Pokemon Go

Plenty of GIS related stories here... I've been saving a few of the stories, and collated a Google Document….

Google virtual Favela tour

Google has been working in the favelas of Brazil to produce a virtual fieldtrip experience which, with the Olympics about to start in earnest (some events have already started) is well worth taking a look at. Thanks to Ben Hennig for the tipoff to this resource.

Favelas are being mapped because "a big part of having an identity is having an atlas".
They are not just a place, they are a people, and to fully understand them, you must go inside...

This is colourful and is well worth experiencing (make sure that you wear your headphones when you do)

ESRI Video

One of a few on the ESRI page...

Brexit cartogram

It was good to spend time with Ben Hennig at the GIS Day that we hosted at my school on Tuesday. 
I was expecting Ben to produce a map of the referendum results and he has delivered as expected.
He describes the map as follows:

The following map is a cartogram that shows the electoral areas from this referendum resized according to their total number of people entitled to vote. In addition, the vote share for leaving and remaining is shown in differently shaded densities, using blue for the remain votes and red for the leave votes (which complement each other to 100% of the valid votes)

Image created by Ben Hennig and shared under CC license - click for a bigger version

GI Learner

GI Learner

I am involved in this project which has been funded by ERASMUS+ for the next three years.
I will be researching and producing resources on the theme of GI in schools.
The first resources I am creating are on the theme of the LOCAL for K7
Check out the GI Learner website
Follow the Twitter feed for the project.

ArcGIS Online - thanks for sharing...

New GeoCapabilities StoryMap

Early bird still open for Practical Pedagogies 2016

I was due to present at the first running of this event last year, but was unable to go as it clashed with my trip to Iceland, and return to full-time teaching, so had to pull out.

Russel Tarr has pulled together another excellent programme of events which will take place in the first week of November, and this time I can make it. In fact I'm already booked for my flights, and my colleague Claire is coming along too, which is a bonus!
Just got to sort my accommodation now.

I will be presenting at Practical Pedagogies 2016.

EARLY BIRD BOOKINGS ARE NOW AVAILABLE

The full programme is HERE.

My session is called 'The Power of Geographical Information', and is described below:

The Power of ‘Where’: Geographical Information in the curriculum

Geography is an academically robust subject which spans the social and physical sciences and promotes a lifelong interest and fascination in how the world works.

Nicholas Crane, President of the Royal Geographical Society

Abstract

Geographers are interested in spatial patterns, and the growing availability of, often real-time, location based information brings new depth to teaching geography. Students don’t only consume this information, but they also produce it themselves, and it is also used after natural disasters to aid the relief effort.

The workshop will explore how this renewed focus on the ‘where’ can bring new ideas to teach familiar topics, but also broaden these activities into other curriculum areas. It will include ideas from several ERASMUS-funded projects, a resource on transport geographies, a project for the British Red Cross and work completed in the classroom by pupils.

So there'll be plenty on digital mapping and its use in the classroom.

You’ll leave the session with some practical pedagogical resources to adopt and adapt, and ideas for personal innovation, as well as introducing some free tools and mobile apps.

Matt Podbury has shared some of the other Geography names who will be presenting at the event over on his fine GeographyPods site.

See you there?

New updated Mapstream page

A few years ago now, I wrote a whole suite of lessons for Edina's MapStream for Schools service. For those who don't know what this is, it's a streaming service for the Ordnance Survey's mapping. Unlike Digimap for Schools, which has a set of tools that come with it, this provides a stream of the maps themselves, which can then be visualised by another GIS tool, such as QGIS.

Check out the updated website… and the resources… and MapStream….

Star Wars filming locations...

Luminocity3D Urban Map

This amazing map was launched this week and will be of tremendous value to anyone who is exploring the changing size of urban spaces over the years. This means anyone studying GCSE or the current (and new) 'A' level Geography specifications.
It uses the same engine as Luminocity 3D, which I've blogged about previously….
Click on cities to see their growth over time.

60 000 views

On the blog. Thanks for reading...

New features on Digimap for Schools endorsed by...er... me

A couple of new additions to the growing list of features for subscribers to Digimap for Schools.

From the EDINA blog...
 

Today the Digimap for Schools team release two new wonderful features – 1950s OS historic mapping and a text box tool.

 

The 1950s mapping fill in the mid point time period between the 1890s and current OS mapping.  The 1950s mapping are perfect for comparing changes over time and exploring the landscape, urban areas, road network and other features of post-war Britain.
We’ve made a small tweak to the interface to enable the selection of any two time periods, using the buttons and the slider (shown below) you can choose whether to view 1890s, 1950s or mapping from today, and any combination of two maps.

When a decade button is blue, click it to toggle it off and switch on the other map.  You can watch a demo video on the Digimap for Schools YouTube Channel
The 1950s mapping is lovely to look at and a wonderful addition to the mapping available in Digimap for Schools.  The maps have been provided by the National Library of Scotland.
The other great feature we’ve added, is the ability to add a text box to your map.  Until now, users have only been able to add short text labels which is a bit restrictive when you want to write a longer piece of information to annotate the map.
The Text Box tool can be found in the Annotations Toolbar in a sub-menu of the Label tool.

Click to activate the tool and click on your map to add the Text Box.  Then simply click in the box to start typing.  Resize the box to display as much text as you like!
 

There's also a quote from a user of the service...

"This new map layer offers scope for further historical comparisons of local areas, and the impact of more recent changes than the previous 1890s addition.

I traced the railway network that used to pass through my village before Beeching's cuts, and looked for clues of the many farms that now lie beneath the urban sprawl of Milton Keynes. I traced the transformation of the Isle of Dogs, and the steady infill of housing in small villages.
 

The new maps are the latest in the continued improvements that are being made to this essential tool for the Geography department"

Alan Parkinson, Head of Geography at King’s Ely (Junior) School

Sad topographies

Via Twitter, I love this set of snapshots from Google Maps (?)
Depressing place names snipped out of the map and taken out of context.

Also reminds me of a tweet from last night of this location.

How about a set of happy places, or toponyms, or people's names, or .....

New video on basemaps in ArcGIS Online from the ESRI UK Ed team

Basemaps video from Esri UK Ed Team on Vimeo.
Demo showing some of the base maps available in ArcGIS Online