Learning about British Columbia with the inspiration of the Challenger Map

The Challenger Map of the Province of British Columbia provides an indelible sense of the province's vastness and potential.

The map's appeal is enduring and wide-ranging. When supported by technology that expands the map into a basis for viewing data and video/images of the province it will become a most useful teaching asset. The Challenger Map can even become the basis of an internet site that incorporates cameras showing the map and activities around it, even allowing visitors on the web site to participate in the activities and knowledge contained within the map's technical and information services.

Further inclusion of the growing popularity of live, internet based views of the province including the now famous EagleCams in several locations, the expansion to cameras located in the Great Bear Rain forest, tracking the "spirit bears" and a proposed series of underwater camera locations on the coast and in the Fraser River will make for incredible learning experiences. Even the dozens of camera locations from the BC Ministry of Transportation and Highways as well as BC Ferries will all enhance the map when tied to a lighting system that can illuminate the locations on the map that relate to the visual images from the cameras.

Target audiences include:

• Tourists: Visitors to BC will be able to visualize the natural beauty and diversity of this province and its many attractions when planning their current and future vacations.
  
  
• Business People: the topographical detail of the province will graphically demonstrate the opportunities and challenges associated with doing business in B.C. and assist with business planning.
  
  
• Community Representatives: We will develop internet on-line visual and computer links to communities that can be used by them for potential business development and to attract tourism to the area.
  
  
• School groups: Students studying history, geography, social studies and many other disciplines will be able to quickly grasp how scale and topography have shaped the development of this province.
  
  
• Residents of the Province of BC: Families and individuals, especially in the Lower Mainland, who have never traveled throughout B.C. will be able to see the scope and diversity of the province.