Geography Matters

November 19, 2008 marked another successful GIS Day celebration. For ten years, GIS users continue to uphold the vision of this important event and share with others the role of GIS in our daily lives.

People observe GIS Day in different ways. This year, more than 1,000 organizations on all seven continents (yes, there was an event in Antarctica), held local GIS Day occasions, such as corporate open houses, hands-on workshops, community expos, and school assemblies. Here's a small sample of the 2008 celebrations.

• GIS Day in Abu Dhabi
• Grand Valley State University field trip lets kids see the global picture
• GIS Day events from Canada
• College Station Hosts GIS Day
• Indiana University
• Delaware County's GIS team celebrates for tenth straight year
• University of South Florida, St. Petersburg
• GeoDecisions Celebrates GIS Day with Educational Events
• Sonoma County GIS Day
• GIS Day at Augusta State University shows how maps could be used to find lead hazards
• City of Johannesburg celebrates GIS Day

Additional information about GIS Day events can also be viewed from the GIS Day Web site.

• GIS Day success stories
• GIS Day proclamations
• GIS Day baked goods

At 10:00 a.m. on November 13, 2008, millions of people throughout Southern California participated in The Great Southern California ShakeOut Drill, the largest earthquake preparedness exercise in U.S. history. The ShakeOut was organized by the Earthquake Country Alliance (ECA), a partnership of earthquake professionals, emergency responders, business leaders, and community activists. The drill simulated a magnitude 7.8 earthquake along the San Andreas Fault in Southern California.

GIS technology was used to help build an accurate, continuously updated emergency information repository; aided decision support and resource management; and enhanced multijurisdictional communication.

GIS software developer ESRI supported participating agencies with software, staffing, and resources used during the exercise, which modeled assessment, rescue, relief, and recovery efforts.  

"We worked diligently to create a realistic exercise that helps us see where we are with our response capability in the event of a major earthquake," says John Ellison, agency technology officer and geographic information officer (GIO)/California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES) director, California Resources Agency.

The ShakeOut kick-started a weeklong collection of exercises called the Golden Guardian 2008, held November 13-18 and involving 5,000 participants from public agencies around the state.

The goal of the drill was to test and evaluate processes, equipment, technologies, and shared workflows. Results helped determine best practices, opportunities for improvement, and potential new capabilities. "The GIS platform developed for the Golden Guardian 2008 exercise proved to be an invaluable tool," says Paul Hardwick, GIS project manager, San Diego Homeland Security Regional Technology Center. "We were able to post pertinent information to provide situational awareness to the state emergency command center and affected communities as well as areas adjacent to the disaster. The ability to transfer information between systems and to implement server-based tasks for analysis helped make the event a success."

Web-enabled laptops. Mobile GIS helped field crews collect remotely sensed data that was automatically sent back to the comprehensive spatial database.

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Proclamations are official declarations to celebrate special days, weeks, and months. For years, GIS Day supporters have actively encouraged public officials to proclaim GIS Day in their respective cities, counties, and states. Find out if a GIS Day proclamation was made in your area. Learn how to get your governor or other local public official to make a GIS Day proclamation.

Happy GIS Day 2008! Interested in knowing how GIS Day supporters around the world are celebrating right this second? Search the Twitter Web site for "GIS Day" and read the large collection of posts.

Join in and announce your GIS Day event to the world.  

Directions Magazine editors share the key themes they'd want to get across to the public on this special day. Listen to the Podcast.

GIS Day is tomorrow, Wednesday, November 19!

Geographic Technologies Group, Inc. (GTG) will be holding a free GIS Manager's Workshop in Forsyth County, Georgia, on November 20. The workshop will be held at the Forsyth County Public Safety Complex. The workshop fee of $299 has been waived in celebration of GIS Day. Read more.

The Land Information Council of Jamaica (LICJ) in collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI) will be streaming GIS Day 2008 activities live from the UWI campus on Wednesday, November 19, 2008, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  This feed can be accessed via the UWI home page or directly at http://tv.mona.uwi.edu/.

The theme selected for the week and for their GIS Day activities is, "GIS: Driving Response - Ability". The theme was chosen in order to raise awareness and educate children and adults about GIS technologies and how they can be used to improve our ability to timely and effectively respond to various emergencies.

Can you believe GIS Day is just a few days away? If you did not get the chance to plan an event, don't worry. Here are a few quick ideas to help you celebrate GIS Day.

• Decorate your office. Visit the GIS Day materials page and download free posters to hang.
• Put you baking skills to the test and make a GIS Day cake or batch of cookies. See what others have done.
• Send your friends and colleagues an electronic GIS Day postcard.
• Submit a post to the Geography Matters Blog. Share how GIS is making a difference in your organization.
• Although GIS Day 2008 is officially recognized on November 19, you can have an event any time of the year. Why not plan an event for December?
• Attend or volunteer at an event near you. You can search for events here.

Regardless of how you decide to celebrate, just remember to have fun!

More than 200 community colleges and universities are celebrating GIS Day this year. GIS Day gives students, faculty, and staff who are passionate about GIS the opportunity to interact with peers, introduce GIS to other departments, showcase work, and promote geography or GIS clubs. Here are a few community colleges and universities celebrating GIS Day this year.

• Ball State University
• Texas Tech University
• University of Kansas
• Technical University of Sofia
• Northwestern University
• Northern Virginia Community College
• Southern Connecticut State University
• Purdue University
• University of Ottawa
• Green River Community College

Don't see your community college or university listed above? Search for it here.  

It is not too late to register your event!

Registration only takes a few minutes. Follow these steps:

1. Visit the GIS Day Web site
2. Tell us a few details about your event
3. Click the Submit button

Your event will be listed in the event finder and might be featured on the GIS Day Web site homepage, Geography Matters Blog, or in GIS Day-related articles.

Happy GIS Day 2008!

As part of the 10^th anniversary GIS Day celebration, Dangermond will speak at the Rocket City Geospatial Conference, November 18-20, 2008, in Huntsville, Alabama. This year's conference will include a special plenary session that will focus on how geospatial technologies were used for various aspects of planning for and recovering from hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which recently battered the Gulf Coast of the United States. Read more about the conference agenda and exhibition.

Are you curious to know how members of the GIS community plan on celebrating GIS Day this year? Read about some examples or search for events by location.

How does one go about planning a GIS Day across thousands of miles? E-mails and phone calls are an easy solution, but sometimes lack the personal touch of a face-to-face meeting .

Creative planning comes naturally to long time GIS Day supporters, Eureka Springs High School EAST (Environmental and Spatial Technology) Lab. They recently prepared for their upcoming GIS Day celebration with a videoconference session with Japanese students and teachers from Wakayama Prefectural Kainan High School.  A team of Kainan High School teachers and students will be coming to Eureka Springs to participate in GIS Day, conduct science demonstrations for local elementary students and for members of the Eureka Springs Rotary Club, and to learn more about American culture and traditions. Read more.

We've heard the saying, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Well, who better to imitate then our newest GIS Day Hero honorees.

Heather McAdam, the former GIS coordinator from the Maps, Data, and Government Information Centre at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, spearheaded the university's GIS Day celebrations, beginning in 1999 until her retirement earlier this year. She organized many exciting GIS Day activities, and is credited with introducing GIS to Carleton University, her community, local television and radio stations, and many publications throughout the Ottawa region.

Mary Jo Black Enderby, a GIS Specialist in Forsyth County, Georgia, is the driving force behind the county's remarkable GIS Day participation. Enderby encourages GIS Day participants to determine your intended audience and then ask yourself, "What am I trying to tell them about GIS?" Pictured right is Enderby with Forsyth County seniors during their 2007 GIS Day.

Learn more about hosting a successful GIS Day by reading Heather and Mary Jo's GIS Day Hero stories.

The 10^th annual GIS Day celebration (Wednesday, November 19) is less than two weeks away, but who's counting? We are; along with the hundreds of organizations who have registered their GIS Day events. Here are a few exciting events you should know about:

• The Library of Congress will celebrate GIS Day with GIS demonstrations focusing on mapping technology applications to resolve geographic conflict in historic maps and charts. Read more.

• The Haywood County, North Carolina, Land Records/GIS Department is sponsoring a GIS Day poster/map contest. The contest will have two categories: Adult/Professional and Youth/School. Read more.

• The Bahamas National Geographic Information Systems Centre will host its second GIS Conference November 19-21. The theme of this year's conference is "Advancing GIS One Island at a Time." Read more.

• Indiana University at Bloomington has a full-day of GIS Day activities planned. Along with GIS games and giveaways, GIS professionals and educators will talk with attendees about the GIS job market, training opportunities, Internet mapping, ongoing projects, and other ways that GIS technologies are shaping the way we live, learn, and do business. Read more.

• Search all registered events.

Held the third week of November every year since 1987, Geography Awareness Week is a global celebration supported by the National Geographic Society and other organizations.  This year, there is a geography-related theme for each day of the week.

• Monday—Human Geography/Cultures
• Tuesday—Physical Geography/Environments
• Wednesday—Geospatial Technologies and GIS Day
• Thursday—Global Hotspots
• Friday—Geography on the Job

Celebrate the importance of geography in our lives and help others experience the power of geography. Observe one or all five days of Geography Awareness Week from November 16–22, 2008.