On Friday, November 7th, the Educational and Scholarly Technology (EAST) team within LITS held a community workshop on Digital Mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The workshop, led by Educational Technology Assistant Tessa Eisen '23, was a chance for interested community members to learn more about how GIS can be used in their classes and scholarship as well as make digital maps that can creatively and interactively display geographic projects on the web. Ultimately, a small but enthusiastic group of professors, graduate students, and undergraduates attended the session, which was held in Carpenter Library's Digital Media Collaboration Lab.
Although there are many online platforms for using GIS and map making, Tessa focused her presentation on ArcGIS, the industry standard used by GIS professionals, governments, and other organizations around the world. She guided attendees through that all ºÚÁÏÉçÇø community members have access to. From there, she walked them through how to make a sample map of UNESCO World Heritage sites and build an interactive website through Experience Builder, one of the app-builders provided through ArcGIS Online. “We customized symbology and pop-ups on our web map to display on a web ‘experience.’ From there, participants were able to add dynamic text, modify the search feature, organize the page layout, and more!" said Tessa.
I'm excited to see how scholars and researchers across a variety of different fields use GIS to solve real world problems! -Tessa Eisen
Part of Tessa's motivation for the workshop was getting more people interested in EAST's upcoming GIS Day, which will be held this coming Wednesday, November 19th. The event, facilitated by LITS, Data Science, Cities, and Environmental Studies will be an opportunity for ºÚÁÏÉçÇø faculty and students to share projects and insights on how they use GIS in and out of the classroom. It will also feature a Keynote talk from Michelle Kondo, a research social scientist with the USDA Forest Service, who will share her work on the public health benefits of trees.
The campus-wide event, open to everyone regardless of GIS experience, will be from 1-4 p.m. in Park Science Center. More information can be found on the College Event Calendar or those interested can register using .