Pennsylvania students to share GIS knowledge with Parkston students


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For immediate Release
Contact: Nicole Kranzler, 773-3426

Pennsylvania students to share GIS knowledge with Parkston students

Parkston - Parkston 5th and 6th graders will exchange ideas with students in Ambler, Pennsylvania,1 this Thursday. At 10 a.m. CST the students will be connected via the Dakota Digital Network (DDN) so they can learn about the uses of their geographic information system (GIS) software with their hand-held global positioning systems (GPS). The goal of the meeting is for the classes to show each other how they've used their GIS software and GPS units.

The students in Ambler have mapped their community, including individual buildings, and will share what they have learned with Parkston students who will be mapping the Parkston school district. In the future, Parkston students also hope to map out Parkston points of interest, track area weather and plot Parkston school bus routes onto the maps provided through ArcView. ArcView is the GIS software that Parkston students will be using.

GIS teaches students new ways to visually learn concepts and relationships and helps them expand their analysis, research and high-level thinking skills. In addition, GIS information can be uploaded to the Web so it can be shared. A GIS stores data for features that have physical "addresses." An address can be a street address, latitude/longitude coordinates, a legal description or even a city or county location. A computer puts the data together in "layers" and then the user can combine the layers onto one map to show geographic relationships. The result is information that is relayed in an easily understandable format—usually maps. The advantage to the maps is that because they are put together using individual pieces of information, the data can be used to obtain details such as:

  • the number of square miles in a county,
  • the population of a county, or
  • county demographics such as ethnicity and age.

All South Dakota school districts have the ability to acquire and use ArcView, GIS software, at no cost via a license purchased by the Department of Education and Cultural Affairs (DECA). ArcView is the same GIS software that state government uses.

Parkston Elementary received its GPS units through a School-to-Work grant from the South Dakota Department of Labor. For more information, contact Parkston Elementary Principal Rob Monson at 928-3368.

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