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Geography Links |
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General Geography Information
Environment & Habitats
Ice and Snow
India
Maps
Rivers
Settlements
Sustainable Development
Rainforests
Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Mountains & Caves
Weather
Other Useful Sites |
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Contents
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General Geography Information |
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CIA -- The World
Factbook
Look up any fact, geographical, political or economic, about any country you care to think
of. This site has been set up by the CIA, so presumably is useful for any would be
spies!!!
The
Commonwealth Institute
 
A source of information on commonwealth countries. As well as information on the Institute
itself, there is a Teachers Resource section, which is only a prototype at the moment, but
which looks extremely promising. Aimed at teachers of KS2 and KS3, it offers curriculum
focussed information, including links to the learning grids of many other countries,
accompanied by some learning activities and worksheets. At the moment the only country
included is South Africa, but there are plans to extend this to cover all commonwealth
countries.
The
Constants and Equations Page
This is really useful. Do you want to know the mass of the Earth, its volume or the
time of sunrise in Kabul on January 18th? Do you know how many gallons there are in a dry
pint? Do you know what a slug or G-pound is and how many Kg it is equal to? This site has
over 4500 pages of information about scientific, mathematical or astronomical constants
and equations.You can get a table of sunrise/set times for any place on Earth - useful for
the KS2 QCA Unit on Sun Earth and Moon.
The
Disaster Area
Floods, Hurricanes, Volcanoes, Tsunami, Storms, Wildfires and more... Learn about natural
disasters. Simple explanations, lively graphics. Kids will enjoy this one.
Earth and Moon viewer
A definite must for work on the Earth in Space! View a map of the Earth showing day and
night regions right at this moment, as seen from the sun, the moon, or a satellite. Or
view the moon from above named locations. There is also a link to an interactive orrery.
Earth
View
This is the page of Earth and Moon Viewer which
shows day and night at the moment.
The Ellis
Island, New York, site
Lots of links and search facilities relating to the millions who passed through
Ellis Island and
into a new life in the United States.
Geographia
This site is really intended as a tourist
information guide to the world. There is masses of
country-specific information presented in a lively,
colourful and well-structured way. There are links
to countries' own tourist information sites. Much of
the information will be accessible to pupils.
GeoNet
The Guardian 07.01.97.described this as 'a one man bid to set up the definitive web site
for Geography teachers'. Good on ideas and is gradually developing its
resources. Well worth a closer look.
GeoResource
An excellent site. Resources for pupil / student use
(Cases studies, virtual fieldwork, outline maps,
collections of photographs and more) and collections
of really useful links, categorised by topic. Easy
to navigate.
National Geographic
Gives access to an online version of the National Geographic magazine. There is also the
facility to print out maps, and to view an archive of photographic images. Provides links
to travel and tourism sites. Some of the pages are very slow to load.
The
National Railway Museum, York
Definitely one for railway buffs! Perhaps not so much for teachers, although there is a
nice section on the history of railway posters. The graphics can make it slow to download.
The
National Tramway Museum
The UK's premier museum about trams, at Crich in Derbyshire.
Teaching
Ideas for Primary Geography
This site contains a selection of activities and worksheets to download dealing with
mapwork, learning about places and weather. You are also able to contribute your own
ideas.
Tommy's List of Live Cams Worldwide
Links to web cams all over the world - see what's happening
out there, live!
US-Africa
Comprehensive (although not necessarily up to date) information about each of the countries in Africa. (The site has annoying
pop-up ads on every page, though, so make sure your pop-up blocker
is on). |
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| Environment & Habitats |
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Biomes
Excellent information from Enchanted Learning about the types of habitat that are found on our planet
(once you have scrolled down the page from the
membership advert).
Earthlights
A Photograph of the Earth's surface at night, taken from space showing the lights of
settlements. Amazing but may take a long time to download.
Encyclopedia
of the Atmospheric Environment
A Canadian site with masses of information on the atmosphere and weather. Includes lots of
stuff on the health of the atmosphere eg. acid rain, air quality, ozone depletion. Many of
the pages are presented at "younger" and "older" levels (but even the
"younger" pages are a bit wordy).
Environment Agency of
England and Wales
Lots of information from this National Agency.
What's
It Like Where You Live?
Pages about tundra, desert, temperate forests, grasslands, taiga This site is part of a the
larger Evergreen Project site called "Biomes of the World". A well thought
out and comprehensive resource. The Evergreen Project also has two other sections that
might be of interest on
Freshwater
ecosystems and
Marine
Ecosystems.
Wild Places
This is the Friends of the Earth site and it places emphasis on our need to protect our
wild areas. Best bit of the site is where you can type in your postcode and a map of your
local arae is generated showing local sites of special scientific interest (SSSI).
Clicking on them shows information about each site and whether it is under threat. |
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Ice and Snow |
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Glaciers
A very good site for anyone studying Antarctica. Suitable for upper key stage2+.
All About Glaciers
Lots of information and photographs (including some
then and now pairs, showing how glaciers have
changed).
Icefields and Glaciers
This one is from the website of the Tongass National
Forest in Alaska. Lots of clear explanations and
plenty of photographs. |
| India |
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Lonely
Planet: Destination India
Mainly tourist information but may be useful.
Welcome to India
Lots of well presented information, but younger surfers may find the
reading level a little hard.
Discover India
An on-line travel magazine. Photographically illustrated articles
about different places and themes are a little like
what you might find in National Geographic.
An Introduction to India
Some useful information, quite a high reading age.
Chembakolli
This is the Indian village suggested for study in QCA Unit 10. The
site is run by the charity Action Aid. You can order the recommended
resources and subscribe to the further materials on the site for
very reasonable fee. |
| Maps |
If
you are looking for Maps there are lots here. Many
of the UK sites will let you search for maps by
postcode. |
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The AA
No actual maps but the route finder is excellent. Children can
plan a road journey and then follow it on a map or atlas. The route planner gives full
details of the route, mileage and expected journey time.
Google Maps
View maps down to street level or satellite images.
There is an easy to use slider to zoom with or you
can use your mouse wheel. You can also overlay the
streets onto the satellite image. Uses the same
satellite images as Google Earth (I think).
How
Far is it?
This is actually a site about Indonesia and Bali,
but they provide this handy distance calculator.
Look up the distance as the crow flies between two places on the Earth's surface. You can
ask for towns or give longitude and latitude. Some of those crows fly HUGE distances!
Find anywhere in the world (including street maps).
Streetmap.co.uk
Excellent site for UK maps. Street maps of London and some other areas and lots of other
easily navigated maps.
World Atlas : Maps and Geography of the World
This one is from About (The Human Internet) and is crammed full of maps and data about the
different countries of the world. I have only had a quick look but it looks good.
World
Time Interactive Atlas
You have a globe. See where it is day and where it is night. Click on a spot to turn the
globe to face you. Zoom in or out. Find out the time and the times of sunrise and sunset
for today in the cities of the country you have selected. Or choose your country from an
alphabetical list. The site is simple, clear and quick.
Lonely Planet:
The Lonely Planet produce tourist guides. Click on
the map to find out about the places. |
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| Rivers |
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The
Amazon River
A simple site about the Amazon with maps, photos and basic information. Some nice photos
of wildlife and a really good aerial shot of meanders
The River
Thames
All sorts of stuff about Old Father Thames.Useful links page.
River Derwent
This is a page from a website that deals with the
peak district. There is some basic information about
the River Derwent and some nice photos of the river
and its surrounding scenere, including a very
effective 360 degree panorama.
A
Walk along the River Roe
This page is dedicated to the River Roe in Ulster. This is a page from the excellent
Limavady site (see Settlements section)
The
River Trent
This site follows the River Trent from source to mouth, including aerial photographs,
narrative and useful vocabulary along the upper, middle and lower course of the river. It
has sections on River facts, Flooding, Settlement, Uses and Conservation. A very useful
site! |
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| Settlements |
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Cotswold
Towns
Not so much an educational site, more a travellers' guide to 15 Cotswold towns and
villages. Written in a pleasantly personal style and giving good information about the
interesting features of the villages, together with photographs. If you are planning a
visit to the Cotswolds, or use them as a contrasting region of study, you will find these
pages very useful.
Ironbridge
Gorge Museum Trust
The Ironbridge Gorge was the Silicon Valley of the first Industrial Revolution and was the
first area to be awarded the status of World Heritage Site.Information about the area and
the museums and the beginning of a collection of project activities for pupils who are
visiting the museums (in the Resources section).
Ironbridge,
Shropshire (Virtual Tour)
A virtual tour of the town of Ironbridge and the
historic surrounding area. Photographs and
informative text.
Limavady
Jochen Lueg, who produced this excellent site says, "This site is full of irrelevant
but valuable information about the Town of Limavady and some of the people that have the
good fortune to live there." Limavady is in Ulster. The site contains photos of the
town and some of its events and characters and lots of information about life in the town.
Tourist Guide
to the Peak District
If you are planning a visit to the Peak District then visit this site first. It is packed
with information about the area, its history, geography, events and accommodation. The
site is well structured and the presentation is both simple and attractive.
Shrewsbury,
Shropshire
An virtual tour of Shrewsbury, by the same team, and in the same
style, as the virtual tour of
Ironbridge (see above).Reviewer's
note: There are many sites on the internet which give local information.
Why not visit a search engine such as Google
and simply type in the name of the place you want to know about? You never know what you
will find! |
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| Sustainable Development |
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One World UK
Aiming to provide the UK's best online coverage of
news and views about human rights and sustainable
development. |
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Rainforests |
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Amazon
Interactive
Learn about the geography of the Amazon Rainforest. Find out about the inhabitants, and
how they live off the land. Try running an ecotourism project in a simulation based on
those on the Rio Napo in Ecuador.
Photojourney through the
Costa Rican Rainforest
Well described and lots of good quality photos. Lots of short, quick-loading pages.
Rainforest Alliance
An excellent site from this organisation that works
to protect the rainforests and the animals, plants
and people who live in them. News, articles and much
more.
Rainforestconcern
Rainforestconcern is a UK charity. Their website has lots of
information about rainforests. Children will enjoy the Kids
Guided Tour which is actually a sort of animated book about
rainforest, written in kidspeak. Little insects crawl about and some
of them are clickable to pop up information.
Rainforest
Heroes
Rainforest Action Network works to protect the rainforests and the people who live there
through education and the organising of non-violent campaigns. Find out about their work,
and what you can do to help.
Rainforest
Information Centre
Find out about the latest research into rainforest issues and read news updates from
rainforest conservation projects. Obtain a list of eco friendly suppliers of timber
products. A children’s discussion page has just been set up. Check out the Rainforest
Information Centre Children's Forest Links Page at
http://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/children/chlinks.htm
Lots of links for children and access to useful info page on rainforests and the dangers
they face.
Rainforest Stories
Stories for children about rainforest animals and
people who work to protect them.
The Rainforest Tram
The Rainforest Aerial Tramway is a company that runs aerial tramways
in the rainforests of Costa Rica, the Dominican
Republic and St Lucia. RFAT is committed to
conservation of the rainforests and their website is
full of information This site give information about
the tram and access to useful pages of links and
information. There are collections of photographs,
including some wonderful images of rainforest
animals (but sadly no captions).
Rain-Tree's
company website
Rain-Tree specialises in medicinal products of rain forest origin. The site has useful
information about the economics of rainforest usage, access to a database of rainforest
plants and their medicinal properties, a fascinating page of rainforest facts, and a
really useful page of categorised links to help with school projects. There is also a
general links page and much much more. A really good resource..
Rainforestweb
Essentially a comprehensive links listing.
Lots of information and articles about rainforests.
Temperate Rainforest - The Land That Time Forgot
A very useful site about temperate rain forests of
the American Pacific North West, their climate,
flora, fauna.
Temperate Rain Forests
Informative site about temperate rainforests. There
is a useful section of links comparing tropical and
temperate rainforests.
Virtual Rainforest
From Michigan State University comes this clickable
picture of a rainforest. Each click pops up an
information window about a rainforest creature or
feature. Excellent.
What's It Like Where You Live? Rainforest
A site full of easy to find information, from flora and fauna, to the causes of
destruction. There is information on both temperate and tropical rainforests.
Zoom Rainforests
A Wealth of basic information about many aspects of rainforests with links to further
information all pitched at a level that is accessible for children. Particularly good are
the pages about rainforest animals. |
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| Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Mountains & Caves |
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Enchanted Learning's Volcanoes page
A nice labelled cross-section of a volcano and several useful
activities for children. EL's stuff is always worth a look.
Old Faithful Webcam
Watch the famous geyser in Yellowstone National Park. The picture is updated about every
20 seconds.
Peakware World Mountain
Encyclopedia
"Welcome
to the web's premier resource on world mountains and mountaineering. Here you can explore
the world, and network with others who share your love for the high country". An
excellent site for mountain information, well produced - the enthusiasm of the production
team shows through.
The Virtual Cave
This is a great site for those interested in caves. Wonderful photographs.
Volcanoes of the World Part of the
Volcano World site. Links to key parts of Volcano World's Massive site.
Volcanoes on Line
Great site about Volcanoes, Plate Tectonics etc.
written and presented in a lively, colourful and
child friendly way.
Volcano
World
This is an excellent site for finding out about volcanoes. It claims to be the "Web's
Premier Volcano Site" and it may be. The stated aims of the site are "to provide
authoritative information about volcanoes to kids and others, with a human touch. We did
not want visitors to feel their computer was downloading information from our
computer". They have recently added some stunning potographs.
Volcano World
Movie Clips
A collection of movie clips to download, presented in both Quicktime and MPEG formats.
Some of the files are quite large but worth the wait! |
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| Weather & Seasons |
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Clouds
This site excellent by Carl Wozniak is all about clouds. There is an excellent page of
downloadable photos. Carl writes: Clouds comprise a wonderful focus for classroom
study. They're ubiquitous, ever-changing, scientifically interesting and, most importantly
for teachers, ... they're cheap.
Encyclopedia
of the Atmospheric Environment
A Canadian site with masses of information on the atmosphere and weather. Includes lots of
stuff on the health of the atmosphere eg. acid rain, air quality, ozone depletion. Many of
the pages are presented at "younger" and "older" levels (but even the
"younger" pages are a bit wordy).
The
Met. Office
The Weatherman's website! Everything you'd ever need for a "Weather" topic....
and then some! Look in the "Education" section first on this huge searchable
site.
Latest Weather Satellite Pictures
Part of the Met Office site. Great pictures in jpeg format updated every six hours. This
is what the Net was made for!
On-Line
Weather Forecasts: UK
If you want the latest weather forecast for your region then this is the site for you.
Climatic data for the major cities, satellite pictures and even a "weather
window" for your own website. It's all here!
The Tornado Project
All you ever wanted to know about tornadoes but were afraid to ask? Yes, but also a big
push to sell you books, videos and posters! Some useful stuff for teachers can be found in
"The Storm Cellar".
The Weather Dude
American TV weather man, Nick Walker is the Weather Dude. This site includes an online
textbook called Weather Basics in which The Weather Dude explains the weather in simple
terms. There are useful pages on Precipitation, Lightning and Thunder, Clouds, Snow, the
Sun and much more...There are songs about the weather with lyrics and sound clips. There
are also lots of useful links for parents, teacehrs and pupils.
World
Climate
Weather data from around the world. |
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The Inca Trail
An informative photographic tour of the towns and mountains around Machu Picchu in Peru. |
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