Founded by the world’s first geospatial Marketer Elaine Ball, the project is designed to raise awareness of surveying and geospatial in a child (and adult!) friendly way, making it accessible through the comic, with a wider ongoing goal of including surveying on the national KS1 and 2 curriculums.
The project will introduce and educate the younger generation to the relatively unknown world of surveying and encourage them to consider it as a possible career path, creating a new generation of surveyors responsible for protecting the world.
The GeoSquad Comic is an illustrated introduction to the world of survey, created in collaboration with primary school teacher and children’s book author, Mat Sullivan. The comic is designed to appeal to children aged 8-12 in a fun and action-packed way.
Maddison, Miles, Setsuko and Kwame are the ‘Geo Squad’ - a team of child geo surveyors who need to save a crumbling city from falling apart.
They tackle landslides, runaway trains, Antarctic squid, an urban inferno and an evil businessman as they deal with the fallout of a world without surveyors in it.
The Geo Squad comic has been co-created by Elly Ball and Elaine Ball, the world’s first Geospatial Marketer and Founder of Elaine Ball Ltd, who has made it her mission to ‘Get Kids into Survey’, in response to the industry-wide recruitment problem.
Written by primary school teacher and author Mat Sullivan; the comic is set in 2049 and follows the characters as they delve into geospatial technology and grapple with a world without any surveying in it.
The exciting story isn’t just about four heroes, but also teaches children and parents the skills and careers associated with surveying - many of which are already taught as part of the national curriculum in schools.
Lovers of Minecraft and Fortnite will identify with main character Miles - a prolific gamer who spends his time coding or rebuilding his PC. He is also a die-hard drone operator and uses laser beams in the comic to save a farmer’s livestock from a mudslide.
Eco warrior Setsuko is an environmental expert and helps the Geo Squad figure out what has caused a destructive landslide, using underground scanners.
They are joined by archeologist Kwame, who has a deep-rooted passion for maths and planning, and Maddison, a marine specialist who loves diving in the sea as much as she does climbing mountains.
After saving their school, early in the comic, the Geo Squad waste no time in straightening falling skyscrapers, re-routing roads and sifting sewage - all genuine hazards of living in a world without surveyors.
As if they didn’t have enough on their plate already, the resident bully at their high school starts to try and sabotage their mission of saving the world.
En route to saving the world, the Geo Squad show off some of the lesser known skills, like using drones, underwater surveying and planning navigation systems, as they try and educate younger readers about surveying.
That is the inspiration behind the comic; as strategic thinker (and partial superhero) Elaine attempts to excite children about becoming surveyors in the future.
There are concerns that few young people are training to become surveyors, and it is thought to be because there is a lack of understanding about the industry, with few people knowing which skills are actually part of Geospatial.
The foundations of many of the skills the Geo Squad use in the comic are already being taught in schools as part of the national curriculum - though not linked to a career in survey - and Elaine wants to see more emphasis put on the skills kids are utilising from a young age.
Perhaps most prominently, the comic book characters carry out tasks relating to human and physical geography - which are already being taught in schools.
They cover looking at latitude and longitude, fieldwork, landslides and route planning, as well as persuasive writing and calculating speed and distances.
As part of the campaign, Elaine has also put together ready-made Get Kids into Survey lesson plans, worksheets, and quizzes, so teachers and schools can easily adopt and promote the profession through the comic book and its characters.
For more information and to purchase the comic, visit www.getkidsintosurvey.com.