City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa - Community Information

Contact: Cassie Willis
Phone: 319-286-5055
See GIS in Action at Special City Event

City of Cedar Rapids Information Technology-Geographic Information Systems (IT-GIS) Division will host a GIS Day Open House on Monday, November 16, 2009, at the Cedar Rapids Public Library, lower level of Westdale Mall. Everyone is welcome to attend anytime between 10:00 am and 7:00 pm. The open house provides an opportunity to see GIS applications in action and to gain insight on how GIS assists City Departments and the entire community. A map gallery and interactive mapping stations will be available to the public.

A GIS is a computer-based mapping tool that takes information from a database about a location, such as streets, buildings, water features, and terrain, and turns it into visual layers. The ability to see geographic features on a map gives users a better understanding of a particular location, enabling planners, analysts, and others to make informed decisions about their communities.

"GIS touches our lives every day," said City Manager Jim Prosser. "It is used throughout the world to solve problems related to flood control, storm water management, land use, public safety and much more. For example in Cedar Rapids, we use GIS for mapping fire and police response data, land development and regional planning."

Held each year on the Wednesday of National Geographic Society's Geography Awareness Week (November 16-20 in 2009), GIS Day is a global event to increase awareness of GIS technology and the important contributions it makes in the fields of science, technology, information and the humanities. GIS Day Open House
Monday, November 16, 2009
10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Cedar Rapids Public Library, Westdale Mall lower level

GIS Day is principally sponsored by the National Geographic Society, the Association of American Geographers, University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, the United States Geological Survey, the Library of Congress, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and ESRI.

GIS Day and www.gisday.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.

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