Faculty and students will have the opportunity to attend one of two free informational sessions this week to learn about the geographic information systems tools in research that is available at Bracken Library.
"It gives people more research options," Angie Gibson, a GIS specialist, said. "It's being used in every government entity - from local county government to federal government, police, ambulance, utility companies. It's being used everywhere."
Currently, GIS is mainly used by students and faculty members from geography, biology, geology and architecture.
The GIS system allows users to visualize geographical data and information in the form of maps, globes and charts.
"It is a set of spatially integrated analysis tools that is being used all over campus in multiple disciples," Gibson said of GIS.
The information sessions are mostly for faculty but students are welcome to attend as well.
"I just want to make them aware of their options they have as far as obtaining software, getting training to use the software and what the legal issues are," she said. "They can't use it to make a profit off of it. It has to be used for teaching and research."
The sessions include background information about GIS, how they can access it and use the program. Gibson encouraged people to attend the sessions.
"If they want to use it, they can take advantage of something that costs thousands and thousands of dollars and we have free access to it," she said. "Some of the classes, if you go online and take [training courses], it's 300 or 400 dollars a pop."
The GIS service is important for the university.
"It's a really amazing tool that can be used in all kinds of different ways," Katie Bohnert, marketing communications manager for Bracken, said. "We can use it for so many different applications. It makes people aware of all the different types of resources that can be used."
For instance, GPS in your car uses GIS technology to know where speed limits are, Bohnert said.
"It's just one of those things people use in their daily lives whether they think about it or not," she said.
At Ball State, GIS is located in the library instead of in the building of a particular major.
"We have so much available through the library so it's not just for people maybe in the geography department or some of the applied sciences," Bohnert said. "We have lots of resources for people to use. It's really open for a lot of different people."
Bohnert said she wants to show people what can be done with GIS resources.
"I'd like to get some stories of how people are using GIS across campus," she said. "I think it's one of those things where people see examples of how it can be used and get ideas on how they can use it."
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