Geography on your PC – internet and GIS tools

Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)Thursday 12th October 2006

Presenter: David Rayner

I am currently fighting a national campaign on behalf of all Geographers to ‘Give Geography its Place’ – one of the key aims of this action is to try and persuade the media, particularly the BBC and major newspapers to give explicit recognition to the important role played by Geography in educating young people and preparing them for life in the world outside of school or college.

On a daily basis, the TV news bulletins and the newspaper headlines are full of Geography – you cannot escape it – and yet, inexplicably, the word is rarely if ever mentioned in the context of these news articles.

News Headlines

Electricity beyond reach for millions

A television and an iron are the first domestic appliances that poor black South African families buy when they first receive electricity. Fridges are deemed a luxury in a country where many cannot afford the 65 rand (£5) that it costs to connect a shantytown house to the national grid.

The cultural capital still blighted by racial divide

WITH ten million inhabitants, and nearly ten million more in its satellite cities, São Paulo is South America’s megalopolis and the biggest city in the southern hemisphere.

Australia plans immigrant tests

Australia is planning a radical strengthening of immigration laws that would require prospective citizens to take tough English language tests as well as a quiz on history and culture.

Many killed in tropical storm

At least 63 people have died and hundreds are missing in India and Bangladesh after storms in the Bay of Bengal, officials say.

Sources of news ?

Using your PC, you can these days tap into virtually any news source online:

• TV stations – BBC, ITV, C4, CNN

• Search engines – Google News, Yahoo News, etc

• Newspapers – Times, Guardian, Telegraph, Washington Post, etc.

• Specialist – Geography in The News, PhysicsWeb, etc.

Once you have identified these sources, you need to start asking some questions:

• do they focus on a particular country or countries?

• do they offer global news?

• is there a particular bias in the news stories?

• what is the depth of coverage like on individual news stories?

• how readable are the news stories?

A major advantage of using online news sources (compared to traditional paper sources) is that being online allows the various organisations to provide a media-rich product. So in an online source, we have:

• traditional text-based news

• photo galleries

• video libraries

• podcasts and vidcasts

The distinction, therefore, between newspaper sources and TV sources of news is becoming blurred….

An additional benefit is that many sources archive their news allowing you to research topics and follow news stories over time.

Sadly, some of these archives do require a subscription to access them.

Advantages……

BBC News

BBC News via e-mail

ITV News

URL: http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/

The Newseum!!

Yahoo News

Google News

Photo Gallery – Times Online: Floods in India

B

http://www.geoeye.com/default.htm

Source of satellite images ?

Video Gallery Reuters News Agency : Brazil Crime

Video news…..yes, it’s global warming again!

ARCHIVE LISTINGS Adventures in the Tourist Trade Brazil: The Gentle Giant Awakes Building Beijing Fault lines From Dictatorship to Democracy Fuelling the FutureGive Me Land Inside the EU Making Cities WorkThe New Africa The Changing Face of Global Power The Congo The Aid Trap The New Arab World Urban Planet World Without Waste

Podcasts from the BBC (mp3 format)

The Aid Trap

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/downloadtrial/podcast.shtml

Flash Animations – locational knowledge ?

Flash Animations – physical geography

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/navigation/visualization.cfm

http://www.geo.wvu.edu/%7Edonovan/geol101/animationindex-mh.htm

URL: http://earthtrends.wri.org/

URL: http://www.swisseduc.ch/glaciers/

Glaciers Online

Weather sources:

URL: http://www.polarorbiter.co.uk/Bracknell.htm

URL: http://www.coolweather.co.uk/htdocs/index.html

URL: http://tools.google.com/gapminder/

Data sources – Census 2001 England

Data sources – Census 2001 Interactive maps

Data sources – Census 2001 Interactive pyramids

Statistics – what do they mean?

URL: http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/index.html

Exports of medicines

Rail freightInternational immigrants

Land area

Forests

WorldMapper maps…

Online GIS resources

MultiMap

Environment Agency Flood Maps

URL: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/

British Geological Society

URL: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/digital_maps/maps/home.html

City of Nottingham GIS

URL: http://webgis.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/website/nomad/index.asp?app=www_nomad

And a little bit of fun to finish….. it’s time for a harsh environments lesson!

Geography on your PC – internet and GIS tools

Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)Thursday 12th October 2006

Presenter: David Rayner

THANK YOU AND GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR AS/A2 COURSE………