Google Earth Tutorial Videos

Worth checking these out, and following on Twitter too...

Want to learn the ins and outs of the new #GoogleEarth? I made this #Youtube playlist of tutorials which can hopefully help! More details are in the descriptions of each video. Cheers! https://t.co/CGi9JJYqsH #EdTechTeam #GEEAB #GETN #WorldGeoChat #EdTech #GoogleEarthOutreach pic.twitter.com/6fXDhc1Rm7

— Donnie Piercey (@mrpiercEy) December 30, 2017

80 000 views

Thanks for visiting and reading the blog... Looking forward to seeing what people do with these geospatial tools in 2018...

StoryMaps Online Course

Regular readers of the blog will know that I've been sharing a range of StoryMaps over the last couple of years, as the ESRI map-making technology has developed apace. They are a wonderful way of shaping a narrative from images, mapping and interactive elements.

If you want to take your use of StoryMaps to the next level, and have some of your CPD budget left to spend, you might want to check out a new course that is being offered by Joseph Kerski, who travels the world talking about the power of GIS. The course is being made available through eNet Learning, and costs $95 (or whatever that is in pounds these days)
Details of the course are here - it starts on the 4th of January 2018

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course will enable participants to understand why stories can be effectively told with today’s interactive, web-based story maps, learn how to teach and assess student work with story maps, and learn how to create story maps that incorporate sounds, video, photographs, narrative, and other multimedia. Through readings, videos, quizzes, discussion with your colleagues, and hands-on activities, you will learn how and why to create story maps using the ArcGIS Online platform and be confident that you can use these tools in your instruction.

COURSE BACKGROUND:

For thousands of years, maps have been used to tell stories. These maps told which lands were “known” and which lands were “terra incognita”, coastlines and new political boundaries, and routes of famous explorers. As in the past, maps are used today to tell stories about the regions, places, and physical and cultural characteristics of our world.

Today’s maps are detailed, allowing exploration of the median age and income of a community’s neighborhoods and the chemical conditions of water in specific wells or soil in a specific field. Maps give information about data that is occurring in real time—such as current wildfire extents, weather, earthquakes, or the location of all of a city’s buses. Maps describe historical events from famous battles to land use changes over time in a rainforest. Maps can be in two dimensions, and three dimensions, and can be accessed on any device—smartphone, tablet, or laptop computer. They can be embedded in web pages and other multimedia and other tools, and can be updated instantly by citizen scientists using their smartphones. Maps cover thousands of relevant themes and phenomena and scales–from local to global scale.

Another key difference between modern maps versus those of the past is that modern maps are much more than reference documents. True, maps still show us where things are. But they are valued because they help us understand the “whys” of “where” – by allowing us to use spatial analytical tools to detect patterns, relationships, and trends. Thus, maps have become critical analytical tools that can help us solve the problems in our world that are growing more complex and increasingly affect our everyday lives. These include epidemics, biodiversity loss, natural hazards, agricultural viability, political instability, climate change, food security, energy, water quality and quantity, and many more.

Globally, you could make maps of any of the above themes. In your own community, you could tell stories about sports, community gardens, housing type, schools and libraries and other community resources, tree cover, litter and graffiti, zoning changes, historical settlement, how your community compares to others across your region or to those halfway around the world, and other aspects of your community through these live story maps. Students can use story maps to report on the results of their investigations. As a researcher, you or your students could use these maps to investigate pertinent issues in human health, sociology, political geography, public safety, or a host of other disciplines. As an instructor, you could use maps to tell stories to enhance your lessons in courses ranging from geography to biology to history to language arts to earth science to mathematics, and other disciplines. You can use story maps to assess student work and a method whereby students can communicate their investigations to you and to their peers.

Digimap for Schools and GCSE Fieldwork

Protecting communities against Tsunamis

Another excellent StoryMap. Thanks to Bob Lang for the tipoff to this one...

#125geotips

As a member of the Geographical Association's Secondary Phase Committee for the last 13 years (with a short break while I worked for the GA), I've presented many times at the GA Conference since, and also been involved in national curriculum change discussions, awarding body consultations for new GCSEs, consultative groups, book reviewing and many other contributions to the work of the GA.
Follow us on Twitter too please @GA_SPC

This year we are tweeting out 125 Top Tips.
We've produced a series of Top Tips before, and you can access or download them all from our SPC page on the GA website.

Here's the Advent Calendar that I put together to get the project off to a good start too...

Geography Top Tips Advent Calendar by GeoBlogs on Scribd

Keep following for the next 125 days, which are also a countdown (or count up) to the GA Conference in Sheffield.
2018 marks the 125th anniversary of the GA, hence the 125 tips

Follow us on #125geotips and please feel free to send us any suggestions of your own to get involved in the project please. We'll happily RT your own geographical toptips with the hashtag...

Land Use Cover mapping

Alasdair Rae has produced a number of excellent maps, and this is one his most useful projects to date.
This BBC News article is interesting, and explains something of the project.

 
You can use the tool linked to from above to explore your own area.
Have a guess what the percentages might be before you do this, or compare your area with the country.
There are some interesting additional facts in this blog. I like this one for example:

Buildings cover less of Britain than the land revealed when the tide goes out...

Download the whole Atlas of Land Cover in the UK here....

I put in my own postcode where I live, expecting a larger than average amount for farmland...
And unsurprisingly, it is up to 81%, with only 3% built on...
 

You can follow Alasdair on Twitter. @undertheraedar

Parallel Maps

There are many map visualisations out there, and most of them have appeared on LivingGeography over the years.
Parallel maps have been getting a lot of attention over the last few days as one of their latest projects (from October 2017), which maps census data on population structure has been more widely discovered.
It includes a 3D option with panning and tilting of the mapping.
 
The population pyramids are drawn instantly as the cursor is moved over a particular Census output area.
This allows for instant comparisons between different parts of a city, or urban/rural comparisons, or a look at how certain areas are attracting retirement populations.

Here's evidence of Student populations being concentrated in certain areas of Leeds - linked to the OCR 'B' Geography chapters that I wrote.

It's worth remembering that there are other Parallel map projects too - explore the whole website to find maps on air quality and other variables.

For example, how about these COLOUR IN YOUR OWN MAPS options.

Zoom to an area, and then use the buttons to identify a particular colour for it...

These maps can also be switched to other views.

Also try the RISK OF FLOODING maps, from April 2017, which are particularly useful when exploring flood risk topics with students.


There are plenty more.... Lovely work by the folks at Parallel...

StoryMaps

There have been many StoryMaps created over the last year or so, since the new templates made the process much easier.

One Twitter feed to follow is that of Allen Carroll.

He is the Programme Manager for Storytelling at ESRI, and former Chief Cartographer at National Geographic, so has quite a pedigree in map creation....
He regularly shares links to great StoryMaps, so follow him for plenty more...

Tourism StoryMap

75 000 views

Up over 75 000 views... Thanks for visiting and reading...

SAGT Conference 2017

The booking form and programme for the 2017 SAGT Conference has now gone live.
I've been a regular attendee at this conference since 2005, but have missed the last few as I have been elsewhere... This year, I will be in Madrid, so unable to attend. I'm hoping to be back next year.



As you can see, there's a keynote by Tom Heap, and various workshops, all for a good price, and with free minibus pick-up from Stirling train station, which is a great help. There will also be 'hot spots' where teachers share practice.
A great day of learning and inspiration for all.

Book tickets now via Eventbrite.

Follow SAGT on Twitter @SAGTeach

Earlier that month there is also the ESRI Scottish user conference in Perth.
Addy Pope will be leading a seminar on ArcGIS Online at SAGT conference.

Landsat Explorer from ESRI

New page, which has been added to some existing web apps, featuring the Arctic and Antarctica.
Click here to see the Arctic and Antarctic apps.

Then click here to be taken to the new Landsat Explorer App.

ArcGIS Online - ideas for use from Joseph Kerski

How to access Environment Agency Geomatics Survey Data

Google Earth Education

Launched in the last day or so: a new set of tools and resources and a rebrand for Google Earth continues, with this new Google Earth Education section.
See the resources and tools here.

More to come when I get the chance to explore in more detail...

Shailey Minocha's Professorial Lecture

I've been involved with Shailey Minocha's work for just over a year. She was kind enough to visit our school twice to demonstrate Google Expeditions, and we also helped with a research paper she was writing with colleagues.


She gave her professorial lecture on Tuesday of this week. I was invited, but was unable to attend. Here's a trailer for it...

Shailey Minocha is a Professor in the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at The Open University. Her research has two strands: learning technologies and social computing.

Professor Minocha will show how virtual worlds bridge time and places, interleaving the virtual with the real – allowing people to communicate and collaborate with those whom they may have never met, experience places they may never be able to visit, shop, learn, and do research.

Professor Minocha will look at how virtual worlds provide ‘real’ experiences in ‘created’ environments – ‘as if I have met them’, or ‘as if I have visited that place’. Online technologies also provide real experiences beyond the physical world.  She will show how in a virtual world, people can “become” an avatar of their liking, fly, become microscopic, travel to the moon or visit the International Space Station, or look at the rock structures underneath the ground on which they are standing.


Good to see King's Ely getting a mention in Shailey's thanks.




You can watch the lecture here.

ESRI Children's Map

I love this new map layer for ArcGIS Online...

How is your area represented?

Highs and Lows...

A 3D StoryMap of the world's highest and lowest places...

UK County Word Cloud project

Please fill in one or two counties if you have the time...

New Google Earth

New Google Earth has been released, and there are some good (and not so good) elements. These are my initial thoughts on first look during this week.

It's now optimised for Chrome and also for DESKTOP machines, so won't work on my MacBook Air at the moment, which is a bit annoying... It also won't work on mobile devices. And it won't work on my classroom desktop machine which is an HP - just hangs and tells me it's loaded 0 of billions.... This is a little inconvenient, but at least you can still use older versions such as the Google Earth Pro I've been using for a few years.

It looks good if you can get it to work, and there are plenty of new features - some of which aren't too useful... but some of which will speed up its use: the search function is much improved for example.


The switch from 2D to 3D reveals (in many but not all locations) some interesting 3D renderings of aerial scenes. This was a bit random - switching from 2D to 3D provides a new Ken Burns style rotation, but it's hard to get the view to exactly as you want it, and then it tends to be quite a low level flat view, without the option to see distant landscapes. Having said that, the effect is really very impressive if you go to a location where it's enabled, which is not the whole of the UK yet it seems. Cities work well. Ely is still flat, and has lost other elements too, whereas Norwich and Sheffield work really well.

There are some new stories which have been curated for the new Earth, such as HOME.
The HOME stories are also trailed in the Google Earth extension which I have on Chrome, which shows a new aerial view each time I open a window.
From an article on the launch:

Google Earth’s Gopal Shah said: ‘With the new Earth, we want to open up different lenses for you to see the world and learn a bit about how it all fits together; to open your mind with new stories while giving you a new perspective on the locations and experiences you cherish.

‘It’s everything you love about Google Earth, plus new ways for you to explore, learn and share. Zoom in and see what adventures await you in the new Google Earth.’

I've not tried it with my 3D Space Explorer mouse yet either to see whether that works well.

Update
The Google World Wonders site which I worked on a few years ago also seems to have disappeared... I luckily downloaded all the education packs several years ago, and have then on my Mac.
Also finally worked out by holding down tab and scrolling you can tilt the view...

Does anybody else have any thoughts on the new Google Earth?

Lyme Regis - the case for hard engineering

A great ESRI StoryMap exploring coastal defences in Lyme Regis...

The Human Atlas of Europe

The Human Atlas of Europe: A continent united in diversity

A review

Here are three important dates to remember for geographers…

· June 23rd 2016 – the EU referendum is held
· March 29th 2017 – Article 50 triggered
· April 24th 2017 – publication of the new Human Atlas of Europe

Policy Press previously published a Social Atlas of Europe, with the same author team in 2014, which explored European identify through a range of different facets.

This Atlas explores provides a human perspective on Europe as it exists today, and explores how it might look in the future. The motto of the EU is “United in Diversity”, and the authors explore the strength that this diversity offers, viewing ‘Europe’ as a single large area stretching from Iceland to Turkey. A reference map at the start identifies the 43 countries that are included in the maps, and their part in the evolution of the European Union.

Ben Hennig’s innovative and bold cartograms and other diagrams will be familiar to many, since their first use in Worldmapper. They also formed part of the more recent LondonMapper project. For those who haven’t seen Ben’s gridded-population cartograms, their construction is explained. The presentation of the mapping is crisp, and the consistent layout of the pages and colour ramps that are used allow for easy comparison between indicators across the atlas as a whole.

The atlas is split into a number of sections, each with mapping based around a theme. These are Population, Wealth and Poverty, Health, Education, Work, Environment, Politics, Identity and Culture and EU budget. Each theme also allows for an exploration of demographic issues such as an ageing population, the pensions ‘timebomb’ and changing voting patterns.

The data used to construct the maps are drawn from a range of authoritative sources, all clearly identified in the appendix. We learn many things from them: the huge number of asylum seekers hosted by Germany, the draw of Spain for people born abroad, the fact that Turkey and the UK have a third of Europe’s prison population between them, and the variations in dental treatment across Europe. The maps are accompanied by pie and bar charts, which bring some of the data patterns into sharper focus.

Full-page maps are accompanied by a ‘top five’ and ‘bottom five’ for the relevant social indicators, showing regions which lie at the extremes of each data set. These assist in further analysis of specific trends. Each map also have a written commentary, which suggest further areas for investigation. The maps pose many interesting questions for further enquiry: why does Monaco have twice as many telephone lines as any other country? why do so many Portuguese have no schooling? why are the Dutch the ‘happiest’ in Europe? why do the Macedonians value their friends the most? The authors are adept at bringing out the geographical stories underpinning the maps.

The inclusion of a Eurovision Song contest map for the 2015 contest is an illustration of the flexibility of Ben Hennig’s cartograms for exploring and visualising contemporary social data.

The dedication of the Atlas to the late Jo Cox, who was killed in the run-up to the referendum, and to those migrants who have lost their lives trying to reach Europe is a poignant reminder of the importance of these issues, and the duty that geography teachers as educators have to keep them in the spotlight. It is essential that curriculum time is found to study them. In the act of curriculum making they participate in daily, this atlas will be an essential catalyst for teacher-pupil discussions, and an authoritative source of information as we move towards a post-Brexit world. As the authors say in the concluding paragraph:

“Where else but in Europe do so many have so much without realising what they have? Europe is a continent that is truly united in such diversity”.

Details
Authors: Dimitris Ballas, Danny Dorling and Ben Hennig
Policy Press, April 2017
ISBN: 978-1447313540

The book is just £16 at the time of writing from the publisher’s own website: https://policypress.co.uk/the-human-atlas-of-europe

For more of Ben Hennig’s maps, check out his blog here: http://www.viewsoftheworld.net/

Danny Dorling’s website always contains further details on the books he has written, and provides a gateway to his writing: http://www.dannydorling.org/

Disclaimer: I was sent a review copy by Policy Press (although I would have bought one for my department as a reference copy)

Digimap review - a chance to get involved

The service is run through the University of Edinburgh, and there is now a project underway to assess the overall impact of the mapping service across those schools which make use of it.

I'm going to be sharing my views, and there is an opportunity for you to share yours.

You can contact Michael Gallagher here if you'd like to be involved in adding your views to the review of the service.
There are now over 2700 schools using the service, which is a real success compared to the numbers when I first got involved, and was asked to write some of the resources for secondary teachers.
Here's Michael's request - you'll notice it is not just Geography teachers that he is interested in speaking to.

I would love to speak to any and all teachers in the UK interested in ICT use as part of their teaching. Not a geography teacher? Not a problem. I want to speak to teachers across the curriculum. History, literature, science, math, and geography. This evaluation is not only about Digimap, but also about ICT use broadly. Not confident in your ICT use? Not a problem. Never used Digimap? Truly not a problem. I want to learn more about your teaching and how ICT enters into that (or not, depending). I want to learn about your teaching approaches, want to know what you think are barriers to attainment and satisfaction, what you see are some of the larger issues surrounding incorporating these types of applications into your teaching.

Remember that the service is updated with new features regularly.
Most recently, there is the chance to view GeoGraph photos through the Digimap service.

Fieldwork Questionnaire

GIS and Google Earth are often used to map fieldwork data... Is there a training need there?

One of the things launched at the recent GA conference in Guildford was a questionnaire on fieldwork and outdoor learning which was developed by Philip Monk and other colleagues on the Fieldwork and Outdoor Learning Special Interest Group.

If you had time to fill the survey in, that would help to inform the GA's future support for Fieldwork and Outdoor Learning.
It's embedded below as well if you had time to help out.


One of the really useful resources that I picked up at the conference was from the Field Studies Council, and is a guide to GIS.

They also offer a range of CPD courses for teachers at a low price.

ArcGIS Online now free for all UK schools

We have been using ArcGIS Online in school for several years now, and ESRI UK have kindly given us a free subscription for the last few years so that we can share our work.

At the end of the Awards presentation at this week's GA Conference Stuart Bonthrone, the MD of Esri UK stood up and made an announcement which was in some ways inevitable after events previously in the USA, and also very welcome.

Stuart announced that from immediate effect, ArcGIS Online will be free to all UK schools.

Under the heading of "The Science of Where", Stuart then played a short video featuring the inspirational work of Thierry Torres and colleagues at Dover Grammar School.


If you want to know more, and sign up your school, head for the ESRI UK Schools page.



I also had the chance to meet Steve Richardson, who is being employed to produce new resources and materials for teachers to encourage more use of the tool in classes.
There are already over 60 resources available, with plenty more to come.



Finally, check out the GeoMentors programme, which pairs up schools with GIS professionals.

Sign up your school now

Pixelmap

A new mapping tool, and a way of creating simple and striking maps of the world, or individual countries.
These are created by selecting options from the tool, including the map projection, and location. Choose a shape for the 'pixels' and colours for land and water. Finally, choose the size and spacing of the 'blocks' that make up the finished map.
Here's the UK for example....

Download the finished map in various formats.
Follow the links and you will find other mapping options from the same site, including weather options.

River Tees - from source to mouth

Cracking work by Steve Richardson, using Esri StoryMap tool.

Lego-ifier

Mapping tool which turns world maps into Lego... really excellent...
Nice work by John Nelson and Vanni Zhang.

Google Earth at the movies...

Five years ago, I came across the story of a man who had found his way home using Google Earth, or at least that was the headline. As a five year old, Saroo Brierley had become separated from his family as a five year old, and ended up being adopted by an Australian couple after travelling across country by train. He was determined to find his way home, and through the use of Google Earth, and his memories, he was able to trace his steps back to the village in India where his family still lived. He'd remembered enough images and landmarks to navigate his way to his home village despite there being so many other similar villages. I blogged about the story, and used it to show the power of Google Earth in some CPD sessions that I ran at the time...

The story has now been made into a film starring Dev Patel, who rose to fame with 'Slumdog Millionaire'.
The film makers worked with Google Earth to ensure the accuracy of the visuals.

There's also a feaurette here, which includes some information on how Saroo used Google Earth to locate his family.

From the descriptions in the interviews, it seems that Saroo had a similar mind-expanding experience when he first downloaded Google Earth as many geographers did - he could see the potential for solving a problem he had had all his life... we could see the potential for opening students' minds to the wonder of the earth. Visit Saroo's site to see some additional videos, including the one that first introduced me to the story.

New VR article in Independent Education Today journal...

A few months ago, I was asked to write an article on the visit that Shailey Minocha and colleague Ana from the Open University, as part of their work with Google Expeditions.
I submitted the article and forgot about it.

It's now available to view online as it's been published in the latest issue of 'Independent Education Today'

Alan Parkinson @Kings_Ely discusses whether #virtualreality can improve #students' questioning https://t.co/Q7ZWV3W9nd #GoogleExpeditions pic.twitter.com/iAfEtN4Rul

— IE Today (@IE_Today) January 3, 2017

They got my job title a little wrong, but otherwise the article was just about as I wrote it.