GIS DAY RECOGNIZES FAST-GROWING FIELD OF STUDY

In celebration of Geography Awareness Week, Old Dominion University's Department of Political Science and Geography will host GIS Day, featuring an open house in the Laboratory for Remote Sensing and Environmental Analysis, from noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15, in room 343 of the Batten Arts and Letters Building.

Demonstrations of geographic information systems (GIS) will be conducted throughout the day. A demonstration also will be held from 3-4 p.m. in room 330 of Batten Arts and Letters.

A rapid-growth technology area of cross-disciplinary interest, geographic information systems are computer systems specialized in the input, storage, spatial analysis and display of geographical features. The field is closely related to other high-tech fields, such as global positioning systems surveying, computer-aided design and database management systems. Examples of GIS in action can be found in many media, particularly on the Internet with maps of neighborhoods, cities and real estate properties.

GIS are used in a wide array of applications, including transportation and urban planning, engineering and computer-aided design, environmental science and management, and even crime analysis (as seen on the new television show, "The District.")
For more information about Old Dominion's GIS Day event, visit www.lions.odu.edu/~tallen/gisdayhome.html.