Wake County, City of Raleigh, State Agencies to Sponsor GIS Celebration Nov. 16

11/9/2005

Did you know that when you use an automated teller machine, pull a map off the Internet, receive an overnight delivery, or stop at a fast-food restaurant, you are probably benefiting from a technology called “geographic information systems”?

Learn more about this interesting technology at an open house to celebrate GIS Day 2005. Wake County Geographic Information Services (GIS) along with the City of Raleigh and state GIS agencies invites students, teachers, developers, technicians and the general public to a free event, “GIS: It’s Everywhere; Come See and You’ll Know,” on Wednesday, November 16, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., 219 Fayetteville Street Mall, downtown Raleigh.

Wake County celebrates GIS Day each year by hosting an open house and presentation of GIS applications and uses. Visit exhibits from county, state and local municipalities and learn how GIS is used in the community. Meet the professionals who use this technology and receive a hands-on demonstration about how you benefit from GIS.

GIS Day 2005 is a global event that celebrates the technology that uses geography to change the world. It is being held during Geography Awareness Week (November 13-19), and is principally sponsored by the National Geographic Society, the Association of American Geographers, the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Library of Congress, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and ESRI. This year’s focus is Migration: The Human Journey.

GIS is a computer-based tool for mapping and analyzing objects and events. It combines the power of a database with the visualization capabilities offered by maps. GIS technology is used throughout the world to solve problems in such areas as environmental protection, health care, land use, business efficiency, education, social inequities, and much more. GIS helps the police make our neighborhoods safer, our energy providers supply us with continuous power, and health officials keep us free from disease.

Parking is available in the Wake County Parking Deck at the corner of Salisbury and Martin streets and at various other lots in the downtown area.   For more information, contact Carter Vickery at 919-856-6212 or Carter.Vickery@co.wake.nc.us

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