Using GIS desire lines to visualise and analyse food miles
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can use GIS desire lines to visualise and analyse food miles.
Key learning points
- GIS desire lines can be created using GIS to visualise food miles.
- GIS desire lines are straight lines which follow great circles.
- GIS desire lines can be configured with pop-ups to improve visualisation.
- GIS desire lines can be used to analyse food miles for ingredients or source countries.
Keywords
Food miles - the distance food items travel from their point of production to the point of consumption (not necessarily measured in miles)
Desire lines - a graphical technique using lines on a map to show the simple direction of movement from one place to another
Great circles - straight line routes which appear curved on 2D maps because they account for the curvature of Earth
Pop-up - in GIS, a read-only display of attribute information (e.g. text, images, charts) often linked to a location
Common misconception
When configuring GIS desire lines, by default, the field titles are very long and can be easily confused with each other. This is because they are automatically prefixed with the title of the layer.
Extra care is needed in reading the field names before selection and checking the result in case of errors.
Teacher tip
No matter what your level of experience is with GIS, go through all the steps yourself first until you feel confident and fluent. Don't worry if you make a mistake, everybody does, even experienced practitioners!
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is a natural resource?
Q2.Which of the following is an example of a renewable resource?
Q3.Which of these is an example of a non-renewable resource?
Q4.Why are resources unevenly distributed around the world?
Q5.Which of these countries is most likely to rely on imported energy?
Q6.What is the main problem caused by uneven distribution of resources?
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.Match the keywords to the definition.
Q2.What is a likely environmental concern linked to high food miles?
Q3.Which data visualisation would best show how bananas travel from Ecuador to the UK?
Q4.What should you be careful of when selecting fields for desire lines in GIS?
To help you plan your 11 geography lesson on: Using GIS desire lines to visualise and analyse food miles, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 11 geography lesson on: Using GIS desire lines to visualise and analyse food miles, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
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The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
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Explore more key stage 4 geography lessons from the Global pattern of food resources unit, dive into the full secondary geography curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.