Carolina URISA is the proud sponsor of the following GIS Day activities.  This year we asked for a brief report from each of the recipients to help describe and share the activities that made their event a success.  The CURISA Board hopes the following reports help inspire you to have a GIS Day event next year.

Town of Zebulon, NC (report link) – This year the Town of Zebulon hosted a Map Gallery for GIS Day.   The Map Gallery had over 30 people attend, and prizes were given away to those who attended along with chips, cookies, sweets, juice, and soda.  The Planning Department held the map gallery display in the main lobby of the Municipal Complex and chose maps that have recently been or are currently being used to help make planning decisions, such as the current zoning map, transportation plan project overview map, and case file maps.  As citizens came to Town Hall for daily business, they were invited to enjoy some refreshments and tokens, look over the map gallery, and staff remained available to answer questions about how the town utilizes GIS to help make informed decisions.

Town of Spencer, NC (report link) – The Town of Spencer was pleased to host its first Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day event at Town Hall November 17-21, 2014.  Throughout the course of the week, young families and neighboring GIS professionals stopped by to view the maps, books and other items on display.  For a first time event, the Open House was deemed a success.

New Hanover County (report link) –  Our first event for GIS Day was to visit the 4th and 5th grade A.I.G. classes of Bradley Creek Elementary School. My supervisor, Mike Arkinson, and I knew most of the children might not be familiar with the meaning of GIS or how it is used, so we presented a few slides to explain what GIS stands for and what exactly GIS Day is! They were surprised to see the ESRI GIS Day Events map and how many other events were taking place across the globe.

MapForsyth and Winston Salem University (report link) – MapForsyth and Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) teamed up to host a GIS Day celebration on Wednesday, November 19, 2014. The event was sponsored in part by a grant from Carolina URISA and was held in the Diggs Gallery on the campus of WSSU. More than 110 students, faculty, and GIS professionals attended the celebration.

Henderson County, NC (report link) – The GIS (Geographic Information Systems) staff of Henderson County and the City of Hendersonville joined forces on Wednesday, November 19th to provide a public GIS Day event featuring pop quizzes, maps of the moon, and a treasure hunt.

City of Raleigh GIS, Wake County GIS, NC Dept. of Health and Human Services, Wake County Planning Dept. (report link) – Considering the weather our GIS day went very well. We had over 40 entries in our map contest with an estimated 200 attendees. The guests were able to view demos of anything from our 911 system to Beta tested GIS applications that they will soon see on their computers. We had a total of 10 demos, and one presentation by a local school group.