The City of Sioux Falls GIS Division celebrated our 12th Annual GIS Day with Edison Middle School on Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 and Patrick Henry Middle School on Wednesday, November 17th, 2010.

For the first time, the GIS Division, and colleagues from the Engineering Division and from Minnehaha County GIS, went to Edison Middle School and for the fifth time to Patrick Henry Middle School to celebrate GIS Day! All of the 8th graders (~ 300 students) at Edison Middle School and all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders (~1200 students) at Patrick Henry Middle School participated in the event. The students learned how to utilize ESRI’s ArcGIS software with an aerial photograph and address matching exercise, learned more about maps and cartography in the map gallery, attended a GIS and Surveying presentation, and even got to try their hand at GPS navigation.

GIS Day is a global event for thousands of users of GIS technology to educate millions of children and adults about how geography makes a difference in our lives through the technology of GIS and to demonstrate GIS technology at schools and organizations around the world. This event is particularly meaningful for the GIS division. It gives us an opportunity to share our knowledge of geography and GIS and reveal how important geography is to our everyday lives!

Special thanks go out to all of the participants at Patrick Henry Middle School, Edison Middle School, the City of Sioux Falls, and Minnehaha County. We look forward to seeing you all again next year!