Fun with GIS 226: Computer Science Ed Week
Dec 4-10, 2017, is Computer Science Education Week. Fans of GIS will find options in the two-page document “GIS for Coders”http://esri.box.com/gisforcoders (or http://k12.maps.arcgis.com => “06.Apps & Programming”). Quick to lengthy experiences at three levels await.
In “Part 1: Explore Maps, Users, and Missions,” students can check out a bank of videos, map books, and Story Maps. Seeing and hearing the process and end product of GIS users, students can grasp how users solve problems with software. Whether responding to disasters or providing the resources that support everyday life, GIS users rely on core software and specialty apps to gather, manage, and interpret data.
In “Part 2: Explore Apps,” students can dive into banks of apps that permit free form exploration. With no specific “right answer,” users can move from simple to complex creations, and discover volumes of patterns and relationships, global to local, without worry of “breaking anything.” (Stuck? Just refresh the browser or choose another app!)
In “Part 3: Explore Software Development,” learners can see the bank of tools available for building, from configuring templates, thru building apps via drag and drop, to simple development and customization, to full-scale coding. For these choices, learners need to be able to log in and store content, ideally via an ArcGIS Online Organization for greatest options.
The 21st century is awash in ever more data — digital raw materials with attributes and properties that can be queried, integrated, and used in countless ways. People who understand the nature and power of these digital bits, who know how to combine and manipulate them, can better control their own lives, and use these powers to make life better for all. Explore!http://esri.box.com/gisforcoders