Prioritising Geographic Concepts for Teaching New Learners GIS: results from our blog poll

We asked readers of the blog to identify the priority of teaching certain Geographic Concepts to new users whilst quite a few people viewed the questions only 21 readers completed the poll. Firstly, I would like to thank the blog readers who completed our quick survey. The table below summarises the concepts that we used in the poll. A graph at the bottom of the blog post shows the results.

Geographic Concept	Details	Example
Beginning mapping	importance of location	zoom, pan, layers
Geographic data modelling	raster versus vector	Points, Lines, Polygons and Pixels....
Cartographic theory	fundamental principles of cartography	simplicity, harmony, no map junk ...
Data generalisation	introduction of types of and need for generalisation	Simplification, Selection, Omission, Displacement, Aggregation...
Data classification	introduction to data classification rules and type of classification	Natural Breaks, Quintiles, Geometric Progressions ...
Mapping conventions	elements that enhance user understanding of the map	scale bar, legend, north arrow, symbology....
Simple spatial analysis	introducing simple analysis computed using GIS	buffer, distance, overlay....
Uncertainty in geographic data	Impact of uncertainty on data	Modifiable Areal Unit Problem, ecological fallacy

With such a small N we do not have a any statistically valid results but what we do have is some useful thoughts that support the thinking of the project team and the development of the scenarios and resulting site development.

We asked readers to prioritise the concepts based on a linear scale of 1 to 5, where a score of 1 represented a concept that was not relevant to new learners and a score of 5 signified a must teach concept for new users. Using these values, I have calculated a quick and dirty Score of Importance for each of the priorities, see the graph at the bottom. This score alongside the free text comments helps us to identify quickly what our readers think are the most important concepts to teach new learners of GIS.

Results :

• All of the concepts are relevant for new users of GIS to learn – but the timing of when they are introduced is what is most important
• The most important concept is associated with beginning mapping and why spatial is special
• New users need to be aware of the issues that result because GI models are simply an abstraction of reality and they need to be familiar with how reality is represented using data models.
• Principles and practical cartography were rated (slightly) more important to teach before introducing simple spatial analysis and uncertainty
• The details of datums and map projections are beyond the scope but it is important for users to recognise the internal bias that may result from a map projection

Metaphor for Introducing & Teaching Map Projections: The world as a Piece of (Digital) Graph Paper

The ins and outs of projection systems can be complicated to introduce to new learners of GIS – and how much do you really need to know to create your first map? Over a coffee in the sunshine (it was hard work teaching summer school in Malta) Claire and I were discussing the question: How do we introduce map projections to new learners?

It turns out we both start with a demonstration. Claire uses her fist to represent the globe and her other hand to represent the piece of paper that is then wrapped around the globe (somewhat like the rock, paper scissors game). I on the other hand use a Clementine and a piece of paper – the paper crumples resulting from wrapping the paper around the Clementine represent the distortions that occur during the projection process. We both then go on to talk about grids etc...

Both of these illustrate the problem of modelling a complex reality in 2D. So if new learners imagined that a giant piece of graph paper is wrapped around the globe and that each place on earth is then marked on the graph paper it is possible to visualise the fundamentals of digital mapping.

The map window in a GIS is in essence a sheet of digital graph paper. One possibility is to harness this metaphor in our tutorials. Projection systems can be introduced simply within our scenarios, perhaps by activating and showing the grid (ie the sheet of graph paper) and asking the user to observe the coordinates changing as the mouse is moved horizontally and vertically.

It is important to understand the basics if you are using data that is not GIS ready. For example, one of the practical’s I have designed for the International GIS summer school at the University of Malta that I teach on uses a data set of road traffic accidents in England (from the UK open data initiative). The text file contains the X,Y location of each accident as an attribute field. In order to create point data of each accident the students need to know:

• 1) Why there is such a thing as a coordinate system?
• 2) How to identify fields containing coordinate data in the data set?
• 3) What coordinate system the fields represent?
• 4) How you can view the coordinates change as you move the mouse over your map

Reflective Teaching Practice: Do I need to know there is such a thing as a map projection?

Myself and Claire have just arrived back from the Island of Malta, where we both participate in the International Summer School in GIS held at the University of Malta. We both design and deliver lecture material targeted at professionals who are discovering how GIS maybe useful.

We were discussing our observations of the students and how they learn and interact with the GIS software and its theoretical principles.

One subject up for debate was, "do new learners of GIS and its concepts need to know immediately about projections?" There is a tendency to be puritanical about what concepts new learners of GIS need to understand putting aside this tendency, our conclusion was: “Not necessarily”.

Let me explain. Most everyday users of Bing Maps, Google Maps etc interact with the map quite happily without needing to know that a projection system makes it possible to create the digital representations of the world. The same can be said for users of navigation systems in cars or on phones.

Therefore, it is only natural that a new user of GIS, creating their first map using off the shelf Shape files or MapInfo Tabs (for example taken from Edina’s Digimap service), does not need their first interaction to introduce the complexities of coordinate systems that enable real world to be projected in 2 dimensions. It is only when their data they want to map is not GIS ready that they need to be introduced to a projection system.

... A quick question on geographic concepts?

Important Geographic and Cartographic Concepts for Beginners to GIS?

I have identified a list of broad geographic and cartographic concepts that are being considered for inclusion into our tool that has begun development. On analysing the interviews with the expert users, in combination with my experience of introducing GIS topics to new users the following concepts are being prioritised.

• Beginning mapping – the importance of location and scale
• Geographic data modelling – how representations of reality are created with different GIS data models
• Cartographic theory – fundamental principles of cartography that aid useful and usable maps to be produced
• Data generalisation - introduction of types of data generalisation and why it is necessary
• Data classification
• Mapping conventions – elements that enhance user understanding of the map
• Simple spatial analysis – introducing some simple of analysis that can be computed using GIS eg buffers and distance

If you have an opinion you can send us your thoughts via this quick questionnaire

Usability and the GeoWeb - Don't make me think!

Hi, this is Patrick, the technical lead developer on the project, and I have put off blogging here for far too long. I hope that I can catch up with my other team members and write about some of the interesting issues I have encountered through this project.

One of the primary concerns in this project for me are barriers to adoption, ie. how we can make an easy to use, fun online environment for users to learn spatial concepts. This concern also motivated me to develop another research project looking at usability in OpenStreetMap, that I am currently working on, which has profound implications for the design of this project.

Altough OSM is thriving, 70% of visitors who open an account do not go on to make a single edit to OpenStreetMap. To investigate why this is the case, we analysed through eye tracking and screen capture ten OSM novices through their first experience registering, adding and editing information to OSM. You can catch a brief peak into the first results in another blog post I did on my personal research blog, at spatialknowledge.eu.

OSM is an interesting case study of geo web usability because of the fact that users do not simply consume geo data, but are actively engaged in creating and editing new geographic data, resulting in much more advanced spatial learning challenges, including different spatial data types (point, line, polygons), how to define attributes and ontologies, dealing with different data layers and even advanced GI concepts such as topology.

A basic example you can see in this video below, which highlights the importance of putting common web interaction elements where users expect them. In this case, the Search functionality's position is the last place the user is looking, when it is one of the most common used functions.

The finished research will highlight not only specific usability problems that the OSM project currently has in engaging and supporting their user community, but also give a fresh view of the way non expert GIS users approach and interact with spatial data consumption and creation. This research then should give this project a profound insight into how non-experts approach and understand geo data and concepts, and how this can be translated into usable and engaging interactions and interfaces.

G3 a Few Months In

We’re now a few months in to the G3 project, and here’s the story so far:

- We’ve conducted and documented a number of in-depth interviews with members in our target groups of urban design, urban anthropology, history and environmental management.

- The interviews have been analysed, common themes and tasks identified, scenarios developed and then ‘translated’ into the language of GIS so that they can be implemented as teaching tools. We’re now looking at identifying data for each scenario.

- We’ve designed the end-to-end architecture of our scenario creation tool – this wasn’t as easy as a simple web site design, given that we want to build something extensible – i.e. that can grow as more scenarios are identified.

- We’ve set up our webserver, migrated a massive amount of existing reference code across, and started looking at the design of our scenarios from the end user perspective. We plan to use a step-by-step approach to allow our students to move through the learning process at their own page. The tool will validate that they understand the concepts as they go through.

- We’ve talked to a number of people involved in GIS teaching to identify how they approach introducing people from other disciplines to GIS.

So, we’d like to take the opportunity to say thanks to all the people who have participated in the project so far! We’ve promised most of you anonymity, but watch this space to see how your input has shaped the work.

If GIS were a Language......?

As part of the annual GISRUK conference this year (which was held at Portsmouth, I organised an unprogramme session in the spirit of Where Camp. This is something new to the attendees of GISRUK but nevertheless it gave the project team the chance to introduce the project and debate some of the issues we have been engaging with as a team. One of the discussions centred on the idea that if GIS were a language – what would be the equivalent of saying, “hello, my name is Kate”.This is interesting because in one of my project interviews a participant discussed the langauage of GIS too.

The analysis of the interviews a have enabled me to build a list of geographic concepts that our scenarios will support but we are interested to know what your thoughts maybe...... Which geographic concept do you think is the starting point to learning a new language of GIS? In the not too distant future we will be posting a questionnaire to collate your opinions.

Importance of knowing location

The user interviews are revealing many insights that as a GIS expert I take for granted. One of the interviewees revealed that just being able to maps of things they are interested in is a big thing for their field. We should not take for granted the simplicity and importance that just knowing about location means we can create a map.

So one of the first geographic concepts that we need to consider is that almost everything happens somewhere, and by knowing this where, we can build a map.

Child of Ten Standard of User Interface Design

A useful benchmark in user interface design is the Child of Ten standard. This means that a child of ten should be able to learn to do something useful with the system within 10 minutes. This indicates that a system is “easy to use”. In 1998 Al Gore discussed this in the context of GIS and digital globes as cited by Goodchild his paper “the Use Case of Digital Earth” in 2008.

I do not know if this has actually been validated for digital globes such as NASA World Wind or GoogleEarth but from personal experience I am absolutely certain they are easier to use, easier to learn and easier to remember the functionality than proprietary desktop GIS.

In this project we aim to develop a useful and usable GeoWeb application for non experts and so this benchmark could be incorporated into the testing and development phase – can non-experts learn to do something in our application within 10 minutes? Something to consider.....