Center for Geographic Information systems
Mapping Information, Integrating Data
Today, more than ever, information drives social policy. Thanks to the Geographic Information System lab at UIS, students have access to a valuable tool for organizing and presenting this information visually.
What GIS Tells Us
With GIS, we can map so much useful, vital information:
- where a Mississippi River flood is likely to go
- the places where crimes occur in Illinois,
- how superfund sites and cancer incidence compare,
- to what extent land use by humans threatens Illinois’ natural areas.
We can also integrate diverse information, overlaying industrial sites, schools, shopping centers, bus routes, roads, and census information so that we can better plan traffic use, road repair, business locations, and more.
You're Hired!
This we can say for certain: Students who can access, organize, and present information visually will not only find it easier 
to get a job. They will also find it easier to move us all forward to a more informed and promising future, making an important contribution to their communities, beginning locally, and then globally.
That's what we call Making A Difference in the World!
You Can Make A Difference, Too
Your support for the program will make a critical difference in their ability to make these important contributions. With the correct software and accompanying hardware, we will be able to handle media-specific modeling, data storage, visualization, and data management.
Equally important: an endowment to pay for graduate assistants or a part-time technician who will support the lab. Help us train them so they can gain expertise in Geographic Information Systems—skills that are increasingly vital to managing our natural resources.
