CARY, NC – Area students will explore world geography and mapping in today’s electronic world during GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Day, November 14^th. Town of Cary staff will make presentations to students from Kingswood Elementary School at 10:45 a.m. and students from Meredith College 2:30 p.m. The presentations will take place in the council chambers, Town Hall Building A, 316 N. Academy Street.

Town staff will demonstrate how Cary and its sister city, County Meath, Ireland exchange digital files containing geographic information on each community using MapInfo, a GIS software. Information on the Sister Cities program, history of Cary, history of County Meath, maps of the data received from Meath will be included in the presentations.

"Thanks to GIS, nearly every physical, geographic aspect of the world can now available with a simple click of the mouse," said Cary’s GIS Applications Manager Mike Mull, "and we want to use GIS Day to help students understand how incredible and powerful this technology is and how it affects them every day."

GIS Day is a nationwide grassroots event that formalizes the practice of GIS users and vendors of opening their doors to schools, businesses, and the general public to showcase real-world applications of this important technology. The event is principally sponsored by the National Geographic Society, the Association of American Geographers, University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, the United States Geological Survey, the Library of Congress, and ESRI. In 2000, local events were held in over 80 countries.

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