Drone rangers: students take virtual field trips in the McKenzie Country

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-1473" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;05&sol;SND15-wk2-students&period;jpg" alt&equals;"SND15-wk2-students" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"181" &sol;>School students from across New Zealand are descending on the Mackenzie Country this week&comma; learning about how hi-tech tools and technology – from drones to GPS – are being used to support conservation in the area&period; But they won&&num;8217&semi;t even leave their classroom&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Virtual Field Trips use multimedia and web technologies to enable school students from all over New Zealand to visit inaccessible places and chat with experts&comma; all from their classroom&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Through participating in a Virtual Field Trip&comma; these students get to visit remote locations that would normally be too expensive or impractical to travel to&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s the next generation&&num;8217&semi;s version of the traditional field trip&comma;&&num;8221&semi; acting manager New Zealand Geospatial Office Rob Deakin says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;As part of the trip&comma; students will try out geocaching&comma; learn how Department of Conservation staff use mobile mapping&comma; and see how GPS is used for farming and outdoor recreation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;They&&num;8217&semi;ll learn a bit about Land Information New Zealand&&num;8217&semi;s &lpar;LINZ&&num;8217&semi;s&rpar; biosecurity work in the Mackenzie country and see LINZ&&num;8217&semi;s new drone in action&comma; using it to monitor and map wilding conifer infestations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We&&num;8217&semi;re also running a Name the Drone competition for enrolled students&comma; with the winning name to be announced on the first day of the trip&period; Who knows what they&&num;8217&semi;ll come up with&excl;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>During the field trip&comma; two teachers are travelling around the Mackenzie Country&comma; filming stories about how geospatial technology is being applied in the field&comma; from farming to pest control to tourism&period; Students at schools that have signed up for the field trip then view this content&comma; which is tailored to their curriculum&comma; and they have the chance to quiz experts via audio-conference about how they use geospatial technology&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;