Monday, April 1, 2013

Dabbling in spatial technology for free

Using free stuff! Minimal outlay and maximum opportunity

Now there is a way to go for teachers and schools just wanting to play in the area of spatial technology before spending money. Here are just several of the options available to anyone wanting to get started using spatial technology.

* GE Teach

Free site dedicated to help teachers educate and engage students using Google Earth.

GE Teach is designed by an teacher to bring geospatial technologies into the classroom in a way that is user-friendly. This site allows you to use Google Earth with clickable layers. With multiple data layers of physical and human geography variables, this interactive globe puts spatial information in powerful, yet fun, student-inspired platform. Video tutorial on how to use GE teach.

* Free ESRI software

In a previous Spatialworlds posting I pointed readers the way of ESRI's free downloadable software called AEJEE. Over the years this software, whilst limited and problematical with new Windows software, has provided a great free starting point for schools to dip their toe into the GIS waters and start on the GIS learning curve. AEJEE has now been superseded by ArcGIS Explorer Desktop which can be downloaded at http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/explorer

ESRI is the world leader in GIS (geographic information system) modeling and mapping software and technology.
ArcGIS Explorer is not a full blown GIS software package but is a totally free GIS viewer, with basemaps and access to ArcGIS Online which provides an easy way to explore, visualise, and share GIS information (includes an interactive presentation capacity).
Before downloading ArcGIS Explorer you may need to update your computer by installing
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 . This is not a difficult task and is available directly from the ESRI download page. I have found ArcGIS Explorer a fairly intuitive program to find your way around and 'help' support is a vailable within the program (just click on the 'question mark' icon in the top right hand corner of the screen - see below).

The following links will also provide video instruction on how to use the program:

* Getting started installing the program

* Easy Start

* Quick start

* Making a map: AddingShapefiles using ArcGIS online

* Add ins: Part 1 and Part 2

* Functions

PS: If you can get your hands on the Mac version of AEJEE, it still works a treat on a Mac. As mentioned, the Windows version of AEJEE had considerable compatability issues which could only be overcome with quite a bit of tweaking - but could be overcome as discussed in a previous Spatialworlds posting.

* ArcGIS online

GIS projects are also now available in ArcGIS online through an internet connection, an idea and a question.

* Quantum GIS

This is another free GIS option (this one an open source option). This is a full-blown GIS, with more mapping, editing and exporting options. Quantum GIS (QGIS) is a user friendly Open Source Geographic Information System (GIS) licensed under the GNU General Public License. QGIS is an official project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). It runs on Linux, Unix, Mac OSX, Windows and Android and supports numerous vector, raster, and database formats and functionalities.

* More open source GIS sites Here are some more open-source GIS options that are free to download.

* ... and from National Geographic, a 1-page MapMaker facility****

* ... and from Google Earth

Google Earth for educators: Google Earth has opened up potential for students in classrooms around the globe with its bird’s-eye view of the world. Whether you are a veteran teacher looking for new ways to teach old topics or you are a still an education student getting ready to make your debut in the classroom, these exciting ways to use Google Earth are sure to infuse your lessons with plenty of punch. Find ideas for any age student and a handful of virtual tours that will not only help you instruct your students, but might even teach you something along the way.

* ...and finally from Juicy Geography's Noel Jenkins, some ideas on using GIS in the classroom. Some great ideas.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Opening up the open source option!

Images: Student 3D work using ArcView 3x

Related sites to the Spatialworlds project
Spatialworlds website
21st Century Geography Google Group
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
'Towards a National Geography Curriculum' project website
Geography Teachers' Association of South Australia website
Email contact
manning@chariot.net.au

Where am I??
Adelaide, Australia: S: 34º 55' E: 138º 36'

Open Source GIS, which one??

Access to software such as open source (the license shall not require a royalty or other fee), is becoming a viable alternative for schools to expensive stand-alone vendor products. In previous Spatialworlds posting we have highlighted the availability of free GIS on-line products such as ESRI ArcGIS on-line , Spatial Genie , QGIS and GRASS.

It seems that on a monthly basis the number of such software choices is growing. Basic GIS open source programs can provide basic GIS functionality, including data input, map display, spatial query, attribute query and spatial analysis. There are also open source programs for remote sensing and 3D visualization.

In this posting I wish to highlight the importance of this trend to the achievability of using GIS in the classroom and some of the open source products I have not previously mentioned. An excellent spatial blog from Direction Magazine is planning to review many of these on-line open source GIS platforms in coming months. It is worth keeping an eye on this site if you are considering exploring the option of open source GIS.

These programs are proving to be popular for a range of reasons:
* they are a real option for the teacher who would like to explore the possibility of teaching GIS but does not have immediate financial support from their school to purchase GIS software.
* the software is an excellent option if students would like to install and try GIS software on their home computers.
* the immediacy of such software is attractive for the teacher who would like to use GIS with their students tomorrow (commercial GIS software will require more than one week to finalize the licensing with vendors. You can download and use open source software immediately).
* it is the way to go for schools with computers that are using non-Windows operating systems, such as MacOSX or Linux

Here are a few of the open source options we have not previously discussed.

* uDig is an open source desktop application framework, built with Eclipse Rich Client (RCP) technology. The uDig program can be downloaded from the site, as can free data and walk throughs to support the use of the program.

* gvSIG is another open source geographic information system (GIS), that is a desktop application designed for capturing, storing, handling, analyzing and deploying any kind of referenced geographic information in order to solve complex management and planning problems. gvSIG is known for having a user-friendly interface, being able to access the most common formats, both vector and raster ones. It features a wide range of tools for working with geographic-like information (query tools, layout creation, geoprocessing, networks, etc).

* The OpenGeo Suite combines the power of open source plus the reliability and support of a single, stable vendor behind a full stack of software. The OpenGeo Suite offers a fully-integrated open source geospatial platform for serving maps and data through web applications, mobile devices, and desktop clients. The OpenGeo Suite Enterprise Edition is comprised of tested, integrated and supported geospatial components GeoServer, OpenLayers, GeoWebCache, PostGIS and GeoExt

* GISVM is a free and ready to use anywhere Geographic Information System Virtual Machine. It is now available in three main versions; A full-feature GIS Desktop Workstation, a base GIS Desktop Virtual Machine and a full-feature GIS Server based exclusively on free Server GIS software:

The Open Source Foundation

While talking about open source GIS it is worth mentioning the Open Source Software for Geospatial initiative organized by Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). This is a foundation created to support the collaborative development of open source geospatial software, and promote its widespread use. The recent 2011 FOSS4G conference in Denver was focused on free and open source geospatial software. Open source is becoming so popular that the list of FOSS4G sponsors has been growing rapidly. Sponsors today include names such as ESRI, Google, MapQuest and USGIF.

I am sure this is just the tip of the iceberg and in the future (if not already), open source software will be the way to go for GIS in schools.