GIS Day was celebrated around the world on Wednesday, November 15, 2023. GIS Day is a day to celebrate geographic information systems (GIS) based technology. GIS based technology ranges from basic, freely accessible applications such as Google Maps that provide locations and directions, to advanced software such as ArcGIS that allows users to visualize and analyze information, and manage data to help make informed decisions to create a positive impact through their work.
According to Esri, over 3,100 events registered in 149 countries were held on GIS Day this year. Ball State University Libraries hosted one of those events. We celebrated GIS Day with an open house. Attendees were able to meet the new GIS Specialist, Lorey Stinton, and were surprised with an opportunity to win a 1-year subscription of ArcGIS for personal use from Esri.
For GIS Day, Ball State University Libraries also provided links to various resources to help our overall community get familiarized with the broad applicability of GIS. The resources include a video that gives an overview of how GIS is helping people explore our world (Seeing the Future Through GIS), videos and articles about people and careers in GIS, an Ebook about using GIS in the sciences, and various StoryMaps.
GIS software is utilized by professionals in a remarkable variety of fields, from accounting to zoology, and it is used by organizations of every type such as academia, corporations, not-for-profits, and local to federal governments. If you aren’t familiar with GIS and/or how it can be used by such a wide variety of fields, we hope you will explore some of the video and articles about people who are utilizing GIS to enhance their work.
GIS technology also includes Esri’s web-based application ArcGIS StoryMaps. This app is used to create media enriched narratives. StoryMaps are a great way to share information including research papers and projects. Within the GIS Day 2023 resources, Ball State University Libraries provided links to StoryMaps created by Esri, National Geographic, and the Ball State community. We hope you will be inspired to learn how you too can share your work with a StoryMap.