GIS: A Sourcebook for Schools GIS: A Sourcebook for Schools Edited by David R. Green London and New York First published 2001 by Taylor & Francis 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Taylor & Francis Inc 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001-2299 Taylor & Francis is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. © 2001 David R. Green except chapter 4 © ESRI All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Every effort has been made to ensure that the advice and information in this book is true and accurate at the time of going to press. However, neither the publisher nor the authors can accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Green, David, R., 1956– GIS : a sourcebook for schools / David Green. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. 1. Geographic information systems. 2. Geography–Study and teaching (Secondary)–Audio-visual aids. I. Title. G70.212 .G74 2000 00-041754 910′.285–dc21 ISBN 0-203-30180-3 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-34227-5 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0–7484–0270-5 (Print Edition) Contents v Contents List of tables vii List of figures viii Notes on contributors xi List of abbreviations xiii Preface xvi Acknowledgements xxi 1 GIS in school education: an introduction 1 DAVID R. GREEN 2 Geographical information in schools: past, present and future 26 JIM PAGE, GWIL WILLIAMS AND DAVID RHIND 3 GIS in school education: you don’t necessarily need a microcomputer 34 DAVID R. GREEN 4 GIS in schools: infrastructure, methodology and role 62 CHARLIE FITZPATRICK AND DAVID J. MAGUIRE 5 Teaching with GIS in Ontario’s secondary schools 73 BOB SHARPE AND ANGELA CRECHIOLO BEST 6 GIS in secondary school geography curricula 87 MARK OLIVER 7 Geographical Information Systems: an introduction for students 94 MICHAEL J. BROWN vi Contents 8 Expanding a corporate GIS into an authority’s high schools 114 STEPHEN GILL AND PETER ROBERTS 9 Another school of thought: introducing GIS to a secondary school geography department 127 STEPHEN WALKER 10 GIS and remote sensing in primary and secondary education: rationale, strategies and didactics 137 OVE BIILMANN 11 The role of ArcView and MAP Explorer in a corporate GIS environment 145 STEWART McCALL 12 Geography, GIS and the Internet 151 DAVID R. GREEN 13 Tailoring GIS courses for employment 167 MICHAEL GOULD 14 GIS education in Germany: a survey and some comments 175 RALF BILL 15 GIS in school education: an epilogue 189 DAVID R. GREEN Glossary 187 Reading list 209 Index 217 List of figures vii Tables 1.1 Computer platform specifications for ArcView 3.1 19 5.1 The current status of GIS in Ontario classrooms 80 5.2 A general approach to teaching geography with GIS 82 12.1 File transfer protocol (FTP) general use commands 162 13.1 The curriculum of the GIS short course at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid 173 14.1 Percentage of students and number of GIS hours in the different disciplines 178 14.2 The ten basic GIS software packages in use 182 viii List of figures Figures 1.1 ArcExplorer 6 1.2 Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland GIS CD-ROM 9 1.3a-b Spreadsheet (after Harris) 10–11 1.4a-b Spreadsheet (after Campbell) 12 1.5 CTICG T20 Map Design Module 13 1.6 National Learning Network for Remote Sensing Tutorial 16 1.7 ArcView Digitising 18 3.1 Unwin’s proposed curriculum 40 3.2 Coggins school curriculum 43 3.3 Simple regular and irregular shapes on a sheet of paper 46 3.4 The effect of different sized grid cells on the accuracy of area estimates, and the transformation of vector (line) data to raster format 47 3.5 A simple plan map of local surroundings either at home or school 48 3.6 Separate themes combined into one using overlay techniques 49 3.7 Input data 53 3.8Extracted data part 1: map co-ordinates 53 3.9 Extracted data part 2: map co-ordinates separated into columns 54 3.10 The ‘Map’ 54 3.11 The GIS educational continuum 57 4.1 Screenshot of a typical GIS (ArcView 3) showing a map (US states) and attributes (names of US cities) 65 6.1 A map created for the Conservation Authority 91 7.1 What is GIS? 96 7.2 What sort of data are used in a GIS? 97 7.3 What kinds of data are represented in them? 97 7.4 Displaying data interactively 97 7.5 Location and patterns 98 7.6 Spatial analysis 98 7.7 Using the mapping table strategy: part 1 100 7.8Using the mapping table strategy: part 2 101 List of figures ix 7.9 Using the mapping table strategy: part 3 101 7.10 Using the mapping table strategy: part 4 101 7.11 The finished map: the edge of Cow Creek at Longhorn Crossing 101 7.12 Mapping a site 102 7.13 Expert Map view of the western United States 104 7.14 Northwest view with annotations 104 7.15 Automap view of the northwestern United States 106 7.16 Sorts and types of data 108 7.17 GIS layers 108 7.18ArcView Map example 108 7.19 Zooming in on the Columbia River: example 1 109 7.20 Zooming in on the Columbia River: example 2 109 7.21 An example of the National Wetland Inventory 111 8.1 Rural Wales network 115 8.2 Schools in Powys 117 9.1 Land-use of central business district (CBD) of Hucknall Town Centre 127 9.2 Land-use in the area north-east of Nottingham 129 10.1 Illustration of remote sensing as a representation of both place and landscape 139 10.2 Important aspects from remote sensing and GIS didactics 140 11.1 The relationship between two technology solutions in the Council 147 11.2 A screenshot from ArcExplorer 149 11.3 A screenshot from the South Ayrshire Council GIS 149 12.1 Prudhoe Community School website 152 12.2 Bluebird Buses route map for Perth, Scotland 153 12.3 Internet location map for Adrian Smith Saab, Aberdeen 154 12.4 Internet interactive location map for Port Edgar Yacht Club 154 12.5 Simple animation using GifTrans software 154 12.6 Forth Estuary Forum GIS map in portable document file (PDF) format 156 12.7 Map on the London Transport website 156 12.8Linking images via hotspots 157 12.9 Florida Online mapping system 157 12.10 Postcode nearest dealer search on the www.saab.co.uk website 158 12.11 The structure and operation of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) 159 12.12 The Solway Firth Partnership (SFP) website: an example of an internet-based public information system 159 12.13 Microsoft Word text file (prior to conversion to HTML file) 161 x List of figures 12.14 Microsoft Powerpoint presentation for the Internet (HTML file) 161 12.15 HTML file viewed in the Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 browser 164 13.1 The recently modified Spanish educational tree, which provides two routes towards a job market 171 13.2 Two axes forming four possible GIS course types 172 14.1 Spatial and thematic distribution of GIS education sites in Germany 177 14.2 The education database interface 179 Notes on contributors xi Contributors Ove Biilmann, 19 Anemonevej, DK 2970 Horsholm, Denmark. Tel: +45 42869568 Ralf Bill, Department for Land Cultivation and Environmental Protection, Institute for Geodesy and Geoinformatics, Rostock University, D-18059 Rostock, Germany. Tel: +49 381 498 2185, fax: +49 381 498 2188. E-mail: [email protected]. Internet: http://www.agr.uni-rostock.de/gg/ Michael J. Brown, Coastal Studies and Technology Center, Seaside High School, 1901 N. Holladay Drive, Seaside, OR 97138, USA. Tel: +1 503 738-5586. Fax: +1 503 738-5589. E-mail: [email protected]. Internet: http:// www.seaside.k12.or.us. Angela Crechiolo Best, Department of Geography, Environmental Sciences Building, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8, Canada. Tel: +1 705 748-1011 ext 1571. Fax: +1 705 748-1205. E-mail: [email protected]. Internet: http://www.trentu.ca/academic/geography/ abbio.html. Charlie Fitzpatrick, ESRI Schools and Libraries, 1305 Corporate Center Drive, Suite 250, St. Paul, MN 55121-1204, USA. Tel: +1 651 994 0823 ext.8349, Fax: +1 651 454 0705. E-mail: [email protected]. Internet: http:// www.esri.com/k-12 Stephen Gill, Powys County Council, County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, Powys, LD1 5LG, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 1597 827582. E-mail: [email protected] Michael Gould, Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos, Universitat Jaume I, E-12080, Castellon, Spain. Tel: +34 964 72 83 17. Fax: +34 964 72 84 35. E-mail: [email protected]. David R. Green, Centre for Remote Sensing and Mapping Science, Department of Geography, University of Aberdeen, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen, AB24 3UF, Scotland. Tel: +44 1224 272324, fax: +44 1224 272331. E-mail: [email protected]. Internet: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/geospatial/ xii Notes on contributors Stewart McCall, GIS Co-ordinator, Information Services, South Ayrshire Council, County Buildings, Wellington Square, Ayr KA7 1DR, United Kingdom.