Nuclear waste?

1
Nuclear waste? not in my backyard!Exploring
the capabilities of GIS with online tools

• Steve Carver Andy Evans
• School of Geography

2
Session outline

• Introduction
• Part 1. Concepts and technical details
• Part 2. Interactive session
• Part 3. QA

3
Introduction

• Teaching Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
• Steep and long learning curve
• Large classes
• Access to teaching expertise and facilities?
• Student skill base?
• Need for e-learning materials

4
Part 1 Web-based GIS

• Originally developed as research tool
• Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS)
• Public Participation GIS (PPGIS)
• Social science objectives
• Nuclear waste disposal and NIMBYism
• Public perception (risk, landscape values, etc.)
• Landscape design
• Local planning issues

5
Where to bury nuclear waste?
6
Wilderness Britain?
7
Perceptions of crime
8
Woodland regeneration
9
Virtual Slaithwaite
10
Teaching GIS

• GIS as a paradigm in Geography
• Need to teaching to increasing numbers of
  students at UG and PG level
• Emphasis on quantitative methods, digital maps
  and spatial data
• GIS software is complex, expensive and
  frightening!
• Availability of suitable CAL software?
• Or the web?

11
Web-based teaching

• Safe learning environment?
• Accessible to all
• Non-software specific
• Ease of use
• Focus on learning theory and concepts
• Practice
• Avoidance of technical issues
• Low skills overhead

12
Technical detail

• The systems are built as Applets.
• These are relatively easy to build into a
  webpage.
• Drop the Applet jar file and the data into your
  web directory.
• The look and data are set up with a series of
  Parameter tags in the webpage code.
• If you want to collect the data youll need a
  simple PERL script to do this.

13
Advice for online GIS

• Stick to less than 8 options at a time.
• Present data so that it is easy to get an
  overview, but allows for increasingly detailed
  exploration.
• Tree structure
• Walkthrough/overview pages with notes
• Be aware that the first time, people may just
  click through to get used to the system.

14
Further information

• http//www.ccg.leeds.ac.uk/democracy/
• Recommendations Twenty Recommendations for
  Online Democracy sites
• Teaching Carver, Evans, and Kingston Journal of
  Geography in Higher Education
• Analysis Evans, Kingston, and Carver Journal of
  Geographical Systems 6(2)p117

15
Part 2 Interactive session

• Use of nuclear waste GIS
• Where to bury UKs nuclear waste?
• E-learning nugget
• Explore, Experiment, Formulate
• http//www.ccg.leeds.ac.uk/teaching/nuclearwaste/

16
Part 3 QA session

• Any questions?
• Suggestions for improvement?
• Future developments?
• Other applications?