Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Fieldwork

If you're interested in fieldwork and technology and you've not already bookmarked this site you need to. I've blogged about it before...
Enhancing Fieldwork Learning has a range of useful posts on the value of mobile devices for fieldwork.
The latest additions relate to the use of iPads for education in fieldwork.

I am currently researching fieldwork apps too, for a book I am co-writing.

Earlier today I had a play with FIELD PAPERS. This site uses Open Street Maps for the base mapping. The idea is that you can choose an area, and print off a paper map at an appropriate scale.
These paper maps are taken out into the field and can be annotated, and then 'scanned' back in using a digital photograph.

Each page of the printout has a QR code. This helps the alignment of the annotated version which can then be uploaded.


They contain some marks for lining up and identifying the location, and matching it with the maps on the website.

Finally on the theme of fieldwork learning, I'm going to be exploring a local river valley at the end of the month in the company of Sarah Taigel (@_happymapper on Twitter) and some other volunteers. Sarah is doing some research at UEA on GIS work. The work is summarised on the Communicating Landscape Futures website.

We will be exploring the catchment of the Gaywood River, which I used to live within a hundred yards of for about ten years. For more on the Gaywood Valley, you should follow @Gaywood Valley

All of this will feed into my book, due out in 2013.

I am also grateful to Mark Howell for posting some ideas on COASTAL FIELDWORK on his blog. Some really useful ideas here too.

Remember: "geography without fieldwork is like science without experiments...."

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