GIS IN THE CLOUD: USING WEBGIS FOR TEACHING SECONDARY GEOGRAPHY

RESUMEN: There is no doubt among most geography educators that GIS is an important tool for teaching and learning, but its use has been slowed by issues such as the cost of the software and the management of large spatial data files. The move to cloud computing is one trend that is promising for GIS in education. The "cloud" refers to a virtual network that provides many users with access to files, services, and applications. In this article I argue that cloud computing and WebGIS have the potential to transform geography education. I will describe three case studies that make use of these emerging tools in classrooms in the US, and discuss the lessons that we can learn from these cases. PALABRAS CLAVE WEBSIG; SIG; ense anza de la geografía; la nube de Internet; ArcGIS Online; ArcGIS Explorer Desktop (AGX). ABSTRACT There is no doubt among most geography educators that GIS is an important tool for teaching and learning, but its use has been slowed by issues such as the cost of the software and the management of large spatial data files. The move to cloud computingis one trend that is promising for GIS in education. The "cloud" refers to a virtual network that provides many users with access to files, services, and applications. In this article I argue that cloud computing and WebGIS have the potential to transform geography education. I will describe three case studies that make use of these emerging tools in classrooms in the US, and discuss the lessons that we can learn from these cases. KEY WORDS WEBGIS; GIS; cloud computing; ArcGIS Online; ArcGIS Explorer Desktop (AGX). RéSUMé Il n'ya aucun doute parmi les éducateurs les plus géographie que le SIG est un outil important pour