got geoint?

Welcome to the Friday’s Food for Thought post on got geoint? As many of our reader’s know, we often make the theme of this weekly post about music. By the way, did you catch last week’s post about the next grassroots movement featuring The Roots? Well, this week we are diving into the world of sports and GEOINT. Why you ask? Well, we actually ran two stories this week about GEOINT and sports: one about Google Earth and the World Cup stadiums and another post about the military taking a page from TV sports. Hope you enjoy!

Sports Mapping – GIS and Golf
Try to Google “mapping and sports” and you will find a site called SportsMapping. How perfect for this week’s FFT post! So, what is it? “SportsMapping a leading innovator of digital presentation technology offers an unmatched suite of solution services and products designed exclusively for the golf and destination resort industry. Our multifunctional imaging packages help maximize operational efficiency and optimize cost-control. Combining digital imaging wizardry with GIS software programs, we provide a one-stop mapping solutions center for superintendents, owners, developers, event organizers, construction, management companies and other-than-golf venues.” Did you get that? Man, they have to cut back on the corporate marketing-speak!

Using GIS to Study Sports
Sports are geographic activities. In which cities are specific teams located, and why? How do radio and television stations decide which teams to broadcast? Where do each home team’s fans live? How can team owners and business managers establish marketing campaigns for ticket sales based on customer characteristics? How and where can players be recruited from? In which cities and in which neighborhoods are sports facilities located? What particular businesses are located near a sports facility, and why? How can parking and security be managed at sporting events? How can weather and air pollution be monitored for upcoming events? How can bicycle, sailboat, and running routes be organized and tracked? Because they are geographic activities, GIS can be used in sports from the global scale, such as choosing a city for the next Olympics, to the local scale, such as tracking a soccer player’s location throughout a game. Read more from the ESRI GIS Education Community Blog here.

Dude, Check Out “Extreme Sports Maps”
Are you an X-games fan? Do you spend your weekend dropping in on half pipes (trust us, this is a skateboarding reference — it’s not what you think)? If so, be sure to check out “Extreme Sports Maps,” which is the definitive visual guide to Skateparks, Skateboarding Spots, Surf Breaks, Dirt Jumps, Mountain Bike Trails and almost every extreme sport spot you could “shake a stick at.” The aim of the site is to shocase spots from London to New York to Barcelona via Sydney, everywhere to be exact. So, dudes, check out Extreme Sports Maps here.

The Commoncensus Sports Map Project
Where do the fans for your sports team live? How far do they extend? Are there any surprises? The CommonCensus Sports Map Project needs you to help us answer these questions! It is producing maps that show exactly where the fans for each team are located, based on the geographic votes of Internet users. Pretty interesting. And from a NFL perspective, more than 30,000 have participated. Check out more here.

ABC’s Wide World of Sports — The Thrill of Victory and The Agony of Defeat
In sticking with our sports theme, we decided to stay away from posting a music video this week. Though, we did slip in the album cover of Huey Lewis and the News’s “Sports” at the top of the post. This week, we found the introductory clip of the ABC Wide World of Sports. That is correct — the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Ready for a sports flashback? Check out this clip:

Happy Friday!

Tags: Agony of Defeat, Commoncensus sports map project, Extreme Sports Maps, Friday's Food for Thought, GEOINT and sports, got geoint?, Sports Mapping, SportsMapping, Thrill of Victory, United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, USGIF, Wide World of Sports