If you’ve ever used a GPS, you’ve used GIS.
Geographic Information Systems, or GIS — tools used to create maps like the ones in GPS units — stole the spotlight Wednesday for National GIS Day.
To celebrate the day, George A. Smathers Library hosted a group of speakers to educate students about the technology.
The event attracted about 150 people.
According to Carol McAuliffe, UF’s map librarian, GIS is a way of mapping areas based on layers.
A geographer starts with a flat plane and then adds different “levels” for different features on top of it.
For example, a map may have one layer indicating major roads and another featuring coordinates for buildings, according to McAuliffe.
“It really functions behind the scenes,” she said. “It’s something a lot of people use every day, but very few really know about it.”
GIS powers many technologies students use on a daily basis, McAuliffe said.
Gainesville’s Regional Transit System uses the system to plan its local bus routes.
Maps shown on Google maps and other mapping websites are determined and drawn using GIS.
The technology is even used in GPS units to point drivers toward the nearest rest stop or fast food drive-through.
A part of Geography Awareness Week featured speakers who use GIS in their professions as a way of showing how versatile the technology is.
For example, the system has been used to study childhood obesity to determine where the disease is most prevalent.
“I don’t think it gets the accolades it deserves,” McAuliffe said.
“I hope people walk away from today understanding just how important this technology is.”
“GIS is used extensively in every industry,” said Curt Davidson, a geography junior. “Someone like Pizza Hut can use it to map out the most ideal places to open up a new store.”
As a geography student, Davidson, 27, had worked with GIS previously, but he said he hopes GIS Day helps other students understand the technology.
“At first glance it can be pretty intimidating,” he said of the advanced technology. “But it helps people in so many ways.”
