geography

MapMaker Page Maps - National Geographic Education

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:43:08 +0100

"Customize one-page maps and download, email, print, or share!"

This resource, from National Geographic, must have been designed with the IWB (Interactive White Board) in mind. It has an easy "touch" navigation system and it has tabs that allow users to annotate and place various icons on the map.

The map elements options also allows users to add various map details including titles, latitude and longitude lines, landmarks, and key labels. Best of all, this resource includes a full-page option to help teachers display the map as large as possible with a single touch on their IWB. There is also an option to download the final map to an image file or a PDF file.

"Note: this resource is still in beta and I found that not all the features function perfectly. e.g. I wasn't able to download the map I created. However, I captured it using snippy, (on an XP Laptop) and the Snipping Tool that comes with Windows OS 7."

Visit http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/mapping/outline-map/ to find out more.

Virtual globe and world atlas software

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 08:59:50 +0100

I'm sure many of you have used Google Earth well Marble is an open source virtual globe and world atlas software that also lets users pan and zoom around and look up places, streets, airports and geographical features like mountains and lakes, and rivers.

Marble...

starts up fairly quickly;

downloads with a minimal but useful off-line dataset; it lets users use the software without internet access; Note: higher resolution imagery and maps become unavailable if there is no internet connection.

seems more responsive than Google Earth.

Marble also provides multiple map views...

The default a familiar classroom type atlas; which can be changed to

satellite view;

open street view;

satellite view at night;

historical view of circa 1689;

temperature and precipitation maps.

Marbles can also open Google Earth KML maps and GPS data based GPX files.

Visit http://edu.kde.org/marble/ to find out more.

P.S. Marble is available for all major operating systems (Linux/Unix, MS Windows and Mac OS X)

Better World Flux

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 21:45:14 +0100

How many learners have a real understanding of the real level of...

undernourishment;
child mortality; and/or
HIV prevalence

(to name but three key indicators)?

Better World Flux provides ready access to such information.

On Better World Flux, anybody can...

choose from a large series of indicators and

compare as many countries in the world as they wants at any one time.

Visitors, to Better World Flux, can...

compare the country where they live with others they are studying/concerned about/etc., and get to realize differences;

compare their continent with another continent, and have something of a global understanding when it comes to mortality rates, health expends and the peace index of each country within that continent.

The graphed information can be used by learners for personal and/or collaborative presentations/discussions etc. The following video, no sound, provides an overview...

Visit http://www.betterworldflux.com/ to find out more and/or to try out this excellent tool.

If it were my home...

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 21:17:54 +0100

"The lottery of birth is responsible for much of who we are."

"If you were not born in the country you were...

What would your life be like?

Would you be the same person?"

If It Were My Home provides a tool to aid understanding life in other countries by comparing them; use the country comparison tool to compare living conditions in our own country to those of another.

Visit http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/listing/GB to compare the UK with other countries.

This may also be useful as an Equality & Diversity resource.