Geography Awareness Week & GIS Conference

On Thursday 21st November, a group of our A2 Geographers (who will be studying Geography at university) accompanied Mr Bird to King Edward VI Five Ways School to attend the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Conference as part of Geography Awareness Week. We learnt about a variety of dynamic software which allows Geographers in all walks of life to decide where and when their resources are best deployed. We heard from a civil engineering from Atkins who was involved with the design and construction of the iconic Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, a geospatial intelligence analyst from West Midlands Police and a healthcare professional. We also heard from a speaker from Tyneside University which offers a ‘Geomatics’ course, specialising in GIS.

In summary, GIS is a bit like google earth with steroids, allowing all sorts of digital layers to be added onto maps – including imported data – which allows in depth, ‘real-time’ analysis of situations. For example, we used GIS to predict criminals’ thought patterns; to respond to a simulated outbreak of disease in the local area and we learnt about ‘crowdsourcing’: the practice of obtaining needed data or ideas by soliciting contributions from large groups of people.

Students relished the chance to talk informally to the professionals about their work and have some hands-on experience of the software. This really is the technology of the future, and one which students and staff alike found inspiring.