Latest Contributions by CharlieFitzpatrick

In September 2015, world leaders committed to the Global Goals for Sustainable Development: 17 goals through which to achieve 3 big things by 2030. All are subjects for which GIS can play a role, and all are relevant at any point during the school year. Many of these same ideas are also seen in the Esri 2016 User Conference opening video. ... View more

Educators often want maps or posters for the classroom wall, especially at the start of the school year. Here are some ideas: Think about having students cut up older Esri Map Books, if you have some, or have each print off a favorite map from the online digital versions of these, at http://www.esri.com/mapmuseum Or explore the "Maps We Love" series, http://www.esri.com/mapswelove Or explore the vast set of Story Maps, best viewed in the gallery, maybe from a specific subject (lefthand side), http://storymaps.arcgis.com/en/gallery/#s=0  ... View more

With support from the Geography Education National Implementation Project (GENIP), the American Association of Geographers (AAG) has developed a proposal for a new Advanced Placement course in Geographic Information Science and Technology (AP GIS&T).    All U.S. high schools, colleges, and universities are invited to review the proposal by visiting www.apgist.org.    AP GIS&T is designed to introduce high school students to the fundamentals of geographic information science and applications of powerful geospatial technologies for spatial analysis and problem solving. Together with AP Human Geography, AP GIS&T offers an opportunity to engage students in outstanding geographic learning experiences and promote awareness of the many college and career opportunities available in the discipline.     The AP GIS&T course proposal has attracted broad support from prominent scientific and educational organizations, as well as major technology employers.   For AP GIS&T to become a reality, the AAG needs to collect attestations from 250 U.S. high schools that confirm they have the interest and capacity to offer the course. Similar assurances are needed from 100 colleges and universities that they would be willing to offer some form of credit to students who demonstrate proficiency on the AP GIS&T exam.   The AAG invites high school principals and academic department chairpersons to consider adding their institution to the list of AP GIS&T supporters by completing the brief attestation form at www.apgist.org. The AAG's goal is to complete the attestation process by October, 2016.   Have questions about AP GIS&T? Contact the AAG at ap_gist@aag.org. ... View more

Hey out there, can any of you who are teaching Comp Sci, and using GIS during at least part of it, share here what you do with your students? ... View more

Many folks have asked for guidance about doing intro/training events about GIS for teachers or students. Many of us have done a number of these in different settings over the years. A really important rule of thumb is to get a number of key questions answered before starting to make plans. In other words, know what's expected. Here's the set of questions I encourage folks to get answers to, and the things I seek before I commit. 1. What are the requestor's goals? a. Audience will see ...? b. Audience will know ...? c. Audience will do ...? d. Audience will be able to do afterward on their own ...? e. Presenter/s will include these content items ...? 2. What is the audience like? a. numbers? b. ages? c. educational background? d. computer/device comfort? e. subject matter comfort? f. special cultural expectations for such events? (e.g. "There MUST be food every hour," or "absolutely no food or drink in the room," or "No handouts, only digital docs," etc) 3. What is the event facility like? a. which room? what room design? where is electricity available? b. tables? chairs? desks? other? c. hardware & specs? (computers? laptops? tablets? smartphones? GPSs? BYODs? touchscreens? d. software? e. internet? f. projector? screen? g. restrooms? parking? opportunity to be outdoors? 4. What time is available? a. preparation? b. setup? c. actual event? d. regulated breaks? e. will there be anyone helping? what ratio of audience to capable helpers? (10:1 is about the max for intro) f. will there be any special follow-up? Getting answers to these questions won't always mean that what you understood would be the case is what actually happens. Many of us "in the business" have arrived and discovered the actual circumstances to be very different from what was described and expected ... room, hardware, internet, audience, numbers, time, opportunity to display, even electricity. We all have horror stories. We talk with each other in shorthand: "It was a 'Deal with it' moment." The more you know for absolute sure beforehand, the better; the less you know for certain, the more likely you need to be ready to adapt. Think Macgyver. Be prepared to adapt the focus of activities, style of activity, the room, technology, time, etc. Think backwards: "When will this be over, and what do I absolutely need to accomplish before then, and what's an effective way to accomplish that under the circumstances?" I look forward to reading comments, ideas, and questions! Charlie ... View more

Survey123 (http://survey123.esri.com) is a powerful technology for field data collection. As of this post it is still in Beta, but it is sufficiently stable and robust to deserve attention by educators. ((Updates in the last week solved some key issues.)) Watch even just the first 7 minutes of the intro video (on YouTube)​, and you'll get a sense. The power of the app comes from designing a well-tuned survey using a spreadsheet -- something every educator should be able to do. Even more powerful: kids can build these, with PCs, Macs, Chomebooks, and tablets. The first challenge in any project is figuring out the mission; the second challenge is figuring out how to meet the mission. I've crafted a simple survey that meets both challenges quickly, for any school with an ArcGIS Online Organization. (K12 schools in the US should see http://www.esri.com/connected.) The survey attached to this entry lets educators ask students some "non-invasive" questions, in English or Spanish. After seeing the Survey123 video linked above, it helps to do a survey, and then study how the survey was built, before thinking about building one's own. This survey uses some tricks that would be important in schools but are barely mentioned in the video or help file -- setting up a second language, making the feature service build itself in the default language, crafting responses that need e.g. exactly 3 alphanumeric characters or 5 numbers, and so on. Recommendation: Watch the movie Scan the general help document (accessible from the Survey123 web page) Download the sample survey attached On your Windows/MacOS/Linux machine, download the Survey123 Connect app and install it Use Survey123 Connect to log into your Org on your computer and publish the sample survey into your Org On your iOS/Android tablet or smartphone, download and install the Survey123 mobile app Use Survey123 mobile device app to log into your Org and download the survey form Use Survey 123 mobile device to take the survey and submit your data; repeat as desired Use survey123.esri.com website or your Org to look at the "students" data layer Repeat steps 6-9 with students Ponder what data you would like students to engage in gathering Study the sample survey and help docs to figure out how to make your survey look and feel as desired. I look forward to comments! ... View more

Many educators ask how to make a map as a group. There are several strategies for this. The simplest method, which I recommend for people who are just starting, is to use map notes, which can be done even with just a public account. A document by the Geoporter group explains the process (English: http://bit.ly/MakeAGroupMap_AGO; Spanish: http://bit.ly/HagaUnMapaGrupal_AGO). Another method is to publish a CSV into an Org as a feature service, push it into a map, and have people access either the map or (better) a web app (such as a GeoForm) in which they add their own content. This is simple and can be a little more elegant because it's all in one service, and can have attachments, but the CSV cannot constrain the type of content entered. This route requires an Org for the service, and the creator can decide if contributors must belong to the Org and sign in, or any Org and sign in, or have any AGO account and sign in, or not sign in at all. A more robust version of #2 is to use a feature service published via the publishing service at http://developers.arcgis.com (accessible only if/when you are logged into an Org with publishing credentials). This lets you define the field types (text, number, etc) but not constrain a field to specific choices. See the graphic below to know what to look for on that page: A more robust version of #3 is to use a feature service published via ArcMap with domains established. There is an "older" blog and map that describes this (http://esriurl.com/funwithgis128) and a wonderful recent course on the Esri Virtual Campus that walks users thru this process (http://esriurl.com/vcteachingwithgis2). The next step up is to work with some of the various field data collection apps that Esri has made available. See http://esriurl.com/k12gis and go to "06.Apps&Programming". [[See Survey123 notes added below.]] As with much of GIS, especially online GIS, there are multiple ways to accomplish an important task. Again, for novices, I recommend starting with Route#1 above, because it is doable, fast, with minimal knowledge, and will lead users to discover the value of learning the more powerful methods if they want more standardized content and broader participation. ... View more