WELCOME TO JULIA'S WORLD

AND WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD OF GIS IT IS...

And this is me at Yosemite (top left). Also, a spectacular view of Flagstaff from nearby Parks (top right).

In Julia's world, visitors have a chance to interact with small parts of me. This may not always be fun! However, this is a page dedicated to sharing GIS, or geographical information systems, information. I first began utilizing GIS programs when I was a senior at Northern Arizona University. I took a graduate GIS class because most geologists I know deal with many aspects of GIS. When I graduated from college and attempted to find a job, I found the market difficult to newcomers with little or no experience. I also found a high number of employers seeking employees with GIS experience...lots of it. I decided to go back to school as a graduate student in Earth Sciences and GIS. This is where I am today.

So...what the heck is GIS?

GIS stands for Geographical Information Systems and is a type of software program that captures, stores, analyzes, and displays layers of data that the user can combine depending on type of project, to provide information about an area. For example, if you want to develop a project that shows how human activity affects an endangered plant species, you would combine several layers such as human habitat (houses, business, churches), soil, vegetation, roads, streams, and possibly many more. Once these layers are combined on top of one another on a map, the user is able to perform analyses such as measuring distance from and to certain features. Can you think of a way GIS would be useful to you?

What kind of images are produced from GIS-based software?

The above are types of maps produced by myself utilizing a GIS. Top left shows 14 different layers in a proposed endangered plant species habitat. The map includes the figure, legend, scale, direction, title, cartographer, source, datum, projection, coordinate system, and spheriod used. Top right shows how an aerial photo can be overlain with roads and streams to landmark the area better. Both products were done with ESRI's ArcGIS 9.0

So, what other type of software is available?

Autodesk by AutoCAD 24%
Bentley by Microstation 11%
Caliper by Maptitude, TransCAD 1%
CARIS 0%
Envi 3%
ER Mapper 4%
ERDAS 15%
ESRI ArcInfo, ArcView, AtlasGIS, ArcCAD 80%
Genasys Genamap 0%
GRASS 2%

Idrisi 5%

InfoCAD 2%

Intergraph MGE, GeoMedia, FRAMME 21%

Leica 2%

MapFactory 1%

Smallworld Magik 2%

Spans 0%

Terrasoft 1%

The above shows company name, product, and percentage of people polled who use that type of product. This information is derived from Dr. Lee Dexter of Northern Arizona University's Department of Geography. Dr. Dexter is the GIS program coordinator and instructor.

I would like to take some time to share valuable resources with you in the hopes that you will utilize them if you never need.

One of the most important references in website design is the W3Schools. This extensive site goes into detail for programming in many different languages. Best of all, the site is absolutely free. Visit it today! W3Schools

I've found a good website, some time ago, for geology jobs and internships. This is a very good site and I've often kept it on the back burner for other types of jobs as well...GIS. The internships with this company are mostly GIS based positions, which really led me back to school to attain that GIS degree while mastering in Earth Science as well. Check it out, and if you have time, definitely check out their career link section. This will advance you to so many different places where you will find employers in need of us! Environmental Careers Organization

The place I've learned the trade really deserves some credit. There are some really fantastic, well educated people here that deal with GIS in the real world, as well as teach. This department doesn't just show overlays and importing. They really get into the nitty-gritty of database management, data manipulation, and of course...programming. Their personal sites are pretty cool, as well. Department of Geography at NAU

Here are a few more reference GIS websites that should be looked at.

Kangis Community	GIS Day
GIS.com	Geograpy Network
Geoplace	ESRI
FGDC Data	SDTS Data Transfer Page
CADD-GIS Tech Center	Open GIS Consortium

These sites contain data from governmental agencies, including universities.

US Census Bureau	USGS National Mapping Info.
Global Land Info. System	USGS Water Resources
Lake Tahoe Data Clearinghouse	US Fish and Wildlife Service
BLM-NSDI MetaData and WWW Mapping	BLM GIS
EROS	ALRIS
GIS in Arizona	UofA ARIA
STARTING THE HUNT	GIS Sources
CU Dept of Geography	GIS WWW Resources

The following are commercial sites offering some or all FREE data.

MapDigger	GIS Data Depot
ArcData Online at ESRI	GIS Data Sets
Geography Network	Energy Solutions
GIS Net Site	The GIS Portal
Microsoft's Terra Server

All the above website links are sourced from Dr. Ruihong Huang and Dr. Lee Dexter, both of Northern Arizona University's Department of Geography.

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