OS Map Reading Week

This will take place in the first week back after half term... we will be doing some suitable activities...

Digimap for Schools

Don't forget that there is a help area for Digimap for Schools.
For example, if you want to add labels or text boxes here are the instructions.

Free access to Digimap for Schools

In an effort to help students and parents during this challenging time of isolation and home schooling, Digimap for Schools will be free for any school to access from today until the end of July 2020.

If you are an existing Digimap for Schools subscriber, they are automatically extending  subscriptions by four months, at no cost, subscribers don't need to do a thing.

Register your details and start accessing Digimap for Schools immediately.

Digimap for Schools - the new version

This video explores some of the new features in version 2 of the essential Digimap for Schools service. Take a look and see what's changed. New subscribers will have access to this service, and any subscriptions that end will be automatically renewed onto the new service from now on. You can see the new mapping partners on the updated login page shown below:



I had a chance to have a sneak peek and play and the new additions really add an extra dimension to the service including basic mapping of the whole globe, a new Postcodes option and changed tool interface which works nicely.


I will be sharing some new resources and ideas in the coming months, and producing a few of them for adding to the EDINA website. It may be worth revisiting some of the existing resources to see how they might now be enhanced with the new functionality.

Outdoor Classroom Day

Very kind, thanks :)

Digimap for Schools - now with aerial photography

From the letter received this morning by subscribers....


Digimap for Schools now contains a wonderful new addition that many of you have asked for over and over again – aerial photography!

We are thrilled at the addition of this new data, kindly donated by Getmapping Plc.

The aerial photography shows magnificent detail and clarity - it's cloud free for all of Great Britain, something you won't get anywhere else!  You can now compare and fade Ordnance Survey maps, historical maps and aerial photography with our new enhanced Map Chooser (shown).  It's simple to use and offers maximum flexibility.

We've also added new learning resources to accompany the aerial photography.  Be inspired with ideas such as using aerial photography to introduce learners to travel, transport and trade or discuss marks we humans leave on the landscape that can be seen in aerial imagery.  Both excellent ideas to get you started with aerial photography.

To make you get the most out of this new addition to Digimap for Schools, we've created a short introductory video which explains the difference between Aerial and AerialX, the info tool for discovering exact dates the aerial photography was flown in your area of interest and a map key showing the patchwork of years stitched together to form this seamless dataset.  

And of course there is a revised Help section on How to .... fade between map types.


Here's the video, and more videos and webinars are on the Digimap for Schools YouTube channel.

Steve Backshall prize received....

We've received our prize for sending images during the Digimap for Schools competition. It's a splendid Predators book by Steve Backshall which the great man himself has signed.
This is going to be available for Year 7s to win following our trip to Hunstanton next week.

Details about how to enter will be included in the pack you will get on the fieldtrip.

Teach near Ely? Want to know more about GIS?

Why not come along to the free day we're hosting at the end of June. Contact Alan Parkinson on the e-mail provided - limited places. FREE OF CHARGE.

GIS Day 2016

Digimap for Schools - available for KEJ (and KES, KEI and KEA) pupils

King's Ely students have access to Digimap for Schools: a digital mapping tool.
The username and password is on the classroom walls, and also on Firefly.

The Ordnance Survey, who provide the mapping for Digimap have recently mapped a very famous street. Can you guess what it is from the extract shown below ?

Read about the mapping here and here, from where you can download the full map.

Digimap for Schools - new addition

Digimap for Schools is a map streaming service which has featured here on the blog before.

Remember that all students at King's Ely can access these maps as we are a subscriber. Check each Geography classroom for the user name and password. It's in the Hot Board in N2, for example.

I've been involved in writing the educational materials for the service, which offers the chance to stream maps from the OS Mastermap level upwards

New features are being added to the service over time, and this week a major (and much requested) new addition was made.

This morning (24th March) a new version of Digimap for Schools was released with the exciting new addition of historic maps. These beautiful Ordnance Survey maps published between 1895 and 1899 as the Revised New Series in England and Wales and the 2nd Edition in Scotland, provide an additional rich learning resource and context for exploring how the landscape has changed in the last 120 years.

To view a historic map of your school, street or anywhere in Great Britain, use thenew historic map slider (beside the pan arrows) to fade the current OS map and reveal the historic map underneath.

For help on getting started with historic maps, take a look at the video available in theHow to view historic maps help page.

The historic maps have been scanned from original paper maps and made available courtesy of the National Library of Scotland.

Go to the mapping now, and zoom into the area that you are interested in (the slider will not be active at the top levels of zoom) and then slide to the left to go back a century or more....