Reading the map like a geographer
Ask a question with GIS layers
Does your area have enough green space within a ten-minute walk?
Watch first
An English teaching video on this topic from Learn Bright. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
What you need
Tick each one as you find it — 0 of 3 ready.
Plan the fair test
- Change: The area being compared
- Measure: Number of green spaces within an 800 m radius
- Keep the same: Same radius, same definition of green space, same mapping site and zoom
Objectives this evidences
- Use geographical information systems (GIS) to view, analyse and interpret places and data
- Understand the physical and human characteristics of an area of the UK and a wider region of the world beyond Europe
Do it, one step at a time
Step 1 of 5
- Step 1. Open a free mapping site and centre it on your postcode. Note the scale bar.
- Step 2. Switch between the map layer, the satellite layer and a terrain layer, and write down one thing each layer shows that the others hide.
- Step 3. Use the scale bar to draw a circle roughly 800 m across your home: about a ten-minute walk.
- Step 4. Count parks, playing fields and accessible woodland inside the circle, then repeat for a second area a few kilometres away.
- Step 5. Present both counts in a table and write a conclusion with evidence from your map.
What should happen
Access to green space varies sharply over short distances, and layering data on one map is what makes that pattern visible.
Think about: Counting spaces ignores their size and quality. How would you improve the measure?
Write up your result
A sentence or two is enough to save it.
The lessons behind this practical
Each one opens with the same short film, and the film has a written transcript underneath if reading is easier than watching.
Now the quiz for this topic
Questions come from the lessons behind this practical, so nothing is asked that has not been taught.
Quiz
Reading the map like a geographer quiz
4 questions from the lessons in this stage. No timer, and you can try again as many times as you like.