GIS Day 2008

This is the 10th year that Delaware County is celebrating the Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day.

The Geography Awareness Week is sponsored by the National Geographic Society, the American Association of Geographers (AAG), Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI), the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA), and the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS). Since 1987, the National Geographic Society has sponsored Geography Awareness Week to promote geographic literacy in schools, communities, and organizations, with a focus on the education of children. This event was intended to promote the understanding of geography in schools around the world.

For the past 9 years, Delaware County GIS team has been visiting various schools within Delaware County educating students of various ages about GIS, Geography and GIS Day. This year, the GIS office held an open house, a map gallery, and several informational slide shows and games in the County's Hayes Service Administration Building. Over 250 students from Schultz and Conger Elementary Schools and Willis Middle School participated in the event. Volunteers from several other entities such as Delaware Soil & Water Conservation District, Delaware General Health District, and City of Dublin attended and/or presented.

The 2008 GIS story was showcased in Delaware's daily newspaper, the Delaware Gazette, on November 20th. To view the article click here.

Click here to read the thank you letter sent by students from Conger Elementary School.

Click the thumbnails below to enlarge each photo.

Other GIS Day Activities

Teaching Geography to Elementary Students at Miami University

On November 20th two members of the GIS team, Nelda Sisler and Tara Bennett, headed south to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio to help a non profit organization called Caching Our World. The event was held November 18-20, 2008 and was a collaborative effort between Miami University, Caching Our World, and many other volunteers including two members of the Delaware County GIS team.

The main theme of the event was "Exploring Asia " and the event brought tens of third and fourth grade students from Hamilton and Cincinnati public schools to this 3-day event. Activities included:

1. A treasure hunt where students learned about directions of a compass.

2. Hands-on Google Earth activities where students were given a series of clues and had to figure out which regions were being mentioned.

3. An explanation and hands-on experience with the ancient art of Origami.

4. Career Day activities where members of ODNR explained to students the role of geography and GIS in their line of work.

To read more about this year's event and learn more about Caching Our World and their activities, visit their web site.

The following photos were taken at the event.

Click the thumbnails below to enlarge each photo.