Creative Teaching and Learning

Why Your Geography Curriculum Needs GIS

Ofsted is pushing for greater GIS presence in the geography classroom. Katie Hall advises geography teachers on how they can get started, even if they don't have a computer room to hand.
GIS geographic information system displaying a map of the world on a green grid.

What is GIS?

GIS or ‘Geographic Information System’ software is a technology that is used to create, manage, analyse and map all kinds of data. GIS connects data to a map, integrating location data (where things are) with all types of descriptive information (what things are like). From rolling out vaccines and managing transport systems to understanding insurance risk and locating wind farms, GIS is used in almost every industry in the UK today.

Professional geographers use GIS to do their work, but it has enormous value in our classrooms too, tackling pedagogic challenges, improving students’ locational knowledge and building digital skills that will be useful in the workplace.

GIS and the geography curriculum

GIS has been present in some classrooms for well over two decades now. Even before the launch of Google Earth in 2005, a small number of forward-thinking geography teachers were making use of desktop GIS software to support teaching the subject.

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