s or early 1980s under the title “Joy, Shipmates, Joy.”

You may notice that my Bio on Twitter was adopted form this.

Thanks for playing along… Now, go outside and do something fun 

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By BIXEL, June 11, 2009 6:54 pm

I guarantee that I can make you lose 5 pounds in one day. That’s right folks, I said ONE day. All this with no pills, no exercise, no diet and with a plan that works this fast, no EXCUSES!!!!! One day with me and you will loose 5 pounds, I PROMISE.

How can I make such an outrageous claim? Because I did it today, that’s why. First hand experience is the only experience I need. 

My plan is probably backed by many years of research and maybe even a few clinical trials. But, that’s not Important, all you need to know is that it works. Remember these words, IT WORKS! I will say, that millions of hard working people have already discovered the secrets of this plan. Now you can too!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you can eat all of the foods you would normally eat. Hell, I had 2 Weinerscnitzel Chili Cheese dogs for lunch, with fries. I still lost 5 pounds today.

How did I do this all in one day. As I said before, I did all this without pills, exercise or special diet. However, I never said that it was going to be EASY or FUN. So, now is the point in the story where I reveal all my secrets. It’s called WORK; hard work, outside work, work in 95+ degree heat, 11 hours of hard work outside in 95+ degree heat, work where you sweat, work where you sweat a lot, work where you sweat so much that you get the car seat wet when you get in it.

That’s it – that is my simple plan, that I promise, will help you loose 5 pounds in one day.

Of course, I hope that everyone see’s this as a joke, meant to be funny, meant to be used as a way to poke fun at the quick weight loss spammers that keep following me on Twitter.

Now for the moral of the story. Go outside and – bike, run, swim, fish, play with the kids, play with the dogs, paddle a river, mow the grass, plant a tree, hike to the top of the hill, run to the end of the street, then run back home. Just go outside and do something fun, something that does not involve computers, TV’s and couches. Then let me know how it worked out for you.

sbixeloutside – out. Thanks for playing along.