event: Geospatial resources use in tertiary education - Shaping the future

* Do you want to help shape the future of teaching and research with geospatial data?
* Are geospatial resources critical to your research or teaching?
* Is 'where' things happen important to you?

EDINA has been commissioned to explore the possibilities for the future use of geospatial resources (data, services, tools, support etc) in academic teaching and research. Central to this remit is engaging with those at the leading edge of teaching and research and to this end EDINA invite you to take part in a forthcoming workshop.

GIS is ceasing to be the realm of specialists. Spatial information is widely available to everyone, specialist or not, through mainstream services. With the rise of location-based systems, (e.g. web mapping, virtual globes) and the geospatial web (e.g. geo-tagged resources, geo-semantic services), geographic information and geospatial technologies are becoming increasingly used by researchers and teachers alongside "traditional" services, such as Digimap, UKBORDERS and Landmap. These developments bring immense opportunities; use of high quality geographic information in teaching and research requires access to data and tools. It also brings the possibility of new research methods and new learning and teaching opportunities.

The aims of the workshop are to explore these possibilities and establish the future requirements of those who use geospatial resources within UK tertiary education. The focus of the workshop will be very much on the 'what', 'who', 'where' and 'when' - what will we want to be doing in 5 years time, where will we be doing it, what sorts of data, services and tools will we need, how will people want to access and use the data, who will we be working with, how do we want to exploit the new types of geospatial technologies, etc. We are looking for practitioners, knowledgeable, open-minded, creative individuals who are able to think big and are passionate about the power of location.

The workshop will be held on THURSDAY 15 MAY 2008 at Pollock Halls, University of Edinburgh, from 10.00am until 5.00pm. Refreshments will be provided and financial assistance is available for travel costs.

If you would like to take part in the workshop and feel you are able to represent communities currently using geospatial data in teaching and research, register now at

http://edina.ac.uk/events/georesources20080515.html

If you have any queries, please email the EDINA Helpdesk on edina@ed.ac.uk, marking your query for the attention of David Medyckyj-Scott.

This workshop is being conducted under the JISC e-Framework Programme with the endorsement of the JISC Geospatial Working Group.