The e-MapScholar project - an example of interoperability in GIScience education

The proliferation of the use of digital spatial data in learning and teaching provides a set of opportunities and challenges for the development of e-learning materials suitable for use by a broad spectrum of disciplines in Higher Education. Effective e-learning materials must both provide engaging materials with which the learner can interact and be relevant to the learners' disciplinary and background knowledge. Interoperability aims to allow sharing of data and materials through the use of common agreements and specifications. Shared learning materials can take advantage of interoperable components to provide customisable components, and must consider issues in sharing data across institutional borders. The e-MapScholar project delivers teaching materials related to spatial data, which are customisable with respect to both context and location. Issues in the provision of such interoperable materials are discussed, including suitable levels of granularity of materials, the provision of tools to facilitate customisation and mechanisms to deliver multiple data sets and the metadata issues related to such materials. The examples shown make extensive use of the OpenGIS consortium specifications in the delivery of spatial data. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.