How great?

TL;DR -- We stop to look at the country's grandeur. Technology might provide overlays. None of these can be adequate to an actual visit. But, too, no amount of technology will diminish the grandeur. We have to add, in total, as one ponders the rise on the horizon of those spinning wheels. 

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In the context of culture and technology, we will have lots of information to convey and topics to discuss. In terms of culture, we have 400 years to consider from the view of those here before the arrival of the Europeans and all that happened after from the start until now. In terms of the latter, we have the wide range of domains to explore many of which are represented by academe but a whole lot more are more related to life. 

Just the past two months has seen posts on the 1st Congressional Congress, a modern Gardner descendant who has worked in field biology, something called ChatGPT which will be on the news for a while, and a lot more.  

This post is a pause to reflect. One topic would be about how great is the U.S. Some might think, the American Dream? No. Though, there are many aspects of the topic that will be regularly covered. The U.S. facility for technology? Such as, Artificial Intelligence (AI)? No.  Though, we will use AIn't and expect a downturn of sorts within the next 18 months, if not sooner. We will be more specific. 

No, we are talking the grandeur of the country whose interior took over 100 years to be explored. Then, it was carved up and settled. We have posts on these themes going back to the beginning. And, this focus will continue. Right now, let's just ponder three maps. The first sets the stage. Then, two come from the same site and are representative of the ever-present grandeur plus technology's attempt to control. 

Sterling Carto

From Sterling Carto, this map shows the elevation in color of the U.S. from the low purples (sea level) in the east to the high whites (13K feet), namely the moutainous west One can zoom into regions where rivers are shown which has been a common topic for our posts. 

In this map from Sterling Carto, we can use the lines down the middle to show an almost uniform rise from east to west, starting from the green just west of the Mississippi River through the yellow and red to the brownish. Our post on "U.S. Hills and Valleys" used a similar elevation map to show the 3.6K rise across Kansas. 

Source:GISGeography.com

Now we go to GISGeography whose maps are used world-wide. GIS is technology applied in interesting ways. The site can be used to learn about the subject, sufficient enough to use it for work. Our focus is on the U.S. and its being. We like that technology, such as AI, arises. Yet, the underlying reality ought to have continual respect and appreciation. 

Same theme. We show an elevation map and one with some features side-by-side. In this case, the yellow stream up and down shows the transition required going from, say, New England out to the southwest, say, using the Santa Fe Trail. 

Source:GISGeography.com

See this reference page (What is Geographic Information Systems (GIS)?) which goes into details of mapping and into how the computational systems have evolved to support this. 

We have been computing for some time. It is nice to see the latest advances due to technology changes that came from the efforts of many. No worry. We will go into detail there by addressing the subject from the view of the descendants of Thomas Gardner and others at Cape Ann. Too, though, American memes will be a central theme. But, we have a lot more to cover, as well, All of this from both the family view plus the more general one needed for the scholarship requirements related to our research. 

Remarks: Modified: 02/10/2023

02/10/2023 --