UVI's Conservation Data Center announces a "Geographic Information Systems Open House," from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 3 at the UVI cafeteria on the St. Thomas campus On display will be CDC products, GIS application software and other information about GIS.
A GIS is a computer-based tool for mapping and analyzing objects and events. It combines the power of a database with the visualization capabilities offered by maps.
Businesses, schools, governments and organizations use GIS for a wide variety of applications, as GIS provides the power to solve complicated problems, experiment with scenarios and present ideas. Although geographic analysis and mapping are not new, a GIS performs these same tasks better and faster than manual methods.
GIS Day was held nationwide on Nov. 19, the last day of Geography Awareness Week (November 15-19), and was sponsored by the National Geographic Society, the American Association of Geographers and ESRI.
However, with the passage of Hurricane Lenny, UVI's GIS Day celebrations were postponed. Since 1987, the National Geographic Society has sponsored Geography Awareness Week to promote geographic literacy in schools, communities and organizations, with a focus on the education of children.
The GIS Day celebration is a grassroots event that formalizes the practice of GIS users and vendors opening their doors to schools, businesses and the general public to showcase real-world applications.
In preparation for GIS Day, the CDC hosted two training sessions with 14 social science teachers from local junior and senior high schools. Teachers were introduced to the GIS application software, Arc Explorer™™, which will be used as part of their classroom instruction on GIS Day.
There are currently about half a million GIS users in the world, but most of the public is unaware of this growing technology. Used to solve problems in such areas as environmental protection, pollution, health care, land use, natural resources, conservation, business efficiency, education and social inequities, GIS provides a unifying framework for analyzing and understanding the world around us.
Colleges, universities, elementary, middle and high schools, cities and private industries participated in GIS Day, giving the general public an opportunity to see how GIS technology is applied in many interesting and exciting ways. The University of the Virgin Islands is in good company as it joins hundreds of GIS Day sites worldwide.
