Over a thousand learners and their teachers attended the “Map your world through GIS” event held on 3 and 4 September 2009 at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). This educational event was hosted and facilitated by UJ’s Departments of Information & Knowledge Management and Geography & Environmental Management in conjunction with GIMS, GISSA and the City of Johannesburg.In celebration of International GIS Day and seeing that GIS has become part of the Grade 10 to 12 curriculum for geography, GISSA approached UJ and partners to offer teachers and pupils an opportunity to learn more about GIS and how it is used as a spatial decision making tool. Over the two days, 1050 learners from 23 Gauteng schools made the most of this opportunity to learn more about GIS and the University of Johannesburg.
Marcelle Hattingh (City of Joburg) introduced the learners to the concept of GIS and explained how Joburg City makes use of GIS in its day-to-day operations. Dr. Martie Mearns (UJ) advised the learners on GIS study options at UJ focusing in particular on the possibility of studying GIS as part of the university’s information and knowledge management bachelor degree.Following this the learners were escorted to the computer laboratory where they were taught how to use GIS software (ArcView GIS 3.3) by Robyn Kindler (GIMS) and her assistants from GIMS and UJ.
Learners were taught the basic functionality of the ArcView icons while being shown how to locate their schools and how to compare provincial populations. During the World Cup Soccer Stadium lesson there were gasps of surprise from the learners as the hotlinks they inserted opened up imagery of the various World Cup stadiums being constructed around South Africa for 2010.
The spontaneous clapping from learners at the end of the sessions was testimony to how much they had enjoyed learning about GIS.