About GIS Day

GIS Day Watch - January 2008

In This Issue

GIS Day 2008

On behalf of the GIS Day committee, we wish a Happy New Year to all! Remember to add GIS Day 2008 to your calendar. The 10th annual GIS Day will be celebrated November 19, 2008.

Bangladesh Holds GIS Day Rally
Bangladesh Holds GIS Day Rally Hundreds of students and teachers gathered at Jahangirnagar University in Savar, Bangladesh, on their first GIS Day for a GIS Day Rally and March complete with GIS Day shirts. A seminar was held, followed by a memory book signing. Cake was also served. Read more [PDF-4.29 MB] about their amazing event.

GIS Day Open House at Safe Software Is Full of Surprises
Imagine you are listening to a GIS Day presentation when the speaker is interrupted by a call notifying the audience that a 40-meter wave is heading for the nearest coastline. Attendees at Safe Software's fifth GIS Day open house were exposed to three simulated emergencies designed to both entertain and inform. Each emergency took a humorous approach and required Safe Software's extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) tools platform, FME, to be used on the spot to help plan an appropriate response by integrating data from a number of different sources. Read more [PDF-16 KB] about this creative event.

G-I-Yes Video Has City of Austin Singing

The Environmental Resource Management Division of the Watershed Protection and Development Review Department for the City of Austin, Texas, developed a song with lyrics adapted from a popular children's film. The song was presented at the beginning of Austin's GIS Day on November 14. See the video.

GIS Day Activity

Play Ball! Spatial Analysis of Baseball Using GIS
This ArcLessons activity gives students of all ages a familiar and interesting topic - baseball - in which to use GIS to explore spatial data and ask spatial questions. Aerial photographs of Fenway Park and Coors Field are used in conjunction with locations and data about players, stands, bases, and more, to foster questions about everything from sun angle, cardinal directions, and stands to measurement, ticket prices, the local neighborhood, and more.

GIS in Action

GIS Aids in California Firestorm Response
ESRI provided staffing, ArcGIS software, and other resources during the recent wildfires that devastated parts of Southern California. Some of the emergency applications for which ArcGIS software was used included creating 2D and 3D maps of fire perimeters and fire progression, identifying critical facilities and infrastructure, and allocating resources and equipment. Read the article.