The inquisitiveness of Geography

Spatialworlds website

Picture descriptions:
Left Image: Freeways of London.
Right image: English country scene - Suffolk..

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


Why is it so?

When discussing why geography is important and the reasons it should be part of the school curriculum, the words inquisitiveness and curiosity are often mentioned. An individual will study any subject because of interest and fascination in learning but the concept of inquisitiveness runs very strongly through the history of geography. From exploration and discoveries to map making geography requires a strong desire to ask questions and find out what is (where and how) and why is it? This is not to say there are many other reasons for studying geography but the inquisitive angle of geography seems to be a core requirement for the geographer. Geography covers a wide range of learning and hence has a wide appeal to a diverse group of students. Various attempts to classify geographical knowledge and endevour into themes or branches have been undertaken over the years. These themes provide ample opportunity to cater to the needs of individuals. For example the area of geo-tourism will attract a very different individual to the one interested in geomorphology. Whilst studying people travelling around the globe is very different to learning about rocks and landscapes, what links these individuals together as geographer's is their inquisitive geographical approach when they study or work in their chosen area. This inquisitive approach involves asking key geographical questions such as:
* What is where?
* What is the distribution and shape of what is there?
* Why is what is there there?
* What surrounds what is there?
* Why is what surrounds there there?
* What is the distribution and shape of what surrounds what is there?
* What are the reasons for the distribution and shape of what surrounds?
* What are the interactions between what is there and what surrounds?
* What are the interdependencies between what is there and what surrounds?
* How and why has what is there changed or is changing in nature, distribution and
shape over time?
* What is the future projection for what is there and what surrounds?
* other pertinent geographical questions to the area of geographical endevour!!

Whilst sounding a little confusing, the key to geographical inquisitiveness is to answer such questions in relation to places and spaces. This spatial inquisitevness is at the core of the geographical approach and is what drives explorers, adventurers, researchers, writers and hopefully teachers. This inquisitivesness in the classroom should be the driving force of inquiry teaching methodologies (pedagogies) which pose questions to the students and invite them to use their geographical knowledge and skills to find answers or possible solutions. Giving students the answer without inviting inquiry only goes towards crushing student inquisitiveness and makes the subject no different to others. Geography must embrace an inquiry approach so as to model what geography is all about! Asking questions and seeking answers by exploration of place and space. Spatial technologies are the great enabler for this approach. Spatial technology and the associated data and visualisations can provide the geographer in the workforce or the student in the geography classroom with information on places and patterns/trends across space that can answer the geographical questions developed.

The natural inquisitivenes of students when studying geography must be fed by asking the questions; what? where? why?, when? how? what if? and so what? when studying any of the geographical areas/themes.

What makes Geography Geography??

Spatial Worlds website

Melbourne, Australia: S: 37º 47' E: 144º 58'


Left image: The Melbourne CBD
Right image: The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

The headset of the geographer

With the context for the National Geography Curriculum presently being developed, the question, "What makes Geography Geography?" is being constantly posed by those coming to grips with the fact that geography is to be introduced in schools from R-12 across Australia in 2012. As a geographer I feel confident in discussing what makes geography different to other disciplines and indeed unique in the curriculum. However, to actually explain the nature of geographical study to the non-geographer is quite a challenge. As I have found out through the "Towards and National Geography Curriculum" project there is even disagreements on this question amongst geographers themselves. In this posting I will have a crack at trying to delineate the uniqueness of geography. In this day of spatial technology and spatial literacy, clarity on this question is essential. In fact, what are the linkages between geography and the world of the spatial scientist? Are geographers spatial scientists, or is the science word to be avoided? It is interesting that in the National Curriculum Board's Shaping Paper for Science, they refer to systems, interdependence, patterns, inquiry methodology, sustainability, climate change, biodiversity and digital and spatial technology. These are all concepts/topics/tools covered and used in geography! So is geographer all that different to Science in its approach? Naturally the answer is no but how then is it different? In the science document there is no reference to geography as a linking discipline and hence makes one wonder if the Science world is also not aware of the nature of geography and how it can compliment other disciplines? Interestingly the sparse mention of spatial variation and geography in the National Curriculum Boards Shaping Paper for history paper, a discipline traditionally closely allied with geography.

So what makes geography unique? To clarify this I thought it would be interesting to list the features of geographical education that I consider makes it what it is!

Geographers are interested and inquisitive about the:
* bio-physical (natural) environment and the built environment of humanity
* inter-actions within and between environmental systems
* interdependencies and intricacies of environmental interactions
* spatial variation evident across space and the reasons for the variation
* patterns and trends that can be identified when viewing spatial changes and environmental phenomena over space
* changes in land patterns and landuse over time
* processes which create landscape features and phenomena
* visual representation of places and their distribution over space

The way the geographer looks at the world though a geographical lens is what makes geography geography.
The advent of modern spatial technologies has put in the hands of geographers an array of tools which enable the geographer to visualise and describe the world geographically beyond our imagination only a few years ago. In this blog I will continue to present the latest spatial technologies which make geography one of the most exciting disciplines in the world when we are trying to visualise, describe, explain and analyse the world around us. The geographers headset is unique and needs to be clearly articulated if we expect good geography to be taught in our schools. The question needs to be asked, is the writing of a national geography curriculum going to improve geographical education in schools? The answer can be only yes when we develop professional learning strategies that enable non-geographically trained teachers understand what makes geography geography. It is not about the content of geography to be taught in the classroom but the headset of the geographer.

Great for Pirates! Real time never ceases to amaze

Spatialworlds website

Picture descriptions:
Left Image: The Conola(called Rape in Europe)fields of Flanders.
Right image: The Riqueval Tunnel at Bellicourt, Picardie, France. Built by Napoleon in 1811 and still in use.

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

Spatial technology sites never cease to amaze me with their power of communication and ability to visually represent what is happening now in the world. This is particularly true of real time sites which are great for the teaching of current affairs. A great example of such currency are two sites I have recently come across which relate to shipping around the world and piracy. Piracy is a hot topic on the international scene and a topic which continues to enthrall. Maybe the interest in piracy relates to those stories we all read or watched in our childhood about buccaneers. Regardless of the reasons, piracy on the seas is a real issue with associated security issues, under-development of countries, trade and trade routes and the rights of the haves to go unimpeded with their wealth.

1.Tracking shipping around the world (a gift to pirates!!)
This is an amazing site which shows the marine traffic on the oceans in real time. Not only does it show the location, type and travel direction of shipping but also the speed, image and name of the boats. Have a play with the site and you will find much more spatial information for analysis (i.e.why concentration of shipping, routes and shipping lanes etc). A great example of the power of spatial technology to inform and analyse.
This site is particularly topical considering the pirate issue on the high
seas at the moment.

2. Live Piracy map: A gift to the anti-piracy efforts!
As a follow up to the shipping map, here is a Google Map link on pirate attacks in recent years (International Chamber of Commerce Commercial Crime Service). The attacks are shown by date, type of attack, ship type, ship name and location with a crime report for each. Some interesting comparisons over time.

What a great way to combine current affairs, development studies, economic geography,international law of the sea, media spin and spatial technology. All in real time with temporal comparison!

The spatial and war

Spatialworlds website

Picture descriptions:
Left image: Using telescopes in the trenches at the Newfoundland Memorial site.
Right image:Using modern spatial technology on the battlefield.

Amiens, Belgium: N: 49º 53.506' E: 002º 18.561'

Mapping our ANZACS
For many years we have spoken about how GIS technology is a product of military necessity. Whilst this is true for modern spatial technology, the historical importance of maps and spatial skills became very obvious to me when I visited the battlefields of France and Belgium in April this year. As part of my job I am fortunate to be involved in organising the South Australian Premier's ANZAC Spirit School Prize. This prize involves 6 students being selected to visit the battlefields of Europe and enact commemoration ceremonies at the graves of soldiers they have investigated. As part of the tour a military historian traces the last days of the soldier's life and this is where the skills of mapping and spatial thinking became so obvious. Despite not having GIS and GPS, the military strategist and commanders of the Great War needed high level spatial skills (and geographic naturally) to interpret maps and landscapes. Questions they would have frequently asked when looking at their maps and observing the landscape would be: where is the highest point, what is the line of sight for a location, where would a bombardment land, what is the aspect and gradient of a slope, what is the vertical exaggeration of the topography, where are the transport routes, how can we get water supplies to the soldiers, where are the natural barriers, what is the shortest route etc. The interesting thing is that these life and death spatial decisions were carried out with just maps,telescopes and basic aerial photography. How many lives could have been saved with the accuracy of modern spatial technology! Or would they? Even the best locational intelligence needs good decision making by commanders!
One of the thrills I had when in London at the Royal Geographical Society the same week was to view the original Gallipoli maps used by the British and Turks. The detail of the maps and contour intervals used by the Turks and British was startling and highlighted the importance of appropriate map making and usage. For example the Gallipoli landscape looked more gradient friendly on the British map with larger contour intervals than the smaller contour intervals of the Turkish map. If I was an Australian soldier using the Turkish maps I would have realised very quickly that the cliffs were imposing and next to suicidal for attacking (if they could read the map in the first instance!). With these thoughts in mind, maybe one can say that an army marches on its spatial knowledge as well as its stomach!
As you can see in the photographs above the students were required to read original battlefield maps as they followed the journey of the soldier to his death. A great example of the integration of history with geography in the field. Although difficult for the Australian geography classroom to get to France to undertake the fieldwork, such techniques could be a useful virtual fieldtrip for a combined history and geography class. Why not use the following website resources to research a fallen soldier and get some World War 1 maps for the activity.
Soldier records at:
http://www.awm.gov.au/database/biographical.asp
http://www.awm.gov.au/research/
http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/explore/defence/service-records/army-wwi.aspx
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission at http://www.cwgc.org/ for details on the European war cemeteries and graves in France.
World War 1 maps at:
http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/maps/
http://www.worldwar1.com/maproom.htm
http://www.firstworldwar.com/maps/index.htm

Increasingly maps and spatial simulations are being used to explain chronological events. Here is one on the progress of World War 2 in Europe.

Some neat OER websites for Geography

Spatial Worlds Website

Picture descriptions:
Left image: The participating teachers at the Brussels OER workshop.
Right image:Brussel streetscape.

Brussels, Belgium: N:50º 52' E: 4º 22'

One of the great aspects of being involved in the OER intiative was that a huge range of innovative resources were presented. Here are just a few to have a go at!
Physical Geography
Geography games
World Demographic Clock
Environment
Designing an habitable planet
History and DNA (I know it is not Geography but really neat as a site)
Historical maps
Earthquakes
Outer space and geography
The breathing Earth
Lifestyle and the environment
Mapping worlds differently

It is worth looking at the http://creativecommons.org/and well travelled initiatives related to Open Education Resources. Considering more and more teachers are using websites in their teaching today there is a need to start working on some type of quality control to ensure that the websites support good pedagogy in the classroom. Naturally this is true for geography as well. For example when looking at a website do you consider the following to make sure it is OK for your quality teaching and student learning?** If it was a book I am sure these questions would be foremost in your review.
Is the website:
o Culturally appropriate
o Gender appropriate
o Current
o Agenda of the developer- bias
o Credibility
o Authentic
o Interactive
o Advertising Free
o Attractive
o Engaging
o Easy to navigate
o Relevant to curriculum (even if not designed specifically for a given curriculum or for any curriculum)
o Adhere to W3C Accessibility
o Modular
o Content independent of structured
o Language Independent or Multilingual
o Remixable
o Easy to download and save
o Stored as a file type that is readily accessible with generally
available software
o Cross Browser Compatibility
o Cross Platform Compatibility
o Accessible outside of login
o Unlikely to be blocked by firewalls
o Degree of Openness (eg Rights)
o No cost to use
o Labeling
o Indexed for Searchability
o Time Limitations

** These criteria developed at the April 2009 OER workshop in Brussels.

All good questions and need to be reviewed before the website is used as a teaching tool.

Open Education Resource Conference: Brussels

Spatial Worlds Website

Picture descriptions:
Left Image: Historical square in central Brussels.
Right image: The OER workshop

Brussels, Belgium: N:50º 52' E: 4º 22'

Event: Open Education Resource Workshop
Dates: April 15th-17th 2009
Organisers of the event: European Schoolnet

This week I have been fortunate to attend the Open Education Resource Workshop in Brussels. The OER Teacher's Network Project is a scoping and feasibility study federating learning resource repositories both in Europe and internationally. The goal is to examine quality criteria for OER in order to promote more effective exchange of learning resources between repositories. I am particularly interested in this project because of its potential for the sharing of open education resources in geography and with spatial education resources in particular.

The study investigates how new mechanisms may now be required in order to facilitate in international K-12 OER collaboratives, particularly so that stakeholders can take a significant step forward as regards understanding what types of OER ‘travel well’ or have the most potential to be used and re-used in different K-12 curriculum frameworks, including in those countries in the less developed world where ICT deployment is still at a very early stage.

The Project is led by EUN SchoolNet with teacher participants from Europe, Australia, Africa, Finland, South Africa, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Zambia, Roumania, Spanish and the U.S. Fortunately there are about 4 geography teachers amongst the 16 teachers at the workshop for me to explore the use of OER resources in geographical education.
In this blog I will put down relevant facts, perceptions and resources which come out of the workshop. However what are Open Education Resources and what is the concept of travel well?

Open Education Resources:
http://www.oercommons.org/ The Hewlett Foundation describes these as teaching, learning and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials or techniques used to support access to knowledge.”
OER's enable teachers to republish material in new formats, publish online, permits reuse and remix of material, promotes innovation, promotes equity and accessibility and reduce costs - such resources are free of copyright and free to use.

Travel well:: Is the ability of an OER to be used across the globe in as widest range of contexts as possible. To be a travel well website one must consider copyright, language, visual representation, text density and is it easy to navigate, adapt and re-use.


Creative commons: Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved.


Website resources for sharing which provided the basis of the workshop
http://oertn.eun.org/forum/9
http://oertn.eun.org/forum/8

Of interest to the world of the geography teachers is the plethora of data which is regularly used to construct maps and other spatial representations. Is this data an open education resource or are we risking prosecution? This workshop is exploring the issues of copyright of such resources and what can be done in the future for teachers to feel comfortable and protected when accessing educational resources and data from a huge range of industry and contexts.

The spontaneity of Geography

Spatial Worlds Website

Picture descriptions:
Left Image: Living on the water and high rise buildings in Hong Kong.
Right image: Hong Kong at night.

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

With much talk happening in regards to core/foundation content for geography and the need to provide students with essential knowledge and skills it is important not to neglect one of the attractions of geography for students, and indeed teachers. That is, the spontaneity of the subject in the classroom. It would indeed be a tragedy if a teacher did not stop and embrace a current event because of the perceived need to get through the ‘content’ of the course. The Victorian bushfires are an excellent example of the potential of geography to provide classrooms the opportunity to explore causation, impact and most importantly provide the vehicle for teachers to debrief the students on the event. Such subject spontaneity is critical to keep the subject of geography relevant, useful and motivating for students. An ally to the opportunity for spontaneity is the capacity of spatial technologies to provide the medium for real- time data and visual representations as events unfold. Here are a few sites which over the years have provided an immediate and dynamic resource for teachers to respond to unfolding events. Needless to say, all rely heavily on the ability of spatial technology (particularly Google Earth and Google Maps and Flickr) to deliver current and accurate visualisations of place and space associated with the event. Such spontaneity and relevant tangential possibilities and the use of state of the art spatial technology should be a selling point for geography and not seen as an add-on hindering content delivery.

* Let’s start with the Victorian bushfire.
Within hours of such an event spatial sites appear often functional sites for emergency services and the community. Launched the Sunday, the day after Back Saturday, this Google Map that showed the extent of the Victorian bushfires (with associated photographs)
http://www.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=-37.09024,145.360107&spn=5.467626,6.778564&z=7&msid=102713443485350180116.0004625c0e5a723331061

* Queensland floods: a study ready to goThe following sites provide an array of daily images, maps and commentary to aid the teacher covering the floods in Queensland during February 2009.
http://www.bom.gov.au/hydro/flood/qld/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=37051
http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2009/01/30/2478669.htm?site=westqld
http://www.bom.gov.au/hydro/flood/qld/brochures/river_maps.shtml
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunrise7/3290986661/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=16571
http://www.mainroads.qld.gov.au/web/AttachStore.nsf/allobjects/january-2009-flood-info/$file/road-closure-map-090302-9am.pdf

A real time Swine flu website
The Flutracker website is a map and the data behind it compiled by a biomedical researcher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, using technology provided by Rhiza Labs and Google. The map is compiled using data from official sources, news reports and user-contributions and updated multiple times per day.

* The use of spatial technology in newsroom communications
Reuters AlertNet site: Alerting humanitarians to emergencies
It includes an interactive mapping tool (fed from MS Virtual Earth) and viewable by conflicts, storms, food security, health etc. http://www.alertnet.org/map/index.htm?ct=2&style=2&ex_iso=AF,AF,RU .
Another interesting approach to news and media is the mapping of news coverage around the world. The following sites provide some interesting spatial perspectives.
Newspaper coverage map sites.
Other world according to newspapers at
http://www.observatoiredesmedias.com/2008/03/24/le-monde-dans-les-yeux-dun-redac-chef-lamericaine-version/
Newsmapping at http://marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/
Buztracker: world news mapped: http://buzztracker.org

* Earth Album is a great geography relevant site that does a "mash up" of google earth maps and flickr images This a great site for students investigating current information on countries

* Mind's Wonderings: Education and Technology
Rebecca Nicholas (Victorian geography teacher and AGTA Secretary) has decided that it is not hard to be enthusiastic about the developments in technology and the applications these have on education and teaching. Each new development sends her mind wandering and wondering about how she can use this to teach her kids to enhance their learning? Such musing has resulted in her Wondering minds blog. Rebecca’s site is a great resource with regular new spatial websites posted. Keep an eye on it!

An example of a site explored on Rebecca’s site is the Satellite tracking site It apparently updates every 30 seconds and shows the path of each satellite etc.
What a great site to create a sense of spontaneity and immediacy in the geography classroom.

The discomfort of not knowing!

Spatial Worlds Website

Picture descriptions:
Left image: The workshop participants.
Right image: Members of the organising committee and presenters at dinner on December 19th, 2008.

International Geo-spatial Information Technology Workshop for School Education

Hong Kong: N: 22º 12.646' E: 114º 01.775'


As a follow-up to my Churchill visit to Hong Kong in October 2007 I was invited to present a Demonstration Class at the International Geo-spatial Information Technology Workshop for School Education at the Baptist University in Hong Kong on December 19th, 2008. The workshop, attended by 60 Hong Kong Geography teachers was a great opportunity to meet with Hong Kong teachers interested in using spatial technology in their classrooms. As I reported in my October 2007 blog entry, the new Hong Kong curriculum has made the use of spatial technologies such as GIS an expectation for those teaching geography. Read more about the Hong Kong Curriculum at http://www.edb.gov.hk/FileManager/EN/Content_5185/nss_e_geog%20_pfd.pdf
This workshop was one of the numerous efforts to provide Hong Kong teachers with training and perspectives in relation to the use of GIS in the classroom. The day was action packed with my demonstration class titled ‘Getting a start with GIS skills on a meaningful task in the classroom‘ heading the program, followed by a diverse grouping of presentations including:
* Steve Dunn and Mark Smith, geography teachers from the Grammar School at Leeds presented classroom GIS activities using World, Brazilian and Hurricane data.
* Dr P.C.Lai from Hong Kong University presented a demonstration class on the use of GIS in the classroom setting while studying rainfall distribution and agricultural production in China.
* David Brian from the Chinese International School, Hong Kong presented a demonstration class on the use of GIS to study Air Quality.
The workshop was organised by Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong GIS Association, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Hong Kong Geographical Association. As always the workshop provided the opportunity to discuss the implementation of GIS in the classroom with the interested and passionate. An amazing outcome of the experience was that all those involved, whether from Leeds, Hong Kong or Australia were all saying the same things in relation to the approach we need to take with the introduction of GIS into schools. That is, for GIS to be a problem solving and creative tool for students to explore their world. Such an approach should embrace the philosophy of ‘the discomfort of not knowing’ when developing student tasks involving the use of spatial technologies. The technology should be the enabler for students to find out for themselves and in turn, ‘know’. For many of the teachers attending the workshop there was a degree of discomfort in not knowing the technology and all presenters did their best to ease any anxieties about using the technology and provided an impressive range of teaching materials and resources.
Here are a few of the resources provided on the day which may be of use to those interested in extending their use of GIS in the classroom.

Air quality in Hong Kong resources from the Chinese International School GIS classroom.
Those who have visited Hong Kong will be aware that Hong Kong is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Hence as a case study the mapping of pollution levels on a day to day basis from real time Internet data is a great GIS activity. These website provides all you need to undertake some great GIS classroom activities about air pollution and attempts to monitor and remedy.
Hong Kong Environmental protection Department at http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/air/air_quality/air_quality.html
Hong Kong clear the air website at http://www.cleartheair.org.hk/

Steve and Mark are doing some great work on GIS in the classroom at Leeds Grammar.
In particular I found the use of some free Brazilian homicide data and the activities the lads have developed for their students to be a really an interesting approach. Steve and Mark have put many of their excellent classroom activities up on the ESRIUK website for teachers to use. Their approach was really inspiring and confirmed and affirmed my philosophy and approaches in using GIS in the classroom. I hope to catch up with Steve and Mark in the future to keep an eye on their great efforts in the UK. Australian teachers certainly would gain from their expertise and enthusiasm for the task.

Dr Lai and her graduates from Hong Kong University presented as excellent integrate activity using rainfall and agricultural production data.
The workshop produced maps to explore the relationship between rainfall distribution, rice production and wheat production. For more information on the work of Dr Lai and Hong Kong University in the area of GIS in schools go to the HKU website at http://geog.hku.hk/giscourse/index.htm.
Some of the websites Dr Lai used were:
* Chinese Climate Data Centre at http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html provides real time precipitation data for mapping.
* The Centre for Earth Science Information Network at http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/china provided comprehensive Chinese provincial data.
* Chinese grain production data at http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/china/econ/agr/agr49-90desc.html

Attending and presenting at this inaugural international gathering in Hong Kong of those involved in the implementation of GIS in Hong Kong classrooms was a great honour and a wonderful experience. Special thanks to Professor Zhou Qiming for his invitation to present and Matthew Pang for all his hard work in organizing the event and my participation.
I hope this link between Australian and Hong Kong Geographers continues to grow into the future. We face many of the same challengers and share similar approaches to the use of GIS in the classroom. It would be a pity not to learn from each other as we tackle the difficult task of implementing GIS in the classroom.

Nothing is new, just better!

Spatial Worlds Website

Picture descriptions:
Left image: The map by Dr John Snow of cholera victims in London in 1855 .
Right image: Napoleons march on Moscow by Charles Minard in 1861.

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

As geographers we have been using many of the GIS techniques/approaches since the beginning of the discipline of geography. Visual representations of place, space and events is nothing new and has been presented in map and chart form for centuries. What spatial technology has enabled is the ability of the geographer to crunch an enormous about of data, use overlay techniques and generally developed intricacies of digital presentations not imagined possible. That is not to say that the great cartographers and geographers of the past did not produce wonderful visualisations of data and space. When teaching students about thematic mapping and other forms of spatial visualisations it is worth showing and discussing the work of Charles Minard and the spatial mapping and analysis of Dr John Snow.
Dr John Snow is well known to many of us for his plotting of cholera cases in Soho, London in the 1840's and 1850’s. Snow developed spot maps from these outbreaks and using basic GIS applications of buffering and proximity determined that the cases were most likely associated with a particular water pump in Broadstreet (now Broadwick Street). The water pump was shut down and the cholera cases diminished. Up until that discovery cholera was thought to be transmitted by bad air or pollution. Despite the spatial analysis of Snow the skeptics re-opened the water pump after the cholera epidemic subsided. Such a simple technique of map making by hand had such power of analysis and implication for society. Imagine what Snow could have done with GIS overlays and hotspot/3D visualizations to prove his theory? Interestingly, a recent historical forensic study on the likely location of Jack the Ripper in London was undertaken by a so called geographical profiler. The profiler created simple GIS maps of attacks in London during the time of Jack the Ripper and made some basic conclusions using techniques of buffering and intersection of where the Ripper may have lived. Just imagine if we had a show on television about forensic geographical profiler involving sexy, charismatic characters like CSI? Spatial technology and geography classes would be overflowing! Maybe!
Issues of nothing new with GIS techniques came into even greater focus for me recently when I read an article about Charles Minard. Minard is best known for his amazing 1861 map of Napoleon’s March on Moscow. Many claim this is the best graphic ever produced! The map is a visualisation of troop numbers as Napoleon marched on and then withdrew from Moscow. The army was originally 422 000 in number and is represented by the width of a broad line overlaid on a map of Russia. As Napoleons army diminished to only 10 000 on his armies return to Paris, the line dwindles to being very thin. Running parallel to the troop line is a temperature graph which shows the relationship between diminishing troops and declining temperatures. The map was presented as a large format fold-out book of exquisite details and colour tones. Minard also did a similar graphics of Hannibal’s army in Italy, the movement of travelers on the principal railroads in Europe, international distribution of French wines, cotton and coal. He was indeed the pioneer of the thematic cartographer and associated statistical graphics. Many of Minard’s maps were used for planning in an era of rapid growth in Europe. For example, his map of population distribution in Paris was used to determine the location of a new central post office. Naturally such visualisations of data resulted in the sacrifice of actual locational scale. Minard “forced the scales of the geographic features on his map to fit the data being portrayed”. With the power of 21st Century GIS Minard could have overcome this conflict of priorities in his visual representations. As the article on Minard shows he also was the father of other data representations such as pie and rose diagrams. His pie diagrams were not only showing percentages of representation (type of meat for example) but also the volume of meat produced in each district as proportional pies.
Minards’ output of beautiful hand drawn and coloured maps was prodigious and included an enormous range of topics. Of special interest are his maps showing the impact of the American Civil War on French trade, patterns of European immigration around the world in the 1860’s and the movement of ancient languages throughout Europe.
Considering the elaborate and intricate maps of Minard, could you imagine his output from the click of a GIS mouse. His story is truly inspiring and relevant for the teacher of GIS in schools and the tale it tells is that many of the visualisations and techniques GIS operatives use today are not new. What is new is the capacity we have to go beyond the dreams of people such as Minard and Snow with the intricacy, commensurateness of scale and data, visual impact and the complexity of overlay of our maps.
Also of great interest is the map work and spatial analysis of Florence Nightingale. After witnessing terrible sanitary conditions in the Crimea, in 1858 she wrote "Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army." This document became annimportant text and included a range of maps based graphs she called "Coxcombs"(rose maps).
Such an historical approach to introducing and/or elaborating the applications of GIS in the classroom is well worth the consideration.

PS: Recently JohnSnow's cholera map of London has been recreated using GIS. What would John Snow's famous cholera map look like on a modern map of London, using modern mapping tools? With the help of mapping tool CartoDB and using the Stamen style maps, this is how it looks with larger circles representing more deaths.

Towards a National Geography Curriculum

Spatial Worlds Website

Picture descriptions:
Left image: Cold wasteland between northern Italy and Prague.
Right image: Cityscape over Nuremberg, Germany.

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

It seems that the drive to have National Curriculum in Australia has finally got some steam up. Everywhere you go in the educational scene people are talking about the national curriculum and its impact on present state curricula. We all know it has been done and/or attempted in countries such as the US and UK for example but Australia has been a hard one to crack for the educational federalists. Previous efforts in the 80's and 90's in Australia resulted in watered down and in many cases toothless tigers in terms of a meaningful and implemented national curriculum. This push seems a little different with many saying that the teeth in this 'putsch' for a national curriculum is the federal governments determination to link assessment and funding to implementation. Proof of this determination can be seen in the recently passed Australian Curriculum and Assessment Authority legislation which is being established in 2009.
So what!! What does this mean to geographical education and by association, spatial education. Pleasingly for Australian geographers, the Australian Government via the National Curriculum Board has identified geography as the discipline to be developed and implemented across Australia as part of the second phase of national curriculum implementation in 2011(history, science, math and english in the first phase). In the case of history the materials developed to date are strongly tied into pre-existing australian government documents such as the 'Civics and Citizenship Statements of Learning' and the 'Model for Australian History'. When geographers in Australia looked around for similar national geography curriculum documents as reference points for the National Curriculum Board to use when they commence their work on geography, it soon became apparent that no such documents existed. To remedy this situation and provide guidance to the national curriculum board in 2009, the Australian Geography Teachers' Association, the Institute of Australian Geographers and the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland have established in October 2008 an initiative called 'Towards a National Geography Curriculum'. In short, the aim of the project is to develop a document, after extensive consultation with geographers around Australia, which will provide guidance for the National Curriculum Board when it commences its work on geography in 2010. It is hoped that such consultation and synthesis within the geography community by the geography community will ensure that a truly representative and quality curriculum is developed by the National Curriculum Board. As is stated on the Towards a National Geography Curriculum website:
"We are preparing a paper titled Towards a National Geography Curriculum for Australia modelled on the National Curriculum Board’s proposed structures for the national curriculum for subjects in the first phase of its work. These will set out “the nature of knowledge involved, the ways in which knowledge is acquired and tested, a rationale for the choice of content …, and the broad scope and sequence of learning”."

This is an exciting time for geography in Australia and a once in a lifetime opportunity for the meaningful integration of technology into geographical education. If we are to develop a geography curriculum for students which reflects the needs of the 21st century, then it is imperative that we consider the amazing and enabling technologies which are available to geographers and the community worldwide on a daily basis. Such technologies should be our tools in schools to make sure that our subject has currency and is the social, economic and citzenship enabler it should be for young people. Keep posted on this one, hopefully it will provide a way forward for innovative and current geographical education in our schools. In the meantime put your views forward via the Towards a National Geography Curriculum on-line survey.