Author Archives: Carol

New GB map and updated mapping

Posted on by

Coming very soon we will be releasing a new GB map in Digimap for Schools.  In December, Ordnance Survey released a new GB Overview map as part of their OS Open Data products.  It’s a nice and clear map with GB country boundaries and capital cities marked.  We hope that you like the new map and find it useful.

New GB map view

Also being released are updates to the mid and small scale mapping products.  These maps are being updated to the most recent versions made available to us by Ordnance Survey.  Maps that will be updated are:

  • Miniscale (January 2015)
  • 1:50 000 Raster (December 2014)
  • 1:25 000 Raster (December 2014)
  • VML Colour Raster (January 2015)

New Digimap registration system – preview

Posted on by

As blogged about last month, we have been working on a new Digimap registration system which will be released next Tuesday (27th January) The current registration system has been in place for over ten years. It has served us well, but it is now rather dated especially because users have to wait for their registration to be manually approved and processed overnight. The new registration system allows users to get instant access to Digimap. This will be a significant improvement and help those students that leave their Digimap coursework a bit late! At least now they will be able to get access quickly and easily (unfortunately we can’t guarantee they’ll get the work submitted on time though!) Detailed help pages will be available from Wednesday, once the release has been completed and Digimap is available to users. To help prepare site reps and support staff for the change, here is an overview of the registration process.   Registering with Digimap Registration will now be an automated two-step process. Users will supply their details to register and then they must activate access to collections by agreeing to the individual licences. After logging into Digimap to start, users will be presented with the registration form to enter their name, email address, department, status and where they heard about Digimap. Registration form After hitting the submit button, users will be sent an email with a link to verify their account.  Once they have successfully verified, they will be directed back to the Digimap homepage, where they then complete the next step of activating collection access. registration_verify_600 registration_verify_confirmation_600 Agreeing to licence for Digimap collections (activating access) After verifying their email address, users will need to agree to the licences for each of the specific Digimap collections that they wish to use, this is done through the licence agreements page. registration_licence_agreement2_600 Users will only be able to agree to licences for the collections that their institution subscribes to.  Once the user has agreed to the licence(s) and hit the confirm button, they will have access to those Digimap collections. If the process is completed in one go, it takes no more than a few minutes.  Much quicker than the current system! Existing users Existing users will not notice any change unless they have not been active in a collection for more than 12 months.  Access to a collection expires after 12 months of inactivity.  If that’s the case, they will be prompted to accept the licence when they try to access an application in that collection.  Generally though, if someone has not accessed a particular collection for more than 12 months, we don’t expect they will activate access and therefore will not notice any change with the new system.  Access to active collections will carry on as normal. If you have any questions or comments, please contact the EDINA Helpdesk at edina@ed.ac.uk

Share

Service Availability 26 – 28th Jan – new registration system release

Posted on by

New users will not be able to register for Digimap from 4pm on 26th Jan and all Digimap services will be unavailable all day on 27th Jan. Normal service will resume by 9am on 28th Jan. This is to allow us to release a new Registration System.

New registrations for Digimap (using the current system) will be closed from 4pm Monday 26th January.

Digimap will then be unavailable all day on Tuesday 27th January, while we release the new system.

The service will be available again from Wednesday 28th 9am.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Due to the significant changes required to release the new system, we must close access to Digimap during this time.

We urge you to create any maps or download data that you may need during the period of service unavailability in advance.

The new registration system will allow users to register and instantly access Digimap Collections. New registrations will no longer have to be manually approved by the EDINA Helpdesk and then processed overnight. This will speed up access for new users significantly.

Existing registered and active users will not notice any change.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact EDINA on edina@ed.ac.uk or 0131 650 3302.

More details about how the new system looks and works will be posted on the Digimap blog in the New Year.

Share

End of term map quiz – now and then

Posted on by

It’s getting to that time of year where we all start winding down towards the Christmas holidays.  My memories of this time at school are of normal lessons being replaced by fun (but educational!) activities.  If you’re looking for something map related to give to your pupils, how about trying our fun map quiz?

Ken Lacey, OS Education Manager, has provided three fantastic ‘now and then’ quizes (one for each country)  Ken is extremely knowledgable about landscape changes across GB, and has provided some great examples. Here’s what Ken had to say about the quizzes:

Change happens all the time and certainly in the period between our 1890s historic layer and the modern day map. When you look at North West London ‘Metro land’ on the modern map and then look at the 1890s map the difference is obvious. Similarly at locations such as Milton Keynes they have changed out of all recognition.  

When you look at a lot of towns in Great Britain changes may be less in extent but still significant. It might be the possible loss of a railway line or very probably your town or village has greatly increased in size because of new large housing estates on the edge of the settlement.

But what of the more subtle changes that occur in the landscape? We have put together 3 locations in England, Scotland and Wales which are more rural in character.

The Scottish one is based on the area around the village of Saline which is North West of Dunfermline in Fife. It is rural district but in 1890 it was very much a part of the Fifeshire coalfield. Not today, so what change can you find?

Our Welsh example is along the River Severn. Rivers change their courses for many reasons so have a look and see how it has changed and then see what else you can find.

Our English example is to found at Stamford Bridge. This battle, if the result had gone the other way would have been just as momentous as the battle that we can all name and give the year when it was fought. What changes can you find in this part of East Yorkshire?

We have only recorded 10 changes on each map. Why not have a go finding the changes that we noticed and can you find more?

The maps, questions and answers are available below.  The answers are on the last page/slide, so remember not to give them to your pupils.

We hope you enjoy the quiz (and get top marks!)

English map quiz: PDF, Powerpoint

Scottish map quiz: PDF, Powerpoint

Welsh map quiz: PDF, Powerpoint

New resource – investigating coastal changes with historic maps

Posted on by

To help Digimap for Schools users make the most of the service, we have a number of free resources available that have been written by curriculum experts. A brand new resource is now available which is aimed at using the modern and historic mapping to investigate coastal change.

‘Investigating changes to coastal spits’ written by Janet Hutson uses the annotation tools to mark the extent of coastal spits on the 1890s historic mapping. Then pupils use the modern map to annotate the current extend of the spit. These extents can then be compared on the 1890s and current mapping to provide evidence for conclusions drawn about any changes.

You can find Janet’s fantastic resource under the Key Stage 3 resources, on the Free Resources page.

Investigating coastal spit change using 1890s, modern maps and the annotation tools

Investigating coastal spit change using 1890s, modern maps and the annotation tools

Ordnance Survey teacher training sessions in Scotland

Posted on by

On October 29th and 30th, Ordnance Survey will be running two training events for teachers. Both primary and secondary teachers are welcome to come along. The sessions will give hand-on use of Digimap for Schools, an overview of GIS and a look at free teacher resources available from Ordnance Survey.

They will take place at:

The James Young High School , Livingston, EH54 6NE on Wednesday , 29th October 4-6pm. Please email Elaine Batty (elaine.batty@wled.org.uk) to book a place.

Perth Academy , PH1 1NJ on Thursday , 30th October , 4.30-6 pm. Please email Tan Logan (malogan@pkc.gov.uk) to book a place.

Free September training sessions

Posted on by

Darren Bailey from Ordnance Survey has begun a new tour of English schools to run teacher training events providing hands on training in Digimap for Schools.

The first event in Hatfield yesterday (1st Sept) had a great turn out of keen teachers, eager to get to grips with the service.

Teacher training in Hatfield

Teacher training in Hatfield

Upcoming events will be held in:

  • 15-9 Lancaster
  • 16-9 Aldershot
  • 18-9 Manchester
  • 22-9 North Cheam
  • 23-9 West Drayton
  • 29-9 Appley Bridge
  • 30-9 Dewsbury

If you would like to find out more information about one of these events, please contact Darren - Darren.Bailey@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

 

 

New term, new mapping data

Posted on by

Over summer, the Digimap for Schools team have been beavering away processing updated Ordnance Survey mapping for the annual data update.   Every year, we take updates from Ordnance Survey and put them into Digimap for Schools, so recent changes in your area may now be on the maps.

The mapping is all 2014 data, the specific month for each product is:

MasterMap May 2014
VectorMap Local Raster July 2014
1:25 000 Raster April 2014
1:50 000 Raster June 2014
1:250 000 Raster June 2014
MiniScale January 2014

We need you! Classroom displays and resources

Posted on by

This is a call/plea to all teachers that have created any classroom displays that feature maps printed from Digimap for Schools.  We are looking for photos of your displays to feature in a new progression in geography resource that is being written.  If you have any displays featuring maps from Digimap for Schools that you’d be happy to share, please email them to us at edina@ed.ac.uk.  We need photos of your displays by the end of June, so get snapping!

Our second call is for resources, for any stage/age using Digimap for Schools that you have written.  We have a number of resources already available written by Paula Owens and Alan Parkinson, which are extremely popular.  We want to expand the range of resources available and would like to share your tried and tested resources.  We’ll add your resources to the Digimap for School website for other teachers to download and reuse.  Please send us your resources to edina@ed.ac.uk and we’ll pop them up on the website.

 

 

Geography GCSE subject content April 2014

Posted on by

Today’s blog post comes from Ken Lacey, Education Manager at Ordnance Survey.  Here, Ken highlights parts of the new Geography curriculum that Digimap for Schools mapping and tools support.

Published in April 2014 the subject aims and learning outcomes of the Geography GCSE subject content document should enable students to build on their key stage 3 knowledge and skills to:

“Develop and extend their competence in a range of skills including those used in field work, in using maps and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)……..�

Within the section titled Scope of Study, reference is specifically made to maps in Para 10 where we read:

“The use of a range of maps, atlases, Ordnance Survey maps, satellite imagery and other graphic and digital materials including the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), to obtain, illustrate, analyse and evaluate geographical information. To include making maps and sketches to present and interpret geographical information�

Within the section titled Assessment of fieldwork, attention is drawn in Para 23 to “The following areas of knowledge, skills and understanding should be assessed through the fieldwork assessment� and includes the following “processing and presenting fieldwork data in various ways including maps graphs and diagrams�

Digimap for Schools provides a range of GB wide Ordnance Survey map scales including a historical One inch map layer dated 1895 – 1899 and provides a range of tools to illustrate, analyse and evaluate geographical information. The tools allow the user to illustrate their map with drawings and text, add photographs and analyse areas with the point or line buffer tool.

Available to all is Digimap for Schools free resources which provide a range of activities at all key stages to enhance the classroom experience using maps to broaden their geographic experience and skills. These include the resources titled ‘Quick ideas for using Digimap for Schools’ which presents 12 quick classroom or homework ideas which make use Digimap for Schools and ‘Digimap for Schools to support GCSE’ which highlights the use of Digimap for School at GCSE.