OIT students win regional map competitions
David McIntire, OIT Professor John Ritter, and Leo Chan
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It's a year of firsts for Oregon Institute of Technology's student mapmakers. The first OIT college mapmaking contest was held in February. More recently, students from the institute's Geographical Information Systems program entered regional map competitions for the first time and came home with awards for first place.
Leo Chan of Cave Junction, Ore., won first place in the student division at the GIS In Action Conference on April 22.
Chan's map depicted the areas of maximum distance and elevation distortions for a local projection in the Medford, Ore., area. He submitted his map in the student map competition held during the GIS In Action conference held in Vancouver, Wash. His entry was in competition with entries from University of Oregon, Portland State University, and Lewis & Clark College; some of the entries from competing schools were authored by graduate students.
Chan received a bachelor's degree in Geomatics, Surveying option, in 2008 and this year also received his option in GIS.
More information about the GIS in Action Conference can be found at www.orurisa.org/events/gisinact/2009event.
David McIntire hails from Titusville, Pa. He earned first place in the student division at the Intermountain GIS Conference in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on April 10.
McIntire's map depicted the amount of discretionary income a person would have, on a per county basis for each county in nine western states, given assumptions of average home prices, taxes, etc. He entered his map in the student map competition. His map was in competition with student entries from the University of Idaho, Idaho State and Gonzaga University. Several of the competing entries had multiple authors and government agency participation.
He expects to graduate with a degree in Geomatics, Surveying option, in 2010.
More information about the Intermountain GIS Conference can be found at www.intermountaingis.org.
What is GIS?
GIS is a systematic approach for the management, analysis and display of geographic information. While management of such information often requires application of advanced relational database management systems on a computer, the ability to see a project through to completion requires fundamental project management skills as well. Students majoring in many fields at OIT, including geomatics, management, health sciences, biology, nursing (particularly public health), and computer systems, can choose to pursue a minor in GIS, as the skills associated with the discipline are very desirable to many employers.
For more information about GIS, contact Professor John Ritter at (541) 541-885-1495 or john.ritter@oit.edu.