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Aileen Buckley
Assistant Professor, Geography
Hans Kuhn
Computing Center User Support Specialist
Whether you're researching the biosphere, studying global environmental change,
or designing a transportation network, Geographic Information Science (GIScience)
applications are invaluable aids. To keep pace with the demand for sophisticated
geographic information technologies, resources supporting GIScience at the University
of Oregon have increased dramatically in recent years.
GIScience--which involves the collection, management, analysis and display
of spatial data--employs technologies such as geographic information systems
(GIS), global positioning (GPS), remote sensing, cartography, and geographic
visualization.
GIScience figured prominently in such notable projects here in the Pacific
Northwest as forecasting salmon populations, projecting the effects of various
forestry practices, supporting disaster management in the wake of landslides,
earthquakes, and floods, and predicting climate change relating to El Niño.
Most recently, GIScience tools were used in the production of The New Atlas
of Oregon, which highlights the work of UO geographers.
A major milestone in building the UO's GIScience resource base is a statewide
site license, organized by the UO, which provides all OUS campuses and ten community
colleges with unlimited ESRI GIS software. This license enables UO students,
faculty, and staff to check out ArcInfo, ArcView and ArcGIS media from the Computing
Center's Documents Room Library in 175 McKenzie Hall and load the software onto
their work or home computers. In addition, anyone at the UO may now learn about
the software and its applications by taking courses from the ESRI Virtual On-line
Campus at http://campus.esri.com/
Other GIScience resources include a site license for new ERDAS remote-sensing
software, as well as ten hand-held GPS units that can be checked out from the
Social Science Instructional Lab (SSIL) in 460H McKenzie Hall. Both these resources
were obtained through a grant written by the Geography Department and SSIL faculty.
This funding also supported the development of a set of online teaching modules
that were designed to introduce people from all disciplines to the basics of
GIS, remote sensing, and GPS. These modules, which include written descriptions
and hands-on learning exercises, are available from the SSIL web page at http://ssil.uoregon.edu/gis/NWACC/NWACCIntro.htm
The modules can be used to supplement courses in which the acquisition and
use of geographic data is helpful, and to teach faculty, students, and staff
to become more proficient in the use of these technologies.
Now that these new resources are widely available, it is hoped that GIScience
tools and techniques will be incorporated in an increasing number of disciplines
and activities across campus.
For more information about GIScience resources on campus, please contact Hans Kuhn at 346-1714 or email hak@oregon.uoregon.edu