Geographical Information Systems are now embedded in our daily lives. Whether it is planning journeys on AA Route Finder, using Google Maps to find your favourite shop or relying rather nervously on your Sat Nav to safely deliver you to your destination, we are using modern spatial technologies all the time.  Yet for geographers, the mere mention of those three feared letters G – I – S has tended to raise blood pressure and cause unnecessary panic. Thankfully, after this week, pulses at Cheltenham College (and several other independent schools) are no longer racing. The panic is over!

On Monday 25 January,we hosted a series of workshops on GIS applications for Sixth Form geographers across the country. Working closely with the ICT Department and tapping into our links with Apple, we were pleased to be joined by three Distinguished Apple Educators to run the workshops. Our geographers were joined by nearly 40 visiting pupils from Malvern College and Dean Close, as well as teaching colleagues from Bryanston, Abingdon, Oundle, Clifton and St Edward's.

Coursework is no longer a feature of A Level Geography but fieldwork remains central to all that we do. It defines what we do. GIS creates a wealth of opportunities for virtual field work, allowing us to ‘fly’ into a city and take a comprehensive tour ofthe landscape using Google Earth 360 Cities or Street View. Never wanting to undervalue the personal experience of primary fieldwork, the most powerful uses we investigated were applications such as bingmaps.com and GPS Visualizer, programmes that allow our own primary data to be uploaded and superimposed onto maps or satellite images. The look of enlightenment when our own residential quality data for Birmingham appeared as proportional symbols on top of a satellite image of the A34 artery was like a weight lifted off our geographers’ shoulders. A mapping activity that had taken hours of painstaking work in November was done in seconds by GIS. The days of colouring maps are over and we’re right at the forefront of exploring these new possibilities.

As is always our aim, the event was designed to encourage an intrinsic curiosity in these technologies. They are not just part of the new A Level specifications: they are relevant to ourlives and should be explored for the sake of interest, fun and academiccuriosity. University Geography is now loaded with GIS, and future employers – particularly government agencies and public and private dominant services – are looking for competence and competence.

We’re making sure that Cheltenham College geographers are well prepared…

Ben Cliff, Head of Geography