The Roanoke Governor’s School, located on the Patrick Henry campus, celebrated “G.I.S. Day” last week – that’s Geographic Information Systems – with a series of demonstrations on how the directional technology can be used.
Junior Alex Bond was showing visitors how to use the 2010 U.S. Census map, which is based on G.I.S. technology. He was using a mapping software that employs G.I.S. “Here you can actually see where the election results for 2008, for each blue county, voted for Obama. You [can] actually see how many districts in that county voted for Obama.”
Bond talked about something called a “Cardinal number” and much of what he said would go over the heads of many, as he explained how just about “any type of demographic you can think of,” can be analyzed with G.I.S. technology. “You can use it in a bunch of different ways,” noted Bond.
Fred Hoffman teaches a G.I.S. elective course at the Governor’s School, home to some of Roanoke’s brightest high school students. He noted that Virginia Western Community College actually has a G.I.S. technology certificate program; “part of this is trying to get some of the [high school] kids…to be aware of that as an option.”
The Governor’s School has offered a G.I.S. class for seven years; Hoffman said it was once unique but noted that many other schools offer a similar program now. “G.I.S. is a tool and these kids need to be aware of it.” In many cases people don’t even recognize that G.I.S. is being used – like the color USA Today weather map. “It’s just going to continue to grow. People are starting to use it in their everyday life.”
Meanwhile Matt Miller explained how Google Earth can hone in on many homes and businesses via satellite pictures. “[We’re here] to expose students and the public in general to Geographic Information Systems, which is a method to use computers to look at geographic data and analyze [it].”
“The goal” said Miller, “is to take that data, format and present it for public consumption. Data can come from government agencies or private firms; the goal is to make it a usable file that can be used by Google Map, Google Earth or other outlets.” Miller had walked trails at Green Hill Park in Roanoke County to come up with data points that now show up on Google Map “in pretty good detail.” That type of exercise can be done “in a relatively short period of time,” said Miller, noting that G.I.S. data has been created for the Roanoke River Greenway.
Hikers use that type of information, often accompanied by trail descriptions, when they head into the deep woods. Orienteering competitions that use G.I.S. data have become a popular pastime for some.
G.I.S. Day was observed around the globe – which has gotten smaller again in recent years with the help of that technology, now found in many automobiles or in hand-held devices. Groups from Virginia Western Community College and the Western Virginia Regional Water Authority were also on hand to show how they use G.I.S. to make life easier
By Gene Marrano [email protected]