Mapping And Analyzing Education Systems Performance In Spain With Cartographic Techniques

Technological developments continuously push cartographers to new challenges. Cartographers have designed and produced maps for centuries, so they are specialized in the spatial information transfer process. However, the large number of developments in the last decades has redefined the role of mapmakers. As stated in its Strategic Plan, one of the main commitments of the International Cartographic Association (ICA) is "the continuous research about improvements in the use of geospatial information in the benefit of science and society". On the other hand, the education systems performance is a hot topic because its strong influence in the development and economic growth of a country. Besides that, the school dropout rate is very high in Spain. For this reason, the purpose of this paper is to explore and illustrate the capabilities of GIS and cartographic concepts and tools when analyzing complex socioeconomic phenomena such as evaluation of education systems in terms of efficiency and quality.Technological developments and the global economy are strongly influencing the education systems because the need to train people for the knowledge society and to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment. Because its relevance there are a great number of education statistic at national and international level. Among those are worth to mention the OECD international statistics and indicators of education like the PISA reports. As the evaluation of education systems is a controversial issue, this research project has been devised to conduct an analysis of the education systems performance in Spain from a geomatic and cartographic perspective. In Spain the education competences are transferred to the regional governments. Besides education statistics, a group of socioeconomic data is considered in order to evaluate the mutual influence between the education systems and the standard of living of citizens.The results include multiple geomatic products like maps, 3D models, virtual globes and animations. The discussion of the results allows identifying the characteristics of the most successful and efficient policies and practices. These might be useful for policy makers and educators when considering improvements in the education systems.