Skip to main content
Creating Powerful Geography
a toolkit for spatial learning
Karl Donert, President EUROGEO,
Director: European Centre of Excellence: digital-
earth.eu
eurogeomail@yahoo.co.uk
Why is geography relevant?
221/08/2015
Geo- is everywhere
http://www.geo-cube.eu
Geography Toolkit
• Spatial Learning
• Sustainability
• Geography and the
Citizen
• Futures
http://www.geo-cube.eu
Spatial Learning: using maps
London crimes
2012-2013
Some spatial questions
London crimes
2012-2013
• Spatial location –where?
• Orientation – where in relation to?
• Process –what is taking place?
• Systems – how is it being affected?
• Surroundings – how does it connect beyond?
• Making decisions – what solutions?
• How can I make a difference?
Spatial learning
Spatial terminology
Geography Toolkit
• Spatial Learning
• Sustainability
• Geography and the
Citizen
• Futures
http://www.geo-cube.eu
Sustainability Dimension
Sustainability =
• Complex, dynamic and geographical
• Political, social, economic and
environmental
• Critical issues – poverty, climate, energy,
oceans
• People = resilience and adaptation
Providing crucial links between nature
and society
Nature: Physical equations
Describe processes
Society: Decisions on how to
Use the Earth´s resources
Sustainable
Development Goals
Geographic (geo-)media
International Year of Global Understanding
http://www.global-understanding.info
Geography Toolkit
• Spatial Learning
• Sustainability
• Geography and the
Citizen
• Futures
http://www.geo-cube.eu
Spatial Citizenship – Connecting
Society with Geo-Media
Geography and the Citizen
17
Competences and spatial citizenship
Gryl I, Jekel T and Donert K, (2010), GI & Spatial Citizenship, In Jekel T, Donert K, Koller A and Vogler R,
Learning with GeoInformation V, Berlin, Wichman Verlag
Spatial Citizenship
Theoretical approach and core dimension of Spatial Citizenship
 preconditions for SPACIT
 focus on web tools
 technical skills 
 knowledge about variety
 counter mapping
 communities in web2.0
 expression,
communication,
negotiation
 deconstruction
 hypothesis construction
 awareness about life-
world consequences Gryl & Jekel (2012)
Spatial Citizenship
Theoretical approach and core dimension of Spatial Citizenship
 preconditions for SPACIT
 focus on web tools
 technical skills 
 knowledge about variety
 counter mapping
 communities in web2.0
 expression,
communication,
negotiation
 deconstruction
 hypothesis construction
 awareness about life-
world consequences Gryl & Jekel (2012)
Spatial Citizenship
SPACIT teacher training course
free materials available from
http://www.spatialcitizenship.org
SPACIT summary
Constructivist
• we actively construct our own citizenship
• SPACIT stresses active participation and interaction
Intercultural
• considers diversity – in ideas, values and behaviours
Built on dialogue
• negotiation – communication - appropriation of space
• empowerment to participate in the debate about the sort
of future society we need to create
Technological – digital geo-media and the citizen
Donert K (2008), Examining the relationship between Citizenship and Geography Education, 73-92, in Lambrinos N
and Reliou M (Eds.), European Geography Education: the challenges of a new era, Arlington, W Virginia, National
Council for Geographic Education
What sort of technology?
What sort of technology?
Geography Toolkit
• Spatial Learning
• Sustainability
• Geography and the
Citizen
• Futures
http://www.geo-cube.eu
Educational futures
(Hicks, 2012 )
Do we have the power to decide on what kind of
future society we want to create?
Geography education needs to:
• develop critical thinking skills to accurately assess
our present situation
• stimulate creative thought on which alternative
futures we want
• equip citizens to make choices on the basis of
accurate information
Hicks, D. (2012). The future only arrives when things look dangerous: Reflections on
futures education in the UK. Futures, 44(1), 4-13.
Powerful imagery
Read the world
§
Geospatial
integration
challenges and
considerations: r
eflections on data
dashboards
https://t.co/NGYv
CuQdiW
Economic Value of Geospatial
Data (Arup Dasgupta, 2013)
Dusgupta A (2013), Economic Value of Geospatial Data: The great enabler http://tinyurl.com/nj9fbj2
Geography as powerful
knowledge (in the Anthropocene)
Geography encourages,
• ‘world knowledge’: deep, descriptive and explanatory
• the development of the relational thinking that
underpins geographical thought
• a propensity to think about social, economic and
environmental futures (Lambert, 2013)
Lambert, D. (2013). Geography in school and a curriculum of survival. Theory
and Research in Education, 11(1), 85-98.
GeoCapabilities
http://www.geocapabilities.org
Karl Donert
eurogeomail@yahoo.co.uk
@karldonert
@eurogeography
Creating Powerful Geography: a toolkit