FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 5, 2004
Contact: Shirley Melikian Armbruster
(559) 278-2795 or (559) 593-1815

GIS Technology, Benefits
Spotlighted Wednesday, Nov. 17

It helps businesses place ATMs and restaurants at more convenient locations. It allows people to pull maps off the Internet. It assists farmers in growing more crops with fewer chemicals.

“It” is Geographic Information System – GIS for short – an increasingly useful and important technology that has both everyday uses and sophisticated implications.
GIS will be in the spotlight at the sixth annual GIS Day on Wednesday, Nov. 17, at California State University, Fresno.

Events will begin at 9 a.m. in the Music Building Concert Hall with a presentation by GIS authority Michael Goodchild, professor of geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who will address the question “Is GIS Becoming Mainstream?” Other presentations will be held at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The events are free and open to college students and the public.

The conference serves to make people aware of GIS technology and the important contributions it is making in the fields of science, technology, information and the humanities.

The Fresno State event will showcase activities of local GIS users.

A GIS is a computer-based mapping tool that takes information from a database about a location – 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 San Joaquin Valley has hundreds of organizations using GIS technology on a daily basis, said Robert Slobodian, director of Fresno State’s Interdisciplinary Spatial Information Systems Center (www.isis.csufresno.edu).

From agriculture in the Valley to forestry in the Sierras and from the oil fields near Bakersfield to the Delta wetlands near Stockton, virtually all governments, local, state and federal agencies monitor the landscape, analyze impacts and plan the future with GIS.

Slobodian said that many people are not aware that GIS touches our lives daily. It is used throughout the world 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.

Most recently, Slobodian said, we have seen how GIS technology can be used to aid homeland security initiatives, map the debris field following the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy and monitor the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

“The applications of GIS technology are endless, limited only by the imagination of its users,” said Slobodian.

GIS Day at Fresno State is held in conjunction with National Geographic Society’s Geography Awareness Week (Nov. 14-20). GIS Day is a global event that celebrates geographic information system technology, the innovative technology that uses geography to bring benefits to the world.

A complete schedule for GIS Day at Fresno State is available online. Registration is not required. For more information call (559) 278-4951.

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EDITORS and NEWS/PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIRECTORS: Press releases can be downloaded at www.fresnostatenews.com. University Communications also provides releases for news media companies via e-mail. To be added to the distribution list, send your e-mail address to tomu@csufresno.edu.