by Sarah Bender
On Wednesday, November 20, the CMU Libraries Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Services team hosted “GIS Day 2024: Sustainable Communities and Technologies,” a day-long symposium celebrating the positive impact of GIS applications and exploring the connections between GIS, spatial inquiry, and sustainability. More than 100 attendees from local universities, government organizations, and industry gathered in the Cohon University Center’s Rangos Ballroom to learn more about the GIS work happening in the community and share their own contributions.
After brief presentations from event sponsors including GIS software company Esri, the Sustainability Initiative, and Larson Design Group, the event continued with lightning talks by GIS specialists from CMU and beyond. Randy Weinberg, teaching faculty emeritus of Information Systems, was one researcher who shared his work. Weinberg’s current project uses maps to visualize the US-Dakota War of 1862, tracing the treaties that took the land of native populations through a six-week armed uprising, which culminated in the expulsion of the Dakota people from the state of Minnesota.
“Since GIS tools are becoming much more accessible and easy to use, you can tell stories that, in the past, you would have had to tell through books or other static materials,” he said. “Creating interactive apps to help educate people adds another dimension to the story.”
Next, attendees participated in roundtable discussions. In one roundtable, Engineering and Public Policy Ph.D. student Catalina Moreno-Lopez facilitated a discussion focused on map design. Participants discussed emerging trends intended to more clearly communicate main ideas — and agreed that while templates are important to make maps accessible, there are also opportunities to be creative.
“The roundtable was an amazing experience — an opportunity for everyone to speak in a safe environment free from judgement,” Moreno-Lopez said.
At the event, members of the Pittsburgh community had the opportunity to connect with researchers at CMU. Melinda Angeles, a GIS systems engineer with the Allegheny County Department of Information Technology, has been partnering with CMU Libraries since it started hosting GIS Day celebrations three years ago. This year, she helped develop different activities to engage people, including roundtables and a puzzle during the Open House session.
“I used to live in the Metro DC area, which has a really robust GIS community, and living in Pittsburgh now, I’ve noticed that we’re not quite there yet,” she said. “I love being a part of this effort to make sure that people here know what GIS is, and helping our community meet and support each other.”
Graduate instructor and Ph.D. candidate Suzy Li from the School of Architecture both served on the planning committee and presented a map during the Open House. In her work, she uses GIS to study climate-resilient urban surface guidelines and decision-making, ultimately revealing that historically redlined neighborhoods are hotter on average and therefore less energy resilient. She also teaches an advanced ArcGIS course for the School of Architecture, and knows how valuable GIS Day can be for students beginning to explore GIS tools and opportunities.
“This year’s Open House was a great opportunity to build a social network between employees and students,” Li explained. “When I attended last year’s GIS Day as a lightning talk presenter, I met a lot of the people in the city and government, and even future students who would later register for my class. I’m happy to see that the event has grown so much in such a short time.”
Laura Santos, a Heinz College graduate student studying public policy and management who presented at last year’s event, helped curate the virtual map gallery. Working on the map submissions committee, she curated a StoryMap with all the maps submitted to the program including maps from the Map Gallery presented at the Open House and submitted maps that were not selected. These included a solar suitability map from the City of Pittsburgh, a hand-drawn map of Allegheny County by Angeles (this year’s winner), and student work exploring river ecologies, the relationship between greenspace and inflammation, almond growing in CA, drinking water and climate change, and Santos’ maps on correctional and detention facilities.
“It’s really important for students to have a place to showcase their work, and I wanted to give back after the impact that GIS Day has had for me,” said Santos, who secured a summer internship with Pittsburgh Regional Transit after her 2023 presentation. “GIS Day is a great opportunity to network, and even meet potential employers. By inviting students to join in this community where they can share resources and solutions, they gain awareness of the people around them they can reach out to both on campus and throughout the city as a whole.”
Shihong Huang, teaching professor of Information Systems, decided to attend GIS Day after attending a data visualization workshop by Data Education Librarian Emma Slayton.
“I’m very new, not to the concept of GIS, but to using it. I know it’s a powerful tool, but I haven’t really seen that in action,” Huang admitted. “This event opened my eyes, and the team at the Libraries played a pivotal role in providing an environment for the community to get together.”
If you are interested in learning more or working with the GIS Services team, reach out to gislib@andrew.cmu.edu.