Abstract

Teaching GIS with Mobile GIS devices (iPads, iPhones, and Androids)
Track: Teaching with GIS in Schools
Authors: Ming-Hsiang (Ming) Tsou

The popularity of smart phones and mobile devices (iPads, iPhones, Blackberrys, Androids) has created a great opportunity to teach GIS and related location-based services (LBS) and raise awareness of geospatial technology. This paper will highlight the recent progress of mobile GIS technologies and suggest the best practices to adopt mobile GIS applications and LBS in GIS education and how to fit in various levels of classrooms, ranging from high schools to university seminars. Adopting mobile GIS and LBS for geospatial technology education will create an open and student-centered learning environment for GIS education. Three major advantages of mobile GIS and LBS for GIS educations are identified as the following. 1. Learning mobile GIS and LBS will create a constructive learning environment. 2. Mobile GIS will facilitate the development of citizen science, volunteered geographic information (VGI), and collaborative works. 3. Mobile GIS applications will encourage the critical thinking capability of students.