4-H Goes Geo-Spatial
In late July 2004, in St. Louis, Missouri,
more than 300 4-H members and their adult
mentors entered the Geo-spatial frontier
of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and
Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology
at the site of Lewis and Clark’s 1804
Voyage of Discovery exploration of America's
new frontier - the Louisiana Purchase. At
this time in history, the American explorers
leading the way were 4-H youth, 14 -18 years
old, learning and teaching GIS and GPS skills
to state 4-H tech teams who returned to their
hometowns to launch community mapping projects.
On Sunday, July 25th, an army of GPS equipped
4-H'ers spent the day collecting digital
photos and GPS grid coordinates in St. Louis'
Forest Park. The geo-spatial data was entered
into GIS mapping software to be used by St.
Louis Forest Park officials in updating transportation
flows through the attractions in Forest Park,
site of the St. Louis 1904 Worlds Fair. The
youth learned by doing the collection, entry,
and application of GPS and GIS tools to meet
a real community need in St. Louis.
More than 100 award winning teams have returned
to their hometowns to launch community mapping
projects to be completed in the spring of
2005. The Environmental Systems Research
Institute (ESRI) and USDA carried out a competitive
software grants program in the spring of
2004, where 4-H GIS/GPS project teams proposed
community mapping projects for their own
communities. One hundred of the community
mapping projects in 42 states were selected
to receive ESRI software grants. These grants
will enable local 4-H GIS/GPS teams the capacity
to design and build comprehensive maps pinpointing
critical issues in their own home towns.
The 4H GIS/GPS tech teams are working with
local town and county officials to help identify
key issues facing their communities. Once
the maps are designed, they will be presented
to town and county officials and the public
to help these citizens make informed decisions
about the key issues facing their communities.
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