Get Involved Inspiring future geospatial experts! Get Kids into Survey February News

Welcome to the 6th issue of Get Kids into Survey (GKiS) News, a monthly newsletter by us,

Elaine & Elly Ball, with a focus on Get Kids into Survey, school resources, what’s happening and more. A special high-five to new subscribers from Resource Dynamics Group, Leighton Asia and Apex Engineering Group: Good to see you. 👀 P.S.Was this email forwarded to you?  You need your own!  Sign up here

 26th February, 2020 – Nidderdale (sheep land) North Yorkshire, England

Hello friend!

Well…Elly and I – are two sisters on a mission to Get Kids into Survey! That’s the point! Many of you already know us from our family history. Click here to read about that! There are two Ball’s or is it three or even four?

First things first, WE NEED YOU! We have taken a different approach to what we do. We are funded through industry! We set up Get Kids into Survey by chance through our passion to make the GEOSPATIAL WORLD more ‘on-it’ when it comes to marketing! Our sponsors for GKiS are one man bands to multi million dollar organisations – everyone can have a say! The money received goes into design, print and strategic marketing communications in order to keep the posters FREE – you only have to pay postage..  I did try to keep the postage free but [oh boy…] postage once cost me in excess of £1,500 one month! Outch!! I had to swallow it! So we decided that we had to charge that part. Sorry!

Where are we: first #GetKidsintoSurvey is here to:

“Inspire future geospatial experts!” Bringing young people into the exciting world of survey through pioneering content and engaging experiences”

HERE ARE SOME THINGS WORTH SHARING THIS MONTH:

Elly and I met Claire Edwards from The Geospatial Commission (feel free to drop her a note) – the Geospatial Commission (UK Government) are on a mission to maximise the value of geospatial data and to help the growth of the digital economy. We are super excited to collaborate – our aim is to work with governments around the globe to maximise the Geospatial Industry. We will keep you posted on developments!

In October 2019 we launched a pilot called “Survey Fest”. This is where we bring local survey firms and manufacturers together to educate children – Alison Watson from COYO, Elly and myself decided we would take matters into our own hands and start ‘something’ that could be ‘franchised’ in the future. Something local communities all round the world could deliver EASILY! And the ball has started to roll….

Speaking of Alison – if you don’t know her already – you must! Alison has got the Survey Curriculum into schools known as DEC. Alison already has two schools in North America, 2 in Asia and over 100 in the UK. We are proud to be working alongside her and her team.

The NSPS are looking for funding to get Alison over to North America to do some talks and are looking for support – contact Tim at NSPS for further details.

Back to Survey Fest – we are planning to launch the next one as ‘one’ day at Newcastle University, UK – July time. The idea is to roll out a few more like this in designated areas then roll it out as a ‘franchise model’ / ‘pack’ so schools can hold their own – anywhere in the world!  Here is what Topcon has to say.  Here is what Civil Engineering Surveyor had to say

We launched the new website – see here for details – this will be the HUB for the Geospatial Community Globally. We will house all sorts of content on here and have a strategy to develop this into one useful resource for you, your businesses, schools, parents and kids. With one aim “to inspire and educate” – non of this boring corporate stuff.

We have tightened up our process with Brand Ambassadors – in order to strengthen the brand ambassador community and help promote these guys who are truly AWESOME advocates for our industry – fancy applying?  Click here for details.

For those who don’t know – we will be launching our “GEO Squad” comic book for Christmas 2020 and are looking for sponsors for that. Sponsors can either sponsor the ’strips’ (which go into POB USA and Civil Engineering Survey UK) or the activity pages in the comic book itself (We will have a mock up soon to show you) – the comic book will be 5 chapters/ 40 Plus pages + 10 activity pages. Send me an email if you are interested elaine@getkidsintosurvey.com

CLICK HERE TO READ WHAT POB HAD TO SAY ABOUT GEO SQUAD

GEO Squad will be an educational comic that teachers, parents and surveyors alike can use to educate and excite the younger generation! Clever ah!

We are designing ‘lesson plans’ for each poster – coming soon – for teachers to use in the classroom (downloadable from the website ‘resources’ page)

Each poster now has  ‘Q&A’ downloadable sheets – see here under ‘Quizzes’ – Notice the little questions on the footers of each poster? The answers are now downloadable and usable for parents, kids and surveyors!

We are working on a directory/glossary of ‘words’ to help kids and the general public better understand surveying terminology. Some are proving difficult as it isn’t cohesive across the globe. Hmm….We’ll get there.

We have colouring-in sheets for download here . Again, for extra stuff for teachers, parents and surveyors to use.

We will be exhibiting at Intergeo, TopoDOT User Conference (TUC), GEO Business, FIG and have more to add in the next few months – we will produce more posters around these shows.

2020 is the year for getting more traction in schools

We have started working with a couple of head teachers in Yorkshire, England

Our poster circulation is now over 48,000 Posters Globally and growing daily!

GEO Squad “Survey” Comic Book – COMING SOON TO ALL

What’s happening around the globe?  Resources you should know about!  Have stuff worth sharing?  Let me know elaine @ getkidsintosurvey.com

Australia. Who? A Life Without Limits. What? A resources hub all about surveying!

UK. Who? British Geological Survey What? Classroom resources 

US & Ireland. Who? Teledyne Marine What? is offering aspiring hydrographers and oceanographers the opportunity to use its leading-edge technology for programmes planned for 2020, free of charge, via its Academic Product Grant.

Florida, USA. Who? Citizen Science GIS  What? provides funded international experiences in Orlando & Belize for U.S. undergraduates and K-12 educators in community GIS and citizen science that connect research to real-world problem solving inclusive of knowledge from local stakeholders. – Citizen Science GIS have already got involved with #GetKidsintoSurvey at the annual TopoDOT User Conference in Orland, Florida.

Australia. Who? SHE MAPS! What? Drones in Schools – Digital technologies resources for teachers.

North America. Who?  GEO Holics – The purpose of this podcast is to provide listeners with a light-hearted yet serious perspective on the life and interests of a geomatics professional. What? Resources on experiences from real life surveyors

North America. Who? Land Surveyors United. What? Providing a list of land surveying colleagues in North America

North America. Who?  Land Surveyors United. What? Resources for young surveyors

Denmark. Who ?  FIG – Young Surveyors Network  What? Group for young surveyors.

England, UK.  Who & What?:  AHOY THERE Mini Map-Makers!! Love Maps? Exploring? Designing? Planet Earth? Join the Mini Map-Makers crew on the Mapping Adventures and learn essential life skills along the way!

England, UK. Who? Class of Your Own (COYO). What? Class of Your Own Limited has been delivering one day workshops and other built environment student engagement programmes to schools/colleges since 2009. 11-16 years. – North America, UK, Dubai, Asia.

England. UK. Who?  UK Government T-LEVELS UK. What? First three T-Levels in UK for 2020 are: Digital Construction, Education and Child Care

North America.  Who? Dr. Stacey Dixon, NGA Deputy Director. What? Named to 2020 Wash100 for Driving Education Programs, Workforce Diversity

Yours Elaine

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