Date: February 15th 2027, from 12:30 to 18:00

Venue: IGN France, Paris

EuroSDR invites participants from education, academia, NMCAs, and the wider geospatial sector to a workshop centred on approaches and geospatial data used to educate about land and its transformation.

WHY DO WE NEED THIS WORKSHOP?

Understanding what land is, built or natural, how it changes, and how our decisions shape its transformation is far from being a common competence. Concepts such as land take, soil sealing, urban densification, land degradation or regeneration are increasingly present in public and policy debates. They are not always easy to understand. Evidence is often presented through statistics that require specialist knowledge to interpret, and is discussed through polysemic or domain-specific words.

The competence in territories developed by surveyors in Europe and the geospatial information community is an opportunity for education about land and its transformation. The diversity of territories in Europe is an opportunity to illustrate land and its transformations through specific cases. Besides, maps and geospatial data offer a powerful tool for education. They can turn complex processes into something visible and tangible. Hence, our national and regional geoportals, historical maps and aerial imagery, satellite data, MapStories, respective educational platforms, indicators and visualisations are a wealth to exploit.

There is a need for transnational approaches to help teachers use these assets in their classrooms.  Teachers need help using these assets in their classrooms. This has motivated many national approaches by EuroSDR members to assist teachers in different ways. Yet education challenges also call for transnational approaches and international cooperation, as highlighted by UNESCO; national resources devoted to education are limited and need to be scaled up.

WHAT IS THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THE WORKSHOP?

A EuroSDR workshop to share, explore and create. In this context, EuroSDR, in collaboration with IGN France, is organising a workshop on the development of a digital commons for education about land and its transformation. The workshop will focus on education and mediation about land and its transformation, from primary and secondary education to higher education, lifelong learning and micro-learning to public awareness and informed societal debate. Among the key questions we would like to explore are:

•            What works? Which maps, data, teaching materials and pedagogical approaches successfully communicate land transformation? Which solution can help teachers prepare them with available data? Who are key teachers?

•            What do we already have? Which existing resources could be shared, adapted and reused more widely?

•            What is missing? What new materials, concepts, approaches, infrastructure, and animation are needed?

•            What could we develop together? What is the suggested roadmap for EuroSDR? What collaborations could help provide the missing pieces?

•            Which land competences should we address first? Possible examples include understanding how humans can impact phenomena such as soil sealing, urban densification, land take, wasteland regeneration and other transformations in which human decisions play a major role.

The ultimate ambition is to move towards a shared digital common that can support education and informed public discussion about land.

HOW WILL THE EVENT BE ORGANISED?

The first part will feature keynote contributions and presentations, organised in a hybrid format, bringing together perspectives from the geospatial, education and mediation communities. The second part will be fully on-site and dedicated to interactive discussions and co-creation, with participants working together to explore priorities and possible future activities within EuroSDR and beyond. This is therefore not intended to be a workshop where we simply present what has already been done. We want to build something together.

We welcome everyone interested in geospatial data and tools for education about land and its transformation across Europe. Please note that the first part of the event will be organised in a hybrid form, but the second part related to co-creation will be fully on-site. We warmly invite you to join us in Paris, as the afternoon discussion and social gathering will be available only to those who are physically present.

If you would like to present at this workshop, please send your abstract (up to 10,000 characters), including the title of the presentation, to anka.lisec@fgg.uni-lj.si and benedicte.bucher@ign.fr.

Registration will open after December 18, 2026

Important dates