Celebrate Geographic Information Systems Day

11/6/2007

The public is invited to learn how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are being used to map crime, manage coastal areas and protect public health at the Capital Area GIS Showcase.

The Showcase will be held on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Bicentennial Plaza, across from the North Carolina Museum of History at 5 East Edenton Street in Raleigh. The event is free and school groups grades three and above are encouraged to visit.

GIS Day is part of National Geographic Society’s Geography Awareness Week, November 11–17, 2007, a global event that celebrates GIS technology and its benefits in the fields of science, technology, information and the humanities. The Capital Area GIS Showcase is a collaborative effort among Wake County, the City of Raleigh and the State of North Carolina, and provides an opportunity for those curious about GIS to see its applications in our local community.

GIS is a computer-based mapping tool that takes information from a database about a location, such as streets, buildings, water features and terrain, and turns it into visual layers. The ability to see geographic features on a map gives users a better understanding of a particular location. GIS touches our lives daily. The power supply directed to homes, the delivery trucks on the road, and the patrol cars and fire trucks that keep neighborhoods safe all function more efficiently because of GIS.

In its eighth year, GIS Day is principally sponsored by the National Geographic Society, the Association of American Geographers, the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, the United States Geological Survey, the Library of Congress, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett–Packard, and Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. GIS Day is a registered trademark of ESRI.

For more information on the Capital Area GIS Showcase and Wake County GIS, click here.

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