Nicole's Geographic Journal

     This was the first year I participated in GIS Day, and while my current job does not pertain to GIS, I was still able to celebrate! GIS day fell on the same day as our Thanksgiving lunch at work, so I had the chance to chat with some of my colleagues about my project. I work in a microbiology laboratory, so no one in my lab has worked with, or heard of, ArcGIS before. It was really fun to show them my project and explain the endless industries where GIS can be applied. I specifically talked with them about the agriculture, environmental, and natural resources industries, because we work closely with those industries at our laboratory. I hope I am able to participate in an actual GIS Day event next year!

Image 1      Image 2   With it being more than halfway through the semester, I would like to give an update on some of the GIS work I have been doing. Firstly, I have learned a lot about GIS use in agriculture through this course's 'Industry Highlight' assignments. GIS is being used to map fields, identify problem areas for pests and disease, help irrigate crops more efficiently, and much more. Drones are also becoming a useful tool in agriculture for these same reasons. I recently watched a tech session by Esri where a panel of speakers discussed  how they are working to get farmers and other agricultural businesses to use ArcGIS and other Esri products, since the industry can be reluctant to adopt new technology at times.      In addition to learning about GIS use in agriculture, I have been making some headway on my project as well. Image 1 shows the land use of the entire state of Florida, according to 2023 census data. To expand upon ...