Students Learn About Geographic Information Systems at Brookhaven Lab

December 7, 2004

UPTON, NY - Students from Suffolk Community College and the Victory Christian Academy in East Patchogue learned about geographic information systems (GIS) at GIS Day 2004 at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory. GIS is a system of computer software and hardware that combines information about a place to provide a better understanding of data related to it. GIS has numerous and diverse uses, from analyzing weather and traffic patterns to assessing environmental damage or viewing similar crimes in a city.

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Johan Herrin of Environmental Systems Institute Inc. explains some of the uses of GIS to Stacie Murphy (left) and Darrianne LaMartz, students of the Victory Christian Academy in East Patchogue.(Click image for hi-res photo.)

Held as part of the National Geographic Society's yearlong initiative called "Geography Action" and sponsored by the Long Island Geographic Information Systems Users Group, GIS Day at Brookhaven Lab was part of a grassroots worldwide effort to promote geographic literacy in schools, communities, and organizations.

At the Laboratory, about 20 exhibitors, from Brookhaven, Huntington and Southampton Towns to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Suffolk County Water Authority, were on hand to discuss their displays with students and interested Lab employees.

Brookhaven Lab had three exhibits on display at GIS Day: weather data, visualizations of air pollution emissions from measurements taken with equipment aboard a U.S. Department of Energy research aircraft, and information on the Laboratory's natural resources, such as vegetation and animals on site.

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