GIS Day 2001 @ USGS Education Outreach Center
Thanks to Joseph Kerski, frequent contributor to The GeoCommunity, for providing this update from the USGS.
As educational outreach geographer, Joseph conducts
approximately 40 workshops each year on the application of geospatial
data, including several workshops on GIS for educators from primary to
university level. Stop by and say hello to Joseph at the USGS exhibit booths he helps
operate at future GIS conferences!
The USGS Rocky Mountain Mapping Center conducted workshops on GIS, mapping, and satellite imagery, and conducted tours of our facility, for approximately 100 middle and high school students, plus a dozen university and government data users during GIS Day 2001.
GIS Day is a grassroots event that formalizes the practice of geographic information systems (GIS) users and vendors of opening their doors to schools, businesses, and the general public to showcase real-world applications of this important technology. The event is principally sponsored by the National Geographic Society, the Association of American Geographers, University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, the United States Geological Survey, The Library of Congress, Sun Microsystems, and ESRI.
This is the third year that GIS Day has occurred, and we have participated during all three years. In 2000, thousands of organizations hosted GIS Day events in more than 81 different countries. Through the combined efforts of GIS Day 2000 participants, millions of children and adults were educated on GIS technology through geography.
The note I posted on www.gisday.com in May 2001 read as follows:
Visit the USGS Rocky Mountain Mapping Center, where GIS technologies and methods are used to investigate urban growth, natural hazards, biodiversity, and other topics. The public can also tour the location where 3D models of the earth and digital images are generated, and where nearly 50 million USGS topographic and thematic maps, books, and CD-ROMs are housed under a 17-acre roof.
Participants were given tours of map sales, distribution, and the visitors center, and a workshop in geography, GIS, satellite image interpretation, and topographic map interpretation.
Once in a while, we are able to catch a glimpse of the effectiveness of our outreach efforts. On GIS Day, we had the privilege of hosting a student who decided to major in geography at the University of Colorado-Denver. Last year, the student’s high school teacher was Rick Gindele at Smoky Hill High School. The USGS has been involved in GIS implementation and geography education with Mr. Gindele and Smoky Hill High School for over 7 years!
Acknowledgements
Knowing how busy everyone is, I truly appreciated the time and efforts of USGS staffpersons Sherry Durst, Richard Shields, Gene Jackson, Richard Jimenez, Ken Gerson, Carol Mladinich, and Diane Stephens. I am sure there were others who were also involved behind the scenes with making this a success, and I thank them as well.
Montbello High School and Cresthill Middle School students arrive for tours of the USGS Rocky Mountain Mapping Center.
We distributed flyers on the USGS and our web pages and on GIS Day to the students, and distributed teachers materials for the instructors.
The students’ attitude upon entering the workshop was… OK, I challenge you to teach me! But by the end of each workshop, students were asking about our web pages and asking about how they could obtain the GIS software we demonstrated.
Students at the benchmark at the boundary of the 7.5-minute quadrangle between Morrison and Fort Logan. We discussed benchmarks, triangulation, GPS, map accuracy, and surveying inside during the workshops. The geodetic
team surveyed and established the point, and the outreach team coordinated the painting.
Posters and display that we set up for Geography Action Week (on the topic of rivers) and for GIS Day.
Cresthill Middle School students examine Landsat satellite images of Denver.
Ken Gerson and Gene Jackson demonstrate the type of USGS maps we make, how we make them, and why we make them.
Students pose at USGS Map Sales with GIS Day banner.
Joseph Kerski works with students examining USGS digital and analog data.
Students at workshop were given GIS Day and USGS prizes for answering questions, such as posters, buttons, pencils, and Landsat image cards.
Students found the benchmark in the rotunda without any prompting, after we discussed benchmarks in the workshop.
Students departing for Douglas County.
Goodbye! We hope you had a great day here at the USGS
and that we made a difference.
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