AGS-TeachOSM Great County Mapping Contest – American Geographical Society

2018 AGS-TeachOSM Great County Mapping Challenge

Check your progress here on our LEADERBOARD!!!

What It Is

In concert with The American Geographical Society’s (AGS) mission to continuously support our teacher fellows and their students in open mapping endeavors, AGS is partnering with Teach OpenStreetMap (TeachOSM) to create a unique mapping challenge for AGS Geography Teacher Fellows and their students. This 2018 AGS-TeachOSM Great County Mapping Challenge is a structured contest that integrates open mapping as a teaching technique, while also helping teachers connect APHG content with geospatial practice. In doing so, we hope to make the best, most up-to-date, most accurate map of students’ school counties using cutting-edge open source mapping technologies.

This 2018 AGS-TeachOSM Great County Mapping Challenge is a structured contest that will integrate open mapping as a teaching technique and help teachers connect APHG content with geospatial practice. In doing so, we hope to make the best, most up-to-date, most accurate map of your county using cutting-edge open source mapping technologies. With our guidance and support, teams of student mappers will compete to make a complete inventory of all buildings in their county, starting with all existing public facilities, then significant commercial/industrial buildings, other buildings of note. Students will add this information directly to OpenStreetMap (OSM).

Contestants will compete in teams for cash prizes. Awards will be based on both quantity and quality of contributions. Teams have multiple chances to win cash prizes – with a $500 prize for the first place team, four $250 prizes for runner-ups, and a number of other cash prizes your team might find themselves surprised to be winning along the way!

The American Geographical Society (AGS) and Teach OpenStreetMap (TeachOSM) have trained over 150 educators and instructors in open mapping techniques since 2016. Together, our mutual goal has been to help educators bring the power of mapping to their classrooms by helping them apply open mapping techniques to their curriculum. If teachers find this to be a valuable exercise for their students, AGS and TeachOSM will implement additional rounds focusing on mapping other geographical and geospatial concepts such as roads and transportation
networks.

With the help of Humanitarian OpenStreetMap and Missing Maps, AGS and TeachOSM have put together a LEADERBOARD so that AGS Geography Teacher Fellows and their student mappers can track their progress!!!

Why Enter this Contest?

In short, because open mapping is an unparalleled tool for making spatial concepts tangible. Open mapping connects the practice of mapping directly to geographic content presented in the APHG curriculum. This contest is designed to emphasize this connection by rewarding student mappers in
several ways. These include:
● To include open mapping in your repertoire of geographic teaching techniques
● To experience geography and spatial awareness first hand
● To make tangible key spatial concepts in the APHG curriculum
● Develop geographic literacy starting in your own backyard
● Experience the rewards of creating valuable public maps
● Showcase your school’s academic prowess in geography
● Give back to your community as a citizen scientist
● GeoBadges awarded to teachers and students for demonstrated mapping achievements

More on How This Contest Works

1. Teacher Form Your Teams!

AGS Geography Teacher Fellows can lead up to 12 teams of 3-8 student mappers. AGS and TeachOSM set up mapping projects so that teachers can focus on instructing their students.

Teacher leaders must submit their registration, roster, and student contracts (closed for this session).
All teachers and students will create an OSM account if they do not already have one.

Teachers and students choose a name & a hashtag for their school and for each team. This is how we will track student and team progress.

2. Teachers Refresh your OpenStreetMapping Skills

Feeling daunted? Don’t worry! At the beginning of the contest, TeachOSM and AGS sponsors online coaching sessions to help teachers refresh your OpenStreetMap skills, plan, organize, and execute before and during the contest. We will also create a project for your county on the TeachOSM Tasking Manager and populate it with descriptive information as well as detailed mapping instructions for student mappers. We set up the project, you simply implement it.

3. Map All The Features!

This is the fun part! We’ll guide you through the steps to get your students mapping buildings in OpenStreetMap. Teams have roughly two weeks to map all non-residential buildings in your county. Give first priority to public buildings, including schools, libraries, municipal facilities, government centers, police/fire/rescue, and so forth. Then map the significant commercial and institutional buildings. Ideally, your map should show all the significant buildings in your community.

4. Win the Great County Mapping Challenge

As a finalist, you will have the chance to win cash prizes for your school’s mapping program, and you will gain access to all of our open mapping resources for the classroom. As a plus, you’ll also develop connections with open mappers in your area and the worldwide OpenStreetMap community.

General Contest Timeline

AGS has pushed back some contest timeline dates to accommodate teachers and students affects by Hurricane Florence and other weather-related events.

Registration | August – September
Online OSM Coaching sessions/refreshers | Two (2) – One (1) hour sessions are offered in early October
All Teams Mapping! | October 3- 27th
Contest judging | October 28 – November 3
Prizes Awarded | November 15 – 16 at the Geography 2050 Symposium

For more information please contact AGS Special Projects Coordinator Ms. Joanna Green at maps@americangeo.org