ESRI (UK) has selected aerial photography from Bluesky to include in its new GIS for Schools Programme. Designed to help teachers meet national curriculum requirements and make lessons more engaging, the programme includes a choice of Geographical Information System (GIS) software together with maps, data, lesson plans and tutorials for an annual cost of £250. The inclusion of aerial photography from Bluesky ensures schools who sign up to the programme will have access via the Internet to the latest, most detailed aerial photography for the whole of England and Wales together with most of Scotland.
The ESRI (UK) GIS for Schools Programme offers subscribing organisations a choice of GIS software: DigitalWorlds, an easy to use GIS based on ESRI technology, suitable for a school just starting with GIS, or ArcView 9.3, a more advanced GIS, completely compatible with DigitalWorlds. DigitalWorlds recently received a Highly Commended Award 2009 from the Geographical Association where it was judged as “… likely to make a significant contribution to geographical education.”
The Bluesky supplied GeoPerspectives aerial photography included in the GIS for Schools Programme provides schools with online access to the most up to date imagery, at resolutions of up to 12.5 cm for urban centres and 25 cm for the whole of England and Wales. The imagery is the perfect complement to other maps and data offered in the package, including Ordnance Survey maps, both modern and historical, 2001 census data, satellite imagery, street level mapping and economic and demographic data from the CIA World Factbook.
“Aerial photography is ideal for use in schools at both an introductory and more advanced level, as pupils are comfortable with it thanks to online mapping portals such as Google Earth,” commented Richard Pole, Education Consultant at ESRI (UK) and founder of DigitalWorlds. “We selected the GeoPerspectives imagery from Bluesky as it provided the best coverage and resolution, complementing the other map layers and data and enhancing the overall offering.”
“This is an important agreement for Bluesky,” commented Rachel Tidmarsh, Managing Director of Bluesky International. “The ESRI (UK) vision is to get GIS into every secondary school over the next five years and we are delighted that Bluesky can support this through the supply of GeoPerspectives aerial photography.”
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