Mapping and Targeting Educational Hotspots via EduGIS

The Ingenieurbüro für Geoinformatik (GisEO) and the geoinformation service provider DELPHI IMM GmbH, Germany, recently won the contract for the development and realisation of a geo portal and web services to supply a comprehensive survey of educational information based on spatial data. The web technology is planned to support education representatives, parents, students as well as national and international school partners in investigating the structure and performance of schools and after-school care or day care facilities in the Land Brandenburg based on up-to-date maps. The supply of the web application will be free of charge and is scheduled to be completed by May 2011.

Representative international school achievement studies like PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) have not only set off an increasing public interest towards pedagogical school profiles and other performance data. The number of online users visiting the website 'School Portraits of Brandenburg' of the education server Berlin-Brandenburg is an indication of the popularity of online services supplying detailed but transparent educational information. Yet, most of the present available Educational GeoInformation Systems (EduGIS) show wide deficits in describing educational information in a space-related context. Consequently, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Land Brandenburg (Staatliche Schulamt Wünsdorf) has realized the missing or at least bad availability of educational based geoinformation for different user groups despite its indefeasible high impact on investment decisions and site questions.

In developing the geoportal and the web services in the course of a funded project by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) the Land Brandenburg will provide a completely free service package. Both education representatives and the public will obtain an interactive web platform to handle versatile tasks and issues in the field of educational information management. This represents a significant step towards a better information culture for the education system of the Land Brandenburg, which will succeed to meet the ever-increasing public demand for information on structure and capacities of the regional education sector. Finally, the project activities are scheduled to allow for a functional enhancement of the geo portal EduGIS at a later date.