Mapping Their Future

It wasn't the contest to win a TomTom One 125 Portable GPS that lured me through the doors of Goldstein today.  Nor was it the promise of food and door prizes that motivated my visit.  It was, believe it or not, a genuine curiousity about GIS work and student-led GIS projects that enticed me to celebrate National GIS Day in the WC GIS lab for the first time.

Sadly, I never had a reason to walk into Goldstein Hall before.  It was dedicated in 2000, shortly after I graduated.  I stepped inside for the first time this afternoon and found Louis himself greeting me with a big smile.

I walked up to the second floor where the GIS lab is located because faculty, staff, and students were invited to hear from WC interns themselves about their personal GIS projects.  In this new and growing department, students are employed to work on projects from both individual clients and from other, larger clients like the State of Maryland. 

Inside was a cluster of staff and students who had come to celebrate National GIS Day. Packed closely together, curious visitors asked questions while students huddled over multiple computer screens that displayed databases, maps, and 3-D drawings,  translating the images and data into simple concepts. 

I talked to a few of the student interns who told me not only are they learning marketable skills, but they are paid for their work.  Not a bad gig in my opinion.  These 3-D models and Google Earth mapping systems look like a lot of fun to play with. 

After talking with the students, I began to wonder if there is a field in which you could not find a good use for GIS.  The student projects touched various areas--environmental studies, architecture, history, and even business.  I spoke with sophomore, Dalbir Kaur, who is mapping a ranch in Vasser, Idaho for Ms. Daryl Swanstrom, a member of the WC Board of Visitors and Governors. Swanstrom wants information about her 1044 acre ranch so that she can strategically plan for future development of her property.  To do this, Kaur uses available waypoints, video, and photos to map trails, roads, utility boxes, and buildings on Swanstrom's ranch.

Other students, like Chris Brown '12, are working on mapping the buildings of historic Chestertown.  Apparently, when you layer information on top of one another, like maps and data from the census, you can learn things you may never have known before and predict trends before they occur.

Once again, I've found that Washington College has opened an excellent opportunity for its students.  The future for these interns sure seems bright as the GIS field continues to grow and offers great positions as criminal mapping analysts, urban and regional planners, and geospatial technicians and analysts.

As the room filled with visitors, I walked back to the Alumni House, but not before crime mapping analyst, Caryn Thomas '05, M'09 and Lisa Jones '11 stopped me at the door to give me a prize.  Ironically, it was a small globe that lights up when you throw it.  I joked, "I now have the world in my hand," and then I realized that this is the gift these students have been given as they begin to map their future.