GIS relies on and promotes spatial awareness Effective users see patterns in actual landscapes and symbolic representations. Effective users ask iterative questions to describe and explain spatial patterns. Effective users explore patterns identifiable across a range of data sources and different types of representations. Effective users integrate data at multiple scales and identify patterns and processes at and across a range from macro to micro. Integrating additional technologies such as Global Positioning Systems Using GIS effectively requires knowing how to make the GIS software perform particular tasks.
Effective users learn, over time, how to make the software do what they want.
Effective users take advantage of different levels of software capacity. Effective users learn to employ fundamental tools early, and add to their tool-using skills over time. What this all means is that GIS can be a powerful ally in the effort to enhance education. Students and teachers can work together to build a coherent framework for information about the world. The community can share in the process of providing educational experiences, and can gain from intelligence provided by the students.