Imagining the Possibilities of Collaborative Spatial Learning: OCUL's Geospatial Portal Project and Its Inspirations

OCUL's Geospatial and Health Informatics Cyberinfrastructure Portal ("Geospatial Portal" for short) is a new project to create a data storage and discovery tool in Ontario, Canada, intended to improve access to geospatial and health data for Ontario researchers and students. One of the priorities of the project is to explore how new, collaborative, web-based technologies have influenced teaching and learning of spatial concepts and dissemination and use of spatial data. We then intend to incorporate these tools into the Geospatial Portal, thus encouraging its integration into fundamental classroom and research processes. In this presentation, we will provide an engaging and fun look at the latest online technologies for sharing, creating, and working with spatial data, with visual examples of projects featuring mashups, collaboration tools, and community-contributed data. We'll offer a first look at our plans to use such technologies in the Geospatial Portal, to encourage engagement with spatial data literacy among the Ontario academic community.