Happy Birthday Digimap!

Friday 10th January sees Digimap reach the grand old age of 20!  There are still a few EDINA staff who remember the exciting day we launched the national service after 3 years of pilots and projects.  Our initial data licence was for 4 years and we have gone from strength to strength since then, expanding […]

Happy 20th Birthday EDINA!

Today (25th January) is not only the birthday of Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns, but also EDINA‘s 20th birthday! SUNCAT is helping to mark this occasion with this special blog post of weird and wonderful University of Edinburgh serial titles. As you know EDINA is based at this great institution, and is located just down the road from Edinburgh Castle. We have also found some wonderful publications of Edinburgh clubs. Join us in wishing EDINA a wonderful birthday and many more successful years ahead.

An image of Edinburgh fireworks in the sky over Edinburgh Castle.

Edinburgh Fireworks. By Chris Combe from York, UK (Edinburgh Fireworks) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

  • Jabberwock : Edinburgh University review.
  • Fox: Edinburgh University poetry magazine.
  • The New evergreen, Christmas book of University hall [Edinburgh university].
  • The Gambolier: a light journal, Edinburgh University.
  • Edinburgh University English Literature Society Paumflet.
  • University of Edinburgh Staff Club scene.
  • New Gambit : Edinburgh University Review.
  • Town and gown lectures/ University of Edinburgh, Extra-rural Committee.
  • Ge. Being the magazine of the Edinburgh University Geographical Society.
  • Survival guide : the Edinburgh University students’ handbook.
  • The journal of the fair [i.e. the Edinburgh University Union fancy fair, Waverley Market] / [edited by William K. Dickson.]
  • The rebel student. Official organ of the Edinburgh University Labour Party.
  • An account from Scotland and London-derry of the proceedings against the Duke of Gordon, in the Castle of Edinburgh.
  • Ye Tartan Club annual.
  • Rules of the Innominate Club.
  • Proceedings of the Library Club of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum / Royal Edinburgh Asylum for the Insane. Library Club.
  • The L. & C. Magazine … The official organ of the City of Edinburgh Lighting and Cleansing Department Welfare Club.
  • The Hibee.
  • The Carrying Stream Festival.

For more Edinburgh-themed journals and other weird and wonderful titles take a look in SUNCAT.

Digimap for Schools 5th birthday!

It is hard to believe, but Digimap for Schools is 5 years old today!

It is 5 years since the service was officially lunched and we haven’t stopped growing in that time.

Back in 2010, Digimap for Schools looked a lot different! Despite it’s more limited functionality of only being able to view and print maps, it was quick to make it’s mark and was an instant success. This was recognised in early 2011 by the Geographical Association by being awarded Gold in the Publisher’s Awards at the GA conference.

How Digimap for Schools looked when it was launched

How Digimap for Schools looked when it was launched

The interface and functionality has constantly developed over the years in response to feedback from the users we meet at conferences, training sessions and email contact. User feedback is invaluable in guiding the development of the service.

We’ve added many notable enhancements since 2010 including: historical maps, annotation tools to add your own data, measurement tools, saving maps and a superb range of free resources written by curriculum experts.

The Digimap for Schools Community keeps on growing with over 2400 schools across Great Britain using the service. Millions of screen maps are generated every month, in June 2015 nearly 4,070,000 screen maps were generated making it the busiest month ever for Digimap for Schools. Just last month in October 2015, Macmillan Academy in Middlesbrough became a record breaking school generating over 116,000 screen maps, uploading 1199 images and saving 374 maps in one month – they were busy!

The Digimap for Schools team will enjoy celebrating this special anniversary, sorry we can’t send a piece of birthday cake to all of our wonderful subscribing schools!

Digimap for Schools’ 1st birthday!

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!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Happy birthday Digimap for Schools!

 

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