Darren Bailey from the Ordnance Survey Education Team has a few CPD events coming up. Â Darren’s event provide a great introduction to Digimap for Schools and using OS mapping in primary schools. Â If you’d like to attend or find out more details, please contact Darren –Â Darren.Bailey@os.uk
Epsom –Â 21/09/2015
Southampton –Â 25/09/2015
Addlestone –Â 29/09/2015
In addition to the new MasterMap styling released yesterday updated mapping also went live. Â Updates to MasterMap, VectorMap Local raster, 1:25,ooo scale raster, 1:50,000 scale raster, and 1:250,000 scale raster were released.
This brings the mapping up to date with the latest available from Ordnance Survey. Â Dates of the map data are:
Have a go at playing spot the difference and see if you can find changes that have appeared on the maps!
The new Borders Railway route shown on the updated 1:250,00 scale raster
A new and improved styling for MasterMap, the most detailed mapping in Digimap for Schools has been release. The previous colours have been replaced with more subtle and contemporary tones. The styling has been inspired by the simpler palate used in the VectorMap Local product which makes up the street view level mapping.
Bold greens and yellows have been replaced with white and pastel greens. Man-made surfaces (roads, pavements, surfaces, railways etc) have been brought together and a wide range of greys applied. Pavements are a more realistic light grey instead of khaki green used in the old styling. Unclassified areas (generally areas under construction) are shown with a light hatching now making them easier to identify but without dominating other features.
Example of old MasterMap styling. Ordnance Survey © Crown Copyright and Database Right 2015. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service.
The biggest change and improvement is in the vegetation styling. Different shades of greens with clearer vegetation symbols have been used to help identification of different vegetation types. The new styling also makes it easier to see any annotations added to the map, the more subtle colours and tones allow annotations to stand out more.
A great deal of time and effort has been taken to carefully craft this new styling and we hope you find it a significant improvement over the old styling. We would love to hear your thoughts and any suggestions for improvements. Please contact the EDINA Digimap for Schools helpdesk with comments edina@ed.ac.uk
Example of new MasterMap styling. Ordnance Survey © Crown Copyright and Database Right 2015. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service.
Last week, we added some great new marker Annotation Tools to Digimap for Schools. Take a look at the marker drop down menu and you’ll find a new row of markers.
New marker annotation tools
Stickman marker – have some fun placing lots of little stickmen on your map! Â Stickman behaves like any of the other markers so you can edit the colour fill to add different coloured markers to represent various data.
Grid reference marker – just like the grid reference tool, this tool allows you to click on the map and a marker with a label of the grid reference. Â Grid reference markers on your map will then be saved or printed with your map.
Add points from file – this is exciting new tool allows you to upload a CSV file of point data that you may have collected on fieldwork, to create point annotations. Â This is really useful if you have collected data in a spreadsheet or using a mobile app. Â You can create a CSV file and providing you have location information (Postcode, Easting/Northings or Latitude/Longitude coordinates) you can add the points to your map. Â Have a go or see the help page for further information.
Resizing of uploaded photos has also been improved. Â Now if you use the Scale Feature tool to resize your photo, the photo is of much better quality as previously it became a bit pixelated. Â This is a really useful feature if you add graphs to your map as they will now be much clearer.
Darren from the Ordnance Survey education team is continuing his CPD training courses with a packed schedule throughout June. Dates and locations coming up are:
June 1 Seaham
June 2 Berwick upon Tweed
June 3 Gosforth
June 8-9-10 – Surrey primary schools network
June 17 Enfield
June 22 Newham
June 24 Enfield
June 25 Worthing
June 29 Havering
If you’d like to attend or have any questions about the courses, please contact Darren Darren.Bailey@os.uk
You may have spotted that a couple of weeks ago, we added a North Arrow to the printable maps from Digimap for Schools. You’ll find the arrow along with the other marginalia on the PDF and JPG maps created from the print options.
The addition of the north arrow means that the maps are suitable for submitting to all English exams boards for GCSE Controlled Assessment, without the need to add your own arrow.
Digimap for Schools printable maps, now with a north arrow
Darren Bailey from Ordnance Survey’s Education Team continues his travels around England and Wales running free CPD sessions throughout May. Upcoming dates and locations are:
05/05/2015 Southall
06/05/2015 Enfield
13/05/2015 Southport
15/05/2015 Notting Hill Gate
20/05/2015 RGS London
If you would like to attend or find out more information, please email Darren: Darren.Bailey@os.uk
When I spotted a great tweet from Rob Chambers (@RobGeog) the other week on how they use Digimap for Schools in GCSE Controlled Assessment at St Ivo School, I seized the chance to get some examples of what they’re up to.  Rob was kind enough, despite the chaos of a new term, to provide a list of how they use the service.  It’s brilliant to see how many way Digimap for Schools can be used.  Rob’s ideas are listed below, hopefully you will find inspiration for how you can be making the most of  Digimap for Schools for Controlled Assessment.
Huge thanks for Rob for the details!
We use Digimap in a number of ways specifically for GCSE Controlled Assessment
Our GCSE Controlled Assessment is usually based on urban studies in St Ives, Cambridgeshire.
Examples of use include:
* Creating base maps for use in data collection sheets which students are then able to map evidence on during fieldwork.
* Students will then use Digimap to access maps which they can then insert in Word or similar and use to present data – there are various examples below – these particular ones are examples I have created for PowerPoints but they are in effect what the students have gone on to do.
* creating flow lines on top of the maps (to show traffic flows)
* using as a base map to locate other data presentation techniques in terms of where the data refers to (to help with analysing spatial differences)
* students also use the distance tool to calculate relevant distances.
* students also use Digimap as a simple GIS – e.g. work on land-use in the CBD last year – during data collection they had a blank map from Digimap to mark on land-use – then back in the computer room they used tools on Digimap to draw polygons around the individual buildings and shade according to different land-use types (example given below is a student one which was saved in digimap).
* this year we have been looking at traffic management – students had a base map in the town for identifying where things were such as double yellow lines, cycle racks etc. and took pictures – back in the classroom they have then again used tools in Digimaps to add a layer using symbols to show the location of these.
Darren Bailey from Ordnance Survey has a number of twilight sessions coming up this month for primary school teachers. Â So if you’re looking to find out more about Digimap for Schools or some hints and tips on how to make the most of your subscription, then get along to one of Darren’s sessions.
21/04/2015 Newham
22/04/2015 Newham
27/04/2015 Wandsworth
28/04/2015 Southampton
29/04/2015 Accrington
If you’re interested in attending or finding out more, please contact Darren -Â Darren.Bailey@os.uk. Sessions are free to attend.
Digimap’s new registration system was released on the 28th of January, we hope you’ll agree that it is a huge improvement over the  previous version.
Users no longer have to wait up to 48 hours for registrations to be approved, they simply have to click a link in an email sent to them after filling in the registration form.
It already has its fans leading one site rep to say “I love the new registration system!” and another told us “Congratulations on instant registration for students. This is going to be very popular.”
The new instant access system is much more inline with user expectations from online services. Â Removing the need to wait overnight (or longer over weekends) to gain access has been very popular and has resulted in a significant increase in registrations during February. Â Over 6000 registrations were processed through the new system at all times of day and night!
We now need your help to make sure that the support material at your institution is up-to-date and that your students know that they can have access to the service the same day.
There is a full description of how to register using the new system in the help pages which guides you through the process:
http://digimap.edina.ac.uk/webhelp/digimapsupport/about.htm#access/registration.htm
If you are responsible for any local support pages, lecture notes, practical guides and any other course material please make sure these get updated. We actively encourage the incorporation of the images and text from the help page in any material produced. Please can you circulate this information as widely as possible to ensure that all users have up to date guidance.
One final plea is that you highlight the importance of entering the correct email address when registering. This should be an email address that is used regularly and it should be spelt correctly!
