Updated Varroa Mite Map of Data of Diana Sammataro

One advantage of on-line publication is the capability to easily update files that depend on temporal data.  Solstice author Diana Sammataro has been sending IMaGe current data for her Varroa Mite Map on a regular basis, since it first appeared in Volume IX, Number 1, 1998.  The current form of the map is shown below.  


Figure 1.  Animated map. Map by Sandra L. Arlinghaus and John D. Nystuen.

[Ed.]  Notice, however, that with the introduction of Hawaii into the picture in 2007, the visual geographic scale shift required to portray both Hawaii and the former Soviet Union on the same map is stretched to the limit.  Shading of the Hawaiian Islands is not visible.  One solution is simply to insert a visible word over the location of the islands (as above), interrupting the visual animation pattern (as in Figure 1).  Another solution is to offer yet another inset map which might be distracting and cluttering.  A third possibility is to recast the two dimensional animation as a three dimensional interactive model.  Thus, Sammataro's data is recast in Google  Earth®.  To view it, first download a current version of the free Google  Earth® and put it on your computer's desktop.  Then, open the following file in Google  Earth®varroa.kmz .  Screen captures from a couple of  view of this model are shown in Figure 2 below (to get the full effect, however, the reader must load the .kmz file, varroa.kmz , in Google Earth®).  Placemarks, as red balloons on sticks, mark the spatial/temporal appearance of a varroa recording.  One drawback to this form of display is that the reader can see at most half the globe at once.  The merit, however, of being able to control the globe, in orientation, scale, and other factors, generally outweights this single universal drawback to this sort of display and indeed this merit helps to overcome that drawback.  Also, consider taking "tour" of the placemarks in Google Earth®:  pull down "Tools" and then choose "Play Tour" (track the place names on the left side of the screen).  To see the pattern in a single year (of more than one entry) or in a subset of years, click off all the other years individually (on the left side of the display). Or, make changes in the color, shape, height, opacity, or other cosmetic features of the placemarks; simple changes can emphasize differences in pattern.   In the future, look to see further refinement of this data display, and of the content (added text, GPS coordinates of sightings, and so forth), that has now become possible by zooming in and out on the user-controlled globe!




Figure 2.  Google  Earth® screen captures.  Model, varroa.kmz, by Sandra Lach Arlinghaus