Spatialworlds: Exploring spatial literacy

Image above: The Spatial literacy Scoop.it

Related links
Geogaction
Spatialworlds website
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
'Towards a National Geography Curriculum' project website
Humsteach blog
GeogSplace blog
Geographical thinking Scoop.it
Spatial literacy Scoop.it
History and geography Scoop.it
Spatial Education and technology Scoop.it

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manning@chariot.net.au

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Adelaide, Australia: S: 34º 55' E: 138º 36'

The fascinating world of mapping anything and everything and then being able to 'read' it!

“In2006 Michael Goodchild characterized spatial literacy as the ability to“capture and communicate knowledge in the form of a map, understand andrecognize the world as viewed from above, recognize and interpret patterns,know that geography is more than just a list of places on the Earth’s surface,see the value of geography as a basis for organizing and discoveringinformation, and comprehend such basic concepts as scale and spatialresolution.” This encompasses a broad range of perspectives, knowledge, skills,and habits of mind, or dispositions loosely categorized as spatial thinking.”

As described in a previous Spatialworlds posting, spatial literacy is the development of the skills and capacities to ‘read’ maps, images and graphics. This is often called the skill graphicacy in geography. Such a skill is fundamental to the competency of a geography to make sense (analyse and make conclusions) of visualisations

Here is an excellent presentation on the nature and importance of spatial literacy.

To highlight the importance of spatial literacy, here is a great clips about maps and projects (and spatial literacy) from the West Wing.

As a result of my fascination as a geographer with spatial literacy I have an on-going Scoop.it titled ‘Spatial literacy’. The purpose of the Scoop.it is to curate any sites which contain a map, graphic, image or interactive which requires students to ‘read’ and interpret what it shows – to make sense of the visualisation. The following selection of a few sites curated on the Spatial literacy Scoop.it show that there are some really fascinating visualisations about which stimulate our curiosity on an unlimited number of topics – if the visualisation can be ‘read’ in the first instance. Only then can the geographical questions be asked.

When looking at the sites below consider the so-called spatial questioning tool for assessing spatial literacy when looking at a visualisation.

Here are some great sites to test your spatial literacy on!

* World’s busiest airport: great for the scale concepts via zooming – and just fun to look at the location, configuration and business of these giant airports.

* The racial dot map. An interesting way to show change over space.

* Interactive crime map of London. A fascinating visualisation of crime to analyse and try to explain.

* An interactive New York bike availability map. Useful if looking for a bike and in New York!

* The science of familiar strangers. Interesting use of spatial technology. We knew but now we know!

* Shark attacks around the world

* The world of chocolate map

* London 3D map. A fantastic way to visually comprehend the spatial urban patterns and densities of a world city like London.

* 10 great Infographics

* Using IPhones to map the rich

* Mapping fire engines

* Mapping flight paths

* Mapping London commuters