Snake Map!


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Have you heard about the Bronx Zoo Cobra that escaped last weekend and is still at large?

It has turned into a social media phenomena! You can “follow the snake” on twitter at @BronxZoosCobra or follow general sightings (and humor) at #snakeonthetown. The twitter snake’s following is skyrocketing (at the time of this post 188,000 + that’s up 84,000 from 24 hours ago). There’s even snake merchandise!

The Bronx Zoo Cobra is THE internet sensation right now & we recognized it as a fun opportunity to engage your students using GIS in the classroom. Have your students write up with their own idea of where the Bronx Zoo Cobra might be hiding and have them create a map to accompany their claim. Here are just a few of the ideas we came up with:

– in the sewer system (map of water treatment pipes in NYC)
– on the subway (map of NYC transit system)
– shopping at Macy’s – to see if she recognizes any of the belts or shoes (map from from zoo to Macy’s)
– at Juliard or the Met – flute practice sounds a lot like snake charming (map from zoo to Juliard/Met)
– snake on a plane! (flight plans from La Guardia)
– at the apple store getting an ipod – to download White Snake (map from zoo to apple store)

You get the idea. We’ve created our own map with ArcGIS with a few of our ideas. Have fun with this, an please let us know if you do a #snakeonthetown project in your classroom!