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The School District Data Book (SDDB) is a database and information system housed on 51 CD-ROMs containing the most extensive set of data ever developed on children, their households, and the nation's school systems. The Data Book allows comparisons among school districts and permits the extraction of data about districts with particular characteristics. The database provides up to 200,000 data items for each school district or county, and a mapping feature enables users to view maps of all individual school districts in the nation for the first time. Approximately 15,000 school districts have been mapped. These are usually the same districts included in the Common Core of Data. This briefing document is organized into the following sections: (1) development of the SDDB; (2) features of operation and software; (3) database content and applications; (4) mapping features and applications; and (5) school districts and the mapping project. (SLD)

Geographic information systems (GIS) consist of robust hardware, software, data, and a thinking operator. Together, they provide powerful tools for automated cartography and extensive analysis of information about places. Recent improvements in computer hardware and software allow the powers of GIS to move effectively and affordably into the precollege arena. Schools can take advantage of the "new geography" in many ways, in a variety of grade levels. This document is divided into three parts. Part 1 defines GIS and describes the components of the system. Part 2 discusses issues of incorporating GIS in education at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The Adopt-a-School program, a collaborative effort to bring the ArcView GIS tool and basic data into the classroom, is also described. Part 3 focuses on the methodology for and challenges of bringing GIS into the classroom and discusses benefits of both individual and group learning. Appendices include: hardware enhancement options; basic ArcView skills; standards in education; data sources; and strategies for acquiring hardware. (AEF)

This paper identifies how comparative educators have chosen to visually represent the field of development education since about 1963. This is an attempt to historicize the vision as scholars struggle with the representational dilemmas and opportunities of late modernity/postmodernity. The paper is organized in three parts. Part 1 illustrates how the three scopic regimes of modernity (the technical rationalist; the critical rationalist; the hermeneutical constructivist) each have their own favored rhetoric and forms of representation. Part 2 presents a personal narrative of how the social cartography project has sought to elaborate and implement a new social mapping rationale and methodology. Part 3 notes the possible implications of this study and the social cartography project for current theoretical debates, representational practice, and new opportunities to reposition development studies vis-a-vis the human sciences in the coming millennium. Examples of how social cartography might help to construct new ways representing and seeing are assessed. (EH)

This paper advocates the use of cognitive maps by researchers in comparative education. Cognitive maps are defined as "visual imageries depicting on the two dimensional surface of a screen or paper the researcher's perceived application, allocation, or appropriation of social space by social groups at a given time and in a given place." The use of cognitive maps is advocated as a means of expanding social dialogue because it offers the map's reader a forum for responding directly to the map maker by producing on the map differences in claims to social space perceived by the reader. Numerous theorists of the postmodern enterprise in geography/cartography are discussed, as is the work of three academic practitioners, one in comparative education and two in geographic cartography, who have observed that colleagues in these areas must now move their respective academic fields toward a postmodernist integration of ideas and theories. The use of cognitive maps, and not necessarily postmodernism itself, is promoted as a means for comparative fields to expand their knowledge base. Three figures illustrating various aspects of cognitive mapping are included and 46 footnotes are appended. (DB)

In an increasingly competitive economy, the capacity for self-motivation, problem-solving skills and an ability to think critically are core graduate attributes. However, the capacity to create an educational environment that develops and harnesses such skills is a distinct challenge as resources become increasingly restricted. Geographical Skills and Techniques was a new module introduced in January 2009 in the second year undergraduate geography curriculum at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland, to introduce students to a range of skills and techniques relevant to their training as geographers, drawing on the recommended skills and attributes identified by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Subject Benchmark statement in the UK (QAA, 2007). The aim was to develop an awareness of, and ability to use, the range of material and approaches necessary to undertake successful geographical research in line with the strategic importance in the university of developing closer research-teaching linkages. The module was evaluated at the end of the semester through an online anonymous survey delivered using Zoomerang (http://www.zoomerang.com). The survey examined student's learning experiences generally as well as in each specific component: library skills, cartography, quantitative techniques, qualitative methods and fieldwork. This paper assesses the effectiveness of this module in developing the research capacity of the undergraduate students. It highlights the key challenges of effectively embedding this module in the geography programme both from an institutional and from a learner perspective. It concludes that for the module to be successfully continued in future years, student behaviour and expectations must be managed more effectively and greater institutional support should be provided to enhance student learning. (Contains 1 figure.) [Contributions provided by Veronica Crossa and Ruth Comerford. Support for this module was provided by the University College Dublin Fellowships in Teaching and Learning Scheme. For the full proceedings, "Research-Teaching Linkages: Practice and Policy. Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference of the National Academy for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (3rd, Dublin, Ireland, November 11-12, 2009)," see ED539248.]

Access to a quality education is unevenly mapped by the demographic context of the communities in which public school students live. A growing body of research suggests that this geographic effect deeply challenges the goal of equalizing educational opportunities. This paper explores the relationship between students' neighborhood characteristics and school performance in Philadelphia's public schools using spatial analysis methods. Data include student and school locations as well as block-level census information and Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) scores for grades 5, 8, and 11 during 2005-2008. Multiple regression and K-function analyses in conjunction with geographic information systems (GIS) were employed to test hypotheses linking students' community attributes to their schools' academic performance. Characteristics of students' neighborhoods, such as the percentage of the population holding a 4-year college degree and the proportion of families with a female head of household, were found to be strong predictors of school performance. Across all nine datasets, the geographic diversity of the student population was positively associated with school performance. In most cases, significant clustering was detected among schools reporting scores at or below the first quartile, and the locations of the lowest- and highest-performing schools were discovered to be spatially dependent. A range of policy implications is offered. Presented at the 2010 ESRI Education User Conference in San Diego, California, July 11, 2010. The following are appended: (1) Description of the Geography and Variables; (2) Statistical Results--All Datasets; and (3) Additional Maps and Figures. (Contains 7 footnotes, 9 tables, and 31 figures.)

Maps have been used as an illustrative device in children's books for a long time; however, they are an area of illustration that has been largely ignored by critics. Maps are most commonly used as frontispiece illustrations in adventure and fantasy books. They have also generally been aimed at the male reader when children's books were marketed separately for boys and girls. A good map will complement the text and internal illustrations and add another visual level to the text. Children are now less skilled in cartographic recognition, due to geography being taught differently than it was in the past. Maps in children's books can be divided into three groups: (1) maps which depict a real place; (2) fantasy maps which have no basis in reality and are the creation of the author and cartographer; and (3) maps which combine both reality and fantasy--when the map shows an area that is real but has been altered to fit the plot. Maps in selected children's books are described and discussed to show how maps are a branch of illustration worthy of critical attention. (AEF)

This paper discusses the authenticity of digital spatial data. The first section describes three formats for digital spatial data: vector, raster, and thematic. The second section addresses the integrity of spatial data, including six possible formats for the same information: (1) aerial photographic prints, time stamped, primary, remotely sensed data; (2) orthographic photography, time stamped, primary, remotely sensed data, projected and geographically referenced; (3) cartographic line work, secondary, derived from aerial photography; (4) digital orthographic photography, time stamped, primary, remotely sensed data, projected and geographically referenced; (5) scanned cartography, projected and geographically referenced; and (6) digital cartographic line work, vector digitized from scanned maps or map separates. The third section considers issues of data quality and error, including managing data quality through lineage and metadata. The fourth section covers metadata, including standards for the fields for lineage and process steps. The fifth section summarizes issues of authenticity in spatial data, emphasizing the importance of defining metadata structures to carry document authentication declarations or proofs. (MES)

This study selected 28 illustrative examples of the visual culture in comparative education used since the 1960s. Journals examined are the "Comparative Education Review"; "Comparative Education"; "Compare"; and others. From visual analysis of these sources, four scopic regimes or visual subcultures are identified. The paper is organized in three parts. Part 1 illustrates how the three scopic regimes of modernity (the technical rationalist, the critical rationalist, and the hermeneutical constructivist) each has its own favored rhetoric and forms of representation, as well as utilities and limitations. Part 2 presents a personal narrative of how the social cartography project has sought to elaborate and implement a new social mapping rationale and methodology. Part 3 notes possible implications of this study and the new social cartography project for current theoretical debates, representational practice, and new opportunities to reposition the field with the human sciences in the coming millennium. Contains 50 notes and a list of sources for 29 figures. (EH)

This document demonstrates how social cartography can be used in social research to include individuals and cultural clusters who want their own narratives included in the social discourse. Social cartography is defined as the creation of maps addressing questions of location in the social milieu. Visual images, depicting on the two dimensional surface of paper or screen the researcher's perceived application, allocation, or appropriation of social space by social groups at a given time and in a given space offer an opportunity to see how social changes develop in the world around us. It suggests not a synthesis, but the further opening of dialogue among diverse social players. The essay proposes that social cartography has the potential to be a useful discourse style for demonstrating the attributes and capacities, as well as the development and perceptions of people and cultures operating within the social milieu. Because society can be mapped by this method to include all parts of the society, social cartography offers a new and effective method for visually demonstrating the sensitivity of postmodern influences for opening social dialogue, especially to those who have experienced disenfranchisement by modernism. Illustrations include maps representing both modernist and postmodernist interpretations of cartography. The increased flexibility in representational value of the postmodernist version is demonstrated. Sociology and Cartography research courses need to include this method in addition to the traditional forms of research in the social sciences. (DK)

A geographer and a developmental psychologist collaborated on an investigation of the development of children's ability to comprehend, produce, and use graphic representations of space. Such representations are called "geo-graphics" in this paper. The researchers held that children's mastery of maps is dependent on their developing understanding of symbols in general, of logical reasoning, and of integrated spatial conceptual systems. Evidence for children's misunderstanding of both the duality and arbitrariness of symbols was derived from responses showing children's failure to separate graphic characteristics of the symbol from physical characteristics of the referent. This could be seen first in children's overextension of iconic qualities, and second, in their oversubscription to graphic conventions. Many situations were observed in which the child identified some characteristic of the symbol, and then inappropriately inferred from that characteristic that the referent must be characterized in the same way. Evidence indicated that children appeared to adhere rigidly to certain graphic rules that may come from other graphic forms than maps. There were many indications of children's confusion in understanding the scale and viewing angle of maps. There was informal evidence that adults, too, may overextend qualities of the representation to the referent. (RH)

Papers on geography and map libraries and a paper on European access to biomedical databases, which were presented at the 1983 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference, include: (1) "History and Current Status of the Globe Museum of the Austrian National Library" by Franz Wawrik (Austria); (2) "Earth Science Products for Tomorrow's Libraries," in which Gary W. North (United States) outlines the history of mapmaking and developments in satellite imagery, digital cartography, earth science computerized image processing, and microfilm, videodisk, and optical disk storage of earth science images and information; (3) "Influence des Nouveaux Types de Documents Cartographiques sur la Politique d'Acquisition d'une Cartotheque Nationale (Acquisition Policy for a National Map Library)," in which Edwige Archier (France--paper in French) describes the acquisition of maps, aerial photographs, and satellite images at the National Library and other French information centers and the need for a national policy to coordinate map acquisition activities; (4) "British Map Collections: Cooperative Planning and Projects," in which Helen Wallis (United Kingdom) describes the activities of the British Committee for Map Information and Catalogue Systems, progress toward developing a United Kingdom (UK) Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC) format for maps, the MAPLIB information retrieval system, and other cooperative projects; and (5) "Le Reseau EURONET et l'Acces aux Bases de Donnees Biomedicales (The EURONET Network and Access to Biomedical Databases)," in which H. F. Alfred Cordoliani (France--paper in French) describes the EURONET-DIANE packet switching network and the biomedical databases available via EURONET, PRESTEL (British videotex), TRANSPAC (French videotex) and BILDSCHIRMTEXT (German videotex). (ESR)

Papers on geography and map librarianship presented at the 1982 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference include: (1) "Geographical Canada-Research and the Network of Canada Collections in the Federal Republic of Germany" by Hermann Gunzel, which describes the history of German research in Canadian geography, the development of Canadian studies in Germany, the location and activities of German centers for research in Canadian geography, and the location and scope of Canadian collections in German libraries, with emphasis on library holdings and research activities at the University of Marburg; (2) "Remotely Sensed Imagery Information in Research Libraries: First Inter-University Network for Satellite Imagery" by Larry G. Carver (United States), which includes a brief history of satellite imagery, a description of the Landsat satellites, an explanation of the remote sensing concept, a discussion of applications of Landsat imagery data, the use of this data in libraries, the development of an inter-university network for sharing satellite imagery, and the use of the Landsat Worldwide Reference Systems (WRS) for organizing and accessing Landsat images; and (3) "The Exchange of Map MARC Tapes on an International Level: A Possibility for International Cartographic Networking?," a discussion by E. Hans van de Waal (Netherlands) of the use of International Standard Bibliographic Descriptions (ISBD) and Unimarc guidelines for the cataloging of cartographic materials and the creation of authority files at the Dutch Union Map Catalogue (DUMC). (ESR)

One of the most characteristic features of geolinguistic study is the recourse to maps and diagrams; authors often supplement words with illustrations of patterns and processes stemming from the spoken word. This transposition of word and image is significant, for maps and diagrams are a sign of language. The concerns of the linguistic map maker can be seen to mirror the more general debate about methods in the social sciences, and particularly those in the developing discipline of geolinguistics. It is contended that practioners of geolinguistics have not clearly recognized the role and value of illustration, nor have they been able to exploit it to the full. The same can be said of illustrations as of words: used without a full understanding of their meaning, they can confuse rather than clarify the message. Accumulating evidence suggests that maps can make useful servants in linguistic study, but that they are not without the potential to disappoint and even deceive their users and makers. As with all other means of imparting information, linguistic cartography depends on good quality data. (JL)

The present study is an experiment to investigate the effect which the availability of detailed information on aspects of language distribution may have upon the understanding of processes contributing to language shift. It is an attempt to remedy the deficiencies of official census statistics by an experimental field investigation. Two sections of Wales and Brittany, both on the borders of the Welsh and Breton language areas, were chosen for the study because it was thought that the geographical aspects of language shift might be more apparent there than elsewhere. The discussion focuses on four points: (1) use of available census information; (2) a doorstep survey on language potential and the production of language potential maps; (3) the results of a speaking frequency survey and the frequency maps; and (4) a survey of the variety of situations in which Welsh or Breton might be employed and the mapping of responses to see if there is a correlation between language usage and particular locales or circumstances. The discussion of the study calls attention to the need of more micro-scale geolinguistic studies. (AMH)

The selection of place names (toponyms) for use on a map depends on the available space. This selection may be distorted by regulations, cartographic procedures, preferences, or map functions. An investigation of place names used on maps of minority language group areas in Western Europe revealed the influence of cartographers and topographers on the kind and number of names to be included. After incorporation on the base map, a number of cartographic processes occur that lead to an overrepresentation of minority language toponyms on derived maps in minority language areas. On smaller scale maps, a generalization process occurs in which only features likely to have majority language names tend to be retained. In addition, specific name categories tend to be overemphasized on derived maps such as small scale topographic maps or road maps. These toponym selection processes lead to a certain bias that, in turn, interferes with national or international comparisons of toponyms based on topographic maps. This does not suggest discontinuing the use of maps for investigating place names, but underlines the importance of selecting the appropriate map and learning the regulations governing the incorporation of names on the base map and the selection process for names on derived maps. (MSE)

We report research on meanings of scale generated by pairs of 14 year-old students engaged in joint map-construction. Characteristics of the learning environment, such as the communicational orchestration, the use of experientially familiar objects in space as starting points for creating figural representations and the interrelated representational registers of tangible objects, graphical and formal symbolic representations were important. The task to create maps allowing for dynamic scale change encouraged students to focus on the proportional aspects of scale in all three phases of the task, while they progressed from a componential to a holistic view of the map. (Contains 2 figures.) [For complete proceedings, see ED489597.]

Recent empirical and theoretical literature in cultural geography, feminist and postcolonial philosophy, cultural studies, and political economy, was explored in an examination of the significance of spatiality to the changes taking place in the policy, practice, and study of adult education and lifelong learning. The following were among the key findings: (1) a cartographical imagination may be helpful in modeling the experience of adult education in a world of shifting boundaries and risky journeys; (2) where educational programs are "located" not only influences their purposes and processes but also helps produce the power that participants in education exercise in society; (3) understanding the geographics of power requires understanding that knowledge, power, and space/place closely intertwine to frame social practices in education; (4) adult educators must become knowledge-power brokers and must make their position in a terrain constructed by unequal distribution of symbolic and material benefits clear; (5) Actor-Network Theory (ANT) is a promising resource for theorizing lifelong learning because it focuses on how new knowledge comes to be produced; and (6) in accordance with ANT, learners' locations are defined not only in terms Euclidean space but also in terms of network space, which defines the network or actors within which learners can become knowledge producers. (23 references) (MN)