News Releases
News from Lane Community College
November 9, 2007
GIS Open House will feature technology curriculum
A crime analyst and a cartographer will demonstrate how they use GIS technology on the job
EUGENE, OR - Lane Community College will hold a GIS Open House on GIS Day, Wednesday, November 14, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., on the first floor of the Center building, main campus in Eugene, 4000 E. 30th Avenue.
The event will showcase geographic information science (GIS) instructional opportunities at Lane. The college is in the second year of a three-year grant from the Advanced Technological Education fund of the National Science Foundation to weave GIS technologies into courses across the curriculum. The grant project, "Mapping, Analyzing and Problem Solving Using Geographic Information Science: Implementing a GIS Curriculum for Technical Literacy," infuses GIS into science, social science and computer information technology courses at Lane. Additionally, four new courses that feature GIS and geospatial technologies are offered this year. Students completing this sequence earn a Career Pathways certificate in Geographic Information Science.
GIS is a computer-based mapping tool that takes information from a database about locations 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, enabling planners, analysts, and others to make informed decisions about their communities.
The open house will include demonstrations of GIS in action. Lane GIS faculty and students will be joined by Stan Lenhart, crime analyst for the City of Eugene, and Alethea Steingisser, award winning cartographer from the University of Oregon, to discuss the program and how this technology can be applied in the modern workforce.
GIS is used to solve problems related to the environment, health care, land use, business efficiency, education, and public safety. The power supply directed to homes, the patrol cars and fire trucks that keep neighborhoods safe, and the delivery trucks on the road all function more efficiently because of GIS. This technology also helps businesses place ATMs and restaurants at more convenient locations, allows people to pull maps off the Internet, and help farmers grow more crops with less chemicals.
Jane Benjamin, the grant’s principal investigator and a geography instructor at Lane, hopes that the GIS activities will engage students in real-world scenarios that demonstrate social and scientific relevance. Collaboration and teamwork will foster the interpersonal and organizational skills that are prized in today's workplace. "Basic literacy in this rapidly advancing technology will open doors and prepare students with important job skills and future career choices,” she says. “Our project will introduce large numbers of community college students to the potential GIS offers in solving significant social and scientific problems."
For more information call the Science Division at Lane Community College at 463-5446.
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PIO: Joan Aschim, (541) 463-5591, aschimj@lanecc.edu
Source: Eric A. Sproles, Earth and Environmental Science Faculty and
GIS Instructional Designer, Lane Community College, sprolese@lanecc.edu 463-5046
