GIS Pathway Blog

Entries for April, 2009

Insight from Inaugural SkillsUSA Geospatial Technology Winner

I had the opportunity to correspond with Sue Roussie this past week.  Sue competed in and won the first SkillsUSA Geospatial Technology Competition in 2006.  She considered herself one of the guinea pigs as everything was new.  Looking back she saw the original questions on the preliminary qualification as a nightmare.  Some of the questions [...]

Supporters Step Up For Geospatial Competition

Yesterday was a really big day for me.  Not only was it my birthday, but I had several people step up to show their support for me and this competition.  @Iowaarcheryboy @gletham @MikeHogan & @Geothinkers all took the time to tweet my need for support yesterday.  Many others over the last few days have also [...]

SkillsUSA Membership Application Sent Off

The application process for SkillsUSA membership has been a bit on the confusing side.  After originally doing some reading about the contest, I thought that it would be best to start at the local level and work my way up.  I found that the SkillsUSA advisor at Central Piedmont Community College was in the automotive [...]

Support the Future of GIS

Although I am in the midst of raising funds to attend the SkillsUSA Geospatial Technology Competition, I am looking for support in a more important way.  It is a shame that it took me being in the GIS industry 2 1/2 years while attending a geospatial technology college program before I heard anything about the [...]

SkillsUSA Registration Confirmed

I took the time yesterday to fill out the registration form for the SkillsUSA Geospatial Technology Competition on Digital Quest’s website.  It was really simple as all I needed to provide was:

My College Name
Program of Study
Professor
My Name
My Email Address
My Address
My Phone Number
Best Time to Contact

I received confirmation within a few hours.  All I am waiting [...]

Starting with Pennies for My Competition

I have been focusing a large majority of my time towards my Reservoir Site Suitability Project for my raster class that I am taking at CPCC.  I haven’t taken much time to do anything else especially update GIS Pathway.  I have kind of also put aside my focus on the SkillsUSA Geospatial Technology Competition that [...]

Determining Which Data Layers to Use

From my Data Requirements for Reservoir Site Suitability post, I mentioned the following data layers as possible contributors:

Hydrology
Soils
Vegetation
Elevation
Roads
Parcels
Structures
Airports

Additional data layers that could be used are:

Rain Levels
Subdivisions
Zoning

The first big test is availability.  If I can’t get the data layer then it doesn’t do me any good to add it to my study.  Layers that I can [...]

Expanding My Reservoir Project Topic

Now that I have my project topic secured (Reservoir Site Suitability Analysis), I need to determine what exactly I am going to do.  I think that it is pretty obvious that I need to determine the best location for a reservoir, but what more needs to be done?  Since I am creating a body of [...]

Answers to My SkillsUSA Competition Questions

After some research, I have found some more information on the SkillsUSA Geospatial Technology Competition. I got into contact with my local SkillsUSA chapter and also was able to talk to Eddie Hanebuth with Digital Quest, Inc. These two contact have really helped my decision. First of all, I found that the [...]

Map of the World as We Know It Song

I just can across this awesome YouTube video that I found on http://gistom.com.  It’s a song called “It’s a Map of the World as We Know It (And I see Signs)”.  This is adapted from the song “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” by R.E.M.  It is perfect for any GIS [...]