Exhuming my thesis, part V

 This follows on Part IV with further AI investigation in GIS that created the maps in previous Parts. This is also an update on my Community Engagement series ending here. Our non-profit has an opportunity to re-engage GIS & AI after my partner attended an AGI meeting on same. I plan to repatriate to pursue this, stay tuned.

We decided to pursue AI offerings on QGIS as it's free - my other account off maintenance curtails my access to AI tools - and the prognosis looks good. First I did a review of what's available in Google Gemini here. The update esp. the closing caveat were particularly useful.

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Here are the latest AI plugins on the latest version of QGIS.

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I loaded my last project I used in QGIS to review my thesis 40 years on, starting here & updated right here. The integrated chatbot question is at lower left, and the answer at middle right confirms that I have used the appropriate data set for regional geophysical data to study geologic terranes in that area.

As with AI topics in my blog feature post here - see this here posted ¼ way down - let me update you on GIS & AI as I keep exploring... Drop in comments below where you think I should use AI in GIS?

Blog-hits top a million since Sept. 2009!

Is reaching this milestone not fitting on the blogs 15th anniversary? The 20th anniversary of my return from the US, 2 mo. to the 50th of originally emigrating to Canada, & 6 mo. to the 40th of my original post pre-internet:  see 1986, curr. Internet footprint, banner menu of this blog's web view. 

As cumulative hits exceed the million mark, let's update the last recap here. 

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Two Antiquities leaders by the map

This follows on "Ancient Roman environment" paragraph halfway down here: the blog post about the Roman road network ended up observing the vastly different water regime in ancient Mesopotamia. 

Update: I renamed the blogpost to add a second map of Marcus Aurelius along the Danube, see also the footnote. 

Alexander the Great in Mesopotamia

Fox News Digital ran a feature titled Alexander the Great's long-lost city located after nearly two millennia: ‘Absolutely stunning’ about Alexandria-on-the-Tigris (Charax Spasinou, summary at bottom). That falls smack dab in the middle of that map region. I simply recycled the previous map with Ancient World Mapping Center (AWMC) at UNC-Chapel Hill data for that period.

Continental drift not push-me but pull-you, the Rockhall Plateau

 A funny thing happened when I showed my last blog post to my mom: "what is that blob right above where it says 'Atlantic Ocean'?". Widow and mother to geologists, she learned to read maps: she spotted the Rockhall Rise as it shows in the zoomed-in view below; it's also known as Rockhall Plateau (Perplexity), briefly a piece of crust left behind in the spreading of the North Atlantic. The tectonic plate margins, incl. the mid-Atlantic Ridge top right, are highlighted in cyan below. Same as the second-last blogpost showed interesting geomorphology only seen in North polar view, this portion of the far North Atlantic also shows better than in a normal or equatorial map view shown at right.

Mapping Arctic Boreal Peatlands, cont.

 This follows on the original post here, with more news on "Arctic fires" that are counterintuitive a priori:

Perplexity summary of NASA captured it from space, and it looks like a bad joke: fire burning on the ice of the North Pole. The scary thing is that it has been multiplying for 10 years: NASA satellites have detected a dramatic rise in Arctic wildfires over the past decade, with fires spreading farther north into icy regions, fuelled by an Arctic warming four times faster than the global average. These blazes, now more frequent and intense, are shifting from the Arctic's edges to a broad northern band, burning drier tundra and releasing ancient carbon from permafrost, turning some areas into carbon sources. Lightning ignites many of these deep-burning fires, whose smoke travels globally, worsening air quality and signalling urgent climate impacts as noted in recent Arctic assessments. 

A view from the top of the world

This follows on from 3D maps in current affairs: it showed an intriguing feature bisecting the Arctic on a proxy topography for the earth's crust; it's only visible on a Polar Stereographic projection, looking straight down the North Pole, mapped here for features N of 50° N lat.

This was seen when mapping ArcticDEM - High-resolution Elevation Models of the Arctic (Esri Living Atlas) and Seabed Sediment Thickness (clipped to N of 50°N, Esri Living Atlas).  From the poster & overlay at the bottom:

Mapping Arctic Boreal Peatlands

This follows on East Anglia environment in a global context. A recent article, Peatlands across the Arctic are expanding as the climate warms, research shows  via @physorg_com, made me look to map data for that. I posted a fair bit on East Anglia peatlands in this blog. I also recently used polar Arctic basemaps N of 50°lat., like Arctic Waterfront, a measure of geopolitical stakes, amongst this blog's Arctic coverage. Next post is Mapping Arctic Boreal Peatlands, cont..

Bomber, missile & drone ranges in current Iran conflict

This follows on a previous post mapping long-haul flights (this blog) in a similar manner.

March update: ballistic missile range map differ slightly from aircraft range maps.

Late March update: debunking sensationalist press re: drone threat Down Under...

2026 Iran Conflict

Currently in the news, the UK prohibited the use of forward bases by the US, whereas that issue was sidestepped last summer for US intervention in Iran (Perplexity). Having looked at the range of fighter jets in Arctic War games (this blog), I did the same for B52 bombers (Perplexity). Here are the relevant data:

The travels of La Macareña

 ... Aaand now for something completely different! Following on tracing travels & travails on simple maps for my travels over a decade ago and recently Samurais & Richard Lionheart, I traced the journey of that song&dance everyone knows.

It all started with ye olde beer advert popping up on YouTube shorts:

Henry VIII Dissolution of Monasteries in England

This continues history posts from Roman Roads vast network and local effect, to medieval travels by Richard I and by Samurais.

Inspired by National Archives' story map: Discover the Dissolution of Monasteries by Henry VIII from 1536 to 1540, here is its intro:

 Henry VIII's break from Rome and the creation of the Church of England set in motion a revolutionary chain of events that resulted in the closure of almost 900 religious houses, displacing 12,000 people from their religious orders. While some were allowed to remain or convert, many were given pensions to surrender their churches and many still were simply evicted with no compensation. The dissolution changed the kingdom's schooling, medical care, land ownership and powerful figures - but why did it happen, and how did it affect your local area?