fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
3 Tips on managing ANGER
By: Zhi Yang
Tags: Anger, Positivity, Anger Management, Happiness, Positive Thinking

Tip 2: Never suppress your anger.

When I mentioned that we should never suppress our ANGER, what I really meant is that instead of suppressing them, we should try to dissipate the ANGER in ourselves and try not to vent it on someone.

So how do we get about dissipating the ANGER in ourselves?

The very first thing is to not act on impulse. Acting impulsively directly equates to a reckless decision. Why do I say so? When we act on impulse, we are purely acting based on our human instincts, the very nature to protect ourselves against foreseeable threats. You might be thinking, then shouldn’t it be beneficial for ourselves? You are not wrong when you are harbouring this thoughts, however, in every situation when ANGER is involved, there are always two results, either a peaceful ending or a chaotic ending. By relying on our instincts and act on impulse, studies have shown that most of the situations will end up escalating towards the chaotic ending. We certainly would not want things to end up badly.

So, when you encounter ANGER, first, eliminate the first thought that comes to your mind (aka your instincts). That already helps you to avoid the possible ending of a chaotic one.

Next, rather than being in our own shoes, we should try to step out and step into the others’ perspectives. By doing so, we are allowing ourselves to view things from a more balanced view, that said, I am not ignoring the fact that there will still be a bit of human bias involved, albeit lesser compared to if we were to act on impulse.

There are a few guiding questions (which personally helps me to understand the situation better).

Why is the other person angry? Why am I angry? What are some of the parties involved in the situation and what are their roles?

These questions are definitely not the golden rules per se. They are just some questions I personally feel are helpful for everyone to start out from to approach ANGER in a calmer way.

After answering these questions in your mind, it may not be the most detailed one, but it will at least give you a clearer picture of the situation. Therefore, you will be able to understand the different perspectives involved in the situation before making a more sensible and rational decision.
What if I'm becoming someone I don't want to be around
By: Gurnoor Sidhu
Tags: Thought Spirals, Hope, Darkness, Self Doubt, Positivity

What if I'm becoming someone I don't want to be around

I'm falling again I'm falling again I'm falling……

I no longer know how to express myself

What about the screams of silence

What am I now?

I close my eyes and see crowd of thousand tears

Maybe I'm not the best but I'm trying to be

Maybe it's all the darkness in my head

I'm sorry . May be I'm just battling with my thought spirals

Maybe its all because of the thought spirals.

Always remember that its okay to have these spirals but you are always loved by your family members and especially god has sent angles for you. They will always stand beside you. There are moments when we start drowning in our own negative thoughts that are created by our own head. I know the mind starts playing with you. People say communicate , talk to us and its not easy to express yourself . Maybe without listening them you can do the things you love the most. Cherish the happy moments. There is always a lamp of light around us all we need is to find a plug and switch it on. Be grateful to god for the little things. Never let that mockingbird die inside you.

I hope now you feel better.
Mind Effect
By: Stefani S
Tags: Mental Health, Mental Health Awareness, Postmodernism, Life Lessons, Positivity

Living in the postmodern era where new technology, science, and living qualities improve in light speed, we cannot help but feel overwhelmed by all these. More problem also arises in this fast-paced change, although the most prominent one that we can notice is mental health.

New technology even becomes a misdeed aid. Such a case happens on bullying in social media or spreading false information, even fraud. It is hard to contain all the negativity because technology users are not few but billions of people around the world.

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

The human mind is an extraordinary thing. One can make the mind stronger or weaker depending on one’s thoughts. Positive thoughts can induce a powerful mind while negative thoughts can lead to stress, depression, and anxiety.

People who feed on negativity will produce negativity. That is why there are so many suicides, self-harm, and shooting cases these days. As a member of society, we should contribute more goods. It can begin by giving yourself a positive image every day, so you will not be affected by the bad. Then, we can start a positive influence in our circle and hope it continues to the next one.

We should encourage people to see the bright side and strengthen the mind. This alone will help people around you and more.
Improving Infosec (or any Community/Industry) in One Simple but Mindful Step
By: Matt Graeber
Tags: Social Media, Positivity, Infosec

Positivity

Before establishing how to exercise positivity, allow me to highlight some important observations:

There is a cacophony of noise in our industry consisting of negativity and, as a result, a consistent outcry condemning the negativity. From my perspective, this is primarily amplified via social media. Amidst the cacophony of negativity and outcries of negativity, there exists an overwhelmingly positive set of people and ideas in our periphery that are too easy to lose sight of. We have a tendency to look outward more than we look inward. Honing your ability to look inward is in effect, Lasik surgery for the soul which can drastically improve vision. Strength is acknowledging weakness. You are more likely to find your way if you consistently attempt to lose the notion of Self.

I feel it is important not to reject these observations and instead, to embrace the beauty (yes, I referred to the negativity as beauty) of both sides of this system. What makes the interaction of negativity and positivity beautiful in my opinion is when you’re able see the system as an objective observer.

Ask yourself, if you see your surroundings as exceedingly negative, do you improve the situation by explicitly calling out the negativity? More specifically, what is your goal in calling out the negativity? Is it to acknowledge that there is a problem rather than pretending it doesn’t exist? What can actually be done about it? Unconsciously, are you expecting that the problem will take care of itself or that by enough people agreeing with you, it may cause those being negative to reflect on changing their perspective? Have you considered that calling out negativity in excess without having a plan in place might be adding to the problem? I can’t answer that for you but I’ve arrived at an answer on my own by reflecting on my own actions that I can see clearly in hindsight did not have a net positive impact. More specifically, in almost every case where my messaging was not positive I can see that it only served to benefit one thing, my ego.

Is there a more productive way to improve the industry you’ve already invested so much in? To answer that question, I will offer a quote from D.L. Moody that my amazing co-worker, Andy Robbins introduced me to a while back: “The best way to show that a stick is crooked is not to argue about it or to spend time denouncing it, but to lay a straight stick alongside it.” Positivity is the straight stick that offers solutions for a better industry. I am so grateful for you sharing that quote with me, Andy!
Lifestyle
Tags: Change, Lifestyle, Positivity, Life

I have been in a constant battle with trying to stay on the right path and living life the right way. However I feel as if the wrong path calls me more then the right one. I try so hard to figure this “LIFE” but all it does is gives me a head ache. Its almost like you can’t make it far in the world without doing things your not suppose to. I just wish I had someone in my life that I could learn from and help me out, but in this world its like asking for help or seeking assistance makes you weak, or you needy, or worthless. I just hate how this world is turning out. A lot of people speak on being positive and lending out a helping hand but no one is actually doing it. That’s why we have so many people out here lost and confused, but we are hurt but some just deal with their hurt in other way. Some take a comfortable life which they are use to, and others just continue to fight for this life want. What if we fight so much for a life that we want and never get to see it and all we did we work and miss out on a lot of things, because we put so much into trying to get a better life that we never got to experience it. My mind just wonders a lot on these things because I want to have a great life but I don’t want to miss out on a lot of fun things; its hard coming from a background where don’t see a lot of successful people so you fight so hard to better than those around you, which causes you to fear mistakes and slip ups because you don’t want to be like them. I strive to be a better person and help those who are facing the same challenges as me. I strive to be the change I want to see in the world.
Yumming Up Your “New Life” Kabob
By: Diane Burroughs
Tags: Travel, Life Lessons, Aging, Foodies, Positivity

Yumming Up Your “New Life” Kabob

Evan Wise for Unsplash

Kabobs are really popular here in Southern Cali these days. We’ve gone from Poké, Poké everywhere to Kabob kingdom. These food fads come and go very quickly, but this Kabob craze is okay by me. I like a good kabob. I’ve grilled my share at many a barbeque. They’re convenient and fun to create.

It got me to thinking, if I were to stack a Life Kabob, what cubes of joy would I load it with? I don’t want a cliché Kabob existence. Gosh knows, I’ve been skewered a time or two, but now it’s my turn to create delicious day-to-day experiences. A Yum Life.

What about you? Would one cube be a Master’s Degree and the next that trip to Tibet? Would that spot for a red pepper become that Ballet for Broads class you keep walking by at that studio? (Who needs to know except about-to-be-limber You?) What’re the adventures you would most enjoy? The experiences that would make life appetizing at this point in time. On the kabob of your life, what are you craving the most?

I don’t mean to “grill” you, but seriously, if you’re a mid-life maiden like me, this is my new positive position on living out each twenty-four hours with purpose and joy. Give your Yum Life some thought and then take action. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on a single bite.
A little Princess was sitting on a bench…she has freckles on her little red and shiny face, her…
By: Balogh Bettina
Tags: Soul, Yourself, Love, Loose Somebody, Positivity

A little Princess was sitting on a bench…she has freckles on her little red and shiny face, her tears were dropping down and down…deeply to the floor. She has blond long hair, her slim bodyshape showed that how nice can be a little Princess while wearing a red skirt and shiny, lacquered shoes. She was disappointed…thinking about something serious things. Why does it happen with me? Why does it hurt so much? What does 'feeling to be hurt' mean? To loose somebody, to loose a love…to loose a half of your soul because he is not close to you. And the fact that you would like to turn back the time …to feel him again…it is not possible! Because it is his decision. The Prince has gone. While thinking the little Princess this…she realized that a wonderful flower is growing up next to her sweety legs. She was only paying attention to this, she met with this big surprise, flower. She met with LIFE. Yes, it is life. What does life mean? A possibility to see, hear, smell, realize lots of special things what the world gives to us …clear soul, so clear soul, wonderful heart, so shiny face with freckles on it, clever brain, kindness, patience, honesty, loyalty, open-mind, really nice persons and animals around of you, parents, sisters, cousins, aunts, ankles, grandfa, friends, really close friends, twittering birds, sunshine, tune of the music, the violin voice of my sister’s violin, really delicious foods, wine, smell of parfume, hugs, peace, good friesure, mood while doing sports, concerts, nature, forest, ocean, massage, touch, books, fitt body, shape of materials, colour of things, VW Golf…while feeling you need more…a little child to be born…I. know it will happen…not now…later on..I have time until having a child so Betti enjoy life now , be yourself!…life will also give it to you…a real Prince who will be able to give it to you … same like the little Princess, who I am!
Motivation: Scientific on How to Get, Feel and Stay Motiv for long-time
By: Dharmesh Patel
Tags: Quotes, Motivation, Android App Development, Inspiration, Positivity

Motivation is the power in life, yet tricky beast. Sometimes it is really easy to get motivated, sometimes it gets difficult and sometimes, it is nearly impossible to motivate yourself. This contains the most useful research on how to stay motivated.

We’re going to break down how to get motivated in and how to stay motivated for the long-time. Trying to find out how to motivate self or how to motivate a team, this article should cover everything you need to know.

the burst of inspiration and motivation when the situation gets tough

What is Motivation?

So what is motivation, exactly?

“The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power”

“The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power”

In other words, it is easier to change than to stay the same. It is easier to take action and feel insecure at the gym than to sit still and experience self-loathing. It is easier to feel motivated while making the sales call than to feel disappointed about your client conversation ratio.

Now for the important is what can we do to make it more likely that we cross this mental threshold and feel motivated on a consistent basis?

Every choice has a price, but when we are motivated, it is easier to bear the inconvenience of action than the pain of remaining the same.

Common Miscalculation About Motivation

Most surprising things about inspiration is that it often comes after starting a fresh behavior. Active inspiration can be far more powerful. We have common miscalculation that motivation arrives as a result of passively consuming a motivational video. Thus, one of the keys to getting motivated is to start.

Before we talk about how to get started, let’s pause for just a second. If you’re enjoying this article on motivation, then you’ll probably find motivational quotes android app.

How to Get Motivated and Take Action

Struggle to find the motivation and need to get the goals people want because wasting too much time and energy on the other process. If you want to make it easy and get started, then it helps to automate the early stages.

How to Stay Positive and Motivated for the long

Imagine you are playing cricket. If you try to play a match against little children, you will quickly bored. A match is easier. If you play a cricket match against a professional player, you will find yourself demotivated. The match is too hard.

Get experiences of playing cricket against someone who is matching your level. You have a chance of winning the game. Your focus and you find yourself fully interested in the task. Tasks like these, are the most likely to keep motivated in the long term. If the challenge is within the zone of difficulty then human beans love it.
Creating positive habits in lockdown
By: Madia
Tags: Lockdown, Ideas, Tips, Lifestyle, Positivity

Since we are now in the third UK lockdown, we have experienced life indoors and there are many habits both positive and negative we may have experienced.

Here at Madia & Matilda, we believe it is important to learn and create positive habits that we can use in and after this lockdown experience.

1. One hour a day for a form of creative meditation

Try not to be put off by the word ‘meditation’ all we mean is using some form of art therapy, this can be anything from painting, yoga, cooking, baking, journaling, a relaxing bath, or a nap. If you schedule this into your day every day, not only will it break up your day but it will also allow you to slow down, relieve anxiety and stress, take a break from any worries you may feel.

2. Get outdoors and embrace nature

I think the first reason for us all getting back out into nature after the winter months being so cold, we are finally starting to see a bit of sunshine. Lockdown feels more isolating when the weather is bad, and now things are starting to look up. Getting outside does not need to be a lockdown routine, it can be part of your new normal. Learning to switch off from the inside, social media, and television and take time to breathe in the fresh air every day. Lockdown has encouraged us to increase our time spent outdoors, supporting mental health and getting some Vitamin D from the sun.

3. Physical and mental health

10 minutes a day or more dedicated to a physical workout, whether that means stretching in the garden, watching a workout youtube video or learning how to make healthy juices and smoothies. Try to take this discipline and turn it into a routine, keep moving and learning.

4. Appreciate the world around us

Now that we cannot travel frequently or visit places we once loved, it is time to appreciate the little things and the world’s beauty. The lockdown has actually caused less airbourne pollution, and many destinations are now visible such as the Himalayas are a lot clearer than ever before. You can take virtual tours of these fantastic destinations and write them on your bucket list to visit once travel and leisure are possible again.

5. Time

Time goes so quickly, and usually when we are living our day to day lives we are busy working, socialising and never truely have the time to just be at one with ourselves. all this time we have been given, use it and appreciate it.

Images from: https://pixabay.com

Sincerely Madia & Matilda
Pickle Jar Wisdom #8: You Are Imperfect and That Is Okay
By: Hanna Gracen
Tags: Imperfect Poetry, Imperfection, Quotes About Life, Positivity, Self Love

This is a truth I want to fight against. I don’t want to believe that I am imperfect. I’ve never wanted to believe that I am imperfect. Or at least, that is my instinct. You see, before, I thought being imperfect meant that I was incomplete. And I thought that failing meant only that I was capable of failing. But this isn’t true. Here’s what I’ve learned.

Failing means that I am not an ideal, but a messy, complex, real live, full-blooded human. Failing reminds me that I am capable of feeling discouraged, sad, and inadequate, but even more, that I need someone to tell me they love me in spite of it all.

Today, I submitted an assignment for school, and there was a question I couldn’t answer-that scares me. Maybe you’re thinking, but it was just one question. But you don’t know where I’ve come from. School has always been my Achilles heel; I feel compelled to prove my worth, to dominate, to stand-out (because I’m afraid I won’t in any other way). Luckily, I have softened to kindness in these last few years.

The allure of success has dimmed, but it’s still hard. It scares me that I couldn’t answer one question. It frustrates me. There is a part of me that wants to be the best, and I think that’s okay.

But I am so incredibly proud of myself for seeing the beauty in imperfection. Right now, I think it is so amazing that I was able to face my imperfections with grace. I am imperfect and that is okay.

And yes, I know, it was just one question 😉
How Do You Stay Strong During Uncertain Times?
By: Ernie Bray
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Business, Positivity

This is a question many entrepreneurs and business owners have been struggling with for most of 2020. For some businesses, they have little or no option but to remain closed or operate at limited capacity.

It depends on the business, type of company and so many other factors that may be out of one’s control.

So, what can you do? I look at it this way — in challenging times, you have to take on a mindset and understanding that things are happening that are much bigger than us and any attempt to control the situation is a waste of energy. I’m not saying simply sit back, what I’m saying is that you have to reframe your outlook.

Even the ancient philosophers understood we can’t control everything.

“ You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” — Marcus Aurelius

Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens. — Epictetus

So, consider their thoughts and embrace the mindset that you can only control your actions.

Sure, emotion, frustration and worry will surface. Acknowledge it, then move on to what you can do to set yourself up for success. I’m a big believer that you can find the positive in any situation.

Here are five questions I ask myself:

1. Is there something actionable I can do to move my company forward? Can I develop a plan or strategy and creative ways to adapt?

2. What can I do to lift up others around me?

3. Can I be an inspiration and light of positivity for others around me?

4. What new skill can I learn?

5. How can I expand my network and meet new people, even virtually?

I hope this inspires you or nudges you in a new direction. Use this uncertain time to take positive action that will set the stage for a brighter future.
Are we ever too late for a Second Chance?
By: Diya Nag Chaudhury
Tags: Happiness, New Beginnings, Inspiration, Positivity, Life

This isn’t just another day, it’s another chance for you to get it right.

And suddenly you recognize that it’s time to start afresh and trust the charm of new beginnings.

Life is not a bed of roses. How often have we heard that line? Even so, when life takes a toll on us, we cannot just conform to it. What’s interesting to note is that it is perfectly normal. The most beautiful thing in the world, kindness, can touch lives in the most gentle yet influential way. An individual is but a cluster of cells with a package of feelings inside. Voicing them is not going to make us any less competent as a human being.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Some people consider a partially filled glass as half full while others assume it as being half empty. Relying on negative thoughts is the sole paramount obstacle to a successful outcome. If we focus on the hurt, we continue to endure. Supposing we focus on the experience, we will only go on nurturing. Just as a roller-coaster ride has its ups and downs, so does life! All we have to do is to take custody on how to control the speed and remain in the track.

Pledge for yourself another inception — ample time to rejuvenate you and reasonably short to fetch you back in the race. In the voyage of not demonstrating whatsoever to anybody else, but you that not only is the upshot worthy of the endeavor, but that YOU are worth it. Regardless of whether or not you change your destiny, you should be in a position to say that you gave it the fight it deserves.

As Courtney Giardina, in Holding on to Georgia says,
Corona? We are Stronger.
By: Raoul Milhado
Tags: Collective Impact, Corona, Coronavirus, Health, Positivity

Our (new) World is going through a tough time

The world is afraid.

We’re in a state of panic.

But now’s not the time to panic, it’s time to pull together — in this article, let’s look at HOW we can achieve that.

You see, one of the main problems is that people are only trying to protect themselves. We’re buying food. We’re hoarding hand sanitizer, we’re getting all the medicine we can from pharmacies, meaning the people who are sick, those who need treatment, can’t get their medicine anymore.

And as more people do this, others become more afraid. They seek to protect themselves from the virus, only fueling the hype. As the media circus fans the flames, it only intensifying the drama.

As far as I see it, as of today…

There’s a choice we can make based on the current situation:

If you come into a self-isolation situation (it will soon be required by most governments) => obviously, protect yourself from the risk, but as well, use this “self-time” wisely. It’s an opportunity for self-empowerment, which leads me to…

(it will soon be required by most governments) => obviously, protect yourself from the risk, but as well, use this “self-time” wisely. It’s an opportunity for self-empowerment, which leads me to… Get the best version out of yourself AND encourage others to do the same => Eckhart Tolle puts it best: 95% of our thoughts are repetitive and self-destructive. If we focus on anxiety, on fear, our thoughts will only lead to illness and poor health — whereas if you switch to become confident and focus on positivity instead of following the masses, there’ll be no other outcome than good health for all.

You can literally save your life and lives of others if you share this message.

— Please, start sharing now!

Here are some suggested, concrete actions we can take now:

Find natural remedies to stay healthy: use the natural powers that we find within and meditate, eat healthily, use the internet to learn about self-healing, the brain, enlightenment, positive thinking — all the powers we humans have within; Spread collective POSITIVE thinking: spread optimistic thoughts, recipes, tips, tricks, positive news and ignore negative opinions, using our collective power to help each other grow through this time.

These are the calls to action, but what other moves can we make?

First of all, as the media tries to manipulate us, we need to fight back: arm yourself with the might of positive-collective-thought, it’s the most potent weapon against the virus!

Let’s call the world to arms—starting with these rallying cries, starting NOW!

#WeAreStronger

Slogan & Hashtags

I am Healthy & Strong

#WeAreStronger

Spread The Word

Help the world and join the movement by joining this Facebook group.

I AM Healthy & Strong

Take responsibility Share a positive message Back it up with a fitting photo

…and remind the world, “We are united, we will solve this together.”

It’s a crucial message at a critical time.
Good morning 🌞 everyone.
By: R Rajenderkumar
Tags: Scrum Agile, Feedback, Excitement, Listening, Positivity

Good morning 🌞 everyone. It’s 7.43 am, December 2019. I am writing this article from Chennai, India. This is first post in Medium platform and I am excited to write and publish my posts. I request every reader to please encourage me during this journey by doing your bit by reading my posts and giving feedbacks. I am a Scrum Master by profession and I reside in a IT capital of India, Bangalore. I request everyone to give Feedbacks on my posts. Feedbacks are the way I can improve.

I am excited to get feedback’s from everyone.

Why feedback’s are important:

Feedbacks helps me to introspect on the work and helps me change myself. Change is a word which many fear.

Feedbacks helps me to understand the point of view of another human. Respect is one thing which grows if you give feedbacks.

Feedbacks helps us understand are we really listening and hearing. There are big difference between listening and hearing.

Feedbacks helps us to think. Humans have stop thinking now a days in the fast running world. Stop and listen to feedback.

Feedbacks helps us grow. Growth is something everyone is looking for. Feedbacks are one way you can grow.

Feedbacks can be positive or towards improvement. Be happy and take feedbacks.

Feedbacks are motivating boosters. Give it genuinely.

I am add more about why feedback’s are important in upcoming article.

I encourage everyone to give feedback on my first post so that I can work on myself and give good contents.

Happy reading and have a amazing days ahead untill you read my next post.
Time-lapse heat maps with Folium
By: Eduardo Virtuoso
Tags: Python, GIS, Space Science With Python

The idea of writing this step-by-step came from an exploratory analysis of the New York City arrest data. Working on a Data Science project, I decided to test some spatial visualization python libraries with a dataset chunk. So I tried to create a time-lapse heat map with the robbery arrests in New York. As we will see, this kind of product can provide some valuable insights.

NYC ARRESTS DATASET

The dataset used can be found at this link:

Let's summarize it:

The dataset contains more than 4.000.000 rows and the columns below:

ARREST_KEY: Randomly generated persistent ID for each arrest

ARREST_DATE: Exact date of arrest for the reported event

PD_CD: Three-digit internal classification code (more granular than Key Code)

PD_DESC: Description of internal classification corresponding with PD code (more granular than Offense Description)

KY_CD: Three-digit internal classification code (more general category than PD code)

OFNS_DESC: Description of internal classification corresponding with KY code (more general category than PD description)

LAW_CODE: Law code charges corresponding to the NYS Penal Law, VTL and other various local laws

LAW_CAT_CD: Level of offense: felony, misdemeanor, violation

ARREST_BORO: Borough of arrest. B(Bronx), S(Staten Island), K(Brooklyn), M(Manhattan), Q(Queens)

ARREST_PRECINCT: Precinct where the arrest occurred

JURISDICTION_CODE: Jurisdiction responsible for arrest. Jurisdiction codes 0(Patrol), 1(Transit) and 2(Housing) represent NYPD whilst codes 3 and more represent non NYPD jurisdictions

AGE_GROUP: Perpetrator’s age within a category

PERP_SEX: Perpetrator’s sex description

PERP_RACE: Perpetrator’s race description

X_COORD_CD: Midblock X-coordinate for New York State Plane Coordinate System, Long Island Zone, NAD 83, units feet (FIPS 3104)

Y_COORD_CD: Midblock Y-coordinate for New York State Plane Coordinate System, Long Island Zone, NAD 83, units feet (FIPS 3104)

Latitude: Latitude coordinate for Global Coordinate System, WGS 1984, decimal degrees (EPSG 4326)

Longitude: Longitude coordinate for Global Coordinate System, WGS 1984, decimal degrees (EPSG 4326)

Lon_Lat: Georeferenced Point Column based on Longitude and Latitude fields

The dataset contains information on arrests between 2006 to 2019.

It contains the type of crime(robbery, assault, etc..).

It contains some details like race, gender and age.

It contains geographic information of the arrest (coordinates and neighbourhood ).

Let's check it now

IMPORTING THE LIBRARIES
Scaling Spatial Analysis with The Trust for Public Land
By: Descartes Labs
Tags: GIS, Programming, Data Science, Python, Climate Change

Scaling Spatial Analysis with The Trust for Public Land

The Descartes Labs Platform supercharges the development of an urban heat island layer across 14,000 US cities and towns. Descartes Labs Follow Oct 23, 2019 · 6 min read

It’s widely known that lower-income urban communities are disproportionally affected by heat-related natural hazards. As a whole, fewer resources exist for vulnerable populations to take shelter from the dangerous summer heat and its negative effects are magnified when concrete is ubiquitous, driving up temperatures to levels distinguishable from satellites in space.

Our partners at The Trust for Public Land have been working to provide relief from heat islands and related environmental issues in urban communities since 1972, securing and protecting access to 3.3 million acres and creating 5,400 parks and natural places to allow urban residents to escape the built-up world and recharge within native environments. The Trust for Public Land’s website captures its mission concisely below.

Our mission is to create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come. Every park, playground, and public space we create is an open invitation to explore, wonder, discover, and play. We’re proud to say that we’ve been connecting communities to the outdoors — and to each other — since 1972. Today, millions of Americans live within a 10-minute walk of a park or natural area we helped create, and countless more visit every year.

Descartes Labs is proud to contribute to these efforts by supporting The Trust for Public Land’s Climate-Smart Cities™ program. Our Platform and Python API, with 15 petabytes of geospatial data, are helping scale the production of critical urban heat island raster data and maps behind ParkScore® and ParkServe™, two key components that help improve access to parks in cities, towns, and communities nationwide.

Climate-Smart Cities helps design, fund, and build climate-smart parks where they’re needed most.

Through Climate-Smart Cities, The Trust for Public Land partners with city leaders and residents to design, fund, and build climate-smart parks and green spaces where they’re needed most, making lower-income neighborhoods more equitable, livable, and resilient to the effects of climate change.

The data behind The Trust for Public Land’s funding decisions are derived from ParkScore, the most comprehensive evaluation of park access and quality in the 100 largest U.S. cities, and ParkServe, an interactive platform that tracks urban park access nationwide. ParkServe includes data from 13,931 cities and towns, covering more than 80% of the U.S. population.

These freely available web-based tools let people locate the park nearest to them, determine the percentage of residents who live within a 10-minute walk of a local park, and identify the neighborhoods most in need of new parks.
pydeck: Unlocking deck.gl for use in Python
By: Andrew Duberstein
Tags: Data Visualization, GIS, Maps, Data Science, Python

Uber’s open source deck.gl library powers both internal data visualization tools and brings to life award-winning visualizations from across the community.

Today, we’re excited to announce that we’ll be bringing deck.gl’s declarative syntax, the ease of use, and ability to render massive data to Python with the beta release of pydeck, a set of Python bindings for deck.gl. In this post, we’ll cover pydeck’s unique features, how it works beneath the hood, and how you can get started using it today.

The mission of pydeck is to let Python users create deck.gl maps without having to know a lot of Javascript. At its core, pydeck focuses on data analytics use cases, so it works best in environments used by data professionals, like Jupyter Notebooks. With pydeck, users can embed visualizations interactively in a Jupyter Notebook or simply export them to a standalone HTML file.

A few mapmaking libraries exist within the Python ecosystem, so it’s worth highlighting the unique features that pydeck provides which differentiate it:

The availability of the full deck.gl layer catalog in Python

Support for large-scale updates, like color changes or data modification, to hundreds of thousands of visualized data points

Two-way communication, where data selected in a visualization can be passed back to a Jupyter Notebook’s kernel

The ability to map hundreds of thousands of data points in 2D and 3D via a Python API

2010 San Francisco building polygons, colored by elevation

Under the hood, pydeck converts its Python objects to JSON and passes that JSON to the new @deck.gl/json API. This library interprets JSON objects into deck.gl layers, letting users render a visualization written in Javascript without having to know Javascript itself. Pydeck augments this by also providing components for Jupyter Notebook integration and convenience functions for data processing.

You can get started using pydeck with a simple copy and paste in your terminal:

pip install pydeck

To see pydeck in action, you can copy and paste this Python code into a Jupyter Notebook or an IPython terminal:

Go to the GitHub Gist for the full code

You can also check out the hosted examples on mybinder.org, where you can use pydeck in your browser without installing it. For further details while coding, review the documentation home page here.

Conway’s Game of Life in pydeck

You can file bugs and submit feature requests with our team on GitHub. Contributions are both welcome and encouraged, not only to improve pydeck but also to bindings for other languages via the @deck.gl/json library.
How to create Lego Map Style in QGIS
By: Andriy Yaremenko
Tags: Cartography, Qgis, GIS, Maps, Design

UPD 11.05.2020

The workflow described in this tutorial is not ideal.

I did it quick and dirty, just to share an idea.

But people still use it. So, I decided to improve this a little bit.

Thanks for the comments Timmy, Vasilis Samaritakis, and all other people that reached me out.

Last few months I saw some maps in Lego Style. It’s looking very interesting and catching but unfortunately, all the tutorials that I able to find are for ArcPro.

So, I decided to change this inequity and trying to create a similar map in QGIS. Yesterday I posted on Twitter a result of my attempt and it seems people liked this (at least one hundred of them).

So, here very brief tutorial for creating a Lego-style map in QGIS.

Disclaimer! I used only QGIS. This workflow isn`t ideal. The main point is to show various ways of applying QGIS functions for map design. If you have any idea on how to improve workflow, I`ll be glad to hear it. Sharing knowledge is a thing that makes a difference.

00. Create a regular grid with data

The first thing that you need is a regular grid with data that you will visualize. To create grid go to Vector → Research Tools → Create Grid or just search in Processing Toolbox. The size of the cell depends on the map scale, so just play around with it to define the better size. After, you should add data to cells. The easier way to do it is using functions “Join Attributes by location” (to get data from vector source) or “Zonal statistics” (for raster data sources). In my case, I used the second one to get data about elevation from DEM.

01. Create a polygon centroids

Centroid from polygon function can be found in Vector → Geometry Tools →Centroids, or in Processing Toolbox.

UPD: Another option is to select Symbol -> Change.. in Layer Styling panel and add Centroid Fill geometry.

02. Set polygon and point styles in the same way

Set the identic style for point and polygon layers — the same variable to classify by, equal symbol type (categorized/graduated) and color scheme, the same data classification method (Jenks, Equal intervals, etc.) and numbers of the range. Adjust the size of the point so it looks like Lego bricks.

Please notice, that the size of the point may be displayed differently in the different scales. That why set needed scale before experimenting with point size.

UPD: for setting centroid size use “Meters at Scale” units, then your style will look the same on all scales.
How to leverage Geopandas for faster snapping of points to lines
By: Brendan Ward
Tags: Spatial Analysis, GIS, Geopandas, Data Science, Python

Needing to correctly align one set of data with another is a common task in many geospatial analyses. One example of this is snapping a set of locations to a linear network. This is usually an essential step in network analyses because you need to know the exact location of that thing on a given network. For instance, in order to calculate the travel distance to the nearest electric scooter, you need to know where it is within a city’s grid network of streets. If you need to know how many miles of river are upstream of a dam, you need to know where that dam is located on the river network.

In both cases, there is usually some measurement error in the location of the scooter or the dam, and it may not correctly align with the network. Or the location is correct, but the data source for the network has measurement error. Or both are wrong, which is often the case. Take your pick.

To get around this issue, you need to “snap” the locations to the nearest point on the network. This involves a few steps:

Find the nearest line to the original location Find the nearest point on that line to the original location Move the original location to that point Proceed with the network analysis

This is relatively straightforward for a few points and lines but can be a slow operation if you have to do this with lots of data. In my case, I needed a reasonably fast way to snap the locations of hundreds of thousands of dams and culverts against aquatic networks with millions of line segments. I have been working with the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership to help analyze the relationships between aquatic networks and aquatic barriers like dams as part of building the Southeast Aquatic Barrier Prioritization Tool. In order to analyze aquatic connectivity, we first needed to overcome the fact that the locations of many dams were not actually on the latest available aquatic network data from the National Hydrography Dataset. You would think everything would be in the correct place, right? Nope.
GIS-Cloud Integration in Social Impact Assessment
By: Miguel F. Bonavia
Tags: Social Impact Assessment, Cloud, GIS, Covid 19, Gis Cloud

GIS in Social Impact Assessment (SIA)

GIS integrated by hardware, software and geo-referenced data optimise the resolution of problems related to the geographical planning of the activities of non-profit organisations.

In this regard, GIS support consultations, analysis and studies carried out by the organisation shorten the time spent by analysts in their research on inequality and poverty. This optimises the organisation’s productivity and efficiency.

During the worst moments of the 2012 economic crisis, many charity and NPO organisations did an intense and recognised work in cushioning the impact of Spain’s economic crisis. Additionally, many studies of poverty and social inequalities in the country’s urban areas were undertaken.

This implied that these organisations had to handle large volumes of data in their different levels of administrative management (e.g. Streets, Neighborhoods, Districts).

The information generated annually by these organizations produce a wide range of difficulties to its analysts, particularly in data handling and interpretation. This was mainly due to the volume, heterogeneity and variety of the generated data by the organisations’ activities.

In fact, several agencies specialised in the use of GIS technology for NGOs have appeared in recent years to fill a gap that until relatively recently did not exist.

My proposal focused on the implementation of a GIS platform for the organisation’s activities management, both in its data management planning as well as in its external exploitation strategy.

The implementation of GIS in the processes of management and operation of large volumes of data within NGOs help to optimise valuable resources in a more efficient manner as well as provide a better knowledge of the information generated from its activities.

In addition to an optimisation in the management of information and Big Data, another benefit provided by GIS to NGOs would be a qualitative improvement in their ability to communicate the impact and outreach benefits derived from the process of charity in the territory as well as any other work done by the organization.

In this regard, prior the GIS platform adoption, there are three key factors to be considered in a web-based GIS social impact assessment.

Optimisation of the internal databases of the organization by identifying difficulties in its management and operation as well as promoting their standardisation for their use in future GIS projects by facilitating the constant update.

Enhancing communication of the work of the organisation through the design and implementation of a communication strategy as agile as the generation of maps that will allow a greater potential audience knowing the dimension of the work done by the NGO.

Introduction of new information technology tools in the analysis, management and organisation’s data production processes. GIS will allow in a first phase the identification of problems concerning the organisation’s data management.
Exploring Airports and Airplane Fatalities Worldwide
By: Kathia Vargas
Tags: Traveling, GIS, Arcgis Online, Airports, Air Crash

Exploring the Data

First, I decided to take a high-level look into the “Airports' Dataset”. The first question I had in mind was, which countries have the most airports? I chose a Cloropleth Map to visualize the result. Surprisingly, the USA was the winning country with 25,317 airports. It worth noting that these are all kinds of airports including domestic, private, international, heliports, and others.

An interesting fact is that the US has almost 4x more airports than Brazil, which is the second country with the most airports.

But why there are so many airports in the US? Let’s take a look at these airports broken down into categories.

By analyzing the pie chart, we can clearly see that most of these airports are small and heliports. As expected, there are many heliports and small airports in private areas throughout the country. Also, 3,676 of these airports are closed, which brings the total number of active airports to a lower number.

From now on, I decided to focus my analysis on the USA because it is the country with the most airports. Now let's see the distribution of these airports from a statewide perspective.

Surprisingly, Texas is the state with the most airports in the country with 2,848. Let’s break them down into categories.

Zoom in to Explore the type of Airports in Texas

Here again, we can see that most of the airports in Texas are small and heliports. Also, there is a large number of closed airports, which is represented by dark orange in the graph.
-> The Econometric Analysis of Non-Stationary Spatial Panel Data by Michael Beenstock -> Available in Hardcover \ Kindle \ Paperback \ AudioBook
Tags: GIS

-> The Econometric Analysis of Non-Stationary Spatial Panel Data by Michael Beenstock -> Available in Hardcover \ Kindle \ Paperback \ AudioBook Primitiever Oct 12, 2019·1 min read

Just For Today get free read 30 days !!!

This monograph deals with spatially dependent non-stationary time series in a way accessible to both time series econometricians wanting to understand spatial econometics, and spatial econometricians lacking a grounding in time series analysis. After charting key concepts in both time series and spatial econometrics, the book discusses how the spatial connectivity matrix can be estimated using spatial panel data instead of assuming it to be exogenously fixed. This is followed by a discussion of spatial non-stationarity in spatial cross-section data, and a full exposition of non stationarity in both single and multi-equation contexts, including the estimation and simulation of spatial vector autoregression (VAR) models and spatial error correction (ECM) models. The book reviews the literature on panel unit root tests and panel cointegration tests for spatially independent data, and for data that are strongly spatially dependent. It provides for the first time critical values for panel … (More info! -> https://dinamisebookpdf.blogspot.com/?book=3030036138)
Introducing Scale-a-Tron
By: Eric Brelsford
Tags: Cartography, GIS, Programming, Maps, Ever Given

The Apollo 11 landing size compared with a baseball diamond, via Strange Maps

Scale-a-Tron is inspired by these maps and tools, but as far as we can tell, there’s no easy-to-use app that does the same thing but for satellite imagery. If you wanted to make an accurate satellite comparison map, you had to do a bit of work in a GIS program or some careful screen measurements and complicated math with Photoshop.

Now that we have Scale-a-Tron we can easily recreate some twitter memes like Siena, Italy inside a freeway interchange in Houston, Texas.

Or see how much of the Eixample neighborhood in Barcelona you can fit in a golf course in Seattle:

…or you can plop one of the pyramids in Central Park:

…or compare Japan to the East Coast of the US:

…or see how Epcot compares to your local landfill:

…or drop Manhattan in the Denmark Strait, near where an iceberg the size of same broke off some time ago.

…or put London, Ontario on top of London, England:

…or something else — send us screenshots of your favorites or use the hashtag #scaleatron on social media!

The code is on GitHub if you have suggestions or improvements. We have some ideas about improving this but are interested to hear what others would find useful.

Enjoy!