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Wednesday November 18th -- International GIS Day!
During National Geographic "Geography Awareness Week", November 15 - 21, activities took place around the state celebrating International GIS Day. Activities in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah Valley, and at the University of Utah's Geography Department educated students of all ages about the geo-technologies that are used around the world today. GIS Day was a great success this year!
SALT LAKE VALLEY GIS DAY EVENT On November 17th 700 students from secondary schools, 7th grade through high school, attended the Salt Lake Valley GIS Day Event at the Salt Lake Community College Miller Campus. These schools came from areas around the Salt Lake County and as far away as Saratoga Springs and Ogden.
On November 18th (GIS Day) 1200 3rd grade through 6th grade students attended the Salt Lake Valley GIS Day Event. These students were from elementary schools from around the Salt Lake Valley. The schools included public and private schools. Both days, the students are able to enjoy learning about the geospatial technology through the generous bus grants from the Utah Geographic Information Council (UGIC).
Presentations are being given by: - Don Cressall, Davis School District
- David Davis, USDA Aerial Photo Field Office
- Kevin Sato, Cottonwood Heights and UGIC
- Kate Smith, Unified Fire Athority
- Adam Dastrup, Salt Lake Community College, Head of the Geography/GIS Department
- Buck Ehler, Utah Geologic Survey.
All of these people have given many hours of preparation to teach the students about the many aspects of the geospatial world. Many thanks to our other volunteers that came to help with the students during the two days. Those volunteers include: - Ahmad Salah, Stanley Consultants
- Anna Casson (new to the Utah GIS community but volunteered for the challenge of GIS Day nonetheless)
- Bonnie Muir, Jordan School District
- Cindy Clark, AGRC
- Jay Hill, UGS
- Ken Berg, UDOT
- Lloyd Blackburn, Forest Service and ASPRS
- Monte Wells, Off the Beaten Paths Maps
- Pat Lambrose, Salt Lake School District
- Ross Rogers, Canyons School District
- Tammy Wambeam, Salt Lake City Public Utilities GIS Dept
- Tricia Cannon, Salt Lake City Public Utilities GIS Dept
We would like also to say thank you to all the teachers and students that came to our GIS Event. After it is all over, we will have pictures and short movies to post on the portal.
UTAH VALLEY GIS DAY EVENT
Utah Valley's GIS Day Event was a great success. More than 350 elementary students and 65 Junior High students from schools in Provo, Orem, Lindon and Cedar Hills visited the Utah County Administration Building where they were treated to presentations about GPS, GIS, and Aerial Imagery. They were able to have hands on experiences in the County GIS lab where they printed
out maps of their neighborhoods. Michael Philip and his fellow workers from
Springville City explained how GPS works. The students were asked to play the role
of a GPS receiver and orbiting satellites.
The students learned how GIS applications can do bus routing and cemetery
management from Bruce Cheney of Gateway Mapping and track tree conditions from Roger Dunn of the City of Orem. Dave Henrie and Darin Sleight guided the students in the making of maps they were able to take home with them.
Brad Marz of Aerographics gave the students an overview of remote sensing from hot
air balloon mounted cameras to LIDAR. They were treated to a 3D tour of downtown
Salt Lake which included using elevation points gathered through the sky light of the Conference Center.
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