During the week of November 12 – 16, 2012 Geography Awareness Week, the City of Victoria GIS Division held its tenth annual GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Day.  This year we visited three elementary schools.  On November 14^th DeLeon Elementary, November 15^th Torres Elementary and on November 16^th F.W. Gross Elementary, we presented to the fifth grade classes (230 students).  The students had an opportunity to learn about geography and GIS through power point presentations, a demonstration of the City GIS website and Google Earth, and a demonstration of how a GPS unit is used utilizing GIS.  After the presentation we took the students outside where they participated in a Geocaching activity (scavenger hunt) where they located items using only the coordinates given to them and a GPS unit.  Once the Geocaching activity was completed we demonstrated to them how a GPS ties into GIS by displaying a map with all the points from the Geocaching activity plotted on a map.  All participating students were presented with a GIS Day certificate of participation.  They received a GIS Day bag containing water bottle, GIS DAY bracelet, notebook, coloring book, GIS flyer, pencils and stickers.

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 organizations around the world.  To learn more about GIS Day and all of the exciting events planned, please feel free to visit the GIS Day Web site at www.gisday.com.