The Observatory held the West Midlands Geographical Information Day 2008 on 19th November 2008 at Baskerville House in Birmingham.
The event was chaired by Stewart McAusland from ESRI, sponsors of the event.
The day focused on education, and promoting the use of geographical information in decision-making rather than the technicalities of GI systems.
We were successful in attracting a target audience of education professionals, teachers, policy makers and research specialists.
The varied agenda included presentations ranging from "What is GI?" through to how GI is used in our day-to-day lives by companies such as Nectar, and organisations such as the West Midlands Fire Service, Staffordshire Historic Environment Record (formerly known as the Sites and Monuments Record), Dudley MBC's GISMO and MapAction.
Map competition for schools
Schools across the West Midlands designed their own maps, entering them in our 2008 map competition. The following schools were shortlisted:
- Horton St. Michaels, Rudyard
- Dosthill Primary School, Tamworth
- Churnet View Middle School, Leek
- Hadnall Primary School, Shrewsbury
- Chesterton Primary School, Newcastle-Under-Lyme
A selection of maps designed by school pupils entering our map competition
Over lunch, delegates voted for their favourite map. The eventual winners were Horton St. Michaels with Dosthill Primary as runners up.
Horton St. Michaels submitted this three dimensional map made from various materials including wood and fabric:
Children aged 4-9 were involved in photographing local buildings, woodwork, painting, sawing, sanding and even drilling. The older children then helped the younger to fix the buildings, trees, telegraph poles and walls into position.
The children were awarded a digital camera, printer and Times atlas, along with the title of "Best map-makers in the West Midlands".
Geographical Information pub quiz
Delegates on the day also enjoyed a Geographical Information pub quiz (without the pub!), and battled each other for the prize of a Garmin sat-nav.
Follow up
The Geographical Information Group, who organised the day, will be taking various issues forward, including:
- How to better engage schools with geographical information
- How to support partners in this area (such as the Geographical Association)
- Sharing presentations and information from the day