Achievements in geographic info honored at international conference

Jennings

Theobald

The Colorado Geographic Alliance based at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs received a special achievement in geographic information system award July 14 at the 30th Annual Esri International User Conference.

Esri, a software manufacturer, selected the Colorado Geographic Alliance from more than 300,000 organizations worldwide for its innovative use of technology to improve geography education. Funded by a grant from the National Geographic Education Foundation, the alliance brings together educators from colleges and elementary and secondary schools to develop geography instruction and demonstrate the importance of geography education.

The Colorado Geographic Alliance is coordinated by Steve Jennings, associate professor, and Rebecca Theobald, assistant adjoint professor, department of geography and environmental studies. Jennings and Theobald have been coordinators of the Colorado Geographic Alliance since fall 2008 and are passionate about empowering teachers with state-of-the-art pedagogical tools for the instruction of geography.

GIS combines computer hardware, software, data and people to collect, manage and analyze geographic information. Virtually any information can be linked to a geographic location, helping people see that information as part of a complete picture. With GIS, users can view relationships, processes, patterns and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports and charts.