Digimap for Schools Blog | Information on the use of OS maps and GIS in Schools

Science for Society New developments in physical geography

Posted on May 2, 2012 by pohare

Are you a secondary school geography teacher? Would you like to attend free professional training course in Southampton this summer? If you are available from 15th to 20th July have a look at the New Developments in physical geography course which aims to provide specialist geography teachers with new skills and resources from the cutting edge of geography.

Based at Southampton University the course includes a day in the New Forest to get hands-on with new techniques for field sampling and visits to both Ordnance Survey and the Met Office.

There are 20 places and the simple application simply needs a signature from your school and a ‘why pick me’ statement in a covering letter. All expenses apart from your travel to Southampton are paid.

Closing date for applications 15th May 2012

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GA Conference 2012

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Carol

Last Friday and Saturday (13 – 14 April) the Digimap for Schools team joined the Ordnance Survey on their stand at the GA Conference in Manchester. It was a fantastic couple of days and we welcomed many visitors to the stand. In fact, some people had to come back on the Saturday to see us because the stand had been too busy when they stopped by on Friday!

Digimap for Schools received lots of positive feedback from teachers currently using the service and those interested in signing up. Visitors were impressed with the new enhancements released a couple of weeks ago (read about them here) and were very interested in the new secondary and primary teaching resources recently added (download resources here)

It was an excellent conference for us, providing a great opportunity to meet new and familiar teachers to demonstrate the service and to hear feedback from those already using it.

The Education team from Ordnance Survey also held a workshop on Friday afternoon demonstrating Digimap for Schools. The room was crammed full of eager teachers to hear about the history and development of Digimap for Schools, as well as getting chance to have a hands-on session to have a look at the service themselves.

From the buzz on various blogs and Twitter, I don’t think we were the only people to think that the conference was fantastic, a job really well done by the GA!

Posted in digimap for schools | Tagged conference, digimap for schools, feedback, Geographical Association, geography teachers | Leave a comment

New Digimap for Schools tools and enhancements released

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Carol

On Wednesday 4th April, EDINA released Version 3 of Digimap for Schools, which included a number of new features and enhancements.

The new tools and enhancements have been developed directly as a result of valuable user feedback we gained from the user survey we ran last Autumn and from talking to teachers at conferences such as BETT and at training events.

New tools and enhancements:

National Grid lines overlay – This new tool allows users to display National Grid lines on screen, over any map at any scale. Being able to display National Grid lines on the screen is incredibly useful for teaching and learning about grid references. Grid letters and numbers are displayed clearly, spacing and numbering is scale appropriate and automatically change as a user zooms in or out through the map views. To view the National Grid line, simply click the button on toolbar.

View a bigger map – Users can now have the map fill their screen! We have added a full screen option which hides the top, bottom and left-hand panels to enlarge the map area that is visible. The top toolbar will still be visible to allow you to access the annotations, measuring and other tools. Expanding the map looks particularly fantastic when teaching a class using a smartboard as so much more map can be seen in one go. To toggle between the larger and smaller map, click the button in the top right of the toolbar (beside the Help icon)

Overlay national grid lines on screen and maximise the map area viewable

Alternative print formats – We have added two new outputs for printable maps; JPG and PNG. These are common image formats (similar to those used for digital photos) which means users can easily insert maps generated from Digimap for Schools into programmes such as Microsoft Word and Powerpoint. These new format options are available in the print options panel.

Annotations enhancements – Two new enhancements have been added to annotations; the ability to fade the background map and the option to change the orientation of the toolbar. The Fade Map option fades the background map on screen and on printable maps to allow annotations that have been drawn on the map to stand out more clearly. This is particularly useful when you are adding features to a map of a dense urban area. The Fade Map option can be activated by clicking the new icon in the Annotations Toolbar. In addition to the ability to view a bigger map, you can now reformat the layout of the Annotation Toolbar to make it vertical. This means it can now sit over the search/print panel without hiding any of the map.

Annotations toolbar showing the new features

Help and information for using these new tools and enhancements can be found in the help pages, which can be accessed in the service by clicking the Help icon on the top right above the main map window.

EDINA value your feedback on Digimap for Schools, please leave any comments, suggestions or queries regarding the new tools or any other feature of Digimap for Schools below.

Posted in digimap for schools | Tagged annotations, digimap for schools, enhancements, new tools, Version3 | Leave a comment

Digimap for Schools at BETT 2012

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Carol

I can’t quite believe that it is January again already, which means it is time for BETT at Olympia in London! Digimap for Schools will be sharing the stand with Ordnance Survey for the whole show (11 – 14 January) so please come along and say hello. We will be in the Grand Hall, stand E56.

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Digimap for Schools’ 1st birthday!

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Carol

Yesterday, 10th November, we celebrated Digimap for Schools first birthday. It was a year since the official launch by Baroness Joan Hanham CBE, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (CLG) at Graveney School in Wandsworth, London (http://bit.ly/ul5Am1)

We’ve had an exciting year travelling up and down the country promoting Digimap for Schools and meeting lots of interesting and enthusiastic teachers. In April, we were honoured to be awarded the Gold GA Publishers’ Award (http://bit.ly/uwcHum) which is given for materials associated with geography in schools which are considered to make a significant contribution to geographical education.

Digimap for Schools has continued to be developed and grow over the past year. We added measuring and annotation tools which have been very well received by teachers and pupils. The service will continue to grow with various ideas in the pipeline for features and learning materials. Keep an eye out on here and our Twitter feed (@Digimap4Schools) for news and updates.

To mark Digimap for School’s first birthday, we’ve launched a Mystery Maps challenge here on the blog (http://digimapforschools.blogs.edina.ac.uk/mystery_maps/). Each month we will post a map of interesting mystery locations which aim to encourage teachers and pupils to discuss geographical features and identify where the mystery location is. The answer will then be revealed the following month on Twitter (@Digimap4Schools).

As another birthday treat, Ordnance Survey have made a video showing Year 5 pupils at St Marks Primary School in Southampton using Digimap for Schools and Geography teacher Mr Beare talking about why it’s so useful in their school. If you haven’t seen the film yet, I highly recommend you watch it – with a cup of tea and a slice of birthday cake!

Happy birthday Digimap for Schools!

Posted in digimap for schools | Tagged birthday, digimap for schools, mystery maps | Leave a comment

Inspiring maps – Jerry’s Map

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Carol

Anyone who loves maps remembers clearly when their obsession started. For me, it was spending hours poring over a tattered Reader’s Digest Atlas tracing the mountains, glens, islands and lochs of Scotland and exploring far flung places that were a million miles away for me. Today, watching this video of Jerry’s Map, has reminded me of that original feeling of inspiration from exploring my atlas and the joy of discovering the world of maps. Jerry spends his days working on a map built from his imagination. It’s incredible and a wonderful example of the beauty of maps.

Posted in Maps | Tagged cartography, imagination, Jerry's map, maps | 3 Comments

Map data changes: 1:25,000 printing and annual update

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Carol

Over the summer, we’ve been working hard to tweak one of the zoom levels to provide 1:25,000 scale printing and to process the new map data which will be released in Digimap for Schools on Tuesday 13th September.

1:25,000 Printing

At the start of August, we changed the map product that is used for the 8th zoomed in view in Digimap for Schools from a ‘zoomed in’ version of the 1:50,000 Scale Raster to the 1:25,000 scale Raster. The key benefit of doing this is that you can now create printable PDF maps at 1:25,000 scale, which is one of the key scales used in the Geography curriculum across the country.

To view the changes, zoom into the 8th most zoomed in view level, and click make printable map. Click on the thumbnail image below for an example to view a 1:25,000 scale pdf map created from Digimap for Schools.

Sample 1:25,000 scale printed pdf map

Annual Data Update

Every year, near the start of September, we update the map data available in Digimap for Schools. This year, the update will be taking place on the evening of the 13th September. All the maps in Digimap for Schools will be updated, so if there has been any new buildings in your area in the last couple of years that aren’t currently on the map, the may be on the new maps. The annual update of the maps provides a great opportunity to take a look at some of the changes that have been taking place across the country. My favourite example this year is the rapid development of the London 2012 Olympic venues. Here’s a sneak preview of some of the changes you’ll be able to check out for yourself after the 13th.

Can you spot the differences between the 2010 map (top) and the 2011 map (bottom)?

Please note that the MasterMap data used to create the two most zoomed in levels in Digimap for Schools, will be updated later in September. Our data engineers have to process the raw MasterMap data to create the rasters images we use, and this takes quite a long time of leaving the servers to work away at it. We’ll let you know when the MasterMap data will be updated.

Finally, we have also updated the GB view, the most zoomed out level that you see when you log in, by adding relief detail. Showing relief at this level is really useful as you can clearly see the difference between the mountainous parts of the country and the flatter lands.

Posted in digimap for schools | Tagged digimap for schools, London 2012 mapping, map data updates, schools | Leave a comment

Welcome to the Digimap for Schools blog!

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Carol

Hello and welcome to the Digimap for Schools blog. The post below was a quick one to kick the blog off and to post about the wonderful Geographical Association publishers’ award that we won with Ordnance Survey in April. From now on though, the Digimap for Schools team will be regularly posting on here. This blog will be where to find out about enhancements, updates and any other news relating to the Digimap for Schools service. We will also be posting about ideas for using Digimap for Schools and how to help make the service relevant to learning and teaching across age ranges and key stages.

We are very keen for this blog to be a forum for teachers to share ideas and their experiences of using Digimap for Schools, so please feel free to comment on posts or contact us. Also, we’re looking for teachers and pupils who would be willing to write a guest post on using Digimap for Schools, so if you have any ideas or would like to volunteer please drop us a line.

You can contact the Digimap for Schools team by emailing edina@ed.ac.uk or send us a tweet at @Digimap4Schools.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Posted in digimap for schools | Tagged digimap for schools, welcome | Leave a comment

Digimap for Schools scoops top award

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Addy Pope

EDINA are delighted to announce that the Digimap for Schools service has been awarded the GOLD Certificate for the best overall resource in the the Geographical Association’s 2011 Publishers’ Awards.

The GA Publishers’ Awards aim to recognise material which is likely to make a significant contribution to geography in primary schools, secondary schools or colleges, and to encourage the creative development of new materials. Further information about the awards can be found here: http://www.geography.org.uk/news/publishersawards/

The Award was presented at the Geographical Association’s Annual Conference at the University of Surrey, Guildford on Thursday 14th April 2011 to EDINA’s Director Peter Burnhill and Ordnance Survey’s Director General and CEO, Vanessa Lawrence.

Peter Burnhill said, “This Gold Certification from the Geography Association Publishers is splendid recognition for all those who have worked together on Digimap for Schools to bring Ordnance Survey mapping into the classroom.

“At EDINA, which is based at the University of Edinburgh, we aim to live up to your expectations and do for primary and secondary schools what we have done so successfully for universities and colleges, encouraging love of maps as well as helping to prepare students for the future.”

About Digimap for Schools
Digimap for Schools is a joint venture between EDINA (University of Edinburgh), Ordnance Survey and JISC Collections and provides easy access to a wide range of current Ordnance Survey maps including national coverage of OS MasterMap, as well as digital versions of the Landranger and Explorer series paper maps. Also included are street level maps showing street names and road-atlas style maps.

Subscribing schools can use a seamless digital map of Great Britain at each scale available. Maps can be printed as PDF files at A3 or A4 size and in landscape or portrait orientation. Maps can be printed with an individual’s own map title and name included with the scale bar and school name and address. Search tools include postcode, place name or national grid reference and maps can be moved to centre on any chosen location within Great Britain. Map keys are available for each scale map to explain the symbols used within the map.

For information on how to subscribe and links to a free trial demonstration version of Digimap for Schools, please check the following links:

Other articles that review the Geographic Association Awards:

Geography.org.uk

OS Website

Posted in digimap for schools | Tagged Award, digimap for schools, Geographical Association, geography, schools | Leave a comment