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Recent GIS Day held at Ridge Primary SchoolBy Kizito Nsanzya and Tracey Spires
GIS Day was celebrated in Pietermaritzburg on the 27 of November 2002 at Ridge Junior Primary School to six classes of Grade 3’s, with an average age of 9 years. GIS, or Geographic Information Systems, represents computer software, data, and solutions that are used by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide in government, education, and business. The goal of GIS Day is to help educate children as well as adults on the applications of geography and computer-aided mapping. GIS Day is a global event for thousands of users of GIS technology to educate the public and demonstrate GIS technology at schools and organisations around the world. On the presenting team were Road Information Service’s Tracey Spires, ENGIS Consultant Kizito Nsanzya and GIMS Regional Manager Chris Byren. This year’s GIS Day focus is geography and the role and relevancy of public lands in our daily lives. Hence, the presentation at Ridge included display of the Department’s road maps, a slide show of the Earth at different scales, starting from the wonderful world around Ridge School, to the city, the province and eventually the whole globe. Then followed a demonstration of the GIS software used by Road Information Services: ArcView GIS. The pupils were fascinated with this great technology that miraculously knew where their school was located. They were each presented with little maps showing the road network around their school and each teacher was given posters regarding GIS and a map of KwaZulu-Natal from the Department. With the success of this presentation, it is hoped that more will be held in the coming year to schools in the region, giving learners an opportunity too of acquiring much need interest and skills at an early age.
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