GPS Opportunities

My high school class and I just got done marking the trees and fire hydrants that are located on the school property. I think the kids were kind of surprised on how easy GPS (Global Positioning System) units are to use. It took us roughly six days to mark around 100 trees and five fire hydrants. We are hoping the the school district can use this information to see where more trees may be planted and where current trees exist. To answer the question that everyone is asking, yes they could just walk around the school's property and see, but I think seeing this information on a map makes it much easier to see as a whole. The fire hydrants, I think, are very important as far as location, especially with the new addition at the grade school. We only marked the ones on the school property (5) but there were some that were directly across the street from the school's property (4-5). We now have the school's property boundaries, the exterior of the buildings, trees, and fire hydrants all marked. The property and exterior of the buildings was done in 2006 by my class that included freshman through seniors. We already have the boundaries and the exterior of the buildings mapped, using GIS (Geographical Informational Systems-Arcview in this case). We will be adding the trees and fire hydrants to the map soon. The kids this year (9th grade) enjoyed this project. They learned something, got some exercise, inhaled some fresh air, and hopefully, benefited the school district.

We, the technology coordinator and myself, hope to get some monies through grant opportunities to purchase more GPS units so that larger classes can benefit from this wonderful learning experience! I think we are ready to step it up a notch and venture out into the community.