[Portugal] Voluntered Geog. Info: Haiti and Teaching

[termal12]

http://googleearthdesign.blogspot.com/2010/04/voluntered-geog-info-haiti-and-teaching.html

Enviado para você por termal12 através do Google Reader: Voluntered
Geog. Info: Haiti and Teaching via Google Earth Design de Rich Treves
em 14/04/10
This video is about how volunteers used satellite imagery to digitise
roads, refugee camps and other infrastructure in Haiti following the
earthquake.


IMHO its the most important instance of what is becoming known as VGI
(Volunteered Geographic Information) yet to occur on the web. Those who
organised it and those who just took part deserve a great deal of
respect, I think we’re going to see a lot more mapping like this in
future emergency situations and this was the first example. As they
point out, key to this was the rapid publication of high quality
satellite imagery.

As it happens, I’ve just completed PolyMap a VGI based educational
project for Southampton University where we got the students to create
a thematic map via a web service based on Google Maps API* . They
mapped tree cover around Mt St Helens volcano in USA to see how trees
had recovered since the 1980 eruption, click the image to see a demo:


Thoughts for Others considering setting up VGI: Most of the following
was obtained via written student feedback:

- I gave students a background presentation of how VGI related to crowd
sourcing and other VGI projects (here as a PDF), the students said this
helped them realise what they were doing was a valid technique beyond
the Mt St Helens problem. Could be useful as a motivator in
non-educational situations?
- I split the area into a grid and assigned them a square each. This
helped in getting the entire area mapped although there was some
problems with people working in the wrong square etc.
- They complained that the classification scheme was difficult to apply
whilst I had thought it was fairly simple and well explained. It goes
to show that great care is needed in defining and then explaining
classification schemes. My video tutorials on how to produce the map
were very popular, fool proof documentation and instructions are well
worth the investment of time.
- They liked the fact that I collated the data and interpreted it in a
presentation after they had finished and working in groups on a shared
problem.
- Advances in Google MyMaps since we started the project mean it would
have been possible and much easier to do this project using Google
MyMaps rather than the bespoke PolyMap service.Other Educational Points:

- Student feedback was the most positive feedback I've had for a long
time!
- The 1980 Mt St Helens eruption is a great topic to teach using
technology, satellite images, youtube clips and photographs from USGS
are out there in abundance. I think having an interesting context (the
eruption) is possibly more important to the learning than the quality
of the VGI data.

Coisas que você pode fazer a partir daqui:
- Inscrever-se no Google Earth Design usando o Google Reader
- Começar a usar o Google Reader para se manter facilmente atualizado
sobre todos os seus sites favoritos
-------------- próxima parte ----------
Um anexo em HTML foi limpo...
URL: http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/portugal/attachments/20100415/a4334b70/attachment.html