UW-Milwaukee: GIS Day at UWM features $26 million-dollar maps Nov. 17

MILWAUKEE – After the record-setting rainfall that caused widespread damage to homes in July, Milwaukee residents reaped tangible benefits from the use of geographic information systems (GIS).

Initially denied for federal aid in the wake of the storms, city officials used GIS to create a series of maps showing that the most rain-damaged areas are where Milwaukee’s most financially distressed families live.

When officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) saw that relationship, says Professor William Huxhold, they granted $26 million for disaster relief.

“The maps show how the sewer backups affected mostly low-income households, minorities and seniors,” says Huxhold, a professor of urban planning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). “Without the maps, the city faced no federal assistance for these people.”

The $26 million maps will be on display as part of the university’s annual GIS Day on Wednesday, Nov. 17. The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the American Geographic Society Library within UWM’s Golda Meir Library, 2311 E. Hartford Ave.

GIS is a computer-based mapping tool that takes information from a database about locations such as streets, buildings and terrain, and turns it into visual layers. Viewing the layers together shows the relationships between different features in an area.

Held each year on the Wednesday of the National Geographic Society’s Geography Awareness Week (Nov. 14-20 this year), GIS Day is a global event designed to increase awareness of the technology and its contributions to science, information and the humanities.

The UWM event features 30-minute speed sessions designed to give an overview of the topic from a variety of perspectives, more in-depth hands-on education sessions, and a free Zaffiro’s pizza lunch sponsored by the Geospatial Information & Technology Association, Wisconsin Chapter.

Wansoo Im, Ph.D., founder of Vertices LLC, will deliver the keynote address during lunch about using GIS to help community organizations and to educate K-12 students. There will also be vendor exhibits and a student map competition.

All UWM GIS Day activities are free, but registration is required at gisday.uwm.edu .

UWM has established an international reputation in both GIS education and research. It also provides GIS-related services to the urban and regional community for addressing current public and private sector information needs.

GIS Day is principally sponsored by the National Geographic Society, the Association of American Geographers, University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Library of Congress, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett–Packard and Esri.

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(CONTACT: William Huxhold, 414-229-4014, hux@uwm.edu.)