#662: Tectonic plate movement

Several animations: the first from ESRI

And one from Visual Capitalist:

Plate tectonic evolution from 1 Billion years ago to the present..mp4 from Visual Capitalist on Vimeo.

and finishing with this map which you can explore.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/30/us/map-hometown-earth-continental-drift-scn-trnd/index.html

#657: Fractals, Mandelbrot and granularity in nature

Nature is the best artist, and produces stunning patterns: the feathery fronds of ice on a car in the morning, the complex patterns in a cauliflower and the aerial views of a river and its distributaries across a delta are just three of many thousands.

Often, when one views a pattern, zooming in reveals further granularity.

There is a mathematical relationship at work here. I've previously blogged about the Golden Ratio / Fibonacci sequence and its impact on natural forms.

In Adam Nicolson's 'The Sea is not made of Water' he talks about connections between Tim Robinson's maps of 'Aran' and these patterns.

The coastline of an island is impossible to measure accurately because as we zoom in the complexity of the coast reveals that it is not a straight line but has endless small imperfections which we should also measure if we want to be accurate.

Image: Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license

#604: QuickGIS

Andy Funnell has done a great job of collating a whole range of GIS tools into one place "for busy teachers" - and others.

It's called QuickGIS and is a Wordpress site that he has put together for the benefit of everyone.

Maps are shown in a series of categories.

A quick browse reveals some useful ones for teachers of all key stages. The 'Environment and Resources' tab for example takes you to various viewers and maps to explore ecosystems.

This ecoregions map is new to me, for example.

#561: MPAs

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are important for marine conservation. There are few of them.

If you want to find them, check out the map here.

Find out more about marine protected areas with this infographic by @FishOceansCAN⬇️
🐠#Biodiversity pic.twitter.com/K27lAV5JPL

— UN Biodiversity (@UNBiodiversity) March 7, 2024

#516: UK Soil Observatory Map Viewer

The UK Soil Observatory has a Map Viewer. 

This will be of  particular value when students are exploring the vital material that is soil - more of that in other related blog posts.  Soils were one of the topics that I focussed on in my undergraduate studies. There were also some connections with the work I did on various mass movements in the north of England.

Soil is significant as 

Land Cover Maps can also be created and download.

#433: National Character Areas (NCAs)

Natural England has updated the National Landscape Character assessments on their website.

 Wherever you are in England you are in one of these areas, which has a particular character.

Each NCA represents an area of distinct and recognisable character at the national scale. 

Their boundaries follow natural lines in the landscape, not county or district boundaries. 

This makes them a good framework for decision-making and planning for future change. 

The information contained within the NCA profiles aims to help guide land management and other activities to strengthen character and resilience, responding to pressures such as climate change.

I was born in Area 38: Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire Coalfield

I studied in Area 37: Yorkshire Southern Pennine Fringe

I trained as a teacher in Area 41: Humber Estuary

My first job was in Area 69: Trent Valley Washlands

The first home I owned was in Area 76: North West Norfolk and my school was on the very edge of Area 46: The Fens

I spent three years working in Area 37 - Yorkshire Southern Pennine Fringe, when I worked for the Geographical Association.

I now live in Area 84: Mid Norfolk, and my current school is in Area 46: The Fens

What numbers have you lived in?

#274: Placename Mapper - looking for natural influences

A nice mapping project shared by R T Wilson.

Thanks to Alasdair Rae for the tipoff.

I created a cool web app using @OrdnanceSurvey data - British Placename Mapper (https://t.co/lEk7T08Ob9). It allows you to search for place names that match various criteria (starts with 'great', ends with 'burgh' etc) and plot them on an interactive map. #gis #geospatial

— Robin Wilson (@sciremotesense) April 2, 2024

This could be useful to investigate the influence of natural landscapes on place names.

There are also some historical suffixes relating to the origins of settlements e.g. I was born in Wickersley - ley means a clearing in a woodland or forest. I am reminded of this when I visit Iceland, as place names are very descriptive and include elements which tell you about the origins of the settlement.

You can search for particular words at the beginning / end etc. of place names and add several layers in different colours (which you choose) to show comparisons.

Here's a map showing place names with WOOD in their name, for example. What can you come up with?

Why not buy them a coffee for their hard work! 

#190: 'Local'

Out in January 2024, the latest book from Al Humphreys will be published.

After years of expeditions all over the world, adventurer Alastair Humphreys spends a year exploring the detailed local map around his home.

Can this unassuming landscape, marked by the glow of city lights and the hum of busy roads, hold any surprises for the world traveller or satisfy his wanderlust? Could a single map provide a lifetime of exploration?

Discovering more about the natural world than in all his years in remote environments, he learns the value of truly getting to know his neighbourhood.

An ode to slowing down, Local is a celebration of curiosity and time spent outdoors, as well as a rallying cry to protect the wild places on our doorstep.

This sounds like it might have some good connections with the ideas in the GCSE Natural History.

Why not get out your own local OS sheet?

Mine is OS Explorer 238. 

There's certainly plenty of interest on that map sheet alone that could keep you going. An Explorer sheet covers an area of hundreds of square kilometres which would certainly take more than a year to thoroughly explore.

Available from Al's own website.

You can find out about Al's methodology and thinking around his local exploration here.

This is an area I may return to myself.

I have my copy and can confirm it's a really good read and have already made a few notes and downloaded a few apps that Al recomments, some of which will appear on this blog.

#183: Ordnance Survey survey on mapping and GIS

My hope would be that the new specification will involve an expectation of a deal of mapwork using the Ordnance Survey's mapping, plus ESRI GIS mapping and Survey123 for the collection and visualisation of fieldwork data. They may also need to use the MAGIC map, maps of National Landscapes etc and ensure that location and description of context is an important part when considering the range of habitats and how the landscape and Natural History of the UK has changed over the centuries.

I've been involved with the OS in numerous ways over the years: as a GetOutside Champion, author of support resources for Digimap for Schools and Digimap for Colleges / Mapstream. Also as an author of articles for Mapping News and other support for various campaigns and activities.

For many years Ordnance Survey has delivered support for education to encourage the awareness and use of high-quality geospatial data in the education sector and since 2020 this has been through an Education Plan, funded through the UK Government's Geospatial Commission (GC).
They are keen to gather evidence about how this has so far supported the work of teachers and consider what more they could be doing in this area. 

They would also like to understand what other training tools geography teachers currently access and the barriers that may be in place when using geographic information systems (GIS).

They are asking for 15 minutes (or so) of your time to complete a short survey. 

The survey is open to all geography teachers until Friday 8 December and the findings from it will help them to consider how to develop the Education Plan.

Complete the survey on this link.

#161: Natural England

The resources that will be created for the new GCSE Natural History will include a set of weblinks directing teachers and students to organisations which connect with the key themes within the specification. 

Natural England is the government’s adviser for the natural environment in England. It helps to protect and restore our natural world and some of its activities and reports connect directly with the likely themes within the specification which is as yet to be revealed.

Natural England is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

It is worth exploring the links above, to investigate what the site has to offer. There is content on a range of themes linked to landscape and nature.

Here are some sample highlights from the Natural England site. 

I had the pleasure of working with Natural England on a booklet called 'The Language of Landscape' which accompanied free Ordnance Survey Maps which were sent to Year 7 students for some years in the early 2000s. The emergence of Digimap for Schools was the end of that project.

Natural England has a number of publications, maps and data.

Natural England also provide information on lanscape and its management.