Online Resources for Spatial Technologies
There are literally hundreds of on-line resources available, providing GIS activities. This list is not definite, and is being slowly up-dated. A  denotes new websites that have been added to this site in the last month!.
Education GIS Sites
Spatial-literacy.org is a gateway to the Spatial Literacy in Teaching (Splint) Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), which is a joint initiative of the University of Leicester, University College London and the University of Nottingham. This site is hosted by University College London to provide resources and information on a variety of teaching, research and outreach activities, and to act as a portal to guide best practice across a range of public sector geographic information system (GIS) activities.
A site established by David Llewellyn, a Geography teacher of GIS in Tasmania. A great resource to see what other teachers are doing with GIS. This is a blog site set up by teachers in the UK. It is great as there are a number of activities and ideas to incorporate digital mapping into the Geography classroom. The other interesting aspect is that other teachers are commenting on each of the sites and activities posted.
This site provides a number of links to GIS projects, data and resources for the classroom. A multitude of resources for Geography teachers who want to use Google Earth in the classroom. This site was established and maintained by a UK Geography teacher.
Information on Spatial Technologies in Schools For more sites, select 'Read More'.
General Mapping SitesTeachers are able to access Google Earth Pro (a more sophisticated version of the free Google Earth Program) for free, by emailing Google Earth and explaining that you are a teacher in Queensland. This opportunity was created by Meegan Maguire from the Spatial Technologies in Schools Project.
What is MapCruzin? Simply put, our mission is to provide the information, tools, resources and expertise to enhance personal growth and knowledge and empower you in your efforts towards improving environmental and social conditions. The site provides tutorials, free gis data and discussion blogs on GIS data. Maps and data are up-dated frequently and included topics such as climate change, wireless connection in the US, and maps of the Arctic. This site is based in the United States and displays only US data. However, it provides interactive mapping and animated maps on a number of topics including Agriculutre, Climate, Biodiversity, Health and Population data. The interactive mapping tools are basic, and provide basic GIS mapping skills on the site. This site provides links to a number of community interactive maps in the United Kingdom. They up-date the site frequently with examples of how GIS has been used to support the community, such as the management and mitigation of flooding. This site is an excellent model for providing electronic spatial information to the public.
The whereis website should be familiar to most teachers. It can be used to introduce the basic concepts of GIS to your students (or staff) and even perform some elementary analysis and decision-making exercises. This site is a global field trip waiting to be explored. It allows the user to interact with the site by choosing any city in the world, and look at photos taken at the site. You can even add your own photos to a point. Incorporates the 'Hotlinking' aspect of GIS on an interactive site. Up My Street.com is a clever Britsh website, which, given a postcode, can tell you about house prices, crime rates, schools, tradesmen, public transport and government services. The layering of information needed provides an excellent introduction to basic GIS mapping and how it is used in the wider community.
Fun Interactive Mapping Sites Do you know where your surname comes from, or how many people you share it with? Welcome to the National Trust Names. website which presents the findings of a project based at University College London (UCL) that is investigating the distribution of surnames in Great Britain, both current and historic. It allows users to search the databases that we have created, and to trace the geography and history of their family names. The National Trust is also currently developing a Worldwide Surname Search, so keep this link for up-dates!
BiodiversityThe WildFinder is an online database of species that also displays the distribution of each species across the planet. Searches can be done for individual species or across a particular spatial extent. Links are provided to further information on each species’ habitat and images of the species.
Environmental Issues and ManagementThis site provides GIS interactive zoning maps for the Great Barrier Reef. You need to select the 'Deep Blue Mapping Tool' to use the map interactively. This if found in the menu bar on the right side of the page. An online GIS focussing on the world's reefs and associated problems. A lot of data is available including the extent of coral bleaching, reef and mangrove distribution and data relating to the health of our reefs. An amazing site that provides interactive mapping opportunities, as well as GIS Data from the Australian Antarctic Division. An excellent site that provides access to basic GIS skills and coastal data for all of Australia. This site includes mapping applicatins for Habitat Management and Planning, Fish Habitats, Commercial Catches and recreational fishing.
Natural Hazard Data This website has been developed by The University of Edinburgh as a repository of information related to earthquakes around the globe. There is a ‘Quake Mapping’ part of the site that provides an online GIS or you can copy tabular information from the site and load that into your school’s GIS software for manipulation.
This site has a great site which allows you to download historical and current earthquake data for the whole world. This needs to be saved as a delimited text and can be added to Arcview. Ths site is an interesting site to simulate sea level rise around the world. Select the part of the world you wish to see the impact of sea level change and then select the sea level rise in metres. Check out the satellite image of Brisbane with a 14 metre rise in sea level! This site is geared to emergency service personnel and provides up-to-the-minute hot-sport information for Australia. The satellite information can be viewed from the last 12 hours up to 72 hours ago. Data can also be viewed for specific dates in the past, for instance the Canberra bushfires in January 2003.
On-Line Data and Statistics This site provides a number of ways to access census data. To access the latest data from the 2006 Census go to www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/Home/census . Lots of interesting data to browse over. A wealth of data from vegetation, to cities, populations, climates etc for the world. This is only accessible if you have downloaded the free ArcGIS Explorer program. Geoscience Australia provide a wealth of information on their website and this page provides access to most of the data that can be downloaded. The website contains online GIS as well as various datasets ranging from nuclear explosion locations through to mineral deposits across the nation.
This site is a Queensland Government initiative that brings together an ever expanding amount of information from various government departments. The site allows users to display aerial imagery and even some census data. This is an excellent site that provides downloadable excel files of data on any demographic data you are looking for. This site is a great compainion with the ABS site, as it breaks down ABS data for specific Queensland topics and regions. The excel files you download can be easily transormed into Arcview shapefiles. Interactive mapping opportunities are also available, so you don't need a GIS program to map the data provided. The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) - http://www.prb.org/This website is a great resource for all kinds of demographic statistics. You can find data on a range of topics including poverty, health, migration and education. A useful source of global or regional data.
On-Line GIS ActivitiesThis website, developed by the UK’s Ordnance Survey, provides a lot of information on GIS; from GIS theory to professions in GIS as well as providing access to GIS ‘missions’ which allow the user to interact with a GIS in a real-life situation. These GIS games are a really easy way to demonstrate the power and relevance of GIS in our society.
This is an excellent internet site developed in the UK. It is really interesting to look at and provides some great step by step activities to incorporate the basic GIS applications of Google Earth in the classroom. The site has quite a bit of info - click on Teaching and Learning and there are a number of other activities that also use this the basic google earth GIS applications.
On-Line Lesson Modules
This is a highly recommended site from Mick Law at ESRI. The site provides 7 downloadbale step-by-step student activites for ArcGISExplorer (also known as AEJEE), which is the free downloadable software. The site also has podcasts that walk a beginner through basic GIS skills such as symbolising, charts, joining tables etc. A must for those who want to start using GIS in the classroom.
This is a great site to obtain constructed lessons and projects. There are lessons that cover a range of global regions and scales. One of the downloads includes the template of the 'Mapping our World' lessons in document form, if you wish to construct your own lessons.
The GIS in Schools program has been in operation since 1998, supporting teachers using GIS in the classroom. The website contains information on upcoming GIS events as well as access to more online GIS websites. Some free GIS datasets can be accessed here on request. Asia's population is wonderfully diverse, with a tremendous variety of countries, regions, cities, and rural areas containing a wide variety of people of different cultures-customs, languages, religions, and more. These characteristics vary across space and through time. Use a GIS and the spatial perspective to investigate Asia's population. What you find may challenge what you knew before and open a new world to your studies for Asia and beyond.
Exploring time zones is an excellent way to learn about the world, including culture, politics, spatial relationships, scale, size, distance, and Earth's movements. This lesson invites spatial inquiry of the patterns of time zones with an emphasis on Asia.
With these data sets and activities for South Asia, you have the opportunity to investigate the spatial distribution of minerals, oil, and gas related to countries, geology, cities, and other features. The distribution of these quarries, wells, and mines may challenge what you think you know about the physical geography and geology of South Asia. What is the impact of the extractive industries on the location of pipelines, railroads, roads, and cities? What is the relationship of these quarries, wells, and mines to major lakes and to the geologic units of the region?
This sitre provides video tutorials on how to use Sketch Up to enhance the 3D capabilities of Google Earth.
Satellite Imagery If you're interested in satellites or astronomy, then this is the site to look at. Tha aim of the site is to provide information needed to observe satellites such as the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle, spectacular events such as the dazzlingly bright flares from Iridium satellites as well as a wealth of other spaceflight and astronomical information. This is a fantastic site for Landsat Imagery or products derived from Satellite Imagery. Imagery includes land cover, tree cover, burnt areas, natural disaster areas and much more! Great for any topic.
Weather Data This site provides access to a range of information, including hurricane data. You can download the locational information for hurricanes, typhoons or tropical cyclones along with date, time, strength and wind speed. Australian Bureau of Meteorology - www.bom.gov.auThe best site for up-to-date weather information. The latest addition of the doppler radar, as well as animations for the last 10 minutes, 1 hour and 24 hours is great for class. GIS data and satellite imagery can also be downloaded from the site.
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