GIS Day is a global, grassroots event for spatial scientists to share the real-world applications of GIS technology. It is held the third Wednesday in November, during Geography Awareness Week, which is sponsored by the National Geographic Society.
At USC, GIS Day activities are being offered by the Spatial Sciences Institute with the Department of Anthropology and by the USC School of Social Work.
At 11:15 a.m., in SWC 106, two presentations will be given on spatial applications for community outreach, sponsored by the Community Organization, Planning, and Administration Concentration in the School of Social Work. Jeffrey Kho of the Asian & Pacific Islander Obesity Alliance will speak on "Using GIS to Visualize Pedestrian Collision Risk in Chinatown." Then Jennifer Thomas-Arthurs from the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles will present "Mapping Social Service Indicators and Creating Healthy Communities."
At noon at the Spatial Sciences Institute, Assistant Professor (Teaching) Thomas Garrison will describe how GIS is used to find Mayan temples and tombs under the dense Central American jungle vegetation. He will be joined by Assistant Professor (Teaching) Darren Ruddell to discuss how archeology and GIS are working together to discover, document, and reconstruct Mayan life. At 1 p.m. they will move to Associate's Park, where they will demonstrate how geospatial technology is used in archeological excavations.
The County of Los Angeles GIS Day will take place 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. downtown at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration. The activities will include a presentation track, two technical tracks, a map gallery, and a GIS Day cake. Topics include the LA County GIS Data Portal, MapTime LA, using maps to fight crime, LiDAR, public health GIS, asset management with GIS and much more!
At the end of the day, Geospatial LA will host a GIS Day mixer at the Redwood Bar and Grill.
For those willing to travel, Esri will offer a full range of GIS Day activities at their headquarters in Redlands. And opportunities are found around the world to attend events.
