GIS Making maps

I know that Digimaps has been making the GIS rounds for primary schools in particular, during lockdown. What must not be forgotten, although this is a great piece of software for looking at OS maps, historic maps and changes over time, there are other map programmes that should be used to supplement our curriculums and teach students skills that are in demand in the employment market.

There are two (technically 3, but one has the same name) that I recommend, in order to achieve this:

1. Google earth (web launcher here) and google earth pro here

I have used these a lot during lockdown in order to enhance learning and cultural capital. Google Earth web launcher has amazing features that can be used by anyone that can support google chrome (ipad, tablet, phone, computer).

The features that can be used really easily are:

Google projects. I have been using this to create virtual field trips. You can plan out your routes, add pictures, data, graphs, photos. The route can be followed and you can explain what needs to be achieved at each stop. It's worth noting that if you place a pin, you can view from street view, and follow the route that was as well, so it's like a walking tour. This only works in places with good quality maps - I've done the USA and UK in detail and Mumbai and Kampala in less detail. You can also view in 3d and add as many or as little labels to it as you like.

Google Earth pro - this is ingenious. With this, it's like a full GIS tool, but easy to use. You can measure gradients (used it to measure beach gradient for a field trip), go on sightseeing tours (pre made), add many different layers that are already available, view the earth, sky and other planets - depending on your investigation needs, have a look at landscapes at different times of the day and how sunlight impacts them, create your own maps to share (as long as the software is downloaded on the school/work/home computer system). The ideas are endless and i've had a lot of fun creating maps and trips with the two google programs combined.

2. ArcGIS

I've completed the ESRI training course for secondary students (here) and thoroughly recommend enrolling students into it, if they are able to, during lockdown (or as a scheme of work for KS3 or 4, depending on time allowance when back in school). You can make your own data maps rather than having to google image search to find a specific item that you need. Can be really good for specific case studies, or to investigate data or maps in more detail - for development, hurricanes, population. I've had a lot of fun with this so far - as you can import crime and neighbourhood data from the council website and it maps it for you.

My next task is to learn GIS coding with Python, so I can also try to teach this through KS3 or 4.

Hope this helps someone out there.

Kind Regards,

Miss Cox