Can Free (and Open Source) Software and Data be Used to Underpin a Self‐Paced Tutorial on Spatial Databases?

Abstract

University College London's Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (CEGE) offers a number of Masters programmes in topics related to Geomatics, including Surveying, Hydrographic Surveying, Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Science. Data management, and in particular the technology and applications of Spatial Databases, forms a key part of the curriculum on these courses. Interest in Spatial Databases is, however, more widespread – especially with the increasing understanding of the relevance of geospatial techniques to fields as diverse as anthropology and architecture. This article describes the development and evaluation of a self‐paced hands‐on course on Databases and Spatial Databases for CEGE students, presented to students to complement and enhance in‐class teaching. The article focuses on both pedagogical elements of self‐paced learning and the suitability of Free and Open Source Software and Open Data (PostgreSQL/PostGIS, Quantum GIS, Open Street Map) for the Spatial Databases curriculum. The resulting material was evaluated by a cohort of 25 students in 2010, and their feedback (very positive) and the overall results provide an interesting insight into suitable methods to employ when teaching technical subjects to a cohort having differing background skill levels.

Open Geospatial Education

“…Open data and FOSS not only trigger the development of open geospatial resources, but also underpin self-paced learning [18]. Ellul et al [18] evaluate to what extent FOSS and open data initiatives support self-paced tutorials on spatial databases for students enrolled at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering Department of the University College London.…”

“…Ellul et al [18] evaluate to what extent FOSS and open data initiatives support self-paced tutorials on spatial databases for students enrolled at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering Department of the University College London. This spatial databases curriculum was positively evaluated by more than 25 students.…”

“…The lack of formal educational pre-requisites limiting course access leads to an increasing diversity of learners [18].…”

“…An increasing number of GIS education programs rely on FOSS to teach geospatial concepts and technologies. The PostgreSQL database management system and its spatial extension (PostGIS) together with QGIS and OpenStreetMap (OSM) data are used to teach databases and spatial databases in different GIS educational programs [18]. The advantages of using FOSS in GIS education have been emphasized in [6,18].…”