06 September 2006

Children set to offer satellite-free, in-car navigation

Those family arguments over directions in the car could be a thing of the past, with all our children becoming geography experts.

An initiative by Ordnance Survey to provide a free map to every 11-year-old in Britain could mean that it will be the children giving the directions from now on.

This is the fifth year that Ordnance Survey has made available free OS Explorer Maps for pupils, with more than 700,000 maps distributed across Great Britain each year. The map can be used at home as well as school, and by the end of this year’s scheme a potential 3.8 million children overall will have benefited by having a map of their own to keep.

Schools across England, Scotland and Wales with Year 7 pupils have already begun ordering their maps online at www.ordnancesurvey/freemapsfor11yearolds.

“This is one of the biggest educational initiatives of its kind,” says Ordnance Survey’s Education Manager, Roger Jeans. “Our research shows that this initiative has had an exceedingly positive effect on geography teaching and learning in schools. Four years on from the original launch of the Ordnance Survey Free maps for 11-year-olds scheme, the number of pupils confident in their understanding of maps has doubled, and the number of pupils who enjoy using maps has trebled.”

“We’re hoping that as a result of this initiative we’ll have a generation of children that will be able to navigate as expertly as any satellite navigation system when using an Ordnance Survey map.”

To take advantage of the scheme, teachers must place their order online by 31 October 2006 on the Ordnance Survey website or call the helpline on 08456 05 05 05.

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Chief Press Officer - Scott Sinclair

Email: scott.sinclair@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Phone: (+44) 023 8079 2265

Senior Press Officer - Bryn Jones

Email: bryn.jones@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Phone: (+44) 023 8079 2708

Press Office fax: (+44) 023 8030 5295