This year's GIS day was on Wednesday, November 17th. There weren't any GIS day events near me because of COVID. Instead, I found an ongoing online event that everyone can access. ESRI and National Geographic teamed up and created the GIS Film Festival. They made four short videos telling the story of how four National Geographic Explorers use GIS. Other content on the website includes Story Maps for further exploration, extra videos, podcasts, and links to other websites. The four explorers featured are Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant (grizzly bears), Dr. Jane Goodall (community conservation), Paul Salopek (walking journey), and Alex Tait (mapping Mt. Everest).
My favorite video was Jane Goodall's. She talked about how community members collect forest monitoring information that is important to them on GIS software. This data is then available to them, community leaders, and the larger research community. I found it interesting that she realized that she couldn't begin to work to save chimpanzees (her original research) without helping the people find ways to live that don't destroy the environment. This led to her community based conservation work. The GIS Film Festival was a great way to celebrate GIS and learn about how people use it. I encourage everyone to check it out! https://gis-film-festival-story.hub.arcgis.com/
Comments
Post a Comment