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Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
Marketable Skills Certificate (pending final approval)
Geographic Information Systems combines the benefit of computers
and the ability to analyze, manipulate and display any type
of data that is spatial. Spatial data is any data with real
world coordinates like latitude and longitude. Essentially,
GIS is a way of displaying tabular data in a graphic or map
form for use by the general public, businesses, and industries
and is already widely used by government agencies.
A survey by the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association's
(URISA) indicates that employers have a difficult time keeping
GIS personnel due to the great demand and attractive offers
by other agencies, such as salary increases and improvements
in quality of lifestyle. Therefore, many employers offer competitive
salaries, optional work schedules and casual work environments.
The tools and techniques of geographic information science
are allowing us to:
- navigate automobiles and emergency vehicles along optimal
routes through busy cities
- inventory and manage the physical facilities of utilities
and city governments
- explore new ways to visualize the human genome
- carry out detailed epidemiological studies of diseases
- track and model the spread of pollutants or destructive
biological agents
- provide detailed lanning for efficient and environmentally
sound land development
- select optimal sites for businesses and other facilities
- map the migrations and territories of endangered animal
and plant species
- profile and target consumer preferences
- guide airplanes as they progress along their routes
- track depletion and recovery patters of fisheries, forests,
soil erosion, and ozone
- save lives and property by identifying locations for
evacuation and shelters for distributing food and medicine.
- and a host of similar analysis, monitoring, design, maintenance,
inventorying, routing, resource allocation, mapping, and
management tasks.
Students not needing college credit may take courses for
continuing education (CEUs).
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For more information
contact:
Dr. Joe Shannon
Dean of Instruction
jshannon@panola.edu
936-591-9075
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