GIS Day Blog

Join me for my annual GIS Day Live Webcast, where I will celebrate, discuss, and illustrate what people around the world are doing with Geographic Information Systems.  This webcast will include geo-songs, geo-quizzes, the definition of and impact of GIS to build a better world, and much more.  Yes, it will be recorded and published for those who wish to dig deeper into the links I share, or who are not able to join me in the live webcast. 

The 25th Anniversary of GIS Day is set to take place on November 20th, 2024! Learn more about this milestone event and find fun, rewarding ideas about how you can participate.

On November 20, 2024, the world will come together to celebrate the 25th anniversary of GIS Day, an international event that highlights the power of geographic information system (GIS) technology.

Your involvement is key to our collective effort in demonstrating the power of GIS. By working together, we can showcase how spatial data creates meaningful impacts across diverse sectors.

Here are resources and inspiration for hosting a GIS Day event and registering it.

After a quarter century after GIS Day began in 1999, GIS Day is still here.  In fact, GIS is more important than ever to our society because of challenges our societies face and for other reasons outlined in this article.  This article also explains how you can participate in a GIS Day event or host a GIS Day event in your own organization to help others understand the value of spatial thinking, mapping, and spatial analysis to their community and to society as a whole.  The contents of this essay are also available in this video.

Last week I shared 15 inspiring stories from GIS Day 2018.  These were a joy to write and I hope, for you to read.  Here are 15 more inspiring GIS Day stories from all around the world.  Even with that set and this week's new set of 15, I am just touching the tip of the iceberg, so I invite you to examine the events listed on the GIS Day map as well as this story map. 

Thank you to everyone who celebrated GIS Day in 2018.  I invite you to share your experiences and continue the celebration by sending in your GIS Day memories to gisday@esri.com, share your event on this story map, or share in the GIS Day group on GeoNet.  A total of 1,201 events were held globally.  Here are just a few of the many stories coming in from government agencies, universities, schools, nonprofit organizations, and private companies that clearly demonstrate how GIS is making a positive difference all around the world.

Hello i,am Abdulhadi alzawi from Libya. I would like to share with you our celebration of World GIS Day yesterday from Libya in the municipality of Tripoli Center
There was a presentation talking about GIS and its importance in private and public institutions and a view of the layers that were created and the data were entered and we also talked about sharing this data and layers through the web portal for the public to see. There was also a map gallery for some areas within the municipal boundaries. The attendees were members of the municipal council, the dean of the municipality, some employees and guests from outside the municipality

We’re excited to celebrate GIS Day 2018 with you here on GeoNet! Join in the worldwide geo-festivities and let us know how you’re celebrating this year by sharing your GIS Day stories and experiences (pictures, videos, comments or links to other content) and answering one of the questions below.  

• How have you helped others learn about and apply GIS in their work or lives this year?
• What personal GIS projects are you most proud of?
• What areas GIS would you like to explore more this year? What GIS skills would you like to improve in?
• What is one way you’d like to see GIS change the world?

--Joseph Kerski 

 Spelling GIS Day in the sand on a beach!

GIS Day in the Classroom: An Implementation Guide for GIS Professionals and Teachers.  This resource is filled with activities and strategies that you can use on GIS Day and far beyond, to enable educators and students to effectively use GIS in a wide variety of subjects and levels of education:

https://assets.esri.com/content/dam/esrisites/media/pdf/GIS%20Day%20in%20the%20Classroom%20-%20An%20...

The Delaware GIS Day event is a great example of collaboration among different organizations to celebrate and educate about the value that GIS brings to education and society.  The Delaware event will be held on Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at the Air Command Mobility Museum in Dover. Approximately 300 students plus the general public attend this event from around the state, traveling through 18 stations to learn how GIS is used in different industries. There is even an enormous Earth balloon!  The content of these stations is tied to the 5th grade state curriculum.  Delaware Geographic Data Committee partners with several organizations to host this event.  They have even created a wonderfully detailed story map, here.  

For more information, see the event website: http://www.mygeoworld.org/delaware-gis-day-2018/   

If you are looking for ideas for your own GIS Day event, I invite you to examine the plans that Delaware has, and be encouraged and inspired!

The first section of the wonderfully detailed Delaware GIS Day story map.