[158] MTSU's Geosciences Department Hosts 'GIS Day' Open House Nov. 18

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 22, 2009
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Lisa L. Rollins, Office of News and Public Affairs, 615-898-2919

MTSU’s GEOSCIENCES DEPARTMENT HOSTS ‘GIS DAY’ OPEN HOUSE NOV. 18
GIS Program Alumni, Exhibitors Bring GIS Technology to Life at Annual Campus Event

(MURFREESBORO)—“Celebrate Your World with GIS” is the theme of this year’s annual GIS Day, an open-house event that will get under way 1-4 p.m. Nov. 18 in the Tom H. Jackson Building’s Cantrell Hall on the MTSU campus.
Held each year on the Wednesday of National Geographic Society’s Geography Awareness Week (Nov. 16–20 in 2009), GIS Day is a global event initiated to help raise awareness about geographic information system technology and its many contributions to the fields of science, technology, information and the humanities.
Dr. Tom Nolan, director of MTSU’s Laboratory for Spatial Technology, said the university-sponsored GIS Day provides an opportunity for faculty, students and community members to discover how GIS contributes to solving problems at local and state levels, in addition to providing opportunities to talk with former students who have gained meaningful employment because of their GIS-related education at MTSU.
Although many are unfamiliar with GIS, Nolan said, it touches lives daily and is used throughout the world to solve problems related to the environment, healthcare, 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,” he explained. “This technology can also help businesses place ATMs and restaurants at more convenient locations, allow people to pull maps off the Internet and help farmers grow more crops with fewer chemicals.”
A member of MTSU’s geosciences faculty, Nolan said, “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.”
Hosted by the Department of Geosciences, the campus-based event will showcase the use of GIS by public and private organizations in middle Tennessee. Additionally, Nolan said most of the participating exhibitors are graduates of MTSU’s geographic techniques program who have achieved successful careers in the GIS field.
For Nolan, however, “The greatest thing about GIS Day is seeing all our former students who have become leaders in the GIS community,” he said. “And it is just a fun time.”
For more information about GIS Day at MTSU, please contact Nolan by calling 615-898-5561 or via e-mail at tnolan@mtsu.edu.

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Attention, Media: A “GIS Day” logo (color and B&W) is available online for download at http://www.gisday.com/support/materials2.html

With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.