All posts by Joseph Kerski, PhD, GISP
Teaching the Ethics of Geo
Maps have always been powerful means of communication, whether etched in cave walls, stone, wood, silver of centuries past, or, in the 20th Century, copper plates and, later, film. In our own century, maps are everywhere—on our phones, computers, fitness apps, and news media, communicating in a myriad of ways about changes over space and...
Mentoring’s Evolution in GIS
Having focused on the education side of geography and geospatial technology for much of my career, I’m focusing this discussion on mentoring in formal and informal settings: schools, after-school clubs, libraries, museums, community and technical colleges, universities, and adult learning venues. As geotechnologies’ needs, audiences, and expectations have evolved, mentoring has evolved, and (I would...
Be Critical of the Data
Image above: The author’s view of Lake Michigan as he walked toward the lighthouse at Manitowoc. Not long ago, obtaining data for a surveying or GIS-based project was an arduous task. Because great time and effort was involved with either creating your own data or obtaining data that someone else created, you had to think...
GIS in Higher Education
Given this column’s theme of the coordinated campus and educational implications for the GIS professional community, it seems fitting to ask: If you went to a postsecondary school, did you take a course in GIS? For more people than ever before, the answer is “yes.” GIS has long been a part of institutions of higher...
GIS in K-12
Above: Middle school students collect macroinvertebrates in Rocky Mountain National Park. The data will be mapped and analyzed using a GIS. Credit: Joseph Kerski. Where did you first learn about GIS? Was it in a course at a university or a community college? Were you an undergraduate or graduate student? Was it at a conference,...
GIS Day
From the Coordinated Campus In a rapidly changing field such as geotechnologies, education is an ongoing concern and rightly so: if we are not lifelong learners, we won’t last long in this industry. But I contend that we as geospatial professionals also need to be aware of and provide leadership in larger geospatial education trends...
