Prepare for mapping your site

1. Make sure your site is on the Nature Park map (less than 10 minutes)

Before you get started, an educator needs to add your school, nursery or college site to the Nature Park map using the site boundary creator tool.

Create your site boundary 

2. Download the Field Maps app onto a mobile device

You can choose between eight different activities to map your site, each focused on exploring and mapping a different habitat. For all of these activities, you'll use an app called Field Maps to draw patches of habitat onto the Nature Park map. 

On a school device, visit the relevant app store and search for and install an app called ArcGIS Field Maps (created by a company called Esri). You may need to ask your MAT or local authority admin team to approve this. 

Once downloaded, use the device browser to return to the National Education Nature Park website and log in. 

From the Nature Park website, click through to the Habitat Mapper tool using the button below, which opens the Field Maps app. If asked to log in again, don't type in any log in credentials, just click the big blue box. 

Open Habitat Mapper tool 

Check the troubleshooting advice if you need help.

3. Practise using the Habitat Mapper tool

Open the Habitat Mapper on the school device. Spend 15 minutes outdoors practicing drawing an area of habitat (e.g. an area of grass), drawing habitat lines (e.g. for long thin features like fences), and adding microhabitat points (e.g. a log pile) to the map. Just don't click 'save' so these habitats are not added to the real map while you practice (or click to edit then delete them). Familiarise yourself with the different options so you know which habitats should be mapped as areas, lines, or points.

When you run the activities with your class, your learners will decide which habitat types are on your site by working through the activities and flowchart provided, and you'll add them to the map using a single mobile device. 

4. Plan how you will involve learners in mapping habitats on your site (up to one hour)

Use these two planning resources to prepare:

Planning tool What habitats do we have? Worksheet

Education sites vary, so tailor the habitat mapping process to your setting. Sites with lots of natural areas may have all eight habitat categories, others may only have one or two. You can spread these habitat mapping activities over a half-term or whole term.

Mapping your site is a collaborative process between educators and learners. Our planning tool will help you to consider:

• which habitats you have on site, therefore which resources to print  
• how long this unit of learning may take
• which learners to engage in which task

If you are involving multiple classes or year groups, liaise with colleagues to agree how to divide up and schedule the activities.

Each habitat category has a dedicated resource page, with instructions for educators, activity sheets to download and print, a printable flowchart to identify the habitats and a link to the habitat mapper tool. 

1. Ground without plants
2. Grass and wildflowers
3. Water
4. Flowers and food
5. Hedges and bushes
6. Vertical features
7. Trees
8. Microhabitats: Homes and help for nature 

It's best to map playgrounds, pathways, carparks etc first (Ground without plants), and areas of grass and playing field (Grass and wildflowers) as these are likely to cover the largest areas of your site.

Then move on to mapping trees, hedges and bushes, flowers and food, and water habitats.

Finally, add in fences and walls (vertical features), and small features like bird boxes, bee hotels and log piles (microhabitats). 

Working in this order will help you to build up your map over time.