4/6/2009 http://www.pobonline.

com/copyright…

Web Exclusive: From ABC to GIS

by Esther Worker

Posted: April 1, 2009

ESRI 4-H grants help kids map the road to success.

Fifth-graders at
Parkside
Elementary
As the African proverb says, “It takes a village to raise a School,
child.” But ESRI and GIS professionals are taking that Lawrenceville, Ill.,
concept even further by showing 4-H youth across the United learn to use
States how to support their local communities—and map ArcExplorer Java
their own road to success—with geographic information Edition for
system (GIS) technology. Educators.

For more than 100 years, 4-H has been helping America’s youth learn
leadership, citizenship and life skills through camps, after-school programs and
club meetings. In 2007, more than 6 million 8- to 18-year-old boys and girls of
all ethnicities from urban, suburban and rural areas across the country were
enrolled in 4-H programs. As 4-H entered the 21st century, the traditional 20th
century programs were expanded to add high-tech programs that include
robotics, video photography, Web programming—and geospatial technologies.
Engaging youth in learning through its Science, Engineering, and Technology
(SET) programs is the 4-H 21st Century Mission mandate.

Exploring Spaces, Going Places

The 4-H Exploring Spaces, Going Places geospatial curriculum

was created by a team of 4-H youth development education
specialists to introduce 4-H youth to spatial thinking by
exploring the world of geospatial science. 4-H programs
integrate a large component of service learning, and in
At the 2008 addition to learning about technology and gaining skills,
Richland County Exploring Spaces, Going Places enables 4-H youth to use GIS
Fair in Illinois, technology in their service projects in their own communities.
youth were given As a result, citizens attending county and state fairs are
GPS receivers and
introduced to GIS technology through the maps and GIS
instructions for
their use. Their projects on display, which are created by the 4-H youth.
mission was to Often, the fair judges are local geography educators and GIS
find their favorite professionals.
place on the
fairgrounds, mark
that way point The range of 4-H GIS projects is as wide
and return. They and diverse as the geography landscape of
then downloaded
the United States. New York State 4-H
their way points
pobonline.com/…/BNP_GUID_9-5-20… 1/5
4/6/2009 http://www.pobonline.com/copyright…
their way points
youth mapped healthy places to eat at the
to an aerial photo
of the New York State Fair. In the west, 4-H
fairgrounds, gaveyouth mapped tribal lands that were hit by
it a symbol and wildfires and talked to tribal members A map with
saved it. about how to better prepare tribal property several way
to avoid fire destruction in the future. In points and
Southern California, 4-Hers mapped the aftereffects of symbols chosen
wildfires, and in 2008, the National 4-H GIS Leadership by participants
using a layout
team’s service project involved working with the San Diego
map designed by
Animal Shelter (SDAS) and San Diego Humane Society one youth.
(SDHS) to prepare a map of San Diego County showing where
animal shelters are located. This information will be used by
the SDAS and SDHS for evacuation situations in the future. 4-H youth in Utah,
Colorado and Iowa worked with local natural resources professionals in the
identification and mapping of invasive weeds at state parks, conservation
lands and county right-of-ways. Plans were made for the ongoing treatment of
invasive weeds and 4-H youth will be involved in the annual monitoring
process.

Alert, Evacuate and Shelter

The National Geographic Foundation funded a series of

nationwide trainings sessions in 2007 to enable 4-H to use
geospatial technology (GIS and GPS) for emergency
preparedness at the community level. The 4-H Alert,
Evacuate and Shelter (AES) program identified and trained
youth and adult teams from selected communities to use
Invasive weed geospatial technology to enhance local emergency
mapping at Snow preparedness efforts.
Canyon State Park
in Utah created 4-H youth, GIS professionals and emergency management
by the Dixie Tech
officials from 12 states and 46 counties were represented at
4-H Team in Utah.
the 4-H AES trainings in 2007 and 2008. Selected applicants
from Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas
attended one of the five trainings offered. The teams spent three days learning
about GIS and GPS technology and how GIS technology was used in
preplanning and post-recovery natural-disaster efforts by federal, state and
local governments and private companies. A tabletop exercise gave everyone
involved an opportunity to experience a mock disaster and what happens at an
Emergency Operations Command Center.

The teams then returned home with the task to identify their community
mapping needs pertaining to emergency preparedness. The 4-H youth are
working side by side with their local professionals to improve their community’s
emergency preparedness while learning about community, careers and
technology. “We are locating fire hydrants, fill pumps and main valves using
the GPS units,” said one team leader from Florida. “We want to provide
pobonline.com/…/BNP_GUID_9-5-20… 2/5
4/6/2009 http://www.pobonline.com/copyright…
emergency management, water and sewer, fire departments—and anyone else
who would use it—a map.”

Other teams are working to build community support and relationships with
their emergency managers and agency officials. In Florida, 4-H youth made
connections at the Be Ready Alliance Coordinating for Emergencies (BRACE)
Hurricane Expo, which was attended by almost 4,000 people. “At their planning
meetings, information about us was brought up, which allowed us to make
contact with the county GIS person,” said a 4-H team leader from Florida. “We
gave him a pamphlet, and he took it to his bosses who gave him permission to
do whatever is needed to help us. The county commissioner has given full
support, and he and the EOC chief officer have written letters for grant
support.”

In Georgia, the Glynn County 4-H Pirates received the ESRI 2008 Special
Achievement in GIS recognition for the use of GIS in their environmental
projects, their collaboration with the Glynn County emergency management
officials in the creation of a hurricane evacuation map for their county, and for
being the youth trainers in the 4-H Alert, Evacuate, and Shelter (AES) project.

ESRI 4-H Grants

ESRI supports the 4-H geospatial curriculum through its

annual GIS Grant for U.S. 4-H program. The grants equip 4-H
clubs with ESRI’s ArcView and ArcPad software for use in
local geospatial projects. ESRI offers three levels of grants
to 4-H organizations: Getting Started with GIS and GPS,
Introduction to GIS for 4-H, and Intermediate GIS for 4-H. To A map of the
date, 4-H youth in over 700 counties across the U.S. have current ESRI GIS
been introduced to GIS and spatial thinking through the 4-H Program for 4-H
geospatial program and the ESRI software grants. “The ESRI participants in the
U.S.
4-H grant program has allowed our youth to explore
professional skills that they had not been aware of, enhance
their work ethic and sense of collaboration, and connect with other youth and
their communities by creating projects that actively benefit the community,”
said Sarah Cofer, an Oregon 4-H SET faculty member.

The Getting Started grant introduces youth and their leaders to the concept of
spatial-thinking concepts and basic GIS skills. Utilizing ESRI’s ArcGIS ArcView
and ArcPad software products, 4-H youth perform a service-learning project
using GIS technology and create a community atlas for ESRI’s U.S. Community
Atlas project. K-12 students and youth define “the nature of their community”
and create 10-20 community static maps and descriptions. The presentations
are combined on the Web at www.esri.com/communityatlas and can be
searched by characteristic and explored for similarities and differences.

Intermediate level clubs can use ArcGIS extensions to utilize specialized

pobonline.com/…/BNP_GUID_9-5-20… 3/5
4/6/2009 http://www.pobonline.com/copyright…
functionalities for their community-based project learning. For example,
CITYGreen software, an extension to ArcGIS, conducts complex analyses of
ecosystem services and creates easy-to-understand reports. American Forests,
the nation’s oldest nonprofit citizens’ conservation organization, is supporting
4-H youth by making its CITYGreen software available to intermediate 4-H
clubs that have a tree-related project. Clubs that have successfully fulfilled the
requirements of the Introduction to GIS for 4-H grant can acquire advanced
functionality for their community-service projects through the Intermediate GIS
for 4-H grant. ESRI equips these clubs with Youth Club Licenses for ArcGIS 3D
Analyst or ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst extensions. “By using the software to
teach GIS skills,” Cofer said, “these youth have gained a sense of
empowerment that they can make a difference in their community and their
own life!”

Companies and individual professionals who invest in formal

(K-12) and nonformal (4-H, Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs,
etc.) education efforts at the community level are helping to
build a sustainable community workforce of highly technical
and highly competent citizens. “Youth want to be involved in
North Carolina 4- programs that they know are worth their time. Fun is good,
Hers present a but to keep a young person engaged for the long term, it
GIS project to needs to be fun and worthwhile,” said 4-H youth
afterschool development program specialist Thomas Ray, of Raleigh,
providers at the
N.C. “With the U.S. Department of Labor identifying GIS as
North Carolina
Center for one of the top three emerging fields, youth are able to see
Afterschool that what they are learning is a marketable skill that they
Program's can keep with them for the rest of their lives.”
Synergy Summit.
The presentation
encouraged Sidebar: ESRI Getting Started with GIS and GPS Grant
providers to
implement GIS
This grant includes Thinking Spatially Using GIS, which has
and Community
lessons with ArcExplorer—Java Edition for Education
Mapping into their
afterschool software; Making Community Connections; Zeroing In; and
programs. Fun with GPS. This grant is intended for use by leaders or
extension professionals who are not already familiar with GIS
technology and want to begin introducing spatial literacy to youth. Grant
awardees are expected to participate in a GIS Day event in their community
and submit three maps to the 4-H Map Gallery. This grant does not include GPS
units.

ESRI Introduction to GIS for 4-H Grant

This grant includes ESRI’s ArcGIS ArcView 9.3, ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, and
ArcPad Youth Club licenses (up to 25 seats); ESRI Virtual Campus courses; and
ESRI curricula. This grant is intended for 4-H groups who have technology
experience, have met GIS professionals in their community, and have a youth-
pobonline.com/…/BNP_GUID_9-5-20… 4/5
4/6/2009 http://www.pobonline.com/copyright…
driven service-learning project in mind that will utilize GIS technology.
Introductory grant awardees are expected to participate in a GIS Day event in
their community, complete a service-learning project in the community utilizing
GIS technology, and complete an ESRI Community Atlas project.

ESI Intermediate GIS for 4-H Grant

This grant includes ESRI’s ArcGIS ArcView 9.3, ArcGIS Network Analyst,
additional extensions, and ArcPad Youth Club licenses (up to 25 seats); ESRI
Virtual Campus courses; and ESRI curricula. For service learning projects
involving tree and plant health, this grant also includes an option for obtaining
CITYgreen software by American Forests. Intermediate grant applicants must
have successfully participated in and fulfilled the requirements of an
Introductory GIS grant. Intermediate grant awardees are expected to
participate in a GIS Day event in their community, complete a service-learning
project in the community utilizing GIS technology, and complete an ESRI
Community Atlas project.

More information on ESRI’s 4-H grants is available at www.esri.com/4-H.

Esther Worker
eworker@esri.com
Esther Worker is the ESRI youth and community mapping manager. For more information on ESRI’s 4-H
programs, go to www.esri.com/4-H. Information on 4-H geospatial programs is available at www.4-H.org.

pobonline.com/…/BNP_GUID_9-5-20… 5/5