Mapping the Future: GIS Day returns November 19

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Lindenwood University's 11th Annual GIS Day kicks off in the AB Leadership Room, Tuesday, November 19, from 8 a.m.- 2:45 p.m. Lindenwood's GIS program runs this annual event to provide Lindenwood students with valuable networking opportunities. The event promises to challenge attendees to reconsider the way they think about people, places, and events.

Short for Geographic Information Systems, GIS professionals use a variety of tools to analyze and display geographic data. St. Louis has become a national hub for GIS, making itself home to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's West Campus and several top organizations in the industry.

Speaking on the event, Lindenwood GIS Professor Tara Vansell says, "This is a chance for those working towards a certificate to have a really meaningful professional development experience here on campus." Vansell added, "it really exists to highlight our certificate, to highlight the things our students are doing, and to just be this really wonderful bridge between our professional community and our students."

Vansell worked to launch the event after taking students to a similar local convention. Looking back to the early years of Lindenwood's GIS Day, Vansell says, "we did have one year where we went off campus to a GIS day event for the county and they were so impressed by our table and our students that they asked us to host it the next year. So, the event kind of came to us in a way."

Eleven years later, the event attracts industry giants like Great Rivers Greenway, Esri, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation to Lindenwood's campus to meet students and share ideas on the future of GIS.

While there are exciting learning and connection opportunities, GIS Day will also feature hands-on activities in which participants can engage with technology being used in the industry. Vansell says, "we're going to have a fun drone course where students can actually fly some little drones. We're going to have a VR area set up where we have VR

headsets for students to put on and be able to teleport to other places in the world using the technologies and the software."

In addition to these activities, this year's GIS Day will feature keynote speaker, Derek Hoffman. A senior geographical intelligence officer with over 15 years of experience at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Hoffman will share life lessons, career advice, and insight into the industry's present and future.

This event is open to students, faculty, and staff who are encouraged to register in advance.