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GIS Day '99
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Map gallery at the Massachusetts State House Great Hall.
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November 19, the last day of Geography Week, was designated as Geographic
Information Day. GIS Day is an international effort to educate people
about innovative geography tools that are used to visualize complex
geographic situations and issues by mapping and analyzing large amounts
of geospatial data and related information.
GIS is used in numerous fields
ranging from health care to crime, to the environment. It provides tools
that are used to evaluate systems in a holistic way rather than focusing
on only one aspect of an area such as the geology, biology, or meteorology.
The National Geographic Society, the Environmental Systems Research
Institute, Inc. (ESRI), and the Association of American Geographers
sponsor GIS Day.
Barb Seekins (WHFC) with Paul Nutting, MassGIS coordinator of GIS Day '99.
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Paul Nutting (MassGIS) organized and coordinated the MassGIS in Boston,
an effort which included a map gallery at the Massachusetts State House,
hands-on computer lab exercises, and demonstrations and talks given by
MassGIS personnel and others. Topics covered were digitizing technology,
GPS, watersheds, software capabilities, and digital ortho-photos. The map
gallery, consisting of maps and GIS studies from various organizations,
was set up in the Great Hall of the Massachusetts State House, which is a
magnificent space with stained glass, colorful flags, arches, and marble.
As a GIS Day '99 volunteer, Barb Seekins (WHFC) displayed her poster entitled
"GIS Applied to Shoreline Change Analysis," which was viewed by students and
state house visitors. She also worked with students educating them about
Geographic Information Systems and mapping.
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Students gain hands-on experience working with maps in the computer lab.
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In the computer lab, the students typed in their home addresses and were
able to pull up individualized maps, which demonstrated the usefulness
of geocoding. Using MassGIS's software interface (called
Data Viewer), the
students were able to pull up a digital ortho-photo of their specific
neighborhood, with familiar landmarks such as their houses, school,
and ball fields. This personalized approach generated comments such as:
"This is my house. Look how small it is!" and "This is where we play kick ball."
The school groups were from the New England School for the Deaf in Randolph,
Essex Agricultural and Technology High School in Danvers, and Daley Middle
School in Lowell. The group from Danvers was the most knowledgeable about
GIS. Their school is starting a Marine Science Program and they are engaged
in a wetlands mapping project. They were quite interested in hearing about
GIS applications in marine and coastal work.
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January 2000
in this issue:
cover story:
Hudson Valley Shelf
CMG/WRD Co-op
Marine Facility Hosts Science Journalists
Co-op Research Open House
GIS Day '99
GD Managers Visit St. Pete
WHFC Visitors
WHFC Arrivals
January Publications List
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U. S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey