1. The GoogleSpatial World:
Making Classrooms a Spatial
Place
Bob Kolvoord
James Madison University
kolvoora@jmu.edu

2. Why?
 What are the key questions we
expect adults to be able to answer/
address in the 21st Century?
 What skills will be needed?
 Where do we teach them?

3. Spatial Thinking
 [The] ability to visualize and interpret location,
distance, direction, relationships, movement and
change over space (Sinton, 2009)
 Looking for geographic patterns, interpreting
phenomena at different scales, answering the
“why things are where they are” question

4. Support
 National Academies Reports
◦ Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a Support System in
the K-12 Curriculum
 Geographic Information Science has significant but as yet
unrealized potential for supporting spatial thinking across a
range of subjects in the K-12 curriculum (pg. 8)
◦ Successful K-12 STEM Education: Identifying Effective
Approaches in Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics
 “Increase STEM literacy for all students, including those who
do not pursue STEM-related careers or additional study in the
STEM disciplines” (pg. 5)

5. What are the GoogleSpatial
Technologies?
 Geobrowsers (i.e. Google Earth)
 GPS
 Remote Sensing
 GIS

6. Geobrowers
 Easy to use
 Ubiquitous?
 Provide a new vantage point on the
world (the way in?)

7. GPS
 Huge growth in the automobile
industry
 Lots of schools have handheld GPS
units – good opportunity to collect
data (VGI or “citizen science”)
 Do GPS units make us locationally
stupid?

8. Remote Sensing
 “Eyes in the Sky”
 Can be “pictures” or can be at
wavelengths we can’t perceive with
our eyes
 GeoEye - http://www.geoeye.com/CorpSite/
 Landsat - http://www.esri.com/landsat

9. Basic applications
 Google Maps – http://maps.google.com
 Bing Maps – http://www.bing.com/maps
 Google Earth – http://earth.google.com/
 Google Earth lessons -
http://gelessons.com/lessons/
 Structured
or unstructured, but mostly
show and tell (relatively little analysis)

10. Web-based GIS applications
 National Atlas – http://www.nationalatlas.gov
 ArcGIS Online – http://arcgis.esri.com
 Google Mapmaker –
http://www.google.com/mapmaker
 ESRI Business Analyst Online -
http://www.esri.com/software/bao/
 Broadvariety of geographic data. The
price is right, but flexibility and control
are limited

11. More Web-based mapping
applications
 ESRI EdCommunity Collections –
http://esriurl.com/edteamportal1
http://esriurl.com/edteamportal2
 ArcGIS Explorer Online
http://explorer.arcgis.com/

12. Going Further?
 Desktop GIS software
◦ ArcGIS (http://www.esri.com) - PC only
◦ MyWorld (http://www.myworldgis.org/) - Mac
or PC
◦ Freeware packages
 What’s possible?
◦ Geospatial Semester
 http://www.isat.jmu.edu/geospatialsemester

15. $$$$$$$A($8.EE(8>('$.*+$Q*/,N>/NC($
/,'$Q*/E&>/NC($'/>/$G(+7.,/EE9$)9$$ $$$$A($8.,8E*'($></>$7>*'(,>73$
*7&,=$BC($;&,*>($&,>(+C/E7$>.$ 1/8*E>93$/,'$G/+(,>7$7<.*E'$
,.N8($><($8</,=(7$&,$>+/J8$'*($ /++&C($/>$78<..E$)(1.+($
>.$)*7(73$8/+73$/,'$:/ER(+7?$A($ PL""5D$>.$/C.&'$;.+,&,=$
:/,>('$>.$)($/)E($>.$'(>(+;&,($ >+/J8$/,'$>.$E(/C($+&=<>$/O(+$
><($)(7>$N;(7$1.+$8.;;*>(+7$>.$ 78<..E$/>$6LT"UD$.+$>.$:/&>$
I<($;/G$.,$><($+&=<>$7<.:7$ *,NE$/O(+$6L6!$UD$>.$/C.&'$
/C.&'$7G(,'&,=$N;($&,$>+/J8$>.$ ><($>+/J8$1+.;$KLM"$>.$KLM!$
/,'$1+.;$78<..E?$S*+$;.+,&,=$ 7<.:&,=$><($>+/J8$/>$&>7$
/O(+,..,$>+/J8?$I+/J8$&7$'*($
&,>(+C/E$:/7$1+.;$KLM"$>.$PL6"$ 7E&=<>(7>?$I<(+($&7$,.$>+/J8$/>$ >.$/EE$><($:/ER(+7$8.;&,=$1+.;$
/,'$.*+$/O(+,..,$&,>(+C/E$:/7$ ><&7$N;(?$ ;*ENGE($'&+(8N.,73$7G(('$
1+.;$6LT"$>.$6LM"$?$ )*;G73$/,'$8+.77&,=$=*/+'7$
,.>$8..+'&,/N,=?$
I<($;/G$.,$><($E(O$7<.:7$><($
>+/J8$1+.;$PL""$>.$PL"!$
7<.:&,=$></>$/>$><&7$N;($>+/J8$
&,$><($;.+,&,=$&7$/>$><($
<(/C&(7>?$I<($/+(/$8&+8E('$&7$><($
;.7>$8.,=(7>('$7>+((>?$
-.)&,7.,$%(8.,'/+9$:/7$,/;('$&,$
<.,.+$.1$%=>?$@/;(7$A?$-.)&,7.,3$@+?3$
><($B+7>$4&+=&,&/$+(7&'(,>$>.$+(8(&C($
I<($;/G$.,$><($+&=<>$7<.:7$
><($D('/E$.1$F.,.+$1.+$8.,7G&8*.*7$
>+/J8$1+.;$6L6"$>.$6L6!$
=/EE/,>+9$/,'$<(+.&7;$&,$><($
7<.:&,=$></>$/>$><&7$N;($&,$
4&(>,/;$8.,H&8>?$F&7$;/=,&B8(,>$
><($/O(+,..,$>+/J8$&7$><($
'&7GE/9$.1$E(/'(+7<&G$/,'$)+/C(+9$
<(/C&(7>?$$I<($8&+8E('$/+(/$&7$
7/C('$7(C(+/E$E&C(7$/,'$&,7G&+('$<&7$
><($;.7>$8.,=(7>('$7>+((>?$
7.E'&(+7$>.$'(1(/>$><($/'C(+7/+9?$
!"#!$%&'()*+,$-./'$
0/&+1/23$45$$66"#6$

16. In the Exhibition Hall
• ESRI - #541
• Google - #2617
• Pasco - #1143
Contact me –
kolvoora@jmu.edu

17. Images courtesty of
 Slide 1 – http://richs.fys.elmhurst.edu/
 Slide 2 – http://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/preview_lesson.php?
&passid=2
 Slide 3 – http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec700/GPS/lesson-
ideas.htm
 Slide 4 – National Academies of Science (n
 Slide 5, 7 12-15 – The author
 Slide 6 – http://anuragbansal.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/how-to-
install-google-earth-on-ubuntulinux/
 Slide 8 – esri, inc (Las Vegas Landsat Infrared)
 Slide 9 –
http://media.photobucket.com/image/google%20placemark%20-
%20female/paradoxgreg/gmaps-reddk-blank.png?o=7
 Slide 11 - http://www.igic.org/about/index.html