Students visit GVSU for day of geography activities and learning

To join an annual and national geography public awareness program, 30 local middle school students spent October 30 at Grand Valley participating in geocaching and other geographic exercises. The day of hands-on activities celebrated the 16th annual Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Day.

GIS Day began as a focal point of Geography Awareness Week in 1999 and provides an international forum for users of geographic information systems technology to demonstrate real-world applications.

"The goal of events like GIS Day is to help students appreciate the role that geography plays in better understanding our world, while also being able to use geographic tools to analyze various spatial phenomena," said Kin Ma, assistant professor of geography and planning.

While Geography Awareness Week occurs during the third week of November each year, seventh grade students from Shawmut Hills School celebrated GIS Day early at Grand Valley by navigating across the Allendale Campus to find various items.

“The geocaching event taught students about the use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) with a global cities theme,” said Ma. “Students used a GPS receiver to navigate to five campus buildings and then solve clues to get to their next destination.”

Ma said students also participated in a GIS laboratory exercise, during which they explored global cities through ArcGIS geography software in order to construct a map of the world’s largest cities.

GIS Day at Grand Valley is sponsored by the Geography and Planning Department and Association of Student Geographers as part of the Engaged Department Initiative. The initiative grant was awarded to various academic departments at Grand Valley to help facilitate enduring relationships between community organizations and the university.

For more information, contact Kin Ma at (616) 331-3065 or [email protected].