Map Quest
Objectives:
- Gain a deeper knowledge of your territory
- Develop organisational skills
- Create a participatory map
STEP BY STEP
BEFORE STARTING
How well do you know your territory? The activity begins with a brainstorming session in which the group is asked whether they feel they know a little, a lot or a fair amount about their local area, whether they organise visits with their family to places of interest and what in particular they like to visit or go to in their city.
THE PARTICIPATORY MAP
Open the Open Street Map or Google Map website on the interactive whiteboard, choose together the part of the territory to work on and divide into four groups: each group should choose places and write them down on a sheet of paper following this indication:
- Search for places of tourist interest for a visitor coming to your city
- Look for places you would suggest to students on a trip where they could spend their free time having fun
- Suggest interesting places in anticipation of a visit by a group of archaeologists
AN EXAMPLE OF CROWD MAPPING
Once you have completed the research in the individual groups, you go back to the plenary and map out the 4 routes by inserting the map points. This will result in a single map with the places identified.
MAPPING THE SITES OD INTEREST IN THE FIELD
The class prepares for a guided tour of the chosen itinerary by dividing into pairs. One of the 4 routes is chosen, the map is printed out and one map is distributed per pair. You leave with the class.
The indication will be to mark the location of sites of interest on the paper map, indicating longitude and latitude. Photos of the sites can be taken and relevant information marked (such as the presence of natural features or other nearby buildings). Back in the classroom, any information on the map is added. The final project can be a mini-guide created by the students in which they write down the itinerary and a brief description of the places visited.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Do we really know the places of interest visited? Do we know what would happen to these places if an extreme event (an earthquake Sudden ground shaking resulting from movements of the earth’s crust , landslide, flood, etc.) affected them? The activity could be a starting point for in-depth studies on the dangers affecting the area or on the specific characteristics of one or more of the places of interest visited.
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