Map Hawk

Chad Meyers of CNN provided a stellar, "on-air" explanation of subduction zones while describing the earthquake that generated the tsunami in Somoa and American Somoa. Maps and other reports from CNN at their website. Meyer's report included great visuals using Google Earth but his most impressive review of the situation included a description of what happens when the tsunami reaches shallow waters and the coastal shelf, pushing water inland. Kudos to Meyer for making complex geological and geomorphological phenomenon understandable to the average TV viewer.

Today, the New York Times and other media outlets released imagery from DigitalGlobe and GeoEye showing the location of the newly revealed nuclear material manufacturing plant in Iran. The GeoEye-1 half-meter imagery taken on 9/26/2009 shows the completed facility while an image taken in January by DigitalGlobe's WorldView-1 satellite shows the plant under construction. Certainly, U.S. intelligence agencies had their eye on this facility for some time. The imagery reveals excellent detail showing ventilation shafts, surface-to-air missile batteries and the supporting road network. However, what's missing? No scale bar, no north arrow. If the media is going to start regularly using imagery, maps, and other supporting map-based information, they better learn how to follow correct cartographic principals.