Geospatial technologies are simply technologies that organize information spatially to allow users to analyze patterns and make geographic conclusions. Geospatial technologies can be as complicated and multi-million dollar space equipment to something as mundane as a cell phone. Many teachers are What are some resources to get started with geospatial materials? ESRI, the company that makes ArcGIS has produces an 8 page pamphlet that discusses great resources for K-12 educators looking to bring geospatial technologies into the K-12 classroom setting. The e-book Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a Support System in the K-12 Context gives solid pedagogical rationale for this type of venture (podcast version).

The following videos from Penn State’s GIS lab (GEOVISTA) are good introductions to the current trends that are making location-based technologies more important than ever. Each of these episodes are approximately 15 minutes and highlight the critical applications of geography, location and technology and the

Episode #1: How we got here and what we still need:

Episode #2: Urban and Business applications:

Episode #3: Military, Defense and Public Safety Application

Episode #4: Vignettes–Climate Change, Preventing Hunger, Tracking Disease, and Democratizing the Tools

This is just a start of the available resources for GIS in the classroom setting. See also ESRI’s education materials (including lesson plans) and curated GIS resources on my ‘scoop.it’ page.

gislayerexample