Bulletin News

04/27/2011 

David Miller, a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, will give a presentation on how geographers can use computer mapping technology to help local residents better understand critical regional issues, during a Community Roundtable on Thursday, May 5, at SUNY Cortland.

He will talk from 8-9 a.m. in the Park Center Hall of Fame Room. A question-and-answer period will follow. Refreshments will precede the lecture at 7:45 a.m.

Sponsored by the President’s Office and the College’s Center for Educational Exchange (CEE), the Community Roundtable is free and open to the public.

Miller, a geography faculty member at the College, will discuss how the Geography Department’s faculty and students have been using Geographic Information System (GIS) applications, essentially a computer mapping system on steroids, for more than a decade to chart intriguing information on area maps.

According to Miller, the GIS technology has enabled the mapping of drug-free schools zones and helped the Cortland County Soil and Water Conservation District to generate a database and produce maps showing what the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) new flood maps have changed from the former ones.

GIS is also assisting The Hill Association to collect data and map rental properties, Miller said. He will show how the technology helps answer the public’s questions and solve community problems.

The Community Roundtable series provides programs on diverse intellectual, regional and cultural topics of interest to College faculty, staff and community members. Each roundtable is held on the first Thursday of the month. Parking in the Park Center lot is open to the public during the roundtables.