At the start of a series of lessons, the pupils were shown an above-ground image of a large hole in the middle of a street. They were challenged to adopt the persona of a member of the public, and describe what they came across as they approached the scene – paying particular attention to the most hazardous elements…
Having set the scene, pupils were given a sneak peek at what lay beyond the entrance to the crater, 
The group managed to identify five separate hazards that might make the crash site a no-go area for the investigators. They noticed that the broken utility pipes posed a problem – especially with the potentially catastrophic combination of electricity and water. They noted that the strange green smoke floating up through the cavity might well be toxic, and that where there is smoke, there is likely fire – just like the one on the alien’s ship! The group also identified the crumbling rocks as a hazard; one that could crush an investigator or cause a cave-in that would trap them underground. Finally, they identified the crater itself as a fairly hefty fall risk! All in all, the group agreed that it would not be safe for a person to enter the space… So how would the investigators ever find out what was down there?
Using the Get Kids into Survey Mining Exploration Poster, pupils explored the technology that surveyors use to investigate and map cavities, caves, rocky areas and hard-to-reach places. They learned about LiDAR technology: devices that emit light rays and measure reflections to create a 3D image of a given space. They also discovered that these scanning devices can be mounted to a variety of vehicles, turning them into mobile mapping systems. The pupils noticed that, in the poster, there were three mobile mapping systems: one where the LiDAR scanner was mounted to a robotic vehicle; one where a scanning device was fixed to a drone, and one where a 
LiDAR unit was mounted to a 4X4 vehicle. The pupils were asked to generate pros and cons for each of these systems in the context of exploring the underground tunnel from the street scene.
The result of the groups’ creative efforts was a set of prototype vehicles that looked like they could take on any survey situation, no matter how out-of-this-world it was! The children even took their models outdoors to put them through their real-world paces…
To round-off the project, the group used their drama skills to enact the discovery of the alien ship, and the reactions of the various people in the original scene. The pupils enjoyed the Shared-Space Invaders project immensely, and through the imaginative Get Kids into Survey stimuli, and a creative, cross-curricular teaching approach, they learned a great deal about cutting-edge professional technology, hazard safety, and the fascinating world of underground survey.
Company Name UPG
Company Name: RIEGL
How did you get into the Industry? One summer I was playing catching fish in a mountain stream in southern Austria, when a drone flew up in the air nearby. Of course that captured my interest! I’d never seen one like this before. It seemed to be carrying a package, and it was going back and forth in a pattern.
Company Name Geoscience Australia is Australia’s public sector organisation responsible for geology and geography. Positioning Australia is one of GeoscienceAustralia priority programs.
What is your character and why did you choose it? Our character is a Tasmanian Devil. This is a uniquely Australian animal found only on the Australian Island of Tasmania. The Devil is currently under threat due to a genetic disease. By providing access to an accurate and reliable positioning capability, researchers will be able to better track the movements of these amazing creatures to understand their behaviours and help keep the remaining populations safe for generations to come.
Company Name – Position Partners
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In today’s Character Spotlight, we discover a little more about one of GKiS’s awesome sponsors “SheMaps”
Company Name: She Maps
Location: Australia
Why did you get involved in Get Kids into Survey? Dr Karen Joyce, one of our co-founders, is passionate about the spatial industry, and getting more kids to understand the potential of the industry and the technology involved, beyond what they think it is, is important. Get Kids into Survey is also just a really fun brand to be working with.
What do you do? You are all about increasing the diversity in the STEM workforce. We do this by working with schools to run drone programs. This is STEM by stealth, as we weave into our programs a whole lot of information about the spatial industry, as well as providing real world applications, but the students often think they are just having fun flying drones!
How long have you been in the Survey Industry? Karen has been in the spatial industry as a remote sensing scientist for over 20 years.
How did you get into the Industry? When Karen was at Uni she chose her subjects by what would get her into the outdoors the most, and onto the Great Barrier Reef. With a love for the sciences and environmental monitoring in there as well, she was drawn towards remote sensing!
Funny Fact about you – Karen and Paul (our other co-founder) met when they were both serving in the Army. After Karen moved to Wellington in New Zealand, and being too cold for 2 years, they moved to Darwin, Australia in the tropics – from the freezer to the frypan!
Favourite piece of kit and why? Definitely drones! They are just so versatile and have enabled Karen to get highly detailed spatial data of her research sites.
Favourite Survey technique and why? Karen loves being able to set up a drone mapping mission on Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef, and having her drone fly an autonomous mission, collecting data. It is just so satisfying to be able to work with this technology, to do something I only dreamed of being able to do when I started at Uni.
Your website: www.shemaps.com
If you have a character; how did you choose and what does he/ she/ thing represent? Mean to you? We have Dronie – She is currently having a children’s book written about her adventures around Australia. Dronie represents all the women who have challenged themselves to overcome adversity and industry stereotypes and succeed in the STEM workforce.