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Geographical inquiry involves collecting, using and making sense of the data to investigate some geographical phenomena. With the increasing number of mobile devices equipped with Internet access capabilities, there is a wide scope for using it in field inquiry where learning can take place in the form of social interactions between team members while performing a common task. The authors examine the use of MobiTOP (Mobile Tagging of Objects and People), a geospatial digital library system which allows users to contribute and share multimedia annotations via mobile devices, within a geographical field inquiry. A key feature of MobiTOP that is well suited for collaborative learning is that annotations are hierarchical, allowing annotations to be annotated by other users to an arbitrary depth. A group of student and teachers involved in an inquiry-based learning activity in geography was instructed to identify rock types and associated landforms by collaborating with each other using the MobiTOP system. A method combining several data collection methods was used. Four main findings on the affordances of the mobile phone, the need for specialized training in using the application with the mobile phone, design considerations of the application and the authentic context of learning with fieldwork are reported. A discussion on the implication of these findings and how mobile technology may be used for geographical field learning are also included in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fieldwork remains the mainstay in the study of geography and in the analysis of the environmental processes. However, an in-depth understanding of the environmental and geographical processes requires extensive as well as intensive fieldwork that involves time and substantial effort, both of which may pose a problem within a given curriculum time. One solution to this could be a collaborative data collection both on extensive temporal and spatial scales and subsequently sharing of this data by all for an in-depth analysis. Having a large data set from extensive areas helps in a more reliable analysis of the given problem, rather than one done with a limited data set for lack of time and scope. Results of such analysis have the potential of providing outcomes beyond mere course grades and may yield results that are useful in solving real life problems. Such an understanding was used for the development and use of an online data resource portal named G-Portal. The portal was used for uploading and later sharing of data collected from extensive, remote sites in a forest (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Singapore). Several groups of researchers collected the data within a short time, to be subsequently shared among the groups for a very in-depth analysis of the environmental problem of trail degradation. The article analyses the fieldwork-related issues addressed while developing this portal and also describes how the portal was used by several groups of researchers and subsequently how this data were used for analysis. Responses of users regarding the usefulness of this portal in research and analysis are also examined. The portal has been found to support field inquiry through data collection, data sharing, analysing data, synthesising data and presenting results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]