ArcView 9.x SUMMER WORKSHOP  at Bismarck State College August 2005

Learn fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and obtain a site liscence of ArcView for your campus.

Instructors: Mr. Roger Palmer, Mrs. Anita Palmer, Mr Ron Elgin
Location: Meet at the main floor of the Student Union of BSC campus Monday August 15.
Limit: 25 participants
Target Audience: Secondary and College pre-service and in-service teachers from science, technology, and environmental/social studies education.
Class Meeting Times: 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Mon – Fri
Registration: $500 Registration Form (PDF)

Materials Provided:

* Mapping Our World—GIS lessons for Educators v.9.0
* CDs of local data
* ArcView 9.0, Shape files, regional and local data for participants with a thorough introduction to finding data in other local areas of interest

Science Content Standards

* Physical Science (properties of light, color, energy, motion, salinity and density)
* Life Science (ecology, land use, plant animal and nutrient cycles, coastal wetlands restoration)
* Earth Science (land, water, atmosphere interactions, drainage basins, geologic processes, Martian science)
* Investigation and Experimentation (active inquiry based approach to the environment we are studying.)

Mathematics Academic Content Standards

* Measurement and Geometry (calculating distances , areas, and volumes, proportional reasoning)
* Mathematical Reasoning (creating algebraic expressions, observing patterns, calculation estimations)
* Graphical Representation of Statistical Concepts

History/Social Science Content Standards

* Chronological and Spatial Thinking (mapping historical changes to a local setting of interest)
* Research, Evidence and Point of View (using maps/images to model inquiry, comparing multiple interests)
* Historical Interpretation (human and physical characteristic of place, cause and effect, land use change)

For more information contact Roger or Anita Palmer at info@gisetc.com or to register online click here!At a grassroots level, GIS offers farmers various opportunities to increase production, reduce input costs, and manage the land in their care more efficiently, geography plays a part. In this institute, participants will study applications of GIS with farm level data providing ideas for implementation in Ag class settings.   Every potential application of GIS in agriculture is different; however, there are certain underlying principles that remain the same. In this institute, participants will develop skills in the following areas:

· Learn how to access data from free internet sources

· Utilize tools to assist in the integration of a variety of different data types important to farm management

· Expose principals of interpretation and data management of raster based aerial photographs and satellite images

· Understanding principals of light interaction with the ground and the air in order to best utilize aerial and satellite imagery for the greatest yield generation and long term sustainability of a farmers resources

· Develop skills in pattern recognition within remotely sensed imagery to determine  ground based causes

· Learn field sampling techniques and visualization tools that most effectively represent nutrient or herbicide/pesticide need and application rates to fields of interest

· Gather principals of GPS operation so as to use locational technology as a tool in managing natural resources

Perhaps the most influential development to expedite technology transfer to agriculture has been the development of GPS. By incorporating GPS into standard farming practices, farmers, researchers, and consultants have been able to improve the precision of existing agronomic management activities by implementing them at a subfield scale. Precision farming and associated variable rate technologies have been the result. Data is collected in a variety of ways.  Once mapped, this data, which can include soil characteristics, pest locations, drainage systems, and previous harvest yields, can be used to formulate a location-based prescription for the field management in the coming year.

Precision farming relies heavily on the spatial analysis embedded in GIS. As the costs of modern agricultural practices continue to grow as a result of natural resource price increases, more agricultural legislation, greater environmental awareness, and the need to feed burgeoning human populations, so will the need to optimize agricultural management through the utilization of GIS.