Data Hype, and Vodka

Data analysis/visualization is getting so hype that they are now trying to sell Vodka with it! Congrats to Aaron Koblin.

If Christaller had Google Earth

Proposed by Walter Christaller in 1933, the 'Central Place Theory' is among the first topics covered by any course in Geography, Regional Science, Urban Studies etc. His main point was to derive the golden rules that would explain the number, location and size (hierarchy) of cities/villages.

To illustrate his proposition, Christaller came up with this classic map showing the distribution of cities and villages in Eastern Europe, where circle indicates population size.

[click on the image to enlarge it]

Sometimes I wonder what those geniuses from the Old Times (like Christaller, Dalí, Paganini) would create if they had the technology we take for granted today. Well, if only Christaller had Google Earth at his time, I'm sure he would have done a much better job. And I think he would have liked to work with Sandra Lach Arlinghaus!

Sandra has done a really nice job overlaping Christaller's map on Google Earth using the exact location (part of what is today Poland). Here you can check her work and download the Google Earth files she's used. It looks much better if you have a big screen.

[Image Credit: Sandra Lach Arlinghaus]

Demographic papers published on Science and Nature

It's not everyday you see demographers publishing on journals like Science and Nature. So here is a short list with some of the papers published since 2000.

ps. Massive presence of @IIASAVienna and @WiCVienna researchers!

• (2013) Pervasive Externalities at the Population, Consumption, and Environment Nexus, by Partha S. Dasgupta, Paul R. Ehrlich
  
  
• (2012) Demography's Role in Sustainable Development, Many authors
  
  
• (2011) China’s Demographic History and Future Challenges, by Xizhe Peng
  
  
• (2011) The Demography of Educational Attainment and Economic Growth, by Wolfgang Lutz, Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, Warren Sanderson
  
  
• (2011) 7 Billion and Counting, by David E. Bloom
  
  
• (2008) Health and Urban Living, by Christopher Dye
  
  
• (2008) The coming acceleration of global population ageing, by Wolfgang Lutz, Warren Sanderson, Sergei Scherbov
  
  
• (2006) The Demography of Growing European Identity, by Wolfgang Lutz, Sylvia Kritzinger, Vegard Skirbekk
  
  
• (2005) Average remaining lifetimes can increase as human populations age, by Warren C. Sanderson, Sergei Scherbov
  
  
• (2003) Europe's Population at a Turning Point, Wolfgang Lutz, Brian C. O'Neill, Sergei Scherbov

and my two favorites:

• (2010) Remeasuring Aging, by Warren C. Sanderson and Sergei Scherbov
  
  
• (2011) Global Human Capital: Integrating Education and Population, Wolfgang Lutz, Samir KC
• Interactive Age and Education Pyramids by Country

[Image Credit: Lutz and KC, 2011]

The Flexible City Symposium

This week, I'm attending The Flexible City Symposium, here in Oxford on 24 and 25 of October/2013. The programme looks very good with some great speakers. I would be glad to meet you guys, if you happen to be around the event.

The event is organized by Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities, an Oxford Martin School Programme.

Quote of the Day

"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." (Pablo Picasso)

Assorted Links

1. Why don't Americans ride trains?
   
   
2. Top 200 QS World University Rankings 2013
   
   
3. Red Bull Stratos FULL POV 
   
   
4. The Map That Lincoln Used to See the Reach of Slavery
   
   
5. Egard Blanco and his team at MIT mapping the logistics of megacities
   
   
6. One interesting study I would like to see apllyied to Brasilia/Brazil (via Flowing Data)
   
   
7. Rules for Teachers in 1872 and 1915: "you may under no circunstances dye your hair"
   
   
8. The average destination of international flights from every country in the world
   
   
9. Hidden Animals in the London Underground Map

Mapping the "Geographies of Time"

Emily Badger points out to this interesting project called Geographies of Time, by Giorgia Lupi and colleagues. The basic idea of the project is to capture the cities pulse using geo-tagged tweets coloured according to the time period of the day they are tweeted.

Milan

New York

[Image Credit: UrbanSensing]

Urban Picture

The Radcliffe Camera in Oxford. A nice place to call home!

[Image Credit: Rafael Pereira]

Soundtrack:

"The Land of Many Palaces"

In the local mongolian language 'Ordos' means “the land of many palaces". This is the title of a documentary (in production) on one of the famous Ghost Cities in China. It is an independent and low budget film featured by Adam Smith & Song Ting and I wish them luck because this is a great material for a documentary!

[I saw this at Paula Morais' facebook wall]

Assorted Links

1. How to improve your charts (via Drunkneysian)
   
   
2. Five myths about big data
   
   
3. Agglomeration Economies in Classical Music
   
   
4. 2013 World Population Data Sheet - infographic (via @biodemisfab)
   
   
5. Crime Maps of London: 1 and 2
   
   
6. Why don't Americans ride trains?
   
   
7. The uneven population distribution in Argentina
   
   
8. Red Bull Illume Photo Contest 2013
   
   
9. Some interactive maps with historical comparisons of great american cities (based on the David Rumsey Map Collection)