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International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B6. Istanbul 2004
emphasis on environmental studies. However, a few units cover
GIS-subjects (cp. Weippert, H. & D. Fritsch, 2002) and thus
introduce to work with a "Virtual Landscape". This Virtual
Landscape is constructed by datasets from different disciplines
(e.g. hydrology, botany, landscape planning etc.) of a real-
world area. To work within the Virtual Landscape a web-
application was implemented. This is an architecture partly
based on ESRI-products and partly based on Open Source.
Müller, M.(2004) describes the quite complex infrastructure.
The gimolus-project shows an impressive collection of software
and web applications. It gives an idea of functionalities and
application of web-based work with geodata. However the
experiences made in gimolus give also an insight into problems
and obstacles encountered when building such a complex
infrastructure: they relate to technical issues on the one hand
and future support on the other hand.
The project FerGi (“Fernlernmaterialien Geoinformation"/
engl.: “Materials for Distance Learning in Geoinformatics”)
aims to provide relatively short units of very special tasks. It is
targeted at advanced topics that are not yet included in
conventional curricula. Furthermore, it also focuses on further
education (Schiewe, J. et al., 2004).
Examples of other projects, not further described in this paper
are :
- GITTA (Geographic Information Technology
Training Alliance) in Switzerland.
(http://www.gitta.info/ - cp. Lorup, E.J. & S. Bleisch,
2003)
- LEAP (Learning Effectiveness Alliance Program) at
the Department of Spatial Sciences/ University of
Curtin. (http://www.cage.curtin.edu.au/leap/ - cp.
Metternicht, G. , 2003)
- WEBGEO - development of web-based learning
modules for the basic education in physical
geography (http://www.webgeo.de) (Saurer, H. et al.,
2004)
2. CONCEPTS OF THE PROJECT *VIRTUAL
LANDSCAPE”
The project “Virtual Landscape” is carried out within the scope
of the joint project “E-Learning-Academic Network” (ELAN),
which aims to provide a broadly spread network of E-Learning
in different disciplines in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany.
The idea of this project is to represent the landscape virtually in
order to provide an intuitive entry point for studying the
landscape, its genesis, the spatial processes occurring on it, but
also models for describing and analyzing it. The project consists
of three main components: a virtual landscape, learning material
related to it, as well as modules in terms of applications or
scenarios (see Figure 1).
2.1 Action-oriented learning
Using the Virtual Landscape supports the action-oriented
concept of learning. The advantages of such a concept are
described by Riedl, A. & A. Schelten (2002): Cognition and
cerebration will only be a complete action when implemented
in practise. Human action is mentally tested before acting,
depending on cognition and cerebration. The comparison of the
mental plan with the real action will feed back on the mental
map of the doer. The back coupling to cognition and
cerebration will alter and extend these as well as evolve new
cognitive structures. Riedl, A. & A. Schelten (2002) further
reason that learning without execution of actions remains at the
state of mental action and therefore remain distant from real
acting. To counter that danger an interactive environment is
aspired.
2.2 Content
The target group for using the developed E-Learning-
Environment are students in Earth Sciences, such as Geodesy,
Geoinformatics, Geography, Environmental Studies, Landscape
Planning as well as students of Applied Computer Science.
These students have to learn how the landscape evolved, how
the processes in it work and are interrelated, as well as how to
make decisions concerning the landscape and how these forms
and processes may be represented and analysed in (digital) data.
Based on fundamental questions raised during the exploration
of the virtual landscape, course material is attached that
explains these phenomena or provides the necessary
background for them.
The overall bracket in the Virtual Landscape project consists of
learning materials for basic principles of GIS. At the moment
courses, such as “Webcartography” and “GIS: structures and
architectures for the Internet” are under development. Its
content is designed for the use in blended-learning-scenarios.
| | a map exercise for
| 3 | 2 routing a railway la
| 3 XY v
| x
I| £&
> VIRTUAL LANDSCAPE
| = À A A
"T. #
E : Web- GIS &
= 8 Mapping Internet er
Figure 1: Components of the project.
2.3 Applications
As illustrated in Figure 1 applications of the mentioned
disciplines may be integrated in form of text-based units,
enhanced by animations, interactive illustrations and tests. They
should provide the base for the so-called “modules”, which are
designed to guide students through application tasks within the
Virtual Landscape. A “module” will —visually spoken — be put
on top of the Virtual Landscape. To work with a task in a
module the Virtual Landscape supplies datasets and tools for
exploring and analysing data. For that an infrastructure —
described in section “3. Implementation” - will be provided.
An example for a module is a map exercise of a planning
process for routing a railway line. This module is developed by
the Institute of Regional Planning and Regional Science of the
University of Hannover. The map exercise is carried out within
a hands-on seminar. There students should solve a complex task
by running through the different stages of decision making:
from analysing data according to their relevance for a planned
project, via deliberating about alternatives unto disputing the
decision.
For the developed map exercise the process of planning a
railway line in the Hameln-Pyrmont-county was chosen. The
routing process takes place within the scope of the extension of
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